A fight is brewing at Canada Post. Management is on the offensive, trying to claw back gains for which the union has fought for years. On the other side, there’s righteous anger on the shop floor. On Oct. 28 workers voted overwhelmingly for a strike, with 95 per cent in favour. The union will be in a position to strike starting Nov. 3, and already there are whispers that Canada Post is planning to lock the workers out.
This anger is more than justified. The company has been ruthless in negotiations. They are carrying out a sweeping attack on wages and working conditions: Canada Post is demanding “restructuring” to be able to compete with companies like Amazon. This is code for introducing Amazon-like wages and working conditions. Canada Post is offering a pitiful raise of only 10 per cent over four years—which barely keeps pace with current inflation and is not even close to enough to account for past inflation—as well as the removal of the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) clause, which gives lump sum payments to workers in periods of high inflation. The company also wants significant cuts to pensions and benefits. Management even wants to reduce vacation time and take away Christmas vacation for some workers.
As for working conditions, if the company gets its way they will truly be Amazon-like. A statement by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) explains: “Canada Post wants to completely overhaul letter carrier work. CPC wants to be able to schedule carriers 5 days on a 7-day calendar, schedule variable work hours each day, change routes every day, add part-time flex positions, [and] cut full-time relief positions.” These are the type of conditions that force Amazon workers to pee in bottles. This is what workers face if the union is defeated.
Therefore, it’s clear that a determined struggle is needed to win the union’s justified demands: an 18 per cent raise over two years, improvements to letter carrier hours, as well as maintaining the COLA clause, benefits, and pensions.
Management is already gearing up for a fight. They’ve been targeting individual workers, looking for any possible reason to fire them. They’re also hiring a large reserve of temporary workers—a possible scab force. And, as mentioned, management is rumored to be planning a lockout. The union leadership must also prepare to fight to win.
This also means being prepared for back-to-work legislation and all other undemocratic strike-breaking measures from the government, because the government will come down on the side of Canada Post.
Workers will remember the infamous case of the 2018 postal workers’ strike, when the government crushed the striking workers with back-to-work legislation. The two Canada Post strikes before that faced the same thing. And, more recently the government crushed the locked-out rail workers by ordering the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to shut down the strike.
The only way to beat such underhanded tactics is by defying the law and continuing the struggle. If the union leadership is not prepared to defy, the right to strike is not worth the paper it’s written on, and the government will trample the postal workers—and not only the postal workers. It will be emboldened to trample the entire labour movement.
By being prepared to defy any unjust anti-democratic measures and use hard picket lines to block scabs from entering all the main mail processing facilities, the workers can shut down all Canada Post operations. This would cost corporations millions in profits every day. Like this, the union can force its demands on Canada Post. In victory, all fines and disciplinary action for workers would be washed away. This is exactly what the Ontario CUPE education workers did in fall 2022: they defied and defeated Premier Doug Ford’s attempt to crush their strike with the notwithstanding clause, forcing him to retreat with his tail between his legs.
CUPW has a long history of doing whatever it takes to fight unjust attacks like these. In fact, the union was born out of an illegal strike. Postal workers have defied these laws several times in the past. It is by reviving these traditions that we can defeat management today.
Join the CUPW communists!
The RCP is organizing communists within CUPW. We fight to bring back the traditions that got us a union in the first place, and fight for a revolutionary perspective in the movement. None of the problems of workers will be solved under capitalism. If you agree, get in touch with the Marxists of the union: cupwmarxists@gmail.com
