Originally published at: Is Canada Post too big to fail? - FreightWaves
Canada Post mail carriers turned down the company’s last contract offer, extending a 20–month labor dispute that has helped private couriers siphon package business from the postal operator.
Let’s cut through the corporate spin.
Canada Post isn’t failing because of its workers — it’s being sabotaged from the top down. And this article reads like a PR memo for those hoping to sell it off piece by piece.
Here are the facts straight from their own financial statements:
Canada Post’s so-called $3.8 billion loss? Over $3.6 billion of that was from capital investments, not daily operations. These were deliberate, approved expenditures — not runaway labour costs.
Non-labour expenses rose 54% between 2018 and 2023. Union wages? Just 14%. So where’s the real problem?
In January 2025, Canada Post secured a $1 billion emergency loan from the federal government — and within weeks, initiated a near $1 billion international acquisition through Purolator. That’s not crisis management. That’s financial theatre.
CUPW has pushed for postal banking for years — a revenue generator that could earn hundreds of millions annually while serving over 1,200 unbanked communities. Canada Post rejected it. Why?
The collapse in parcel volume isn’t because of workers — it’s because management outsourced business, neglected service standards, and failed to invest in innovation.
Over $400 million was spent on EVs without a charging network. The result? Parked fleets and public spin.
The 2016 Canada Post Mandate Review declared the corporation viable — recommending modernisation, not austerity. Those recommendations were shelved.
So why did we vote no?
Because this wasn’t a deal. It was a warning shot.
The employer demanded that we accept a Memorandum of Agreement that would erase over $300 million in active grievances — grievances tied to wage theft, forced overtime, harassment, and systemic contract violations. The message? Sign here and pretend it never happened.
The deal also failed to address the creeping expansion of dynamic routing — an algorithmic overhaul of our delivery routes that ignores weather, terrain, mental health, or human input. Just metrics, speed, and burnout.
We’re watching the groundwork being laid for gig worker models — temp hires, subcontractors, and a revolving door of underpaid replacements. Undermining stable, full-time union work. Amazon-style.
We see the push for centralized delivery — stripping door-to-door service without public consultation, with rural and vulnerable communities hit hardest.
And we’ve had enough of the gaslighting — no investment in mental health, no accountability for bullying managers, no plan to retain staff or reduce overburden.
This wasn’t a wage dispute. This was about dignity, integrity, and survival.
Canada Post isn’t a failed business.
It’s a public service being deliberately weakened — mismanaged at the top and starved of the innovation that could restore it.
So the question isn’t whether it’s “too big to fail.”
It’s: Who’s trying to make it fail?
Who profits if it does?
And why are we letting them get away with it?
We didn’t vote no because we’re safe.
We voted no because we’re awake.
And we won’t be complicit in our own erasure.