We encourage all postal workers to contact the Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee at canadapostworkersrfc@gmail.com or by filling out the form at the end of this article.

The Liberal government, led by former central banker and global financial executive Mark Carney, has once again intervened directly on behalf of Canada Post management—ordering 55,000 urban and rural postal workers to vote on the corporation’s “best and final” offers. After an 18-month-long contract struggle, during which the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) leadership has repeatedly demobilized us, we must face facts: The government stands four-square with the bosses against postal workers. Yet the CUPW bureaucrats are adamantly opposed to mobilizing the social power of the working class to defend our jobs and working conditions, all public services and the right to strike.

Under these conditions, the Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee calls emphatically for all postal workers to vote “No.” However, the massive repudiation of Canada Post’s concessions-filled offers is by itself entirely insufficient to secure victory over management, the government and corporate Canada, who are determined to make an example of postal workers as part of an intensified assault on the social and democratic rights of all working people.

We must make a “No” vote the starting point for the broadening of our struggle into a working-class industrial and political counter-offensive. To broaden our struggle, break out of the straitjacket imposed on us through the rigged, state-designed collective bargaining system, and counter the sabotage of the CUPW apparatus, we postal workers must take matters into our own hands by building a network of rank-and-file committees.

This strategy offers the best and only true way forward, because all workers, public and private sector alike, have a direct interest in defeating the drive of Canada Post management and the government to restructure the postal service and destroy our livelihoods. If they prevail, the miserable conditions they want to impose on us will become the benchmark for all workers. We can stop this by leading a powerful working-class movement against capitalist austerity and for workers’ control over AI and other new technologies, so as to ensure that they are used to improve workers’ lives and public services, not maximize capitalist profits.

What the government is now forcing workers to vote on is not a “fair deal.” It is a slave charter that provides for:

• New categories of part-time, precarious workers to establish seven-day-a-week delivery;
• Use of “dynamic routing” and AI-driven surveillance to eliminate “trapped time” and otherwise intensify workloads;
• Wage increases far below inflation, that is real wage cuts;
• Structural changes that will ultimately result in the elimination of tens of thousands of permanent full-time jobs.

The goal is clear: to “Amazonify” Canada Post—transforming it into a “lean” logistics platform driven by hyper-exploitation to reverse recent profit losses. If management gets its way in this round of negotiations, it will further embolden them to trample over us in the next round of “collective bargaining.”

Nor will the vote be fair. Many workers have reported difficulties in registering for the government-dictated, online only vote. Not only do many find the process confusing, there are countless workers who do not have an email account, a prerequisite for registration and voting. There are many workers in rural and remote areas who already struggle to access the internet meaning they could well lose their opportunity to cast a ballot. 

This process doesn’t just disenfranchise workers, it runs roughshod over the democratic tradition of in-person contract ratification meetings and voting, where we can voice our opinion to the union and management and agitate for or against a contract.

Oppose the government-management-union conspiracy!

The vote is being overseen by the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB)—an unelected, government-appointed body that operates as a blunt instrument of repression against the working class. In December 2024, the CIRB, on the orders of the Liberal government, used a fraudulent reinterpretation of Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to ban and break our month-long strike, even though workers had voted overwhelmingly—by more than 95%—to take action.

There was broad support for defying the ban. But the CUPW leadership immediately surrendered. It ordered postal workers back on the job, without us having any say or vote.

In May when we regained the legal right to strike, the CUPW bureaucracy again demobilized us. Instead of shutting down Canada Post, it called a toothless overtime ban—a move designed to minimize disruption and protect Canada Post’s revenue streams. The union leadership justified this retreat by claiming it would “protect the public,” revealing that they view the rest of the working class as fragmented, isolated, and opposed to us, rather than a force that can and must be galvanized in our support. Worse, the union immediately undermined its own action by permitting part-time and temporary workers to work up to 40 hours per week—filling the very gap the overtime ban was supposed to create.

The miserable offers we are being forced to vote on were given official legitimization by the Industrial Inquiry Commission (IIC), established by the federal Liberal government and headed by longtime arbitrator William Kaplan. From the beginning, workers knew the commission was rigged. But the CUPW leadership not only refused to oppose the IIC, they actively promoted it, claiming that the commission gave workers “a voice.” In reality, as intended, it laid the groundwork for a massive restructuring of Canada Post at our expense. Its goal is to make the post office a “viable,” that is profitable competitor, of the private delivery companies.

