Canada Post's CUPW-represented employees to vote on final offers starting July 21

CIRB-led vote comes as uncertainty from strike activity increased financial losses to almost $10 million a day in June

OTTAWA, ON, July 16, 2025 /CNW/ - Between 7:00 a.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) on Monday, July 21, 2025, and 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) on Friday, August 1, 2025, more than 53,000 Canada Post employees represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) will have the opportunity to vote on the Corporation's final offers for collective agreements.

Earlier today, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) provided the parties with a Notice of Vote. The CIRB is an independent tribunal that will administer the confidential vote. Employees will vote privately, either online or by phone.   

Voting will be open to all employees in the Urban and RSMC (Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers) bargaining units. Employees from each unit will vote on their respective offer. If a majority of voters in that bargaining unit accept their offer, it will become the new collective agreement for that unit and bring resolution to this extended round of negotiations.

The Canada Labour Code allows the Minister of Jobs and Families to direct that employees be allowed to vote on an offer when that's in the public interest. After 19 months of negotiations, four global offers, mediation and an Industrial Inquiry Commission, Canada Post and CUPW have remained at a significant impasse since December 2024.

What employees will be voting on

CUPW-represented employees in the Urban and RSMC bargaining units will be voting on their respective best and final offers which Canada Post presented on May 28, 2025.

The Corporation has put forward offers that reflect the company's current realities while protecting items that are important to employees. They also include needed changes to help begin to rebuild the company's parcel business. The full offers are available at canadapost.ca/offers and include the following:

• Wage increases of 6% in year one; 3% in year two; 2% in year three; and 2% in year four (13.59% compounded).
• A signing bonus ($1,000 for full-time employees; $500 for all others).
• Maintaining their defined benefit pension and industry-leading job security.
• Creation of new part-time positions, with predictable hours and benefits, that would help the company provide weekend parcel delivery and optimize delivery during the week.
• Phased changes to the delivery model to better reflect volumes, avoid overburdening and provide better service.

Vote comes as the cost of uncertainty from strike activity adds up at record pace

On May 23, 2025, CUPW restarted its strike action by announcing a ban on overtime, which reignited the uncertainty for customers and Canadians still recovering from the union's national strike in November and December 2024. To continue serving Canadians while seeking a resolution to the negotiations, Canada Post has maintained full staffing across the country.

Customers are avoiding the uncertainty at Canada Post by using other delivery companies, causing parcel volumes to drop significantly and financial losses to spike. In June, Canada Post saw losses from operations increase to approximately $10 million a day – more than double the daily average losses in June 2024. These record losses are clearly unsustainable, especially if the uncertainty continues.   

Why Canada Post needs to change

Prior to this round of negotiations, Canada Post was already facing significant and mounting financial challenges. Since 2018, the Corporation has recorded more than $3.8 billion in losses before tax. In 2024, it posted an operating loss of nearly $1.3 billion.

This May, the final report of the Industrial Inquiry Commission concluded that "Canada Post is facing an existential crisis: It is effectively insolvent, or bankrupt" (p. 12), and that, "The world has changed, and both Canada Post and CUPW must evolve and adapt. Merely tinkering with the status quo is not an option" (p. 26). 

Canada Post is proposing critical changes to its delivery model. These changes will help the company grow its parcel business so it can meet the evolving needs of Canadian businesses and Canadians, help protect jobs and preserve a vital national service.

SOURCE Canada Post