Postal Workers on Strike: Today, Sept. 25, 2025, the Minister responsible for Canada Post, Joël Lightbound, announced massive changes to the Government’s mandate for Canada Post and huge service cutbacks to the public.
This announcement was an outrage. Minister Lightbound gave the Union no indication that he was going to do this when leadership met with him last week. The Minister said he had the “utmost respect” for postal workers. This is no way to show it.
Lightbound announced that the Government was accepting and instructing Canada Post to implement the recommendations from William Kaplan’s Industrial Inquiry Commission (IIC) Report from May. These include:
- Converting 4 million addresses to Community Mailboxes.
- Gutting the rural moratorium on post office closures.
- Giving Canada Post more “flexibility” in its delivery standards, including by cutting the requirement to deliver 5 days a week.
- Giving Canada Post the ability to raise stamp rates more frequently.
The Minister emphasized the importance of serving all Canadians, but these recommendations will only undermine the public service. We have no details on how any of them will be implemented.
Converting more addresses to CMBs makes little sense when customers want their parcels to the door. The Government has completely failed to consider the problems it faced a decade ago when CPC last tried to convert door-to-door to CMB delivery.
The announcement also ignores how changes to delivery standards could impact mail volumes and confidence in service. And it fails to consider the importance of the moratorium on post office closures to help ensure universal service.
These recommendations could result in major job losses. On this, the Minister simply dodged questions from reporters.
In accepting the Kaplan report, the Government has completely rejected the need to diversify revenue streams and expand services, accepting instead Canada Post’s requests for cuts.
Following the announcement, we heard from the federal mediators that Canada Post needs until next week to present new global offers.
Postal Workers Will Fight Back
This slapdash approach without full public consultation is an insult to the public and to postal workers. The Government may act as the sole shareholder, but the public owns the post office. There was no indication as to what this means for the planned mandate review, nor when that will happen, given these massive changes.
We cannot accept this attack on good jobs and public services. Let’s now turn our efforts to making sure the Government and Canada Post hear us loud and clear. We have done it before. We will do it again.
Strike Action Update
In response to the Government’s attack on our postal service and workers, effective immediately, all CUPW members at Canada Post are on a nationwide strike.
In solidarity,
Jan Simpson, National President
—
Canada Post workers walk off the job in a nationwide strike
Golden, B.C. – September 25, 2025 — Canada Post employees walked off the job this afternoon, launching a nationwide strike in protest of the federal government’s decision to allow the corporation to phase out door-to-door mail delivery.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) announced the walkout just hours after Ottawa confirmed it had given Canada Post the green light to restructure operations and cut back on home delivery. The government says the move is necessary to deal with annual losses estimated at $1.5 billion and to reflect the sharp decline in traditional mail volumes.
Picket lines went up quickly in major centres across the country, including British Columbia, with union leaders instructing members to immediately leave their posts. CUPW argues the changes threaten jobs and weaken service standards, especially for seniors and residents in rural and remote communities who rely most heavily on regular mail.
CUPW has issued the following statement: “In response to the government’s attack on our postal service and workers, effective immediately, all CUPW members at Canada Post are on a nationwide strike.”
It said the union was “outraged and appalled” by Lightbound’s announcement earlier today.
“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.”
Negotiations between Canada Post and CUPW have been ongoing since late 2023, but today’s government announcement appears to have derailed progress. The union accused Ottawa of blindsiding negotiators and undermining collective bargaining.
For now, all regular mail and parcel deliveries are halted nationwide. Canada Post has not indicated when services might resume.
Locally, it remains unclear how quickly Golden residents will feel the effects of the strike. Many households already pick up mail at community mailboxes, but parcel service interruptions are expected immediately.
