Canada Post says response to latest union comments coming shortly

Canada Post says it will respond to its union's latest negotiation comments as soon as possible as uncertainty caused by the contract dispute weighs heavily on its business.

The Crown corporation and its union were back at the bargaining table on Sunday — though not face-to-face — as Canada Post reported that parcel shipping volumes last week were down 50 per cent from last year and still dropping. 

Canada Post said it's reviewing the union's latest response in detail.

"After almost two years of negotiations, a lengthy national strike and the release of the final report of the Industrial Inquiry Commission, it’s now time for urgency and we will respond in short order."

In the meantime, a national ban on overtime continues after the Canadian Union of Postal Workers opted for the limited labour action.

The union representing about 55,000 workers had been in a strike position starting Friday, but said it instead opted for the overtime ban to minimize disruptions to the public while keeping pressure on the corporation.

The postal service has warned of delays in mail delivery while overtime is off the table, though it's not clear how much overtime demand there is given the drop in parcel volumes.

Canada Post blamed the "ongoing uncertainty" for the impact on the postal service's business and warned that the labour disruption's impact on the Canadian economy will be greater.

The union, meanwhile, says it is Canada Post's actions that have created widespread uncertainty and pushed customers to use their competitors.

CUPW had offered a two-week truce ahead of the work action to provide more time for negotiations but after Canada Post declined, it went forward with the limits on overtime hours.

Negotiations Sunday involved the union providing its position to the mediator, who then passed on their perspective to Canada Post, rather than face-to-face meetings, said CUPW.

It said the system is used by mediators to remove opposing personalities and animosity from the process.

The two sides have been clashing over key issues like wages and other forms of compensation, as well as the potential of more part-time staff and weekend delivery. 

The union initiated the overtime ban after rejecting Canada Post's latest offer, which amounted to a little more than 13 per cent in wage increases over four years, while the union has pushed for closer to 19 per cent to catch up after years of rampant inflation.

The push for higher wages, and the decline in parcel shipping demand, come as Canada Post continues to lose money. The Crown corporation posted more than $3.8 billion in operating losses between 2018 and September 2024.

Canada Post faces a reckoning after a government-commissioned report last week found it was effectively "bankrupt" and in need of drastic reforms such as part-time weekend workers, post office closures and dynamic routing rather than the fixed routes that workers walk daily.

A mail decline has dragged on for nearly two decades, weighing on the Crown corporation's finances. In 2023, the average household received two letters per week, down from seven per week in 2006, according to Canada Post figures.

While the number of letters delivered fell to 2.2 billion from 5.5 billion per year in the same nearly two-decade stretch, the number of unionized employees decreased only seven per cent to 55,813, annual reports show.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck