Furious postal workers have walked off the job in their second nationwide strike in under a year after Ottawa announced sweeping changes to Canada Post, including the end of home mail delivery.
Citing “unsustainable” losses, stalled contract talks and dwindling numbers of Canadians sending letters, the federal government is giving Canada Post the go-ahead to end home delivery for customers who still have it, close some rural post offices, and send mail by land instead of air.
In a press conference Thursday afternoon, federal minister for government transformation, public works and procurement Joël Lightbound announced that he’s giving the Crown corporation 45 days to come up with a plan to implement the broad restructuring, which he called a necessary step to keep Canada Post alive.
“Canada Post is now facing an existential crisis,” said Lightbound, adding that the Crown corporation has racked up more than $5 billion in losses since 2018, and is on track to lose $1.5 billion in 2025.
Just hours after Lightbound’s announcement, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers announced an immediate, nationwide strike, their second in just under a year.
“The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) is outraged and appalled by the Minister’s announcement today,” the union said in an emailed statement. “If Canada Post had focused on negotiating collective agreements and increasing parcel volumes, instead of attacking workers, it would already be on a path to sustainability. In response to the Government’s attack on our postal service and workers, effective immediately, all CUPW members at Canada Post are on a nationwide strike.”
The four million households who still get home mail delivery will get moved to community mailboxes over the next nine years, with “the bulk” being moved over the next three to four years.
Finding locations with adequate space for community mailboxes — particularly in urban areas with a high number of home delivery customers — is part of the reason for the length of time the transition will take.
Some community mailboxes also have parcel lockers. Households served by community mailboxes without a parcel locker would continue to receive packages at home.
“Canadians can’t be footing an ever-growing bill year after year,” said Lightbound. “We can’t go on with Canada Post losing $10 million a day, and Canadian taxpayers footing the bill.”
Lightbound said people with mobility issues, including seniors, can apply to still receive home delivery, under a program that’s already in place in areas currently served by community mailboxes.
In an emailed statement, Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger said the changes were necessary.
“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,” Ettinger said before the national strike was announced. “Our goal is to ensure that a strong, affordable, Canadian-made, Canadian-run delivery provider supports the needs of today’s economy and delivers to every community across the country.”
Canada Post declined to comment after the strike was announced.
“The impact (of the strike) on small business will be massive. Last year’s strike alone cost small firms over $1 billion,” the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said in a statement Thursday evening.
“The federal government must push forward with the needed changes ordered today by Minister Lightbound,” the CFIB said. “Now is not the time to turn back.”
The restructuring will lead to huge layoffs for postal workers
The changes mean a large number of CUPW’s 53,000 members will almost certainly lose their jobs, said McMaster University labour studies professor Stephanie Ross.
“What these announcements will mean is a significantly smaller workforce at Canada Post,” said Ross. “They’re inherently going to reduce the letter carrier workforce. ”
That left the union no choice but to strike, Ross said.
“They’re in a fight for their jobs, and their work. What other way does the union have to change the dynamic at the bargaining table?” said Ross.
Brock University labour studies professor Larry Savage called the decision to order the changes during a contract dispute “a fundamental attack on workers’ rights.”
“The Liberals are handing management at Canada Post a battering ram to beat the union into submission,” said Savage.
Lightbound defended the timing, saying that Canada Post’s deteriorating financial situation made the changes urgent.
“The conflict has been going on for 20 months. I don’t have the luxury of waiting.”
Volume of door deliveries has been declining over the years
Letter and parcel volumes have also plunged, Lightbound said, noting Canada Post delivers an average of two billion letters a year, down from 5.5 billion 20 years ago.
At the same time, he noted, the number of households served by Canada Post has increased. The Crown corporation’s share of the parcel market has also dropped to 24 per cent, from 62 per cent in 2019, he added.
“That means fewer letters are being delivered to more addresses, while fixed costs remain high,” said Lightbound.
Only a quarter of Canadians get home delivery with the rest using community mail boxes, or group mail boxes such as those found in apartment buildings or condos.
Closing some of the 4,000 post offices currently designated as rural could lead to $400 million in savings, said Lightbound, who argued that many of those offices are no longer actually in rural areas, pointing to areas like Richmond Hill, Burnaby, B.C. and Gatineau, Que.
A ban on closing post offices has been in place since 1994.
“Canada has changed. This means that areas that used to be rural may now be suburban or even urban, but are still required to operate as rural post offices,” said Lightbound. “Canada Post must return to the government with a plan to modernize and rightsize its network.”
The changes were all recommended by veteran mediator William Kaplan in a report delivered May 15 after he conducted an Industrial Inquiry Commission.
Negotiations have been dragging on since 2023
Contract negotiations between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers have dragged on for more than 18 months and led to a month-long strike late last year. Earlier this month, the union began a ban on delivering flyers, and dropped its previous ban on its members working overtime, which had been in place since May 23.
In early August, CUPW members rejected the Crown corporation’s “final” contract offer in a vote overseen by the Canada Industrial Relations Board after an order from federal jobs minister Patty Hajdu, who used her authority under Section 108.1 of the Canada Labour Code.
In a memo posted on the union’s website Monday evening, the head of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers said the Crown corporation was planning for “massive” service cutbacks.
“For much of the past year, Canada Post has been laying the groundwork for massive service cutbacks. The Corporation has taken every chance it can to play up its financial condition, blaming an ‘outdated’ regulatory framework ‘built for a previous era,” said CUPW national president Jan Simpson.
With files from Andy Takagi
