The country's postal workers union has indicated that its members ready to walk off the job as soon this week if no new deal is reached between it and the employer.

Canada Post announced Monday afternoon that it had received official notice from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) that the urban and rural/suburban units of postal workers could set up picket lines as early as 12 a.m. Friday. The Canada Labour Code states that no less than 72 hours notice must be given by either side in a labour dispute before job action can commence, either a strike or a lockout.

The submission of a strike notice doesn't necessarily mean job action will begin right away.

Postal workers went on strike in November 2024 and that lasted for more than a month before the federal government stepped in and ordered striking union members back to work. Then-Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon intervened after the Canada Industrial Relations Board determined that both sides were too far apart to come to terms before the end of the calendar year, thus declaring impasse.

Both sides agreed to continue working under the terms of the expired agreement until May 22. Canada Post also offered a five per cent pay hike to employees returning to work retroactive to when the collective agreements first expired. The Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers deal ended on Dec. 31, 2023, while the urban unit deal expired on Jan. 31, 2024.

The pay hike was accepted by the union, which included a bonus for all union members from the employer.

The strike notice comes on the heels of a on May 16. In it, commissioner William Kaplan was tasked with examining the current collective bargaining dispute and the positions of Canada Post and the union, specifically looking at: the financial situation of Canada Post, the company's need to diversify or alter its delivery models, the union's negotiated commitments to job security and full-time employment and the need to protect the health and safety of employees.

The report notes that Canada Post is facing an existential crisis and is "effectively insolvent, or bankrupt." The union attributed the financial situation to bad business decisions by Canada Post, but Kaplan didn't fully agree.

He said the reasons were easy to identify: a decline in letter mail as more people chose electronic versions; parcel mail now mostly delivered by competitors; collective agreement work rules that restricted Canada Post from exercising basic management rights such as assigning existing employees additional work when they have finished their assigned tasks; and moratoriums on closing rural post offices and ending community mailbox conversions.

Kaplan provided seven recommendations, noting they were based on his conclusion that there is a way to preserve Canada Post as a vital national institution. The first was to amend the Postal Charter with Kaplan saying it "cannot continue to require impossible-to-meet delivery standards" and daily door-to-door letter mail delivery for individual addressed should be phased out and community mailboxes established wherever it's practical.

However, daily delivery to businesses should be maintained.

Moratoriums on rural post office closures and community mailboxes conversions should be lifted, as there is "no persuasive case for a moratorium on closure of once rural, now urban, post offices." 

Kaplan said Canada Post already has the Delivery Accommodation Program in place for Canadians who cannot access community mailboxes.

He also said Canada Post and the union need to make changes to their collective agreements, including allowing for the flexible use of part-time employees during the week and on weekends, but those jobs should not be "gigified jobs, but good jobs, attractive jobs, with employees who come under the umbrella of the applicable collective agreement."

Not surprisingly, CUPW on May 16.

"These recommendations amount to service cuts, contracting out, and major rollbacks to important provisions in our existing collective agreements," stated Jan Simpson, CUPW's president. "There is also no guarantee that if these changes are made, Canada Post will increase its parcel business. Canada Post鈥檚 proposals have not been fully costed, nor have we been provided with concrete actionable plans. The recommendations also run counter to the demands you put forward and our years of campaigning to preserve and expand the public post office."

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-with files from Lauren Collins