First off is the Union statement
CUPW Issues 72-Hour Strike Notice: A Call for Fair Negotiation
Tuesday May 20 2025
2023-2027/251
No. 83 - AMENDED
On Monday, May 19, CUPW issued a 72-hour strike notice to Canada Post. This action was not taken lightly, but it was done for several reasons.
The collective agreements for the Urban Postal Operations and the Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers bargaining units, which were extended by the Government in December 2024, are set to expire Friday, May 23 at midnight.
CUPW negotiators met with Canada Post over several days at the end of April and early May, with the goal of resolving our bargaining dispute and achieving new collective agreements for both bargaining units.
Last week, Canada Post walked away from the bargaining table for the third time, telling the Union it would return with new comprehensive offers. A week has passed. With the expiry of our collective agreements drawing closer by the day, we are still waiting. The clock is ticking, and so far, Canada Post has yet to deliver.
The day after Canada Post walked away and paused bargaining, it fired another shot, by threatening to unilaterally change your working conditions and suspend employee benefits if new agreements aren’t reached. This aggressive move undermines good faith bargaining and the stability of our public postal service. It had to be met with strong resistance. Postal workers won’t be threatened or coerced into accepting offers that will gut our collective agreements and undermine good, stable jobs.
Our right to strike was taken away from us and put on “a time out” by former Minister of Labour Steven MacKinnon’s orders and the Canada Industrial Relations Board in December 2024. By issuing this notice, we are simply announcing our intention to continue our legal strike that was put on pause by the CIRB.
The Work Continues
Although we have served notices, there is still time for negotiations to take place. We remain committed to achieving negotiated collective agreements. Your National Executive Board and Negotiating Committees urge Canada Post to return to the bargaining table with real offers that protect the health and well-being of postal workers, support the communities we serve, and ensure a strong and sustainable public postal service for all.
In solidarity,
Jan Simpson
National President
An update on negotiations
The parties (Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers – CUPW) have reached agreements in principle but have yet to finalize tentative collective agreements for signing. While we do so, we have agreed that all strike/lockout activity is suspended. As the parties work to finalize the tentative agreements, we will make no comment on the details of any potential agreement.
Negotiations Update: Agreements in Principle with Canada Post Reached for Both Bargaining Units
Friday November 21 2025
2023-2027/365
No. 166
After more than two years of negotiations, we have reached agreements in principle with Canada Post covering both postal bargaining units.
This means both sides have agreed on the main points of the deals, but we need to agree on the contractual language that will form the collective agreements that would be put to a vote by the members.
Under the terms of the agreements in principle with CPC, our current collective agreements shall continue to remain in full force and effect. Upon signing the agreements, the Union agrees to pause its strike action, and the Employer agrees to suspend its right to lockout. The Union will retain the right to strike until new agreements are ratified.
Should the Tentative Agreements not be reached because the parties disagree on how the agreement in principle is reflected in language provisions, the suspension will be lifted for both parties, and the Union may continue strike activity.
More Information Coming
Once we have tentative agreements, we will publish more information covering the proposed changes to the collective agreements for both bargaining units. Stay tuned for more information.
This round of bargaining has been a challenging one. But members have stood together for strong public services, good jobs and a sustainable post office.
In solidarity,
Jan Simpson
National President
What is an Agreement in Principle?
Friday November 28 2025
2023-2027/368
No. 167
Last week, we announced that we had reached agreements in principle with Canada Post for both postal bargaining units.
What do we mean by “agreements in principle” and what’s the difference between this and “tentative agreements”?
With our agreements in principle, we have told Canada Post that we agree on the big concepts and key issues that will shape our next collective agreements. However, we have not yet finalized the actual contract language.
When we conduct ratification votes, members vote on contract language. Before ratification votes, we print and distribute draft copies of the collective agreements for members to review.
We can think of these agreements in principle as a step before tentative agreements.
How We Reach Tentative Agreements
To reach tentative agreements, two things need to happen:
- The Negotiators need to review the proposed contract language to make sure it lines up with what we have agreed to with Canada Post.
- The National Executive Board (NEB) needs to vote to accept the offers and send them to a membership ratification vote.
At this stage, your Negotiators are continuing to review the proposed contract language.
What Comes Next?
After the Negotiators have finished their review, and the NEB has made its decision, we will let members know. Once we have achieved tentative agreements, the Union will provide members with all the information they need to make an informed decision in a ratification vote.
While our strike action remains suspended, your Negotiators thank all members for their ongoing solidarity and support.
In solidarity,
Rona Eckert
1st National Vice-President
Canada Post Releases Q3 Report
Monday November 24 2025
2023/2027/366
Last Friday Canada Post officially released its financial report for the third quarter of 2025. There were no surprises to the headline figures, because the Corporation had already revealed most of its results during the Annual Public Meeting.
