Author: Abby Hughes

As Canada Post and the union representing its workers inch closer to another potential strike, a report by the commission charged with examining the Crown corporation’s finances has called for the end of door-to-door mail delivery to homes — one of the main reasons for the previous work stoppage in November. But the report, authored by industrial inquiry commissioner William Kaplan, also says that daily delivery to businesses should be maintained. The service cut would help the corporation’s overall bleak financial picture, the report notes, a situation it highlights in great detail.”Canada Post is facing an existential crisis: It is effectively insolvent, or bankrupt,” Kaplan wrote. “Without thoughtful, measured, staged, but immediate changes, its fiscal situation will continue to deteriorate.”The report also says that the mail service must be allowed to hire part-time employees to work weekends and potentially during the week, a major sticking point in negotiations so far because the Canadian Union of Postal workers (CUPW) said it would be akin to hiring gig workers.Possibly to address this concern, the report advocates that any part-timers be paid the same as full-time employees and receive the same benefits. “These jobs should not be [gig] jobs, but good jobs, attractive jobs, with employees who come under the umbrella of the applicable collective agreement with normative terms and conditions of employment,” Kaplan wrote.The recommendations were based on the overall conclusion that Canada Post was worth saving as a “vital national institution,” the report said, and that these cuts and changes could preserve the crown corporation.Steven MacKinnon, then the federal labour minister, established the commission in December — the same time he sent the dispute between Canada Post and the union to the Canada Industrial Relations Board.The commission had until yesterday to deliver its report to the minister, Canada Post and CUPW. It was made public today.Canada Post president and CEO Doug Ettinger welcomed its recommendations.”This report provides Canada Post, CUPW, our employees and all Canadians with a frank and straightforward assessment of the challenges we face,” Ettiger wrote in a statement. “And [we] will work with our bargaining agents and our shareholder, the Government of Canada, to address our challenges and secure a sustainable path forward.”A Canada Post truck is seen in Montreal on Dec. 17, 2024.