Unionized Canada Post workers to vote on deal starting July 21

OTTAWA — Unionized Canada Post workers will get a chance to vote directly on the employer’s offers for a new collective agreement starting on Monday.

The Canada Industrial Relations Board will run the vote between July 21 and Aug. 1.

A simple majority vote will decide whether the proposal is accepted or rejected.

Canada Post is at an impasse with the union representing roughly 55,000 postal service workers after 19 months of talks.

Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu last month asked the board to step in and put the Crown corporation’s latest offer to a vote from workers themselves.

Canada Post had asked Hajdu for the employee-directed vote, rejecting the minister’s push for arbitration, which the postal service dubbed a “lengthy” process.

The employer’s proposal from late May would see wage hikes of 13.59 per cent over four years for postal workers, as well as a $1,000 signing bonus.

It also contains fundamental changes such as adding part-time workers that Canada Post says are necessary to keep the postal service afloat amid mounting losses.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has urged members to vote no on the offer, arguing the deal as it stands does not meet workers’ needs.

Union president Jan Simpson said in a bulletin to members Tuesday that if the latest proposal is rejected, the union is prepared to return to the bargaining table to get a deal.

She also said the union would not institute rolling or full strikes while negotiations are underway, but would maintain the national ban on overtime.

Canada Post said in a statement Wednesday that Canadians are avoiding using the postal service because of uncertainty related to the stalled negotiations.

That uncertainty cost the postal service $10 million a day in operations losses last month, the Crown corporation said, more than double daily losses from June of last year.

A strike and lockout lasted more than a month in November and December last fall, ending only after then-labour minister Steven MacKinnon declared an impasse in the talks and asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order an end to the work stoppage. The board agreed and extended the terms of the existing contract until May to allow more time to negotiate a new deal.

MacKinnon also requested a report to investigate the structural issues facing the Crown corporation that were contributing to the dispute. That report, published in the spring, found that Canada Post was “effectively bankrupt” and needed structural changes to remain in business.

Canada Post’s latest offers would see a corps of part-time workers added to support plans for seven-day-a-week delivery, as well as new dynamic routing models that aim for more efficient service.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 16, 2025.

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press