Canada Post delivered its final offer to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Wednesday afternoon after days of mulling the union’s response to its previous offer Sunday.
The Crown corporation and its union representing 55,000 postal workers are returning to the bargaining table as parcel delivery volumes continue to drop and the overtime ban for union members continues.
The latest offering features additions to its previous offer last Wednesday, including signing bonuses up to $1,000 and the removal of compulsory overtime.
“This is our best and final offer, to protect what’s important to employees and to secure the future of the postal system,” Canada Post spokesperson Lisa Liu said in an email to the Star.
CUPW’s negotiators are currently analyzing and reviewing Canada Post’s response. “However, it’s clear, after a preliminary review, that Canada Post’s response has fallen short,” the union told the Star.
“Our latest proposals were designed to lay the groundwork to resolve our dispute with Canada Post,” it said. “The corporation’s response fails to meet the urgency and seriousness of the moment.”
Canada Post’s wage increase pitched in its previous offer — a 13.59 per cent hike over four years — remains unchanged, despite being a sticking point in the negotiations. CUPW previously demanded a 19 per cent increase in its members’ base wages.
The corporation did not change its plans to hire more part-time workers to handle weekend deliveries, which the union also took issue with.
“After almost two years of negotiations, a lengthy strike, an intensive review by the IIC, and now the resumption of strike activity, the corporation’s final offers are designed to move negotiations forward and return certainty and stability to Canada Post, its employees and Canadians,” the corporation said in a news release.
Canada Post’s latest offer includes a signing bonus of either $1,000 or $500, depending on the employee’s role; a lower inflation threshold for cost of living allowance payments; the removal of compulsory overtime; and per-piece payments for letter carriers who use dynamic routing and perform neighbourhood mail deliveries until January 1, 2030.
“Canada Post also recently moved on some key sticking points in the negotiations,” the corporation said. “The company is no longer proposing a new health benefits plan, changes to employees’ post-retirement benefits, or enrolling future employees in the defined contribution pension.”
CUPW will have more to say after it has “thoroughly reviewed” Canada Post’s offer, it said. “However, we remain undeterred and remain focussed on our goal of achieving good, ratifiable collective agreements.”
The uncertainty around CUPW’s latest strike action led to a precipitous drop in business. Delivered parcel volumes are down 65 per cent Wednesday compared to the same time last year, the company said, compounding Canada Post’s already dire financial situation.
Canada Post’s 2024 Annual Report, released Wednesday, documented $841 million in losses before taxes — a more than 12-per-cent increase from 2023’s $748-million loss before tax. It’s the seventh consecutive year of annual losses for the company.
In a press release Wednesday, Canada Post said CUPW’s month-long national strike in late 2024 had a “significant impact,” estimating the job action accounted for a $208-million loss. Since 2018, Canada Post has suffered more than $3.8 billion in losses before taxes.
A Federal Industrial Inquiry Commission established by Ottawa found Canada Post to be effectively ”bankrupt,” and recommended numerous structural changes. To stave off insolvency, the federal government has announced a repayable cash infusion of up to $1.034 billion.
“Our current structure was built for a bygone era of letter mail — the status quo has led us to the verge of financial insolvency and is not an option,” Doug Ettinger, President and CEO of Canada Post, said in Wednesday’s release. “The need to change, respond to our challenges and secure this important infrastructure for the future is more urgent than ever before.”
Update — May 29, 2025: This article was updated to include a response from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
