Ottawa — The standoff between Canada Post and its largest union, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), is intensifying amid manager layoffs, ongoing rotating strikes, and growing calls from business leaders for the federal government to step in and impose binding arbitration.
According to a Toronto Star report, Canada Post laid off fewer than 50 managers this week as part of a cost-cutting move announced in a memo from CEO Doug Ettinger. The decision comes as the Crown corporation faces mounting financial pressures and labour unrest.
Meanwhile, CUPW continues to stage rotating strikes across the country, including a temporary halt in the Quebec region on processing and delivering unaddressed mail. The union says it is fighting to protect door-to-door delivery, maintain full-time jobs, and prevent potential service cuts that could impact rural communities.
“Canada Post is moving forward with a transformation process that could reshape and, in some cases, eliminate the services that sustain rural and northern Canadians,” said Dwayne Jones, president of the Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association (CPAA).
Jones warned that lifting the moratorium on rural post office closures could repeat the cuts of the 1990s, when over 1,500 local branches were shut down. CPAA is urging Ottawa to extend the government’s 45-day review of Canada Post’s restructuring plan to 100 days for meaningful consultation.
Business Groups Demand Certainty
At a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, Patrick Bartlett, executive director of the National Association of Major Mail Users (NAMMU), urged the government to end the labour impasse through binding arbitration.
“Our members — small and medium-sized businesses — depend on reliable mail service for invoices, payments, and marketing,” Bartlett said. “We need immediate action to end the uncertainty.”
NAMMU supports proposals to expand community mailboxes, phase out daily door-to-door service, and lift the rural post office moratorium to help Canada Post reduce losses.
But media publishers say ongoing strikes are wreaking havoc on operations. Paul Deegan, president and CEO of News Media Canada, said community newspapers that still rely on postal delivery are being hit especially hard.
“It’s the lack of certainty that’s killing us,” Deegan said. “Community papers can’t rely solely on digital delivery.”
Murray Elliott, vice-president of Great West Media in Alberta, described the situation as “chaos,” saying farm and small-town publications have lost millions because their papers were “stuck at a Canada Post plant or depot.”
Union Pushes Back Against Cuts
CUPW National President Jan Simpson dismissed claims that labour costs are driving Canada Post’s $10-million-a-day losses, citing $376 million in new revenue from postal rate hikes this year. She warned that replacing door-to-door service with community mailboxes would cost $1.6 billion and slow delivery, especially in rural and suburban areas.
“To-the-door delivery is vital if Canada Post wants to compete with private couriers,” Simpson said. “We’re already doing last-mile deliveries where other companies can’t go.”
Simpson also proposed expanding weekend parcel delivery, postal banking, broadband internet access, and EV charging services at post offices to diversify revenue — provided the jobs remain unionized and full-time.
Negotiations to Resume
Contract talks between Canada Post and CUPW are expected to resume later this week with a federal mediator. The parties have been negotiating for nearly two years, with two national strikes already held. CUPW says Canada Post’s latest proposals, tabled October 3, simply recycled previous offers.
For now, rotating strikes continue to disrupt deliveries nationwide — and pressure is mounting on Ottawa to broker a resolution before businesses, newspapers, and rural communities face lasting damage.