CUPW and Canada Post: Two Competing Visions for the Future of Our Public Postal Service

CUPW's National Executive Board and the Negotiations Committee met with Canada Post on Thursday, May 16 to discuss the Corporation’s 2023 Annual Report.

Canada Post Corporation repeated what it had already told CUPW negotiators last week: that it is not interested in alternate day delivery. Canada Post continues to give us one story, and the public and media another.

We also condemned CPC for planting seeds of fear in the media about the Corporation running out of money and that taxpayers may end up having to foot the bill. Canada Post knows full well that taxpayers’ dollars do not subsidize our public post office.

While Canada Post wants to grow its parcel delivery capacity, it doesn’t believe that it can grow its way to financial sustainability. We reiterated that the Union wants to restore the financial sustainability of Canada Post just as much as the Corporation does, but we have vastly different ways of achieving this goal.

During the meeting, we sent a strong message about how we can better serve communities across the country by expanding services to include postal banking, senior-check-ins, and other new services which would generate new revenue streams.

Many postal services around the world are already successfully doing these things.

We also made it clear that we need to protect, not cut, good-paying, union jobs which support families and communities.

We also told the Corporation that it must put an end to its unacceptable Separate Sort and Delivery project and reminded them of the many negative mental and physical impacts SSD has had and will continue to have on members.

We reminded Canada Post that Canadians cherish and trust their public postal service, and they want us to grow and innovate to meet their needs. But Canada Post would rather cut its way to financial sustainability. Cuts may balance the books in the short term, but you can't cut your way to growth. The best path to a stable Canada Post is through diversification and growth through the creation of new services and revenue streams.

Talks at the bargaining table continue. To get updates on Negotiations and other Union news directly to your inbox, sign up for eDigest, at: https://www.cupw.ca/en/cupw-edigest .

In Solidarity,