Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / Fraser Valley Today / A phoho of striking Canada Post workers at 46229 Yale Road, downtown Chilliwack on Nov. 15, 2024.

By Don Mitchell

Postal Strike

Canada Post says talks with postal workers’ union show ‘limited’ progress this weekend

Nov 24, 2024 | 1:16 PM

TORONTO – Canada Post says ongoing talks between the Crown agency and the union representing striking postal workers have seen “limited” progress this weekend.

In a statement on Sunday, Canada Post spokesperson Lisa Liu said negotiations over the past day centered on the prospect of making contracted cleaning staff full-time employees and “pushing back” on pay and benefits for future hires.

Liu said this focus was contrary to the agency’s “urgent” mandate to alter its delivery model, which includes providing weekend delivery and more flexible staffing during the week.

“The union has been focused for the last 24 hours on workers they don’t represent,” she suggested.

“For example, hiring away the cleaning staff from our contracted cleaning service and making them full-time Canada Post employees, while pushing back on any changes to the pay and benefits of people we’ll hire in the future.”

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Meanwhile, CUPW countered the statement, insisting the latest round of bargaining has been “an all-out attack” on the rights and benefits of postal workers.

“While talks continued this weekend, Canada Post was also busy laying off striking workers, and it still hasn’t reinstated benefits and disability programs for workers,” CUPW said in an email.

“Much of the discussions this weekend focused on protecting our bargaining units’ work.”

The national strike is now in its 10th day, with recent financial statements suggesting impacts on the company’s viability are mounting.

On Friday, Canada Post reported that the number of packages delivered year-over-year has dropped by six million, or nearly 10 per cent. Letter mail volume has also eroded.

Liu says the agency has lost $3 billion since 2018 and that it recently posted a $315 million loss before tax in the third quarter of 2024, putting it on course for a seventh consecutive year in the red.

It also reported an increase in labour costs of about $242 million in 2023 compared to 2022, accounting for 70 per cent of Canada Post’s revenue.

The main sticking points in negotiations are wages, contract work, job security, benefits, and working conditions.

Canada Post says it is offering wage increases of 11.5 per cent over four years, as well as improvements to defined-benefit pensions and job security.

“With the postal system effectively shut down by the strike for a week and a half, we are down millions of parcels and entering the busy Black Friday online shopping week effectively shut down,” Liu added.

Close to 55,000 postal workers went on strike across the country on Friday, Nov. 15.

The union previously said it is seeking a cumulative wage hike of 24 per cent over four years, compensating for inflation.

It is also pressing for full-time employees to deliver packages on weekends, as opposed to a proposed Canada Post plan to rely on part-time contract workers.

“Canada Post says it wants flexibility, but what it really wants is the flexibility to hire lower-wage, part-time workers, reduce worker benefits, and create a second-class workforce,” said CUPW.