2018

In 2018, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) was in a months-long negotiation with Canada Post over issues such as job security, guaranteed hours, and wage increases. On October 22nd of that year, and after 10 months of negotiations, the union issued a legal notice to Canada Post for a strike. In an effort to allow for packages to continue to flow, and to win over the support of customers, the union declared a rotating strike; a rotating strike meaning that certain locations would strike on certain days while other locations work, the strike would change locations, and no location would strike more than a day. This not only disunified the strike but also allowed packages to continue moving and for Canada Post to continue to operate during a strike. A strike without a strike! By November, Canada Post began posturing in the media that the strike, although rotating, was holding back packages and creating a backlog; the media portrayed workers as withholding packages right before Christmas, which was to be the ammunition that the state would use for suppressing the strike. On November 23rd, the state crafted and passed Bill-C89, the Postal Services Resumption and Continuation Act, forcing workers off their already limited pickets and back to work. The union pledged to fight the state in court and questioned the constitutionality of Bill-C89. This limited the terrain of the struggle to the judicial world, ending the struggle for the workers. The workers would only gain a contract in 2021 after years of negotiations and no contract. The two year contract promised an annual 2% wage increase (at that time this raise didn’t match inflation leaving workers struggling to keep up with soaring prices), and a promise to not include a clause which would force workers to work overtime (this part of the contract would only be in effect until January 1st of 2024 despite the contract lasting until the 31st of January). The contract also divided rural and urban workers, as the rural workers' contract expired on the 31st of January 2023, and the urban workers ' contract expired a year later. This would leave one section of workers without a contract, further dividing the postal workers. This marked a massive defeat for postal workers. Not only did the union withhold workers from striking effectively, but they also chose to fight a losing battle in the courts, allowing them to prolong any struggle whilst promising to fight for workers on bourgeois terrain. Finally, the contract decided in 2021 by the union would only set the workers up for future defeat; it divided the strike mandate between urban and rural workers and left real wages dropping during the pandemic when postal workers were working at an increased rate.

2024

The strike of 2024 was a continuation of the strike from 2018; workers still felt unresolved in their conflict, and Canada Post was still unwilling to budge on wage demands and job security. One significant development of the strike was that Canada Post was trying to “Uberize” the workforce; they were attempting to have part-time workers on weekends only, without promising full 8-hour shifts. “By implementing a gig-economy, such as that of Amazon, Canada Post hopes to incorporate cheaper, non-unionized workers”. Negotiations centered around these issues began in November of 2023. By August of 2024, negotiations were still ongoing, and CUPW turned towards the state and demanded a mediator. The mediator didn’t help in the conflict, and by November of 2024, CUPW again issued a 72-hour strike notice; Canada Post retaliated with a lockout at the same time. By November 15th, workers went to the picket line over the same issues as 2018, the state promised neutrality (despite sending rail and dock workers back to work years and months prior, and not hesitating to send postal workers back in the past). As of 2024, Canada Post was facing bankruptcy and trying to push the crisis onto the workers through Uberization and firings. After 13 days they began firing workers who were on strike. CUPW called it a scare tactic and ordered workers to ignore the firings. This blatant attack on striking workers led the union to call upon the state and file a complaint against the company. The union took the only road it knew, legalism, and appealed to the state to mediate. On December 17th, after a month on the picket line and a promise by the state not to intervene, the Labour Minister ordered striking workers back to work; although this was defied by union leaders in New Brunswick for a brief period, they did so to bring the company to more fair bargaining standards, which eventually fizzled out, and they bowed to the whim of the union and state.

2025

The 2024 strike ended in another march back to work under state orders, as the state would force the union to negotiate an agreement. Agreement negotiations were extended until May of 2025. Between December and May, Canada Post lamented the loss of profits and its unprofitable business model. This made every union demand, in their eyes of the employer, a direct attack on a company that was already sinking. By the May deadline, no agreement had been reached, and the union, unsatisfied, called for a strike notice. This forced Canada Post to acquiesce and announce a minor concession, a ban on overtime work, to allow negotiations to continue. This highlights not only the company's unwillingness to give any concession unless under threat, but also the way in which the union caused confusion in the ranks of the workers. One moment, a strike is called, only to be called off at the last minute, disorienting workers. If the company only gave concessions under duress of a strike, then why not strike? The union demonstrated an unwillingness to strike and a subjugation to the good and fair bargaining procedure laid out by labour laws, and the company even if those laws entrap it at every step! By September, the company was maneuvering against the workers, shutting down many rural offices and beginning to phase out home delivery. Again appealing to the extreme deficit of Canada Post (a staggering 1 billion!), the minister of public services, Joël Lightbound, proclaimed these changes had "The goal, ultimately, is to save Canada Post,". These maneuvers were met by an immediate strike call, so the workers were out again for issues never solved in 2018. The speed at which the strike was declared confused many workers. The strike would go on from September 25th to October 10th when the union, finally driving the nail into the coffin, called for a rotating strike. Another rotating strike left workers completely demoralized and defanged. The 2025 strike was short, but it was the last attempt to bring a better deal to Canada Post workers. The union, in its role as a counter-revolutionary organ, was always willing to maintain good relations with the state and company, even when they were being forced back to work. The union sowed confusion when they called a last-minute strike, and then effectively ended the strike by making it a rotating one and not total. The Canada Post strike saga ended with the union, showing its complete counter-revolutionary colours, by being completely subservient and willing to be the lapdog of capital in controlling and neutralizing any workers' struggle.

Conclusion

The Canada Post strikes serve as an example to workers today, that being the union is not an effective organization to conduct the struggle. With the Canadian state more than willing to shove workers off the picket line and back to work, the unions are their faithful police following every order given. Many today point to the Air Canada strike as an example for unions to follow. The CUPE union refused the back-to-work order and continued the strike for a day until a tentative agreement was reached. Although this may seem like a militant and radical turn, CUPE only made the decision to increase their bargaining position, and had no intention to continue under increased pressure; we can see this as they immediately began making a deal and leveraged the refusal to work in order to get a better deal and they went back on the refusal after one day and no concrete deal. This refusal of work therefore, still remained in the union framework. The only way state repression can be fought is through not only continuing the strike, but breaking the strike free of the union and spreading the strike. When workers begin to form their own organizations to dictate the struggle, strike committees, then they take the struggle away from the union and into a combative terrain.