On Friday, 55,000 workers for the Canada Post Corporation (CPC) walked off their jobs after a year of unfruitful bargaining. They are seeking fair wages, proper benefits, and to fight against privatization in their line of work.
A year of negotiations
Last year, on November 15th, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) began negotiations with their employer. They were seeking a deal that addressed “longstanding issues facing our members,” and hoping to be able to bargain without the need for a third party.
On October 30th, CUPW national president Jan Simpson posted an update expressing disappointment at the negotiations process. In it, she detailed how the employer had utilized tactics that undermined the negotiation team by releasing a summary of their offer directly to members instead of through the National Executive Board. Simpson also felt that the membership’s employer was giving them bad offers to push the issue to binding arbitration—a development that would have invested the union’s resources into lawyers and arbitrators and delayed the signing of a collective agreement. The offer attacked the union members’ pension plan, decreased benefits for future employees, and sought to hire more part-time and contract workers to replace full-time opportunities. It also did not address Canada Post’s Separate Sortation from Delivery model, which the union claims “poses new risks and strains to Letter Carriers,” by prolonging the amount of time they spend outside and are exposed to harsh weather conditions. Jan Simpson also found the wage increase offered unsatisfactory.
On November 3rd, the union moved into a legal strike position (after the workers had already voted to strike), but they decided to wait because they wanted to continue negotiations in good faith. The union board stated that they would continue to negotiate as long as Canada Post did not issue a 72-hour lockout notice, did not change working conditions for union members, and showed “real movement to meeting [their] demands.” In this bulletin, alongside one for Ottawa residents, they detailed that they were seeking to negotiate for better disability plans, medical/sick days, safer working conditions, and “retiring with dignity.” The union later posted an update saying that their employer did not want to budge from the same amount of yearly personal days as from the previous contract. Union negotiators also sought to negotiate about providing new services at the post office that would serve and support Canadians.
“We’re not just bargaining for ourselves; we’re bargaining for the public and for all workers,” wrote Simpson. She also indicated that the latest offers were still filled with rollbacks and ignored the issues members were seeking to resolve.
On November 12th, the union issued a 72-hour strike notice to Canada Post. However, union negotiators stressed that they still planned to try to negotiate with the employer in order to avoid a strike. They stated that unresolved issues included: wage increases to match inflation, the elimination of Separate Sortation from Delivery, route length and overburdening, more medical days, improvement to benefits plans, improved rights for Temporary employees, precautions for pregnant and breastfeeding employees, and improved protections against third-party contracting, technological change, and harassment.
In response to the strike notice, Canada Post issued a 72-hour lockout notice—symbolically placing responsibility on the workers to go back to work. Jan Simpson put the onus on Canada Post to resolve this dispute, stating that they had the ability to make a good deal happen and that postal workers love their jobs and want to go back to serving Canadians.
The strike begins
Canada Post and the union’s negotiation team were unable to come to an agreement resolving the membership’s issues, so on Friday, 55,000 Canada Post workers walked off the job. The union stated that after a year of bargaining, this was a difficult decision to make as a last resort. They claimed to be responding to Canada Post’s attempt to change their working conditions and “leave members exposed to layoffs.”
The union has asked Canadians to help by sending a letter to Doug Ettinger, CEO of Canada Post Corporation, printing and spreading signs showing support, and learning more about their proposals (all of which can be done by clicking here).
Justice for Workers has also published a notice on how to support postal workers.
Now that the strike has begun, the corporations’ mail services are down all across the country. Mail and parcels will not be processed by Canada Post for the entire duration of the strike. While the disruption will affect millions of Canadians and businesses, the union again stresses that Canada Post has the power to resolve the conflict by properly addressing the needs of its workers. The union also claims that the Canada Post executives are still going to claim bonuses while they are threatening to lay off employees and not honouring the collective agreement.
The significance of this strike
Many observers have pointed out the financial problems facing the Canada Post Corporation—they have lost a total of $3 billion since 2018. However, the union claims that this is not because the whole enterprise is incapable of making money. Instead, it’s because the Crown corporation refuses to expand its services, spends incessantly, and is not fighting the privatization of its different parts.
“The financial situation we face is the result of Canada Post management. They have been spending as if they have unlimited funds, with non-labour spending skyrocketing[…] Our wages and benefits are not the issue here—it’s the mismanagement and overspending by Canada Post,” says Jan Simpson.
The union has even put together an entire program detailing new avenues for the Crown corporation to receive more revenue, such as postal banking, affordable food delivery, and elder check-ins. The outcome of this strike could determine the expansion of services that everyday Canadians would have access to and benefit from.
The CPC is not subsidized by the government in the same way as other public services—its model is simply to break even. However, it has been incapable of doing just that, and it might run out of money by 2025 if nothing is done.
In 2022, the CPC told Amazon that it would be unable to keep up with their demand for package deliveries, which led Amazon to take their business elsewhere. This completely alienated a major customer, cutting off a significant part of its revenue. According to the union, management has spent considerable amounts of money (committing $4 billion across five years) in infrastructure to keep up with the increasing demand for package delivery, but none of this spending has materialized into anything. The CPC has also been selling off its own parts to private competitors, getting money in the short term while making it harder for it to increase revenue later on. CPC management’s decisions do not reflect those of a company who wants to thrive, but rather one that has already resigned itself into a slow death. If nothing changes, the CPC’s privatization seems predetermined.
Canada Post would be near-impossible to rebuild if dismantled, and it is a public service that Canadians would miss dearly. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers sees its fight as a fight for all Canadian workers and postal service customers.
“When unionized workers make gains, it lifts up all communities, bringing widespread benefits,” says Jan Simpson.
Response
After their employer issued their lock-out notice, they also stated that they would no longer be honouring the collective agreements. The corporation also threatened to lay off permanent employees, cut the hours of part-timers, and end all temporary worker assignments, as well as cancelling all Vacation Leave, which the corporation has already been told is a violation of the Canada Labour Code.
According to the union, these moves signal to its members “what Canada Post would do if there was no Union or collective agreement to protect you.”
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