OTTAWA — Canada Post and the union representing about 55,000 postal workers have reached a tentative agreement to end a nationwide strike that has disrupted mail delivery across the country for weeks.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) announced that strike action has been suspended after both sides “agreed on the main points” of a new deal. Details of the agreement have not yet been released.
“We need to agree on the contractual language that will form the collective agreements that would be put to a vote by the members,” CUPW said in a statement, stressing that it is suspending — not abandoning — its industrial action. “The union will retain the right to strike.”
Canada Post confirmed that a tentative deal has been reached, pending ratification by workers. “While this is being done, it has been agreed that all strike or lockout activities are suspended,” the Crown corporation said, clearing the way for delivery services to gradually resume.
The national strike began on 25 September as a full walkout before shifting to a system of rotating, or rolling, strikes. The industrial action came after nearly two years of tense negotiations over pay, benefits and working conditions in a sector struggling with falling mail volumes and mounting financial losses.
The dispute escalated just hours after the federal government unveiled a sweeping restructuring plan for Canada Post. The proposed changes would:
- Phase out door-to-door mail delivery for about four million homes
- Allow non-urgent letter mail to be transported by ground instead of air
- Shut some post offices in areas that were once rural but have since been absorbed into urban centres
- Give Canada Post greater flexibility to raise postage rates
Ottawa has argued that the reforms are necessary to staunch deepening losses at the postal service, which lost C$1bn last year and is projected to lose C$1.5bn this year. The corporation, like other national postal operators, has seen steep declines in traditional letter mail and faces intense competition from private couriers in parcels and marketing mail.
Postal workers last staged a nationwide strike in November 2024, also over pay and conditions, underscoring the growing strain within the sector.
The tentative agreement now heads to CUPW members for a vote in the coming weeks. Until then, Canadians can expect a gradual return to normal mail and parcel services, even as debate continues over the future shape and scope of their national postal system.
