Canada Post puts forward ‘final offers’ to postal workers union

Canada Post said they have presented “final offers” to the union representing 55,000 workers Wednesday afternoon.

Included in the proposal are an end to compulsory overtime, a signing bonus of $1,000 for urban employees and $500 for rural and suburban workers, cost-of-living payments that are triggered at a lower inflation threshold.

Management have kept their earlier offer of a near 14 per cent cumulative wage hike over four years unchanged.

The Crown corporation also aims to launch “dynamic routing” – at 10 processing facilities initially – that could see mail carriers’ routes change daily in response to parcel volume.

Canada Post said the final offers, “consider the recommendations of the final report of the Industrial Inquiry Commission,” which held hearings earlier this year with participation from both parties.

“The Commission concluded that ‘Canada Post is facing an existential crisis: It is effectively insolvent, or bankrupt’ and that, ‘the world has changed, and both Canada Post and Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) must evolve and adapt. Merely tinkering with the status quo is not an option,'” further reads the statement that accompanied the announcement of the final offers.

Canada Post reports a loss before tax of $841 million for 2024 in its 2024 Annual Report, with an operating loss of nearly $1.3 billion.

The loss from operations excludes non-recurring gains and dividend income from the Corporation’s divestures of SCI Group Inc. and Innovapost Inc. in the first half of the year.

The report reads that the labour disruption in November 2024, had contributed a net negative impact of $208 million toward the Crown corporation’s loss of $841 million before tax for 2024.

This is the seventh consecutive annual loss for Canada Post.

Workers have been in a strike position since Friday, but the union opted for an overtime ban as negotiations continued.

Key sticking points in the dispute include wages, part-time staffing and weekend deliveries.

With files from The Canadian Press.

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