Canada Post says 'limited progress' in talks to end strike

Canada Post said on Sunday there had been no major weekend developments in mediated talks designed to end a strike that has now lasted for more than a week.

The strike, involving some 55,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, has closed some NWT post offices – including the downtown Yellowknife location – and no mail is being received or delivered, save for monthly efforts to deliver some government cheques.

“Progress has been limited this weekend,” Canada Post said.

The employer said it had been “trying to move forward with urgency” on changes that would “provide weekend delivery and more flexible staffing during the week.”

Canada Post accused CUPW of being “focused for the last 24 hours on workers they don’t represent, like hiring away the cleaning staff from our contracted cleaning service and making them full-time Canada Post employees, and pushing back on any changes to the pay and benefits of people we’ll hire in the future.”

In recent days, Canada Post has pointed to its losses of more than $3 billion since 2018 – and a $315-million pre-tax loss it just posted for the third quarter of 2024 – as evidence that it needs to make changes, such as parcel delivery seven days a week, to secure “the future of the company.”

Its offer includes a pay increase for staff that amounts to 11.5 percent over four years with more paid leave.

The union has dismissed Canada Post’s argument that its losses demonstrate the need for the changes company managers are proposing.

“Canada Post is a public service, not a profit-driven corporation, even though it operated profitably for many years. Postal workers deliver to every address in the country, including where competitors won’t go because they can’t make a profit,” CUPW said in a Friday statement.

“During our ongoing negotiations, we’ve heard countless stories about how much people rely on Canada Post. Without this public service, many people must travel far distances and pay much more for alternative services, if any even exist.

“The reported losses published over the last few years don’t tell the whole story. Canada Post has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to grow its parcel business, yet overall labour costs have decreased during the last few years.”

CUPW said Canada Post had not listened to union proposals to expand post office services.

“Canada Post could recover from the financial situation it finds itself in by investing in new revenue-generating services like postal banking and senior-check-in services as other postal services across the world have already done,” the union said.

In the NWT, CUPW told Cabin Radio last week, around 30 members are affected. Not all post offices are closed – many locations, including those inside other stores, are operated through arrangements outside those affected by the current strike. However, all locations are affected by the lack of mail delivery.

Isolated communities have expressed concern that an extended strike could interfere with the delivery of items like medication. Municipalities have urged people to either go online to pay bills or collect them in person, since they cannot arrive by mail while the strike continues.

Even once the strike ends, Canada Post has said it will take some time for mail to be sorted and the backlog to be addressed – a problem that grows with every day the two sides remain deadlocked.

“The impacts on the company and the country are mounting,” Canada Post said on Sunday.

“With the postal system effectively shut down by the strike for a week and a half, we are down millions of parcels and entering the busy Black Friday online shopping week effectively shut down.”