Canada Post workers gathered Thursday in several locations across the country, as the threat of a strike between the Crown corporation and its unionized employees looms.

“There are a lot of concerns on the minds of postal workers right now, from the present moment into the future,” said Wesley Bartlett, a mail carrier who attended the rally in Ottawa.

Bartlett, who has worked at Canada Post for about six years, said job security is something postal workers “will have to fight for.”

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and Canada Post have been in contract talks for almost a year. These talks are continuing. Last month, workers voted massively in favor of a strike if an agreement could not be reached at the bargaining table.

Figures reported by the union show that 95.8 percent of urban workers and 95.5 percent of rural workers voted in favor of the strike mandate.

To date, neither Canada Post nor the union have provided the minimum 72-hour notice of their intention to initiate a labor dispute.

But earlier this week, the union said in a written statement that it “would not hesitate to take the next step” if no progress was made during negotiations.

At the rally in Ottawa on Thursday, CUPW national president Jan Simpson reiterated that position, adding that the rally was intended to signal the union’s desire to negotiate a collective agreement without recourse to arbitration.

Wesley Bartlett, a Canada Post mail carrier, said he attended the rally in Ottawa in solidarity with his colleagues. (Nick Persaud/CBC News)

“Fair wages, safe working conditions”

In a statement announcing the rallies, CUPW said it was negotiating with Canada Post for “fair wages, safe working conditions, the right for all workers to retire with dignity and the expansion of postal services public for all communities.

“Throughout this process, Canada Post has not abandoned its reduction proposals and is requesting that many of our key issues be resolved through arbitration,” the press release states.

Jan Simpson, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, says she would like to see Canada Post expand its services to increase revenue. (Nick Persaud/CBC News)

In an email sent Thursday, Canada Post highlighted what appears to be a key sticking point in negotiations: the desire to move toward seven-day-a-week package delivery.

“This new delivery model is critical to the future of the company and critical to our ability to deliver the offering we have to current employees,” the statement said, adding that the company is also seeking more competitive pricing .

“We have proposed salary increases and additional paid leave, while protecting their defined benefit pension and strong job security arrangements.”

The mere threat of a strike was enough to quickly erode Canada Post’s revenues, the Crown corporation said Monday. Customers are change delivery service out of fear that an interruption in service would prevent the arrival of holiday packages, he added.

Canada Post has highlighted its deteriorating financial situation as one of the main reasons why the company must review its proposals to the union.

The state-owned company has lost $3 billion since 2018, including $490 million in the first six months of 2024.

The company has also invested heavily in infrastructure in recent years, including building a new processing plant in Toronto and greening its delivery fleet.

The core business is “dissolving”, says the professor

At the same time, Canada Post’s core products are “literally dissolving under (its) feet,” said Ian Lee, a business professor at Carleton University.

Lee, who has published numerous articles on Canada Post, said there isn’t enough business to support the current letter carrier workforce.

“Revenues are decreasing year after year,” he said. “Their situation is very, very bleak. But it’s getting worse and worse.”

Ian Lee, a business professor at Carleton University, says Canada Post’s core business is “dissolving.” (Alexandre Behne/CBC)

In its most recent annual report, Canada Post said it would fall below its operating and cash reserve requirements by early 2025 if it did not increase additional borrowing and refinancing.

As for parcel delivery, Lee said the private industry offers this service at a much lower price, further diminishing Canada Post’s share of this market.

Bartlett said he extends his “full solidarity” to the gig workers he encounters every day on his own route – especially those who do their jobs without the protection of a union. But he believes he has a responsibility, as a member of an organized workforce, to “reorganize these non-union people.”

“These people are working without job protections for very low wages, and many of these private companies are offloading a lot of these costs… onto the backs of the workers,” he said.

Lee argued that Canada Post should instead reduce its workforce and focus on so-called “last mile delivery,” a service that the private market does not adequately provide.

Such a service would allow Canada Post to complete the final leg of a package’s journey, including to remote addresses where private services will not deliver.

Simpson said the union would prefer Canada Post go in the other direction – instead of expanding its operations to generate more revenue by introducing services such as postal banking and seniors registration.

“We want to expand services to Canada Post to help them make money,” she said.