Canada Post-mortem: Looking at the aftermath of the CUPW strike

🔊 Listen to Post

For many Canadians, the announcement that the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) would go on strike was an unexpected shock, especially so close to the holiday season. 

However, for those paying attention, talks between CUPW and Canada Post had been going on since November 2023, with the union demanding, as reported by PressProgress, wages that keep pace with inflation and retaining a defined benefit pension that provides guaranteed income instead of a defined contribution plan funded primarily by the worker. Postal workers were also concerned with protecting new workers as such changes would hurt them greatly.

Like any labour action, the union was on the back foot as mainstream media reported on the strike from pro-business and pro-individual-leaning angles. News outlets highlighted how individuals and both large and small businesses have been inconvenienced by the strike — and so close to Christmas, too! 

News pieces may certainly relist CUPW’s requests, but the framing was often centred away from the union and the workers. A classic strategy is to divert popular attention away from, “Why is this?” and towards, “Look how this affects you personally!” 

Appealing to feelings of individual inconvenience at another’s actions keeps them from realizing that pensions and raising wages is a sympathetic goal that only the truly naïve, or vested interests, would oppose.

After striking for a month, the federal government — which had previously stated it did not intend on intervening — stepped in and directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order the 55,000 employees back to work since the Crown corporation and union were at an “impasse.” CUPW plans on challenging this order, but, until then, Canada Post employees are working through the backlog. 

Ordering workers to go back on the job, shockingly enough, does not solve the union’s list of demands. It only serves to get mail deliveries running while negotiations continue, effectively defanging the indisputable right of organized workers to withhold their labour if they believe that their needs are not being met. 

It does not help that Canada Post is in dire straits. According to The Tyee, the Crown corporation has lost $3 billion since 2018 with an unsustainable business model. It has also been trying to reduce labour costs by introducing more part-time and temporary jobs to allow delivery services on weekends, The Globe and Mail reported. This is basically “gigification” to compete with low-cost “independent contractor” parcel couriers since demand for mail delivery has nose-dived. 

CUPW blames these financial woes on poor investments by the corporation in pursuit of the parcel-delivery sector, and, understandably, workers do not want their job security threatened by gig-economy encroachment. Thus, when negotiations broke down, a strike ensued.

There are many unanswered questions left hanging with this forced return to work. Will CUPW trigger another strike in 2025? Will Canada Post reform for the better or the worst? Could the private sector dominate the delivery industry, leading to Canada Post privatizing? 

Let us hope the last one does not come to pass because — despite what every free-marketeer will say about competition, innovation, improved amenities, and responsiveness to customer demand — the only thing that privatization will do is make services more expensive and open the door to opaqueness and monopolization which will quickly outweigh the purported benefits.

CUPW is not ready to give up just yet, and Canada Post has a litany of issues that it has to reckon with.

The new year will see this old problem persist and, perhaps, draw to a conclusion. What that conclusion will be exactly is not yet certain. Whatever the case may be, there is no denying that this is not the end.