Overall, Canada Post reported a loss from operations of $535 million for the quarter.
CPC’s story is that its losses reflect long-term, structural challenges. But there’s no doubt the continued “uncertainty” from our ongoing bargaining dispute is driving the results. When reading the report, we must bear in mind the impacts of a prolonged disruption, with repeated government interventions and CPC’s insistence on achieving its “non-negotiable” demands.
For the year so far, parcel revenues for the Canada Post segment are down 33% compared to last year, while Direct Marketing (which includes unaddressed admail) is down almost 7%.
Letter mail, on the other hand, has shown positive results. For the first 9 months of 2025, letter mail revenues are up over 26% compared to last year. Letter mail has generated over
$2 billion in revenues thus far this year, an increase of over $430 million from last year.
It is worth remembering that in its public-facing communications, Canada Post said the rate increase would generate an additional
$80 million in revenue from regulated products. The Corporation chose not to communicate expected results from non-regulated products, which make up most of what CPC delivers.
Despite January’s price increases, letter mail volumes are also up over 2% for the year.
Restoring Parcel Revenues – not cuts – Key to CPC Finances
Growing parcel revenues – and restoring what’s been sent to Purolator – is the key to improving Canada Post’s finances in the short term.
The drop in parcel revenues of nearly
$780 million accounts for the bulk of the Corporation’s losses this year.
While the report does not provide much detail about Purolator, we can see that its revenues so far this year are up $477 million, or 26%. Some of these additional revenues come from its purchase of a new subsidiary, Livingston, but many are from parcels and products CPC would normally deliver.
CPC has already used its Q3 results to justify the sweeping job and service cuts the Government announced on September 25. Yet what’s needed now aren’t service cuts. What’s needed are good collective agreements to restore stability and grow revenues.
In solidarity,
Jan Simpson
National President
NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE: LANGUAGE REVIEW CONTINUES
Friday December 5 2025
2023-2027/372
No. 168
This week, the Negotiators continued to review the hundreds of pages of collective agreement language that we’ve exchanged with Canada Post since announcing our agreements in principle.
We know this round of bargaining has been incredibly challenging for everyone. While we are not yet at the point of having tentative agreements, your Negotiating Committees continue to work hard to get there.
Our goal is to reach agreements that postal workers can ratify. Postal workers need agreements that will bring stability back to the public postal service and deliver the fair working conditions and respect you deserve.
We’re not there yet, but we are working every day to achieve this goal.
Stop the Cuts
We are also fighting back against the Government’s announced cuts to the public postal service. We are connecting with allies and stakeholders across the country and meeting with Members of Parliament to let them know how these cuts will affect the people that live in their ridings.
We’ve developed some online tools and petitions. Visit cupw.ca/hands-off to access campaign materials. Send a letter to your MP demanding that the cuts be stopped. As well, there must be a full and public mandate review where the voices of those who own Canada Post, Canadians, can be heard. This must be done before any drastic changes to Canada Post are made.
In solidarity,
Jan Simpson
National President
Negotiations Continue; Canada Post Executives Appearing Before Parliamentary Committee
Wednesday December 10 2025
2023-2027/373
No. 169
Yesterday, December 9 and today, December 10, CUPW Negotiators met with Canada Post and the federal mediators to continue discussions on our agreements in principle. Your Negotiators have flagged several issues that needed clarification and modification in the collective agreement language that Canada Post has provided. Before we can reach tentative agreements, we’ll have to work through these issues.
Canada Post Executives at Parliamentary Committee Thursday
Tomorrow, Canada Post executives – CEO Doug Ettinger, COO Alexandre Brisson, and CFO Rindala El-Hage – will appear before the Parliamentary Committee studying the “Situation at Canada Post.”
As of the publication of this bulletin, they’re scheduled to appear from 3:30 PM until 5:00 PM. Members can watch the proceedings live at the following link: https://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2?fk=13295708.
Public Pushback Growing
We’re not sure what Canada Post will say, but already we are seeing signs of growing pushback to the Government and Corporation’s plans to gut the public post office.
Stripping Legal Protection for Public Services
As the Canadian Press reported, the Government’s budget bill includes a change to the Canada Post Corporation Act, eliminating the legal protection of special postage rates for the blind and discounted rates for library materials. While the Government has since responded that it has no intention of doing away with these special rates in practice, the fact remains this vital public service will no longer be protected in the law.
This confusion underscores the need for what we have been pushing for since the Fall: a fully public and transparent mandate review of Canada Post’s services, so that Canadians can have a say in the future of their public postal service.
