As negotiations remain at a standstill, Canada Post says their latest proposal to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) will be their “final offer.”
According to Canada Post, what’s included in their final offer would protect what the company believes to be most important to employees, while making important enhancements to their most recent offers.
Negotiations between the company and union have been ongoing for two years, and involved a strike in late 2024, a review by the Ministry of Labour’s Industrial Inquiry Commission (IIC) and most recently, has seen additional strike activity due to an extended collective agreement expiring.
See Canada Post’s final offers below:
- Employees will receive a signing bonus of $1,000 or $500, depending on their role
- Cost of living allowance payments would be triggered at a lower inflation threshold (7.16%, instead of 13.59%)
- Urban unit letter carriers using the Dynamic Routing delivery model will continue to receive a per-piece payment for Neighbourhood Mail deliveries until January 1st, 2030, which would be paid on top of time values
- Compulsory overtime will be removed for urban units
- Employees would receive “industry leading” defined benefit pension
- Employees would receive “industry leading” job security provisions
- Employees would receive health benefits and post-retirement benefits
- Employees would receive vacation time of up to seven weeks, and pre-retirement leave
- Employees would receive a cost of living allowance that protects against the effects of unforeseen inflation
- Wages for current employees would increase by 6.0% in year one, 3.0% in year two, 2.0% in year three, and 2.0% in year four of a new collective agreement
- Employees will receive better income replacement for leave under short-term disability
- Employees will receive six additional personal days
On top of the offers, Canada Post has decided to move on some of their key sticking points.
They have decided to no longer push for a new health benefits plan, changes to employees’ post-retirement benefits or enrolling future employees in the defined contribution pension.
Even though they have moved on some key issues, Canada Post’s main objective has remained the same through negotiations: to change the delivery model in order to deliver seven days a week.
To do this, they are proposing bringing on part-time mail carriers for people who want a flexible schedule. They say those part-timers would receive health and pension benefits, as well as guaranteed hours.
Those hired after the signing of a collective agreement would receive health and pension benefits after six months of regular employment.
Canada Post is also proposing an initial, limited implementation of 10 facilities, to pilot using the Dynamic Routing system. They say the industry standard system plans and optimizes routes daily, which would create a more consistent, predictable service.
As of this publication, the CUPW have not responded to Canada Post’s final offers, but their overtime ban which was launched last Friday, continues to be in effect.
The future of Canada Post
According to Canada Post, their final offers are based on the recommendations of the IIC’s final report, made after analyzing the two parties’ positions through negotiations.
“Canada Post is facing an existential crisis: It is effectively insolvent, or bankrupt,” reads the IIC’s final report.
Additionally, Canada Post points to the IIC’s quote, “The world has changed, and both Canada Post and CUPW must evolve and adapt. Merely tinkering with the status quo is not an option.”
Canada Post says that their delivered parcel volumes are now down 65% since this time last year and they have had to accept repayable funding from the Canadian government in early 2025 to prevent insolvency.
Despite Canada Post’s claims of being “effectively bankrupt” and the assertion of their drive to “evolve and adapt,” they have not publicly supported or implemented any of the ideas laid out in the CUPW’s plan for the future that addresses the IIC’s concerns, a plan called ‘Delivering Community Power.’
Delivering Community Power is a plan to revitalize Canada Post from the ground up, with a goal of changing the way the company and its workers’ interact with their communities, besides delivering mail.
The cornerstone of this plan is to offer new services, such as postal banking services, elder check-ins, offering high-speed internet, affordable food delivery, implementing electric vehicle charging stations at post offices and turning post offices into community hubs.
Additionally, Delivering Community Power has a robust plan for how Canada Post could tackle climate change through making these changes.
