The union representing Canada Post workers launched a nationwide strike late Thursday to protest the government’s announced changes that will reduce mail delivery and close some post offices.
Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) negotiator Jim Gallant confirmed to Global News in an interview that workers in all four Atlantic provinces have already gone onto picket lines, with other provinces set to follow.
“I would suggest by tomorrow, everybody will be on the street,” he said.
“We don’t want to be on strike, but the minister’s kind of forced our hand today. We need to get an offer from Canada Post.”
Joël Lightbound, the minister responsible for Canada Post, announced earlier Thursday that the government will lift its moratorium that has prevented Canada Post from shifting all remaining door-to-door delivery for individual addresses to community mailboxes.
Ottawa’s rural post offices moratorium will also be lifted, allowing the company to close some post offices deemed no longer necessary, and letter delivery standards will be relaxed to end movement of non-urgent mail by air.
The union said in statement it was “outraged and appalled” by the announced changes, which it called “drastic and will negatively impact the public and postal workers.”
“In response to the Government’s attack on our postal service and workers, effective immediately, all CUPW members at Canada Post are on a nation-wide strike,” it said.
Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu urged both sides to reach a negotiated deal as quickly as possible, while noting Canada Post needs to make necessary changes to its business.
“CUPW and Canada Post need to find the right balance that secures the future of the corporation and respects the workers who keep it running. Canadians depend on them to get this right,” Hajdu said in a statement shared by her office.
“Federal mediators remain available to support the bargaining process, and I encourage both parties to continue working toward a fair resolution.”
Lightbound said the changes are necessary to ensure the survival of the beleaguered national mail carrier and Crown corporation, which has struggled with increasingly dire finances for years.
The moves announced Thursday were among the government recommendations included in a report by the Industrial Inquiry Commission released in May, which found Canada Post is essentially “bankrupt” and needed sweeping reforms to its business to stay afloat.
The government says lifting the community mailbox moratorium alone will save Canada Post $400 million annually, with another $20 million saved per year by relaxing delivery standards.
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But CUPW says the timing is inappropriate given its ongoing labour dispute with the company, which has dragged on for over a year with no resolution in sight.
“There’s big problems in what the minister brought down,” Gallant said. “We think that he is carrying water for Canada Post.”
He noted that a meeting scheduled this week between the union and Lightbound, following a sit-down last week, was postponed without explanation.
“That’s a pretty big bomb to drop after you tell us that you’re going to meet with us,” he said.
Canada Post was expected to deliver new global offers to the union this week, after calling CUPW’s latest demands “unaffordable” and not aligned with “the realities confronting the company.” Yet the union says the company has been “silent” in the days leading up to Lightbound’s announcement.
CUPW workers overwhelmingly rejected Canada Post’s previous offers in a week-long vote this summer.
The union began imposing a ban on delivering business flyers 10 days ago to put additional pressure on the company.
Gallant said Canada Post could survive without reductions to service by raising stamp prices and reducing the size and salaries of its management.
Lightbound said Thursday he was directing Canada Post to make changes to its management structure and find other efficiencies, and that the government would be reviewing how to “modernize and shorten” the process for increasing stamp rates.
“CUPW argues that Canada Post’s financial situation is not as dire as it has made it out to be and what the minister said today,” the union said in its statement. “The stamp price increase in 2025 has already brought in $370 million in new revenue in the first six months of 2025.
“If Canada Post had focused on negotiating collective agreements and increasing parcel volumes, instead of attacking workers, it would already be on a path to sustainability.”
A month-long strike by postal workers last year during the busy winter holiday season cost Canada Post over $200 million and led to weeks of delayed deliveries after the federal government brought the strike to an end in December.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses says small businesses lost about $1 billion in reduced sales and increased costs during the work stoppage.
CFIB President Dan Kelly warned on social media that the impact of another strike on those businesses will be “massive.”
“Doing this in the lead-up to the critical holiday retail shipping season is especially troubling,” he wrote on X, while urging Lightbound to move ahead with his announced changes despite the labour unrest.
“Canadians are counting on Canada Post to deliver and, following years of repeated supply chain disruptions, another strike is not welcome news,” Pascal Chan, a vice-president for strategic policy and supply chains for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement.
“The Canadian Chamber calls for a return to the bargaining table and a commitment to good faith negotiation focused on how to best support consumers and businesses.”
CUPW says it’s fighting for higher wages in line with inflation and the rising cost of living, as well as benefit top-ups and assurances that a restored weekend parcel delivery service uses full-time, unionized workers.
Canada Post says it’s lost over $5 billion since 2018, and is on track to lose $1.5 billion this year alone. The company posted its worst-ever quarterly results last month with a $407-million loss in the second quarter of 2025.
Over the past 20 years, Canada Post has gone from delivering 5.5 billion letters annually to two billion, the company says, despite a growing population and number of households.
Parcel deliveries have also declined thanks to what Lightbound said was customers turning to “faster and more efficient” private competitors like UPS and Amazon. As a result, Canada Post’s market share of those deliveries is now below 24 per cent, compared to 62 per cent in 2019.
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