We’ll need every member to get involved in our Hand’s Off Campaign to spread this message. Talk to your friends and neighbours, contact your Member of Parliament and other elected representatives, and let them know why our public post office matters.
In solidarity,
Jan Simpson
National President
The Abuse of Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code
Friday December 12 2025
2023-2027/374
Tomorrow, December 13, marks the one-year anniversary of former Minister of Labour Steven MacKinnon’s Section 107 order that put our legal strike “on pause” for six months.
MacKinnon’s order called on the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to determine whether CUPW and Canada Post were likely to reach negotiated settlements before the new year. If the CIRB decided this was not likely, the Board was to order postal workers back to work. The CIRB held hearings over the weekend. By Sunday evening, the Board determined that contracts were not likely. As a result, the Board ordered postal workers in both bargaining units to “resume and continue their duties” at 8:00 am local time, on December 17, 2024, until May 22, 2025. As part of the return-work-order, we received a 5% retroactive wage increase from January 1, 2024 (RSMC) and February 1, 2024 (Urban).
MacKinnon’s unconstitutional attack on postal workers’ right to strike was just one of many the Liberal Government had launched over the course of the year. Before us, striking (or locked out) airplane mechanics, port workers, and rail workers were similarly hit with Section 107 back-to-work orders. After us, it was Air Canada flight attendants.
Section 107 is an affront to workers’ most basic rights to free and fair collective bargaining. The power to end a legal strike should not be at the whim of the Minister responsible for labour. Trampling workers’ Charter rights and the entire Canada Labour Code with the click of a button is no way to secure “industrial peace.”
Like back to work legislation, the Government’s repeated misuse of Section 107 is another tool used to tip the balance of power in employers’ favour. When employers know they can fall back on the Government for support, they have no reason to seriously negotiate.
In our own case, repeated government interventions have only delayed the bargaining process, pushed problems and issues to further rounds of bargaining and undermined postal workers’ trust in the government.
Bill C-247: Repeal Section 107
That’s why we welcome the New Democratic Party’s private Member’s bill, Bill C-247, that would amend the Canada Labour Code and delete Section 107 from the Act.
To show your support, you can sign Canada Labour Congress President Bea Bruske’s petition in support of this bill, sponsored by Winnipeg Centre’s Leah Gazan: https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-6979
In Solidarity,
Jan Simpson
National President
Our Collective Action and Resilience
Friday December 19 2025
2023-2027/377
Sisters, Brothers, and Friends,
As the year draws to a close, heartfelt thanks are extended to you for your strength, solidarity, and commitment to our union. This past year has not been easy, marked by significant challenges, tough negotiations, and ongoing pressures on our public postal service.
Members’ collective action and resilience continue to be the foundation of CUPW. Because of you, we have defended our rights, amplified our voices, and kept the values of fairness, equity, and public service at the forefront.
Negotiations with Canada Post are top of mind for everyone right now. While this process may be taking longer than we had hoped, we have to make sure our contract language is solid and accurately reflects the concepts we agreed to in the agreements in principle. Taking some extra time to get things right now will save us from dealing with unwanted issues in the years ahead.
Looking ahead to the coming year, there is much work to do. We will continue to fight for decent wages, safe working conditions, and a strong, expanded public postal service that meets the needs of our communities. As a recent report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) makes clear, our public postal service “needs investment, not retrenchment.” Drawing on data from the Universal Postal Union, the CCPA report shows that the world’s most successful post offices are often the most diversified post offices. In fact, aggressive cost-cutting measures, like post office closures, are counterproductive, leaving those that pursue them financially worse off than those that pursue diversification strategies.
Together, with our allies in communities across the country, we will keep pushing back against service cuts, the austerity agenda, and advocate for a future that respects postal workers and the important services we provide.
The lasting relevance of a strong public post office was brought home yet again this week when librarians raised their voices to protest the Carney Government’s proposed elimination of special postage rates for library materials from the Canada Post Corporation Act. Advocates also expressed their outrage at a legislative amendment eliminating free mailing of material for people who are blind or partially sighted. As the fight to defend our public post office continues, we all have a part to play in building relationships with the postal users who rely on our services and make our work meaningful.
May the new year bring renewed energy, hope, and continued solidarity.
In solidarity
Jan Simpson
National President
The Future of Postage Pricing
Thursday December 18 2025
2023-2027/376
The Federal Government, in its 2025 Budget (Bill C-15) gives Canada Post a free hand to set postage rates through its proposed changes to the Canada Post Corporation Act. While we hope it means that Governments will no longer interfere in the setting of rates, the legislative changes raise more questions than they answer.
