Negotiations between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) continued as the strike approached the holiday season.
Higher wages, better health benefits and changes to the postal service’s use of temporary workers are at the center of the union’s demands at the bargaining table.
Canada Post said Sunday it provided the union with a “comprehensive framework for reaching negotiated agreements.”
“We are hopeful that these proposals will reignite discussions and, together with the support of the mediators, help the parties work towards final agreements. To facilitate discussions, we will not be providing further details outside of the negotiations process at this time,” a Canada Post statement said on Sunday.
CUPW national president Jan Sampson said in a statement that the union was reviewing the proposal.
“Both CUPW and Canada Post have provided accommodations to the special mediator’s demands in the hope that he will restart the mediation process. So far the mediator has not informed us of a restart, but the Union is ready,” Sampson wrote in a statement.
Canada Post temporary workers
CUPW negotiator Jim Gallant told Global News that one of the key issues on the negotiating table is securing permanent jobs for temporary Canada Post workers.
“Over the last few decades, Canada Post has transitioned from a full-time workforce to a more part-time and, even more worrying, temporary workforce. Some of these temporary workers work up to full-time hours and others more. The figure is millions of hours,” he said.
Gallant said that of CUPW’s 55,000 members, just over 22,000 are temporary or part-time.
He said: “We are not calling for an end to temporary work. There will always be a day here and there when they will need temporary employees and there will be a need for part-time employees. We understand that too. But it cannot be the majority.”
Gallant said that while older workers, those who spent 30 or more years working in the postal service, could retire, younger postal workers have a harder time.
“Young people are forced to work two or three jobs to make ends meet. “If they could have a job that would allow them to support themselves and their family, they would take it,” he said.
According to the federal government’s jobbank.gc.ca market reportThe average hourly wage for a mail carrier in Canada is $28. In some provinces, the highest wage reached $38 per hour, while in others, the lowest wage was $19 per hour.
Steven Tufts, an associate professor specializing in labor market research at York University, said Canada Post has experienced competitive pressures in recent years and is undergoing restructuring and change. Tufts said the heart of the dispute between the union and management is how to restructure and innovate without compromising workers’ rights.
“There is an attempt to slowly stagger the workforce. And that’s done by keeping things relatively the same for existing employees, but for all new employees or employees who don’t yet have full-time status, keeping them with a different set of benefits,” he said.
He added: “They want to increase the amount of part-time and temporary work. With the flexible schedule that is proposed, it would take forever for those temporary and part-time workers to get full benefits because they would not work enough hours for years.”
Salary increase, better benefits
The CUPW also demands a salary increase.
“We have proposed a 22 percent increase over four years. And the employer has satisfied us with 11.5 percent,” Gallant said.
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According to the union’s demands, they are asking for a nine percent raise for the first year, five percent for the second year, four percent for the third year and then again for the fourth year. This would rise to 22 percent over five years, or 23.7 percent compounded.
CUPW has said salaries have not kept pace with Canada Post’s non-labor expenses.
“According to their financial reports, from 2017 to 2023, non-labor spending increased by more than $1 billion a year, a jump of 56.5%. During the same period, our salaries only grew by 14.1%. Additionally, since May 2023 and until at least May 2025, Canada Post has been exempt from contributing to our pensions,” said Jan Simpson, national president of CUPW, in a statement in August of this year.
The chair of Canada Post’s board of directors warned in August that the organization’s financial situation is “unsustainable” as it struggles to compete against e-commerce platforms and faces falling demand.
“The board of directors and senior management recognize that Canada Post is at a critical juncture,” André Hudon said at the company’s annual general meeting.
“Significant change is urgently needed to preserve Canada Post’s delivery network, which is vital because it is the only delivery network created to serve all Canadians.”
According to Statistics Canada, the country’s average annual inflation rate was 1.9 per cent in 2019. 0.7 percent in 2020, 3.4 percent in 2021, 6.8 percent in 2022 and 3.9 per cent in 2023. In October 2024, the inflation rate was at the Bank of Canada’s target rate of two per cent.
Tufts said Canada has been seeing a round of “catch-up negotiations” between unions and employers, with wages stagnating during the pandemic and failing to keep up with inflation.
Galán said workers are also demanding better health benefits.
“We haven’t had increases in things like medical or dental benefits in decades. And we are looking for increases in them,” he said.
He added: “For example, we have an updated dental fee schedule. But the amount we are allowed to spend per year has not increased in decades.”
Tufts said better health benefits are needed for a healthy Canada Post workforce.
“Being a postal worker would be very hard on the body. “Those mailmen work very hard,” he said. “Separating mail standing up is very difficult. So having good benefits for postal workers is very important given the nature of the job.”
Tufts said CUPW has also been at the forefront of resisting the shift from a defined benefit pension plan to a defined contribution plan.
“There is a lot of pressure from employers on employees to change pensions from a pension plan that says you will definitely receive that amount when you retire to a program that says you will get what dividends and how the stock market works.” and the pension fund does,” he stated.
The union also calls for a guaranteed 40-hour workweek, maximizing and maintaining eight-hour routes, meal and rest periods, 10 paid medical days, a cost-of-living allowance and other benefits.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has estimated that the strike by Canada Post workers, which began on November 15 when 55,000 workers walked off the job, has caused losses of $765 million.
“It’s not the Grinch who’s about to steal Christmas. “This is Ottawa sitting on its hands while small businesses are losing crucial revenue and sales due to circumstances beyond their control,” said Corinne Pohlmann, executive vice president of advocacy at CFIB, adding that by Wednesday losses could reach $1 billion. .
The strike came as Canadians prepare for the holidays, with Christmas just over three weeks away.
“We feel for every small business and every child that sends their letter to Santa and everyone else,” Gallant said, “We want to get back to work and we wanted to get back to work three weeks ago.”
While some business groups have called for Ottawa to intervene, Gallant said he hopes it will not lead to binding arbitration.
“We’re hoping to get a negotiated collective agreement so that there can be some kind of labor peace instead of us going to arbitration and that taking years to end,” he said.
Tufts said it was important to have some historical perspective on this strike.
“Historically, this strike activity or hours lost to strikes have actually been quite low compared to the actual periods of militancy in the labor market in the 1970s and early 1980s,” he said.
He added that despite calls for binding arbitration, that may not produce the best results for either party.
“In this case, I don’t think arbitration will benefit postal workers, and I don’t think it will benefit even Canada Post. There are many complex issues about how we deliver mail and packages that must be resolved at the negotiating table. And a referee doesn’t understand postal delivery. The best they usually do is focus solely on salaries and compensation,” he said.
The Canada Post strike raises a question about the future of Canada’s public institutions, he said, and how they can innovate without sacrificing permanent, well-paying jobs.
“This is about our public institutions and we have to ask ourselves what kind of post office do we want?” What kinds of things can the Post Office do for us, whether it’s postal banking or senior registration, that really provide benefits to people and keep this institution safe for the future?
