Postal workers back on strike over Canada Post changes, union says

[CdnFox]

10 hours ago, Barquentine said:

Sure, to get an Amazon delivery is cheap, they're subsidizing themselves to sell more (we'll see how long that's tenable). But to send a parcel my experience has always been that CPC is cheaper and more efficient.

 

Not these days. Private companies are getting cheaper and cheaper and a number of business owners have mentioned that to me. It won't be going back to Canada Post even when the strike is over.

Quote

If private companies like UPS can can run a shipping company, then CPC can do it and break even, especially when you take out the profit cost.

They can, sure. But not at the wages they're paying, and not with the service delivery that they're being forced to give.

Why in god's name are we still delivering mail 5 days a week? The vast majority of people get everything important through email. One day a week or two days a week would be more than enough, and then it would allow Canada Post to become profitable again. Most people already have to go somewhere to check their mail. About a quarter of the people get home delivery. It isn't a problem for all of those people so why not end home delivery if it means we're going to save money.

Do you know that currently the full-time workers get 7 weeks of vacation? Plus two weeks of personal days? And part of the demands they don't want to give up is that they want another 3 days of personal days. 

You don't think that's a little unreasonable? You can't see how we're having to give somebody more than 3 months paid vacation makes it difficult to be profitable?

Honestly they should just privatize it, do a deal with Amazon or something to deliver postal services as well, it will probably cost us a tenth of the current costs. But if they are going to keep Canada Post then the employees have to realize that walking and putting a piece of paper in a box is not a high skill position and does not deserve retirement benefits, 3 months vacation, massive wages or any of that crap

This is the kind of job that young people should do when they're in University or just afterwards before they get their first serious job, this is not something that people should be doing for a lifetime career and expecting to retire on a full pension owning two houses or something

[herbie]

Oh FFS no one has a delivery system as capable as Canada Post. Just because they can't run it efficiently now doesn't mean they can't ever.

There's no need to convert tens of thousands of jobs into shittier ones worshipping the God of Privatization. UPS, Fedex etc are as stubbornly ass-backwards and resistant to change as any large corporation. Ask anyone who lives where there is no door to door mail. Just try to place an online order to a mailbox number. You can't, you hide it on Line 2 or disguise it with #1442 like it's an apartment number.
Most of them drop the merch off at the main P.O.

And to think each courier would rather set up a drop off office at every small town in the country is ridiculous. They do it here for huge items under arrangements with existing businesses, but that costs them too. Like one does at the insurance place that closes at lunch, shuts by 4 and isn't open Saturday. Easier to drop at the main P.O., tag it and put a note in your mailbox to collect it.
Already after SaveOn the lineups at the PO are the 2nd biggest in town.

And for letters, nothing will make billing switch to online faster than a nice big hike to $2 - #2.50 for letters.

[CdnFox]

12 hours ago, Barquentine said:

I think public opinion has shifted enough on this issue it'll work out.

The public isn't who he has to worry about. A lot of the vote that came to him in the last election was union votes, especially government and quasi government workers.

He already came across as anti  worker in the Air Canada dispute. Now if you orders these people back to work it's going to cost him a very critical component of the coalition he put together. Especially if more government workers have to be laid off in the near future which is sounding like it's going to be the case.

This is going to be a difficult position for him because of public opinion. If the public supported the union this would be easy, but they support the employer. And with good reason. The exception is that part of the public that is worried that this kind of thing may happen to their union.

So if he puts them back to work by legislation the unions and the union members will castrate him. If he allows the strike to go on very long the public will hate him. He's put himself in a difficult position

[Barquentine]

13 hours ago, CdnFox said:

But not at the wages they're paying

Their wages aren't that high...

 

13 hours ago, CdnFox said:

Why in god's name are we still delivering mail 5 days a week?

2 days a week would be fine.

 

13 hours ago, CdnFox said:

Do you know that currently the full-time workers get 7 weeks of vacation

After 28 years of employment. Still a bit high.

 

13 hours ago, CdnFox said:

Honestly they should just privatize it, do a deal with Amazon or something to deliver postal services as well, it will probably cost us a tenth of the current costs. But if they are going to keep Canada Post then the employees have to realize that walking and putting a piece of paper in a box is not a high skill position and does not deserve retirement benefits

No I don't think they should privatize it, just make it work.

And every job should have some kind of retirement plan. You seem to think that's just for the upper crust. Work is work is work!

