CUPW has continued to meet with Canada Post and the Federal mediators to further explore the potential for new collective agreements for both postal bargaining units.
Annual Public Meeting
Canada Post once again came with all its greatest hits at today’s public meeting – sticking to the same message it has been putting out for two years. Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger mentioned the transformation plan that Canada Post submitted to the Government last week, but it won’t be shared until it is final – again, no consultation with the public.
Ettinger did a sales job on the benefits of CMBs and mentioned the delivery accommodation program. While CPC claims it wants to improve and scale up the program, other than a new website, there was no mention of the current barriers to access. Ettinger claimed CMBs are more convenient, even as market research shows Canadians want parcels delivered to their door.
Ettinger also made a commitment to protecting rural, remote and Indigenous services and will treat each situation on a case-by-case basis. But we have not seen much in the way of meaningful consultation with the existing Postal Charter, and we are not sure that a decision to close a post office can be overturned.
CPC will be extending delivery standards to 3-7 business days to help allow for ground transport instead of air. Ettinger said most Canadians won’t notice this, but he offered no evidence to support this claim. Ettinger explicitly said the Corporation was not looking at doing alternate day delivery.
CPC wants to streamline the process for setting the stamp price – in Ettinger’s own words he’s, “happy to see… a proposal to deregulate the setting of postage rates.” Canada Post should not be allowed to set rates arbitrarily. As we have argued before, CUPW would much rather see a transparent formula that considers inflation and other costs related to operations, coupled with a five-year plan for increases. Previous Canada Post reviews have recommended similar measures.
Preview of Canada Post Q3 Report
During the APM, figures from the upcoming 2025 third quarter report were shared. Canada Post claims a year-to-date loss from operations of $1.042 billion with $535 million of that loss in the third quarter alone. Despite this bleak picture, there was little emphasis of the significant revenue generated by the 2025 postage price increase. We need to see what the impact of that will be when the full Q3 report is released on Friday, November 21. It is also very clear that Canada Post needs to get back and expand its share of the parcel market.
In solidarity,