A Canada Post worker fills his truck with mail in Montreal on Dec. 17, 2024.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
Canada Post says it has received strike notices from its union, putting roughly 55,000 postal workers on track to walk off the job by the end of the week.
The Crown corporation in a statement Monday said the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) notified it that employees plan to strike starting at midnight on Friday – exactly when the current collective agreement expires.
This would mark the second strike in less than a year. Workers walked off the job for 32 days in November and December, disrupting deliveries during the critical holiday shopping season.
A new work stoppage would affect deliveries for millions of households and businesses across the country. In 2023, Canada Post handled an average of 8.5 million letters and 1.1 million parcels each weekday – about 29 per cent of the parcel market, according to the Crown corporation.
A new strike could also add pressure to an already fragile shipping sector, as global supply chains face delays linked to U.S. tariffs and economic uncertainty.
The union confirmed in an e-mail that it issued strike notices, and said “this step was taken in part to respond to the employer’s recent indication that it may unilaterally change working conditions and suspend employee benefits.”
The statement, which was attributed to CUPW, added that “there is still time to return to the bargaining table. We remain committed to negotiating collective agreements and urge the employer to do the same.”
Canada Post is already facing deep financial challenges and mounting pressure to overhaul its business model.
“Canada Post is in an existential crisis,” said Ian Lee, an associate professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, in an interview. “Its very existence is on the line.”
Prof. Lee was employed by Canada Post from 1982 to 1984 in corporate finance and banking, and has since written several reports on its finances.
A looming strike threat comes after a tumultuous week at the bargaining table.
Canada Post workers could strike Friday. Here's what to know
Earlier last week, Canada Post told workers it was taking a "temporary pause" in negotiating, citing a lack of progress. CUPW condemned the move at the time as “reprehensible.”
Then, on Friday, a government-commissioned report recommended sweeping changes to Canada Post’s business model, including phasing out daily door-to-door mail delivery to individual homes. While Canada Post praised the recommendations, the union pushed back, saying in a statement the report “skews heavily in favour of Canada Post’s positions.”
Mr. Lee said the union’s strike notice is “their way of saying, ‘We don’t accept the report,’ ” he said. “But the numbers are incontrovertible.”
Canada Post warned that a strike would worsen its already dire financial position and called on both sides to resolve issues to reach a deal.
Canada Post has has lost at least $3-billion since 2018, driven by a drop in letter mail volume. In January, it received a $1.034-billion loan from the federal government to help cover operations this year.
In its latest annual report, Canada Post said “at least $1-billion will also be needed in 2026 and each year afterward to maintain operations and meet our employee obligations.”
The report paints a bleak picture of Canada Post’s financial health: “Without thoughtful, measured, staged, but immediate changes, its fiscal situation will continue to deteriorate.”
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In December, the federal labour relations board ordered postal workers back on the job after a request by then-labour minister Steve MacKinnon.
That decision extended the collective agreement to May 22 and triggered the formation of an industrial inquiry commission to examine why talks have repeatedly broken down. The commission, led by labour negotiator and former law professor William Kaplan, delivered its findings in a report last week.
Canada Post “burned through all their cash reserves and needed a bailout in January just to meet payroll,” Mr. Lee said in the interview. “They will run out of that money sometime this year.”
As for what’s next, Mr. Lee sees only two options: a major overhaul of the organization, or continuous bailouts from the government, putting the postal service in deeper financial trouble.
“There is no common ground,” he said of Canada Post and the union. “There is no solution both sides will agree on.”
Stephanie Ross, an associate professor of labour studies at McMaster University, told The Globe and Mail last week that the delay in negotiations may have weakened the union’s leverage.
“The annual rhythms of when Canadians use the postal service coincide with Christmas. It’s when they can apply maximum pressure,” she said. “Kicking the dispute down to May places it at a time when the union has less leverage.”