1) (Updated) Commission report recommends Canada Post phase out daily door-to-door mail delivery

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Canadian Press Staff, May 16, 2025

The Industrial Inquiry Commission report on the labour dispute at Canada Post recommends phasing out daily door-to-door letter mail delivery for individual addresses, while daily delivery to businesses should be maintained. 

It also says the moratoriums on rural post office closures and community mailbox conversions should be lifted.

“My recommendations are based on my conclusion that there is a way to preserve Canada Post as a vital national institution,” commissioner William Kaplan wrote in the 162-page report released Friday.

“I have designed them to respond to the present problem: to arrest and then reverse the growing financial losses by putting into place the necessary structural changes both within and outside the collective agreements.”

The report was called for after Ottawa asked the federal labour board to send postal employees back to work last year to end a strike that was disrupting holiday mail deliveries.

The report examined the state of Canada Post and its finances, in relation to reaching a labour deal. 

Kaplan wrote that Canada Post is facing an existential crisis and is effectively insolvent.

“Without thoughtful, measured, staged, but immediate changes, its fiscal situation will continue to deteriorate,” he wrote.

Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger said in a statement Friday that Kaplan’s report offers the Crown corporation, its employees and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers “a frank and straightforward assessment” of the challenges facing the postal service.

He welcomed the report’s recommendations and said they come at a “critical time” as Canada looks to strengthen its economy to guard against U.S. threats.

Kaplan said that until recently, Canada Post was able to operate in a financially sustainable manner as low-cost urban and suburban mail delivery subsidized high-cost delivery to rural, remote, and Indigenous communities.

“This model no longer works because the traditional core business – mail delivery – has fundamentally changed: fewer letters must now be delivered to more addresses,” he wrote. 

Kaplan said that both sides were “diametrically opposed,” leading to stalemates at the bargaining table, but he put the onus for failing to reach a deal on one side in particular.

Among its other recommendations, it says Canada Post must have the flexibility to hire part-time employees to deliver parcels on the weekend and to assist with volume during the week.

“Bargaining largely failed because one party – CUPW – is defending business as usual,” the report said, arguing the union is pushing for improvements on the “status quo.”

Patty Hajdu, the newly sworn-in minister of jobs and families, said in a statement posted to social media Friday afternoon that the report “offers thoughtful suggestions on how to continue good-faith negotiations.”

“It’s time for everyone to put aside their differences, focus on shared goals, and ensure a strong postal system now and into the future,” she said in a post on X.

It also says Canada Post must also be able to change routes daily to reflect volumes.

Throughout negotiations, CUPW has pushed back on proposals that would see Canada Post take on part-time workers to fill shifts, arguing those moves could compromise job security for full-time employees.

Earlier in the week, Canada Post had hit “pause” on negotiations with the union.

The corporation said at the time it was regrouping after several days of unproductive talks to come up with proposals for the union that reflect the postal service’s financial reality.

CUPW dismissed this as a “tactic” and accused the employer of refusing to negotiate with “real intent.”

On Friday, Ettinger said Canada Post “will work with our bargaining agents and our shareholder, the Government of Canada, to address our challenges and secure a sustainable path forward.”

CUPW confirmed it received the Kaplan report but has not offered comment on its findings. The union said it was set to meet with Hajdu on Friday to discuss the report and negotiations.

CUPW has not responded to request for comment Friday.

2) (Updated) Canada Post hits pause on negotiations with union as May deadline nears

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Craig Lord, May 14, 2025

Workers at Canada Post could be heading back to the picket lines in a matter of days — but a labour expert warns postal workers might find negotiating conditions far less favourable now than they were during their holiday job action.

Canada Post said late Tuesday it was hitting pause on negotiations with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers after days of talks between the parties bore little fruit.

This temporary pause will allow the postal service to come back to the table with “comprehensive proposals” that it hopes can move discussions forward, the Crown corporation said.

The union shot back, calling the pause a “tactic” and noting there’s timeline for presenting these new proposals.

“Given the seriousness of the matter, it is reprehensible to keep workers and the public on edge when we should all be focused on negotiating good collective agreements that will benefit workers and grow our public service to meet the needs of all Canadians,” CUPW said in a media statement.

Ottawa asked the federal labour board to send workers back on the job in December when talks were at an impasse and a strike was disrupting holiday mail deliveries.

That reprieve expires on May 22, at which point a renewed labour dispute could again bring Canadians’ mail service to a halt.

Canada Post said any proposals will reflect the significant financial challenges that are putting the postal service’s future in jeopardy.

Thursday is the deadline for a commission set up in December to probe the viability of Canada Post to file its report.

Stephanie Ross, associate professor in the school of labour studies at McMaster University, said that depending on what commissioner William Kaplan concludes, the report could lend credence to Canada Post’s claim that its financial situation limits what it can offer the union.

One of the outstanding issues is a push from Canada Post to add weekend delivery — a move the union fears could undermine full-time workers’ job protections if the postal service turns to part-time or gig workers to staff the expanded model.

It’s likely in Canada Post’s interest to “pause” negotiations, she said, because the report could backup the Crown corporation’s claim that it’s pursuing the most viable path to staying afloat.

The holiday season gave the union plenty of bargaining power because Canadians’ holiday cards and gifts were being caught up in the postal backlog, Ross said.

“May is not that time of year,” she said.

“The volume of activity is not the same, and the attention paid to it by Canadians is not going to be the same.”

The economic context has also completely changed, Ross added.

In late 2024, CUPW was catching the “tail end of a strike wave” that saw unions across the country taking advantage of strengthening economic conditions to bid up wages — in part to help their workers catch up on years of buying power lost to surging inflation.

Now, with tariff threats from the United States and a rising unemployment rate, those circumstances are less rosy, Ross said, and the public’s sympathy for workers and patience for disruption may have waned.

“The conditions for a labour dispute to be settled in the favour of workers, it’s not so clear cut,” she said.

When Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled his new cabinet on Tuesday, there was no portfolio for labour — only a minister of jobs and families, a role filled by Patty Hajdu. There is a secretary of state for labour, a more junior position that is not a full member of cabinet.

Union leaders and opposition MPs have sharply criticized the government for failing to appoint a labour minister.

While Ross emphasized that it’s still early days for the Carney government, she said the absence of a labour minister might signal that this government places less emphasis “on relationships with the labour movement” than the previous government.

“Jobs and labour are not exactly the same,” she said. “I think that it is troubling. I don’t think it’s a good sign.” — with files from Catherine Morrison