Postal workers across the country have started their second strike action in less than a year after Public Works Minister, Joël Lightbound, announced changes to the Canada Post.
Lightbound said he will be instructing Canada Post to introduce flexibilities in their delivery standards. The government is also authorizing the corporation to introduce community mailboxes to approximately four million more addresses ending door-to-door delivery in those areas.
In response, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) began strike action. The union said the measures introduced by Lightbound could result in major job losses. CUPW and the Canada Post have been negotiating a new collective agreement for 20 months. The corporation has been losing $10 million per day, according to Lightbound. As such, the Canada Post has been aiming to find cost-saving practices.
These measures follow the recommendations in a report by an Industrial Inquiry Commission, led by Commissioner William Kaplan.
While the corporation and the federal government are looking at converting door-to-door delivery and other cost-saving measures that could cut services, CUPW has shared other ways to improve the financial viability of the corporation without putting jobs at risk.
CUPW’s suggestions include expanding into banking, financial, and insurance services, reintroducing the Food Mail Program in the north, providing grocery delivery more generally, turning post offices into community hubs, especially in more isolated regions, using letter carriers as a check-in service on Canada’s aging and disabled population and expanding into providing passport and other government services.
“In accepting the Kaplan report, the Government has completely rejected the need to diversify revenue streams and expand services, accepting instead Canada Post’s requests for cuts,” CUPW president Jan Simpson said in a post on the union website. “Following the announcement, we heard from the federal mediators that Canada Post needs until next week to present new global offers.”
Minister Lightbound has given Canada Post 40 days to come up with a plan to reduce costs. He said coming up with this plan requires the corporation to take a “cold, hard look” at its management structure. Lightbound did not give an estimate for the amount of layoffs these announcements could cause. He emphasized, however, that cost reduction plans will also need to include lightening the corporation’s management structure.
CUPW and Minister Lightbound met on September 19 to discuss the current round of bargaining and the future of the public post office. The union said there was no indication at this meeting that Thursday’s announcement was coming.
“This announcement was an outrage,” Simpson said. “The Minister said he had the ‘utmost respect’ for postal workers. This is no way to show it.”
The Canada Post celebrated the announcement yesterday. It highlighted the declining letter-mail volumes and increasing addresses has led to increased service costs but declining revenues.
“Today’s announcement will allow us to make the changes needed to restore Canada’s postal service for all Canadians by evolving to better meet their needs,” Canada Post President and CEO Doug Ettinger said on Thursday.
The corporation also expressed disappointment in CUPW’s decision to strike. Labour expert, Larry Savage, however, expected organized workers to fight back against the new announcement.
“The Liberals are handing management at Canada Post a battering ram to beat CUPW into submission,” Savage wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Jan Simpson said the strike action is necessary to protect the public postal service and decent, unionized jobs.
“This slapdash approach without full public consultation is an insult to the public and to postal workers. The Government may act as the sole shareholder, but the public owns the post office,” Simpson said. “We cannot accept this attack on good jobs and public services. Let’s now turn our efforts to making sure the Government and Canada Post hear us loud and clear.”
