With just days remaining before a potential nationwide postal strike, Canada Post has submitted a revised set of proposals to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) in a bid to reach an agreement and avoid service disruptions.
The Crown corporation confirmed on Wednesday that new offers have been filed for both the urban bargaining unit and the rural and suburban mail carrier groups. The CUPW said its negotiating team would review the proposals later in the day to determine whether they meet the needs of the union’s 55,000 members.
The latest offer from Canada Post includes a wage increase totaling 13.59 percent over four years—six percent in the first year, followed by three percent in the second, and two percent in each of the following two years. The proposal also includes six additional personal days annually and improved short-term disability benefits.
Canada Post has backed away from several earlier proposals, including a new health benefits plan, changes to post-retirement benefits, and the switch to a defined-contribution pension for new hires. However, the updated offer introduces a plan to incorporate part-time workers into the system to enable seven-day-a-week delivery. These workers would receive health and pension benefits along with guaranteed scheduling.
Another key component of the proposal is the initial rollout of dynamic routing, allowing delivery routes to change daily for greater operational efficiency.
Tensions between Canada Post and the union escalated last week after the Crown corporation briefly suspended negotiations, prompting accusations from CUPW that management had walked away from the table. The suspension came just ahead of the release of a federal report warning of a looming crisis at Canada Post.
The report, authored by Commissioner William Kaplan, described the postal service as facing an “existential crisis,” recommending significant structural reforms including the gradual phase-out of daily door-to-door mail delivery.
Canada Post has already cautioned the public about possible delays if the union resumes strike action on Friday. The last round of disruptions was temporarily halted during the holiday season after federal intervention.
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