[Barquentine]

On 9/26/2025 at 2:42 PM, CdnFox said:

Now we've got a mail strike.

We already had a mail strike and no collective agreement since Aug., 2024.

[CdnFox]

3 hours ago, Barquentine said:

Their wages aren't that high...

for what they do they're stratospheric. 

Lets keep in mind the skillset involved here is to walk and put pieces of paper into a box. 

As i noted they get about 3 months paid vacation as it is. Even at minimum wage their compensation is too high. 

And i constantly get unreasonable conmplaints from their workers. "there's one too many steps a this building, you need to change things or we won't deliver"  It's the same number that there's been for 15 years, and its cement, how am i supposed to change ti? "oh well our policy is this and that's your problem".  Like... they're coddled like children. 

3 hours ago, Barquentine said:

2 days a week would be fine.

I would think so but of course to the union that means less jobs. And that is what their problem is, they don't want their union to shrink in size. Fewer workers means fewer union dues. 

 

4 hours ago, Barquentine said:

No I don't think they should privatize it, just make it work.

 

Well that's what the unions is striking against unfortunately.  And that's  one of the problems with unions. 

I honestly don't know if they can make it work with the current company. I think you'd almost have to start over again from scratch one way or another, rip up the agreements of reconsidered a

Quote

And every job should have some kind of retirement plan. You seem to think that's just for the upper crust. Work is work is work!

No, not every job. Not every job is meant to be a permanent career. Not every job is meant to provide a living for families. It would be like newspaper delivery boys demanding $50 an hour and a pension plan.

Some work is supposed to be a stepping stone in life. Some work is meant to be what you do while you're improving your skills to do something better later, or while you're waiting for opportunity, or in order to develop your credentials as an employee when you're young so that you have a track record

Skilled work is a permanent lifetime job for the most part. That deserves pension planning.

And for certain there are jobs within Canada post that are more skilled than just being a carrier. 

But sorry, newspaper carrier or sorting is not meant to be a permanent lifetime position and doesn't deserve to be treated as such. Pay a decent hourly rate, treat people appropriately, provide path's to advancement within the company for skilled people who want to stay but accept that it's not meant to be a permanent life choice and if it is, if you're going to do something that unskilled for life, then there's consequenes to that decision and if you're fine with it then ok. 

[herbie]

Posties make fairly low wages. Amazon and UPS workers make SHIT wages. Why the hell do you think they're trying to form Unions and the companies just close anywhere they manage to?
Any of you ever even worked as couriers? Barely over minimum wage, take the risk as an owner-op for a little more or look for a job you want to do for more than out of desperation

[CdnFox]

3 hours ago, herbie said:

Posties make fairly low wages. Amazon and UPS workers make SHIT wages. Why the hell do you think they're trying to form Unions and the companies just close anywhere they manage to?

They're welcome to quit if they like. But if you're doing low skill work, you get low skill wages. That's just the way it works. 

[Barquentine]

16 hours ago, CdnFox said:

As i noted they get about 3 months paid vacation as it is.

Last post you said 7 weeks (which is after 28 yrs working) Get your facts straight.

 

16 hours ago, CdnFox said:

for what they do they're stratospheric. 

Minimum wage is $15-$18. MBM is approaching $60,000 for a family of 4.

 

16 hours ago, CdnFox said:

unreasonable conmplaints from their workers

Everyone complains. EVERYONE!

 

16 hours ago, CdnFox said:

Not every job is meant to be a permanent career.

If only every one's life fit your prescription. You need to gain some, no - a lot of wisdom.

[herbie]

No one is complaining louder than those who begrudge others of their jobs. 
They don't get 3 months or 7 weeks off. You earn vacation by seniority like everywhere else. The woman at the grocery store with 30+ years on the job gets 7 weeks. The one with 1 year on the job gets 2. And now everybody gets some of those personal days covered by sick time legislation. I used to get 12 days a year back in 1982, over 40 years ago.

If you don't get those kind of benefits maybe you should unionize, as grovelling on your knees before the Boss didn't seem to work so well, did it?

Some of you sound like old troglodytes that think because they don't get dirty on the factory floor, the "girls" in the office should earn pittance and the guy who walks all day dropping off letters doesn't deserve anywhere near what you do.

 

 

[CdnFox]

8 hours ago, Barquentine said:

Last post you said 7 weeks (which is after 28 yrs working) Get your facts straight.

plus personal days, 14 of them and they're looknig to add more 

Plus sick days which carry forward and will be paid out 

Sorry but i was right.  Get YOUR facts straight. 

