Behind the strike is a giant existential crisis for Canada Post

Dec. 18, 2024 [The Globe and Mail (Ottawa/Quebec Edition)]

[The author mentions CUPW’s proposed vision for Canada Post, without naming it. Here it is: https://www.deliveringcommunitypower.ca/]

Canada Post and its union are not simply negotiating over specific wages and benefits. There is a much more fundamental issue

Once again, Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code has been invoked by Ottawa, “asking” the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to declare an impasse and order an end to a labour dispute.

In some ways, this dispute between Canada Post Corp. and its union is business as usual, reflecting labour relations at the post office since public-sector unions were recognized in the 1960s. CUPW once even initiated a campaign asking people to boycott the use of postal codes as it enabled the further automation of mail sorting. While it lost that battle, the union did lead on many progressive social issues and won paid maternity leave.

In 1981 Canada Post became a Crown corporation and the post office undertook massive restructuring as rural post offices were closed and the new Canada Post Corporation began privatization through franchising outlets in retailers such as Shoppers Drug Mart Inc. In 1987, strikes over privatization and other issues were ended by legislation passed by prime minister Brian Mulroney’s Conservative government. The government put a moratorium on rural post-office closings in 1994. CUPW continued to organize in the 1990s and unionized rural carriers in 2003.

But here’s the upshot: The history of the struggle between CUPW and Canada Post is often centred on how mail is sorted and delivered, who gets to do it, and for how much. What is different this time is that the parties are not simply negotiating over how to provide mail service with specific wages and benefits. There is a much more fundamental issue underlying these negotiations.

The parties are struggling over what services the post office should deliver in the wake of declining letter delivery. Mail volume has fallen to just over two billion pieces of mail each year to every community in Canada. Canada Post remains an important institution, but there is no agreed-upon vision for its future.

Canada Post is mandated to deliver mail to all communities in Canada and management is seeking lower costs and greater flexibility to compete with private package delivery services who may only service high-volume routes. While management claims to be pursuing innovation and modernization, demanding that postal workers be more flexible for less money to provide the same services is not exactly innovative. CUPW has proposed expanding the range of services offered by its members to include postal banking, scheduled wellness checks for seniors, prescription drug delivery and to move Canada forward with electric-vehicle infrastructure through the electrification of the postal fleet. [see https://www.deliveringcommunitypower.ca/ ]

Canada Post has been criticized for unrealized returns on significant capital investments in parcel delivery. CUPW is blamed for being inflexible as its struggles to maintain wages and working conditions won over decades. It is challenging enough to negotiate a contract over how to deliver something for an agreed-upon wage. But how can Canada Post and CUPW negotiate wages and working conditions when the future of postal delivery is no longer clear?

We need a public debate over Canada Post and the services it will provide that extends beyond the bargaining table or any limited inquiry. In 2009, the government established a Canadian Postal Service Charter that maintained parts of the moratorium on post-office closings, but also mandated universal, reliable, accountable and secure delivery services. The Charter is supposed to be reviewed every five years, and a review is now overdue. But a review may no longer be enough. A new direction for the post office needs to be decided democratically to ensure the institution’s long-term viability as a service and an employer. Naturally, Canada Post and CUPW will play an important role in these discussions, but political leadership is required to engage Canadians in what will be a messy public debate.

Many political leaders have commented on the strike and the importance of a resolution through either negotiation or intervention. But none have articulated any real vision for what Canada Post should be in the digital age. What other services can Canada Post provide? How can Canada Post deliver mail more sustainably? Is it fair to allow urban-based contractors to compete in parcel delivery without rural networks or sustainable practices?

We need to build a vision for postal services in Canada before we can ask management and unions to negotiate how to deliver them. Otherwise, we will suffer through work stoppages at a rudderless Canada Post every few years until competition and changing technology make the institution irrelevant. There are those who feel that postal services are last century’s technology, but sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got until its gone.

Steven Tufts is a labour geographer in the faculty of environmental and urban change at York University.