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   An opinion piece from the Globe and Mail..   
      
   23 May 2025 03:21:24 UTC   
      
   opinion   
      
   Canada Post workers could strike again. If they do, the public will see red   
   Rita Trichur   
   Published May 20, 2025   
   Updated May 21, 2025   
      
   304 Comments   
      
   The first alert came from my bank. Then every other company   
   that sends me a monthly paper bill followed suit. Canada Post   
   workers could go on strike later in May, they warned. So, sign   
   up for e-statements instead because you're still on the hook   
   for paying on time. "We also recommend that you set up   
   preauthorized debits and payments to help avoid any   
   inconvenience with your payments during the service   
   disruption," my bank said. Call me old-fashioned, but I hate e-   
   bills and paying with plastic. But making the switch is   
   starting to seem logical now that Canada Post has received a   
   strike notice from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).   
   Canada Post workers could walk out at the stroke of midnight on   
   Friday just as their extended contract expires, continuing a   
   protracted labour dispute.   
      
   If you recall, postal workers were ordered back to work last   
   December after a strike that lasted 32 days and disrupted the   
   holiday shopping season. The memory of stranded holiday   
   presents and letters to Santa are still fresh in people's   
   minds. So, the prospect of yet another postal delivery   
   disruption is sure to irk Canadians from coast to coast to   
   coast. Mail delivery is an essential service, especially for   
   people who live in rural communities. But Canada Post is facing   
   a worsening financial crisis. As a result, mail service is   
   costing more but becoming less dependable.   
      
   For all those reasons, postal workers risk destroying the last   
   shred of the public's sympathy if they strike for the second   
   time in less than six months. Canada Post may have a monopoly   
   on mail delivery, but its finances are a mess and only expected   
   to get worse over the coming years. From 2018 to 2023, the   
   Crown corporation lost a whopping $3-billion on a pretax basis.   
   Plummeting mail volumes - 5.5 billion letters were delivered in   
   2006 versus 2.2 billion in 2023 - are one source of financial   
   pressure. So, too, is population growth, which results in   
   roughly new 200,000 addresses annually. There has also been a   
   marked shift from letter mail to parcels as more Canadians shop   
   online. But Canada Post is increasingly competing with private   
   delivery services that benefit from lower labour costs. As a   
   result, Canada Post's market share in the parcel delivery   
   market tumbled from 62 per cent prior to the COVID-19 pandemic   
   to 29 per cent in 2023. "Canada Post's financial situation is   
   unsustainable," states its 2023 annual report.   
      
   Accordingly, the federal government threw Canada Post a   
   financial lifeline this past January - a $1-billion-plus loan   
   of taxpayers' money.   
      
   In this softening economy, however, voters have little appetite   
   for throwing good money after bad and little patience for   
   public-sector unions that are oblivious to the fiscal realities   
   facing the federal government.   
      
   The CUPW needs to be realistic with its wage demands and   
   demonstrate flexibility about the use of part-time staff to   
   make weekend deliveries.   
      
   A recent report by the Industrial Inquiry Commission   
   recommended that part-time staff who work weekend shifts be   
   covered by the collective agreement, which is an entirely   
   sensible approach.   
      
   The report's other key recommendation, the phase-out of door-   
   to-door delivery, is likely inevitable, too, whether the union   
   admits it or not.   
      
   "Bargaining largely failed because one party - CUPW - is   
   defending business as usual, and wants to improve on the status   
   quo with, for example, further job security enhancements and   
   even better than best-in-class total compensation and terms and   
   conditions of employment," states the report.   
      
   That assessment is not going to land well with taxpayers,   
   especially since mail delivery has become less reliable in   
   recent years. While people in other countries enjoy Saturday   
   mail delivery, Canadians can't even count on their supermarket   
   flyers arriving before the start of sales.   
      
   Taxpayers have had enough. Canada Post is bleeding red. Instead   
   of being part of the solution, CUPW seems intent on forcing it   
   to go belly up.   
      
   Read or post comments (304)   
      
   Related stories   
      
   A Canada Post mailbox sits under water near the flooded banks   
   of the Ottawa River in Cumberland, Ontario on Tuesday, April   
   30, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick -  The truth is     
   that Canada Post was simply set up to fail - Taylor C. Noakes   
   --    
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