8 hours ago, Barquentine said:

Minimum wage is $15-$18. MBM is approaching $60,000 for a family of 4.

And? Sounds like it's a great starter job but not a career. Which is what i said. 

It's carrying paper and leaving it in a box. That simply doesn't require enough skill to be worth more than that.

8 hours ago, Barquentine said:

Everyone complains. EVERYONE!

No.  I hire dozens and dozens of trades from legal to construction to hydro and cable... NOBODY, NOBODY complains like this.  And they hold you hostage -  fix things to the way we want immediately or we'll deny people who live here service and they'll all be mad at you. 

NOBODY complains like they do. I'm dealing with one RIGHT NOW. 

8 hours ago, Barquentine said:

If only every one's life fit your prescription.

It does.  Everyone has the ability to learn a trade that is worth money.  if you don't and stick with a trade that's NOT worth money then that's a choice you make. 

While i might make some exception for some specific disabled peoples there's no reason why someone can't learn to do more than carry pieces of paper in a bag and put them in a box. That's an entry level job and if you're going to settle for that in life that's your choice but you live with the benefits and consequences

[I am Groot]

Does anyone know how much money the CBC has 'lost' in the last decade? Because if we're giving them $1.3 billion (roughly) a year, that would seem to mean the CBC has LOST $13 billion in the last decade! 

"Any organization is not viable if it has cost $5 billion over the course of the last decade, if it's losing $10 million a day, which is what Canada Post currently is doing."   - Mark Carney

By his own logic, it's time to close down the CBC

 

[herbie]

When unable speak on a given subject blow the Conservative® dog whistle to get fellow zealots to follow.

[CdnFox]

1 hour ago, I am Groot said:

Does anyone know how much money the CBC has 'lost' in the last decade? Because if we're giving them $1.3 billion (roughly) a year, that would seem to mean the CBC has LOST $13 billion in the last decade! 

"Any organization is not viable if it has cost $5 billion over the course of the last decade, if it's losing $10 million a day, which is what Canada Post currently is doing."   - Mark Carney

By his own logic, it's time to close down the CBC

 

It all went to bonuses.  So from the liberal perspective the cbc produces a large profit  

[Barquentine]

17 hours ago, CdnFox said:

It does.  Everyone has the ability to learn a trade that is worth money.  if you don't and stick with a trade that's NOT worth money then that's a choice you make. 

You're a real life Podsnap, aren't you?

[Politics1990]

usually always support unions but the post office needs to adapt and make changes.. 4 of them was in front of the  building with signs on yesterday waving i just laughed as i drove by  . no support for me

[CdnFox]

2 hours ago, Barquentine said:

You're a real life Podsnap, aren't you?

So you're saying you can't refute what i said and are big mad about it  LOL

The only way a system is sustainable is if what is being taken out is equal to what is being put in. 

You simply cannot have a situation where there's a group of people being paid in excess of what the value of their work is over time, it slows down the economy and the system for everyone else and if it gets too significant it crashes the system. Which is kind of what we're seeing now. 

When we're talking about the letter carriers themselves, that is an ulra low skilled job. As far as training goes at that it may require a driver's license. Something 95% of kids have for they even become working adults.

That skill is just not worth money. Certainly not big money anyway. It's simply not worth a pension or anything more than minimum wage. It's not generating enough revenue or benefit to justify paying anything significant. 

They can IMPROVE that situation by making the mailperson more efficient - delivering larger amounts of mail to fewer locations by reducing the number of delivery days and using community mailboxes, so a postie is spending less time delivering more.  And that may help, but again this is an unskilled job that just about anyone can do.  This is up there with paperboy or pizza delivery.  How many pizza delivery places pay a pension?

If you want to make decent money you have to have decent skills to sell or be able to generate decent productivity and value. 

[Barquentine]

On 9/30/2025 at 1:49 PM, CdnFox said:

They can IMPROVE that situation by making the mailperson more efficient - delivering larger amounts of mail to fewer locations by reducing the number of delivery days and using community mailboxes, so a postie is spending less time delivering more.

I agree with that. 

 

On 9/30/2025 at 1:49 PM, CdnFox said:

If you want to make decent money you have to have decent skills to sell or be able to generate decent productivity and value. 

But how many people can't do that because life happens - 2 year waiting lists for vocational, high tuition for university, or people getting training but then not being able to find jobs in their field...

