Canada Post employees will vote on contract proposals that, if ratified, will have a much different effect on delivery operations than previously rejected offers.
Workers represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers will cast their votes on two tentative contracts — one covering urban workers, the other addressing rural and suburban mail carriers — following a lengthy negotiation process between the carrier and the union. During the talks, shippers have had to endure Canada Post strikes and other disruptions, with many diverting their volume to other carriers.
The new tentative contracts do away with initiatives related to dynamic routing, a model focused on ensuring volume is distributed more evenly among couriers, while tweaking the carrier's approach to weekend delivery, according to an overview from CUPW. This time around, the union is encouraging members to vote yes on the proposals. Voting dates have not yet been announced.
Ratification from union members isn't guaranteed, as employees rejected proposed offers in 2025 that Canada Post backed but CUPW opposed.
The previous proposals included plans to dynamically adjust routes daily and the ability to reassign pickup and delivery work. The last contract up for vote would have implemented dynamic routing at up to 10 locations for initial testing and validation. The union opposed the practice, but Canada Post said it would help its standing in the parcel market.
Canada Post said previously that other major carriers already practice dynamic routing and that the initiative would create more consistent and predictable service for customers. However, CUPW said such a practice would lead to heavier daily workloads.
The newest urban contract proposal no longer includes a plan to soft launch dynamic routing. In addition, both contracts up for vote scrapped plans for load leveling. The practice, which would have been installed under the previously proposed contracts, would have allowed Canada Post team leaders to reassign pickups, deliveries and other work as needed.
Canada Post said last year that load leveling would have addressed "the gaps between our current route structure process and the natural volume fluctuations that occur as demand changes throughout the year." However, CUPW pushed back against the arrangement, arguing it could give supervisors too much power in reassigning work.
As for weekend delivery, the proposed contract for urban workers introduces a "parcel delivery part-time" employee classification, or PD PT. Workers with this classification will spend the majority of their time making Saturday and Sunday deliveries.
"PD PT will be assigned to a primary depot and can also work from centralized hubs," according to CUPW. "PD PT work will be 'unstructured,' that is, not based on a route. Staffing levels and weekend volume density rates will be based on historical data."
For the contract covering rural and suburban mail carriers, a new "permanent flex employee" position will be established. These employees will mainly cover vacation leave and other absences, but they may also be assigned weekend parcel delivery work.
Canada Post has long vied for a part-time weekend workforce that could help it deliver packages seven days a week, meeting growing e-commerce demand. CUPW pushed back against the idea throughout the negotiations process, saying it would cut into full-time employees' overtime and possibly shift volume away from union members' weekday workloads.
However, unlike the previous proposal, the new urban contract would provide an 18-month moratorium on route restructures after the introduction of weekend delivery at company locations, CUPW said. This would protect employees' weekday routes, the union added.
The new contract also blocks weekend delivery for high-volume commercial customers, or those receiving at least 200 parcels daily, according to CUPW.
