Canada Post has laid off dozens of management employees this week as it looks to cut costs amid an ongoing contract dispute and as it works on plans for a broader restructuring.
The news came in a memo to employees Tuesday from Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger.
“These changes are a continuation of our corporate-wide restructuring efforts to better align our management team with the future needs of the organization. While these decisions are sometimes necessary, they are never taken lightly,” said Ettinger in the memo, obtained by the Star.
“We need to ensure our costs better align to our financial realities, which means our organization will be leaner at all levels going forward. To minimize the impact on our teams, we will continue to manage our workforce first through attrition while we maintain our external hiring freeze.”
While the memo didn’t specify the number of managers laid off, sources say it was fewer than 50, a number which would have triggered a 16-week advance notice period to the federal government.
In an emailed statement, Canada Post declined to provide the precise number of layoffs, but said they were necessary as the Crown corporation looks to become financially sustainable.
“As we continue to work on our transformation plan to implement the measures announced by the government on September 25, we will not be sharing further details,” Canada Post said. “However, we can confirm that the changes will align with the government’s expectation that leadership and structural change from within the corporation is essential. Canada Post must take decisive action to deliver the services Canadians need in a way that is financially sustainable.”
The move comes after several senior executives were laid off in January, and it also comes as Canada Post works on a plan to implement a broad restructuring given the green light by the federal government in late September.
Federal minister for government transformation, public works and procurement Joël Lightbound announced Sept. 25 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. The restructuring includes the elimination of home mail delivery, the increased use of community mailboxes, as well as the closure of some rural post offices.
At the time of the announcement, Lightbound also said he expected management to do its part in belt-tightening, noting 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. That strike was subsequently downgraded to a series of rotating, regional strikes.
The changes announced by Lightbound were all recommended by veteran mediator William Kaplan in a report delivered May 15 after he conducted an Industrial Inquiry Commission.
Contract negotiations between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers have dragged on for more than 19 months and led to a month-long strike late last year. In early September, 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 jobs minister Patty Hajdu, who used her authority under Section 108.1 of the Canada Labour Code.
