Canada Post said Friday it is asking Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu to direct the postal workers’ union to hold a vote on the “final offers” the national mail carrier presented earlier this week, rather than continue talks it says are at an impasse.
The statement was released as the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) met with Hajdu and Secretary of State for Labour John Zerucelli on Friday as an overtime ban continues for workers.
It was not immediately clear what was achieved at the meeting, which comes as the threat of wider strike action grows with little movement at the negotiating table.
Canada Post said that “given the level of the impasse and CUPW’s negotiating position, it is not possible to reach tentative agreements in the normal course” through negotiations.
It added that “the best hope of achieving freely negotiated collective agreements is an employee vote” administered by the Canada Industrial Relations Board, which Hajdu can order as minister through her powers under the Canada Labour Code.
Such a vote would effectively adopt the final offers presented by Canada Post as a new collective agreement, in a method similar to a membership-wide ratification of a tentative deal.
CUPW did not immediately comment. Hajdu and Zerucelli have yet to comment on the meeting with CUPW or Canada Post’s request.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
In an email to Global News earlier Friday, CUPW said it was still reviewing the “final offers” to its urban postal operations and rural and suburban mail carriers, but that a preliminary review had determined the proposals “fall short.”
“Canada Post’s responses demonstrate that not only do they not want to bargain in good faith, but they also want several significant issues to be non-negotiable including: part-time flex staffing and weekend delivery as well as dynamic routing and load levelling,” the statement read.
10:53
CUPW reviewing Canada Post offer amid overtime ban
Canada Post and CUPW have been trying to negotiate a new contract for more than 18 months, which led to a month-long strike last year.
The Crown corporation has said its latest proposal was an “enhanced offer” from the one it made earlier this month, despite its latest financial report showing mounting challenges.
Under the new offers, Canada Post says employees will receive a signing bonus of $1,000 or $500, depending on their role. The cost-of-living allowance payments will have a lower inflation threshold, meaning they will get triggered with inflation at 7.16 per cent instead of 13.59 per cent.
The Crown corporation said it will also end mandatory overtime.
However, the company also says it’s remaining firm on its original wage offer of six per cent in the first year, followed by three per cent in the second year and two per cent in each of the following two years, for a compounded total of 13.59 per cent.
Canada Post said Friday the final offers “entirely” reflect the recommendations from a federally-commissioned report this month that called for significant overhauls to the company’s operations.
The report said daily door-to-door mail delivery should be phased out and community mailboxes established “wherever practicable,” among other changes, and called on the federal government to remove moratoriums on rural post office closures.
Canada Post is “facing an existential crisis: It is effectively insolvent, or bankrupt,” the report from the Industrial Inquiry Commission said.
The Crown corporation earlier this week posted a nearly $1.3-billion operating loss for 2024, while revenues fell by $800 million, or 12.2 per cent, compared with 2023.
Last year’s strike contributed to a “net negative impact of $208 million” towards Canada Post’s $841-million loss before tax, the latest annual report said.
When the corporation presented its offers on Wednesday, it said in a news release that the final offers were “designed to move negotiations forward and return certainty and stability to customers, Canada Post’s employees, and all Canadians.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
