What’s next for Canada Post? We’re starting to find out

“Canadians have changed the way they use the postal service, and we must change with them.”

That was the message this week from Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger, after dozens of managers were laid off as part of an ongoing overhaul at the Crown corporation — which has racked up massive annual losses since 2018 and needed a $1-billion federal loan earlier this year just to stay afloat.

“We need to ensure our costs better align to our financial realities, which means our organization will be leaner at all levels going forward,” Ettinger wrote in his note to staff.

News of the layoffs come as Canada Post continues to work toward a new contract with its 50,000-plus unionized employees. Both sides said they planned to meet this week with a mediator to try to advance negotiations, which have dragged on for nearly two years.

Key sticking points include wages, job security, and the federal government’s recent announcement that allows Canada Post to usher in controversial cost-cutting measures — including ending home-to-home delivery and shuttering some rural post offices. 

“The most important thing right now is to get a collective agreement that's ratifiable by the membership, which means there needs to be raises, there needs to be job protection, there needs to be health and safety concerns dealt with,” said Jim Gallant, a negotiator with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), during a recent interview on our Closer Look podcast.

As for ending home-to-home delivery, Gallant said it’s just another example of Canada Post leadership “screwing this corporation into the ground.”  

“If we were to look at every other delivery outfit in Canada, who else delivers down the street?” he said. “Does that make any sense? It’s supposed to be a service. We’re supposed to take care of the elderly and people that can’t make it out of their house.”

Asked about Canada Post's promise to be "leaner," Gallant did not mince words.

"I can tell you, they can't be any meaner," he told the podcast. "That's the first thing that I tell you, because these people are a--holes from sunup to sundown. They go out of their way to screw with workers — every day. There's thousands of grievances in the system."

You can watch the full interview HERE.

Hosted by Village Media’s Michael Friscolanti and Scott Sexsmith, and produced by Derek Turner, Closer Look is a new daily podcast that goes way beyond the headlines with insightful, in-depth conversations featuring our reporters and editors, leading experts, key stakeholders and big newsmakers.

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