Negotiations updates

Dear Customer,

This note is to provide you with an update on negotiations and to provide information many of you have requested to help with your planning this fall.

Ongoing Talks

First, negotiations continue between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) at an off-site location. Offers have been exchanged between the parties and all efforts are focused on reaching an agreement.

Timing

While we continue to work towards our goal of a negotiated settlement, we understand that you are watching the calendar and want to know what could happen.

We are nearing the end of the conciliation process, which is officially referred to as the 21-day cooling off period. This is a normal phase of the conciliation process detailed in the Canada Labour Code and will end on Tuesday, September 25. That means the earliest a legal job action could occur is 00:01 (one minute after midnight) on Wednesday, September 26. A legal job action requires the filing of a 72-hour notice. So the earliest that could come is Sunday, September 23.

Going Forward

It’s important to stress at this point that we have no indication that a legal job action will occur. Talks are ongoing now and we could simply remain at the table and keep negotiating after September 26. However, we also realize that until an agreement is reached, there will be uncertainty for those who count on the postal service.

If we reach a point where the union decides to conduct a legal rotating job action, Canada Post would remain committed to negotiating and we would continue to operate. In the past, rotating legal job actions have been isolated to one or two specific locations at a time, impacting those areas for a period of 24 hours. In a situation like that, Canada Post would continue to accept, process and deliver mail and parcels in all areas that are not affected. Once the 24-hour period expires, we would return to normal operations in the affected locations.

Keeping you informed

We will continue to keep you informed of the latest developments in this page. If you have not done so already, you may register there for regular updates by email.

Thank you for your continued patience.

Download the PDF version of this update.