The major change gives Canada Post the sole responsibility to set postage rates. However, the wording proposed on fair and reasonable rate setting is very similar to what is currently written in Section 19 of the Act. The Corporation is already supposed to raise rates, in conjunction with other revenues, in a manner sufficient to defray its costs. But as we saw between 2018 and 2023, Canada Post only raised its rates 7% at the time when major post offices around the world raised theirs an average of 55%.
So far this year, the 2025 price increase has had a positive significant impact in making up for the major shortfall in finances, generating $430 million in new revenue. Yet this new legislation does nothing to guarantee that Canada Post won’t skip needed rate increases in the future, or stop it from planning for deficits around periods of collective bargaining.
Further, we are alarmed to see that Canada Post may also be allowed to hide bulk rate contract pricing with large volume mailers. The difference between regulated and non-regulated mail is now within one cent. It took years to close down the gap from the 2014 rate increase, and now we may never know how much favouritism will be granted to businesses. Hiding bulk pricing from public and competitor view is a huge step backwards and moves Canada Post away from its public-service-first mandate.
The new legislation also takes away the Act’s free postage requirement for materials for use of the blind and removes the reduced library book rate. While Canada Post has publicly stated that it will maintain these rates, the Act will no longer legally require them to do so. While we still have commitments under the Universal Postal Union, we have no idea how decisions will be made to support them. Will decisions be ad hoc or will there be policy added to the Postal Charter? In any case, there has been no public consultation on this.
Transparent and Predictable Stamp Price Increases
CUPW reiterates that we must have fully public, transparent method for postage rate increases, with planned timelines. Given that Canada Post is a public service, postage rates for bulk mailers must be fully transparent as well. To eliminate the arbitrary nature of rate setting, CUPW has previously recommended that postage rates be indexed to inflation, and that they also account for any additional operational costs. A postage rate plan should be made available to the public and present a five-year rolling estimate of rate increases. This should be part of the legislative regulations, however, if that does not happen, at minimum, it could be written into the Postal Charter, which would put it up for public review every five years.
In solidarity,
Jan Simpson
National President
Ettinger Testifies before Committee on the Situation at Canada Post
Tuesday December 16 2025
2023-2027/375
On December 11, Canada Post appeared before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO) in the continued examination of the Situation at Canada Post. Doug Ettinger testified that the Corporation’s 45-day transformational plan was still being reviewed by the Government, saying that it contains no big surprises, and that it is based around recommendations of the Industrial Inquiry Commission led by William Kaplan. While Canada Post may be pleased with the Kaplan report’s recommendations because it reflected its goals, there was no mention that the input provided by the public in over 900 submissions was largely dismissed – especially the need for service expansion.
Canada Post used the theme of transforming the post office to meet the needs of today’s users, while at the same time minimizing the negative impacts that cuts or a leaner workforce could have on services and jobs. Ettinger noted that 30,000 employees are eligible to retire within the next 10 years – but he did not say from which positions. For CUPW, this could amount to about 4,000 people who are eligible to retire in the first five years. Canada Post said its focus is on growing the parcel market, and its work on digital transformation, given that it expects the e-commerce segment to double during that same 10-year period. However, the plan is still to eliminate almost all delivery to the door – a service provided by all of its competitors.
Canada Post tried to walk a fine line when it came to the implementation of the cuts, stating that things would be done with a highly localized approach. The 45-day plan is supposed to have a set of criteria to determine how things will be done, but these were not revealed at the hearing. The current process under the Postal Charter is arguably not very consultative and is more of a one-way notification.
We cannot point to one example where any decision made to switch to Community Mailboxes or to close a post office has been overturned.
Our Fight: Service Expansion, Not Cuts
While we certainly support the idea of growing Canada Post’s share of the parcel market, we still question the need for cuts when the timeline to return to sustainability was given as 2030 – more than enough time to create new revenue generating services. Further, as we have seen with the increased stamp rates, an additional $430 million in revenue has come in so far this year.
It’s no secret that Canada Post is going to make cuts that are easier for it to justify, hoping they go unchallenged by the public. This means that our struggle will be at a very local level – neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood and post office-by-post office. In the coming months, we will need every member to be proactive, talk to their friends and allies in their communities, reach out to their Members of Parliament and to work closely with their municipalities to ensure that we fight back against these cuts, preserve good jobs, maintain excellent service and strengthen our public post office.
In solidarity,
Jan Simpson
National President
Lay off the egg nog! Your last three posts are in REVERSE chronological order!!!!!!!!!!😍😁😜😻
Canada Post and CUPW reach tentative agreements
Canada Post and CUPW have finalized contractual language for their agreement in principle and have now reached tentative agreements for the Urban and RSMC bargaining units. Summaries of the agreements are available below.
Ratification process
The union will be managing a ratification vote for CUPW-represented employees. During the ratification process, the parties have agreed not to engage in any strike or lockout activity.