In May, CUPW begged the government to impose binding arbitration, proposing that a government-appointed arbitrator like Kaplan decide our wages and conditions—without a vote and no right to strike. Last week, more than a month after the government chose to make us vote on Canada Post’s concessionary offers, Canadian Labour Congress President Bea Bruske issued a pathetic letter of protest. It called on the government to “respect collective bargaining” and work with the unions in restructuring Canada Post. The reality is the CLC and its affiliates have been close allies of the big business Liberal government for the past decade and warmly welcomed its return to power under Carney in the April 28 election.

The CUPW leadership and the entire Canadian union bureaucracy have led us into a dead end. We’re stuck in a useless “work-to-rule” campaign while management shifts parcel volume to Purolator, which Canada Post owns. Meanwhile, the CUPW apparatus—beginning with President Jan Simpson and the National Executive Board—has isolated us, demobilized us, and tried to palm off its sabotage as a “fighting” program.

The participation of Simpson and company in the rigged commission gave the IIC enough credibility for the government and corporation to double down on their attacks against us. All of the attacks in Canada Post’s “final offers,” from a dramatic increase in part-time positions to widespread implementation of separate sort and delivery, load levelling, and dynamic routing, were hashed out during the IIC meetings. 

Furthermore, in a massive gift to the corporation and government, CUPW has effectively handed over our most important weapon—the right to strike—just when we need it most. While we face a coordinated government-corporate assault, the union apparatus has chosen to surrender, so that they can maintain their bureaucratic privileges as our jobs and working conditions are eviscerated.

Mobilize the social power of the working class!

The union leadership tries to distract us with outlandish solutions to make Canada Post “profitable,” including postal banking, EV charging stations, and senior check-ins. But the fundamental problem we face is not a lack of work. We find ourselves in an industry overrun with gig workers whose labour is heavily exploited with automation and surveillance. The entire logistics industry is facing the same challenges we are, but the union prefers to keep us isolated. They are unable to appeal to the workers at Amazon, DHL, UPS, FedEx and smaller couriers to join us in a common struggle for secure and good-paying jobs for all.

Enough is enough! Postal workers must deliver an overwhelming “No” vote to this rotten contract. But we must be clear: the Carney government has already prepared the next move—binding arbitration. That means no new offers, no right to strike, and no democratic say—only a decision imposed from above and based on the IIC’s anti-worker blueprint. And CUPW has already made clear they are ready to serve our jobs up on a platter and silence the rank and file through arbitration. 

That is why a powerful “No” vote must become the starting point for a real fight based on a new strategy to win our demands through the mobilization of the immense power of the working class across Canada and internationally.

We must break the union bureaucracy’s stranglehold and take the fight into our own hands by building the Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee (PWRFC). It was established in June 2024 because we recognized that postal workers confront a political struggle and that the CUPW apparatus, and the pro-capitalist unions more generally, cannot be reformed or pressured into representing our interests. 

We call on all postal workers to:

• Form rank-and-file committees in every depot, sorting center, and delivery unit;
• Organize a cross-Canada fight to defend jobs, wages, and public services against the austerity program of the Carney government and the entire political establishment;
• Reach out to Purolator, FedEx, Amazon, and gig workers facing similar attacks;
• Fight for the right to strike, which is under attack across the board by governments at all levels, and for workers’ control over negotiations;
• Link up internationally through the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC), uniting with postal and logistics workers across North America, Europe, and Asia, who are all facing similar attacks.

This fight is not just about us postal workers. The Carney government is setting a precedent for mass job cuts, privatization, and state repression across the country in order to pay for billions in new military spending in preparation for war against Canada’s “enemies”—with Russia and China at the top of the list. The attack on the post office is just one front in a broader assault to finance war spending and enrich the corporate elite.

The right to strike is under coordinated attack in federal and provincial jurisdictions; AI and surveillance tech are being weaponized to intensify exploitation; healthcare and other public services are being gutted for profit.

Postal workers can and must draw a line in the sand. We remain in a powerful position because the things that we are fighting for and against are of pivotal importance to all workers. But only if we act collectively and build a new leadership from below.

Join the fight! Build the PWRFC!

Give a resounding “No” to management’s “final offers”!

Break CUPW’s straight jacket! Reject arbitration and fight for democratic control over our struggle! Organize rank-and-file committees to take the fight forward! Unite with all workers fighting against privatization, precarious work, and tech-driven exploitation.

Contact the PWRFC today. Fill out the form below or reach out directly to canadapostworkersrfc@gmail.com . Let’s turn our fight into the beginning of a broader counteroffensive for public services, secure jobs, and workers’ power.