The union of striking Canada Post workers is blaming a “downward spiral of government intervention” for the ever-worsening labour dispute, saying Ottawa’s recent actions have “completely ruined” the current round of negotiations.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) launched a national strike nearly two weeks ago after the federal government announced changes to the Crown corporation’s business that would see reduced mail delivery, post office closures and the phase-out of door-to-door service.
Since then, Canada Post has presented new offers that the union says are “worse” than the ones tabled and rejected by workers earlier this year — something CUPW lays squarely at the government’s feet.
“The cuts announced by the government are what Canada Post wanted to see,” the union’s national president Jan Simpson said in a statement Monday. “Now we see those cuts reflected in Canada Post’s latest offers.
“We are in a downward spiral of government intervention at Canada Post’s request and an increasing distance between the parties at the table.”
CUPW has not yet presented a counter-offer to Canada Post. It has previously said it would take time to review the company’s offers thoroughly before delivering a response.
Simpson said the government’s Sept. 25 announcement — which followed recommendations laid out in the May report from the Industrial Inquiry Commission that found Canada Post is “effectively insolvent” — gave the company “permission” to propose new offers that remove a previously offered signing bonus and lay the groundwork for job cuts.
The union has previously criticized the government for asking the Canada Labour Relations Board to hold a vote on Canada Post’s last offers on May 28, which CUPW members overwhelmingly rejected, and to end a month-long strike last winter.
“Repeated government interventions in our dispute have completely ruined this round of negotiations,” Simpson said. “Every time the government has stepped in, it has only made reaching new collective agreements that much harder. With every intervention, the government has pushed the parties farther apart.”
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A spokesperson for Government Transformation Minister Joël Lightbound — who oversees Canada Post and announced the service changes late last month — said the government wants to see the national mail carrier “modernize and transform so it can keep serving Canadians for years to come,” and urged the two sides to “find a path forward at the bargaining table.”
“Canada Post is part of the fabric of our country — but it’s facing an existential crisis,” spokesperson Laurent de Casanove said in an email. “Losing $10 million every day isn’t sustainable, and Canadians can’t keep paying that price.”
Global News has also reached out to Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu to respond to CUPW’s statement.
Hajdu has urged both parties to reach a deal quickly to end the strike, which has halted mail delivery across the country and caused anxiety for small businesses ahead of the busy holiday shopping season.
Canada Post says its latest offers reflect the government’s changes “while balancing its financial realities with fairness and respect for employees.”
The offers would remove a provision in the collective agreement that, along with the federal moratorium the government has now lifted, has prevented Canada Post from closing up to 493 post offices in areas once considered rural.
The company and the government both argue that those areas have since grown to become suburban or urban, making it unnecessary for them to be served by individual post offices.
Canada Post also proposes a new “transparent workforce adjustment process” that includes payment-based “departure incentives” in order to reduce staffing. It has promised that most workforce reductions will be achieved through attrition as employees retire in the next few years.
The union says the changes mean Canada Post management will have “sole discretion” to determine how many incentives are offered before proceeding with layoffs.
The company has reported over $5 billion in losses since 2018 and says it is on track to lose $1.5 billion this year alone. The federal government loaned the company $1 billion early this year to keep it afloat.
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