Meanwhile the rent is due, food is expensive, babies arrive, etc... "Life is what happens while you're making other plans."

Why not have a portable pension plan for everyone? The higher paid would get more, less stress on gov't coffers...

And labour is valid at any level. To say otherwise is elitist. People should do what they can to better their situation, but that's for them to decide, not for us to judge.

 

[Moonbox]

On 9/27/2025 at 8:37 PM, herbie said:

Oh FFS no one has a delivery system as capable as Canada Post. Just because they can't run it efficiently now doesn't mean they can't ever.

I can't remember the exact numbers, but Canada Post delivers less than half the letter mail it did at the turn of the century, but has maintained the same staffing and infrastructure under today's reality.  It's wasteful and inefficient now, and any efforts to adjust it have been met with militant union action. 

The average letter carrier gets paid $52,000 (plus benefits) a year to do half the work they had to 20 years ago.    

[CdnFox]

5 hours ago, Barquentine said:

I agree with that. 

 

But how many people can't do that because life happens - 2 year waiting lists for vocational, high tuition for university, or people getting training but then not being able to find jobs in their field...

 

Frankly I know a career where you can be making six figures after about 3-4 years and the starting wage is more than most people are making right now but anyone with dedication and at least average intelligence can it 6 months and you can start it tomorrow.  You'll have a job before you graduate. 

I'm not even kidding. Recession proof too.

And there are a lot of good jobs and good training out there.

But if you want to pick on something then sure, maybe that's something we really need to work on. Maybe there aren't enough choices considering everybody has different things they're good at. Maybe we need more support for people 

But if "life happens" then that's too bad but it's not up to me to pay for your life.  "life happens" is usually short hand for people made bad choices and didn't plan for things not going their way.  

So people need to be educated in high school how to prepare for the real world (right now the leftie teachers are focused on teaching them how  to protest, which doesn't pay that much).  And People need to have skills and find ways to acquire them. 

I won't say that there are things we could do to improve our system in that regard but I will say it's not my problem to make good decisions for other people who are adults and capable of making their own decisions. I have enough on my plate with making sure that my situation is always good, without having to worry about making sure someone else is taking care of that I don't know

[herbie]

1 hour ago, Moonbox said:

I can't remember the exact numbers, but Canada Post delivers less than half the letter mail it did at the turn of the century, but has maintained the same staffing and infrastructure under today's reality.  It's wasteful and inefficient now, and any efforts to adjust it have been met with militant union action.

Can't agree more. The grounds of the current walkout are entirely questionable, the employer did not change their offer, the govt spelled out the employer's future. Therefore they're striking against the govt, not the employer and therefore this strike action should be quickly ruled illegal.

1 hour ago, Moonbox said:

The average letter carrier gets paid $52,000 (plus benefits) a year to do half the work they had to 20 years ago. 

Yet you worded it to make it sound like they're overpaid. That's not even $20 an hour and minimum wage is over $17 in most places.
They have overhead hoists and robots that bring tires to the final assembly line now, you don't have to roll them and stack them and pull them across the floor. And the tire guy sure as hell doesn't get paid less because his job is easier.

[Legato]

9 minutes ago, herbie said:

They have overhead hoists and robots that bring tires to the final assembly line now, you don't have to roll them and stack them and pull them across the floor. And the tire guy sure as hell doesn't get paid less because his job is easier.

True but those 10 tyre guy's are now just one.

[herbie]

1 minute ago, Legato said:

True but those 10 tyre guy's are now just one.

And that's the way it goes in the real world. Pretty silly to rally on the beach waving signs "The Struggle Continues" thinking you can stop the tide from coming in.
Ten year plan to fully implement, how many will retire by then? How many will move to delivering parcels? How many will find better paying jobs by then? And it's not like the letters will magically appear in those corner mailboxes, someone has to bring them there.

[Moonbox]

30 minutes ago, herbie said:

Yet you worded it to make it sound like they're overpaid. That's not even $20 an hour and minimum wage is over $17 in most places.

First, they're doing zero-skill, minimum wage work in the first place.  Second, they're getting another 20-30% in benefits.  The average minimum wage worker in the private sector dreams of a defined benefit pension plan like they have.   

[herbie]

4 hours ago, Moonbox said:

First, they're doing zero-skill, minimum wage work in the first place

So you seem to have decided.
So whadda think of small town garbagemen making $36/hr?
Has it been that long since you were in the work force?

I just bought 10c candy bars on sale today for $2.69.