Company asks union to end delivery boycott of marketing flyers as talks resume

(UPDATED: 6:15 p.m. ET with CUPW response)

Canada Post on Thursday said it will present a new contract offer to unionized mail carriers in an effort to break a negotiating stalemate that has created uncertainty for users and led to falling mail and parcel volumes.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers declined to immediately drop its limited strike action against delivering marketing mail, which took effect on Friday. Canada Post requested the delivery ban be lifted since Canada Post is now willing to return to the bargaining table. Previously, mail carriers had refused to work overtime in an effort to pressure Canada Post to reach a deal.

The proposal is a response to an Aug. 20 offer from CUPW, which Canada Post rejected as even more restrictive and costly than demands in earlier rounds of negotiations. The parties are scheduled to return to the bargaining table next week. Canada Post said it is finalizing the detailed legal language before sharing its offer with the union.

Canada Post said CUPW has not submitted more “workable solutions that reflect the company’s current realities,” but hopes its new offer allows the sides to find common ground on issues such as weekend delivery.  

“It’s about time you responded – but why do we need to wait another week?” CUPW said in statement. “Postal workers have already waited far too long for Canada Post to do what’s right. For nearly two years, postal workers have been working without new collective agreements. Canada Post’s plan to dictate new terms and conditions, rather than negotiate them, has not worked. It’s our hope that Canada Post’s next offers actually meet the needs of postal workers and the public. As of now, our national unaddressed flyer ban remains in effect.”

Ending the embargo on marketing mail would provide relief for many customers, such as community newspapers, small businesses and charities that spent money to print flyers with the expectation that Canada Post would deliver them, the company said. Instead, marketing mail has been stuck in Canada Post facilities. Canada Post is not accepting new residential flyers until it is certain they can be delivered. 

Canada Post has lost $3 billion since 2018 and says it needs to modernize its delivery model as letter mail declines in the Internet age and shippers gravitate to alternative parcel carriers. It wants to implement part-time flex staffing, weekend delivery, the ability to level loads between carriers as needed and dynamic routing, rather than sticking to pre-determined assignments.