Dive Brief:
- Canada Post employees represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers will scale back their nationwide strike action and shift to rotating work stoppages starting Saturday.
- The carrier shut down operations after CUPW's national halt commenced Sept. 25. Moving to a rotating strike will allow parcels and mail to start moving through Canada Post’s network again, according to Jan Simpson, the union's national president. CUPW locals participating in the rotating strike "will be informed closer to the time when they will take action," she said in a Thursday statement.
- Canada Post said in a Friday press release emailed to Supply Chain Dive that postal services will begin to resume next week. However, the carrier warned that customers should expect delays during the rotating strikes and said all service guarantees will be suspended as a result.
Dive Insight:
The nationwide strike's end may be a relief for businesses reliant on Canada Post, but work stoppages in specific locations could still challenge the carrier's operations and risk delays for shippers. Experts have recommended Canada Post users leverage alternative delivery providers and maintain clear communication with customers in instances of labor disruptions.
This year has had no shortage of disruptions for Canada Post users, including an overtime ban, a halt in delivering unaddressed direct mail and more recently the nationwide strike. CUPW launched its national work stoppage in response to a plan by Canada's government to reform the carrier and improve its financial health. The proposed adjustments, which Canada Post supports, include reducing door-to-door mail dropoff and tweaking delivery standards.
"Postal workers would much rather have new collective agreements and be delivering mail instead of taking strike action," Simpson said Thursday. "Yet, we could not stand by as the Government announced its plans to allow Canada Post to gut our postal service and slash thousands of our jobs."
Meanwhile, Canada Post and CUPW continue to negotiate new labor contracts for workers, but neither side has reported any recent progress toward an agreement.
Last week, Canada Post presented offers similar to the ones proposed in May and eventually rejected by employees. However, the proposals no longer include an employee signing bonus because of "the company's deteriorating financial situation," according to Canada Post. They also include establishing a layoff process in instances when other workforce reduction measures fall short of achieving its targets.
"With thousands of employees set to retire over the next few years, reducing the size of the workforce through attrition will always be the first choice, but it cannot be the only option through this transformation," Canada Post said last week.
CUPW took a firm stance against Canada Post's proposals, with Simpson saying the contract offers wouldn't provide stability for postal workers and the public.
"Canada Post and the Government have repeatedly stressed the urgency of signing new collective agreements, but they are making a mockery of the collective bargaining process with these insulting offers," Simpson said last week.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comment from Canada Post.
