London postal workers return to strike line to protect public mail services

On Thursday, the Liberal federal government instructed Canada Post to end home delivery and close some rural mail outlets. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) responded with a nationwide strike.

London workers with CUPW Local 566 joined the picket line Friday morning at the Oxford and Highbury processing plant.

“The government keeps overreaching and not allowing for free and fair bargaining,” said Michael Coppins, CUPW 566 External Grievance Officer. “We feel like we’ve been left out in the cold.”

The December national strike was ended by a back-to-work order of the Industrial Relations Board at the direction of Liberal federal Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon. After the six-month ‘pause’ ended in May, negotiations had still made no progress between the Union and Canada Post. A forced vote on Canada Post’s ‘final offer’ was then ordered by the Minister of Jobs and Families, Patty Hajdu, in what CUPW called “an attack on union democracy” in a statement to its members encouraging a ‘no’ vote.

More than two-thirds of the members voted to reject the imposed offer, announced Aug. 1. Canada Post has not responded to the Union’s offer after the vote and extended the deadline after the federal government’s most recent order.

“They haven’t bargained in good faith and the government took the corporation’s side. They haven’t taken our demands seriously,” said Andrew Turnbull, a rank-and-file CUPW member and letter carrier on the picket line.  

The announcement to end the moratorium on new community mailboxes and closing rural post offices, along with easing daily service requirements, is the culmination of the public service post cuts started by the Conservative government in 2014. When Liberals took office the following year, they halted the changes. This upheld protections put in place in 1994 after massive public out-cry of closures in response to efforts in the 1980s to fully privatize postal services. The move to ‘community mailboxes’ spells the end of door-to-door mail delivery, including for seniors and people with mobility impairments. Rural office closures announced yesterday include remote and Indigenous communities, who will no longer have access to public mail delivery.

Despite being thought to operate off of taxpayer dollars, as a Crown Corporation, Canada Post relies on revenues  for operational costs. However, due to risk of insolvency, the federal government offered the corporation a $1 billion repayable loan earlier this year.

Canada Post had a universal service obligation with the monopoly on letter mail delivery but has faced decreasing profits in parcel delivery due to an increase in competition from private companies like Amazon who utilize precarious gig workers.  

Canada Post Corporation also owns 91 per cent of Purolator, a private parcel delivery company which reported profits in the last quarter of 2024.

Workers at the London processing plant have noted both a lower volume through the plant and Purolator tags on some mail, indicating intentional diversions of Canada Post mail to Purolator and other companies. Canada Post CEO John Ettinger, who was reappointed by the federal government in 2023 with a salary range of $506,800 to $596,200 in addition to bonuses, sits on the Board of Directors of Purolator.

“Contractors are delivering mail, even though the parcels should belong to Canada Post and our workers in providing for the public service,” said Taresh Roy, CUPW 566 Grievance Officer. “They are taking away our work.”

This was echoed by Turnbull, who added that “they are essentially working around the anti-scab legislation.” Referring to federal legislation passed earlier this year that makes it harder for federal workers to use ‘replacement workers’, also known as ‘scabs’, while unionized workers are on strike or locked out.

Roy has worked for two years at the Highbury Plant and noted that since the forced end of the December strike, there has been targeting of workers with more frequent suspensions and terminations. According to Roy, 39 temporary employees have been terminated in the last four months, and the 13 remaining haven’t been called in for work.

“They’re still making money. They are creating artificial losses,” added Coppins. “The Employer seems hellbent on making less people do more.”“It feels like a direct attack by the government against working people. We’ve been seeing with other labour disruptions as well; the government is on the side of corporations and not working people. That’s why we’re going to be standing strong,” said Turnbull.