CUPW negotiations: Postal operations to resume on December 17 following CIRB ruling

December 16, 2024, 10:09 am

On December 13, the Minister of Labour established a process with the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to assess the likelihood of Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) reaching agreements by the end of 2024.

Employees to return to work on December 17 and the resumption of service to begin

After two days of hearings, the CIRB has issued its ruling confirming the parties are at an impasse. As a result, the CIRB has ordered employees to return to work and postal operations to begin to resume at 8 am local time on December 17, 2024. We will share further details shortly, but want to remind employees and customers that our operations will remain closed on Monday, December 16.

Retroactive pay increase to employees as process unfolds

We look forward to welcoming our employees back to work and serving the millions of Canadians and businesses who rely on our services. While the terms of the existing collective agreements will be extended until May 22, 2025, we also put forward an offer to implement a wage increase of five per cent for employees, which was proposed in the company’s last global offer.

With both parties in agreement, the wage increase will be retroactive to the day after each collective agreement expired. The increase will be in effect going forward, and the retroactive portion will be paid out to current employees in two portions:

• An upfront payment before Christmas of $1000 for all regular CUPW-represented employees (full-time and part-time) and $500 for temporary employees based on a minimum number of hours
• The remainder of the retroactive pay to be forwarded by the end of January

Collective agreements between Canada Post and CUPW expired on December 31, 2023, for the RSMC (Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers) unit and on January 31, 2024, for the urban unit.

Commitment to the negotiations process

Our commitment has always been to reach negotiated agreements with CUPW that would help us better serve the changing needs of Canadians and provide good jobs to those who provide the service. We remain committed to doing so within this new process while also meeting the postal needs of Canadians.

More detailed information on our start-up plans will be made available at canadapost.ca later today.

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