Canada Post, union reach tentative agreements

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) says it has reached tentative agreements with Canada Post for the Urban Postal Operations and Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers bargaining units.

“The tentative agreements deliver wages increases, with protections against inflation, improved benefits, and job security,” Jan Simpson, CUPW National President, said in a release on Monday.

“These five-year agreements provide much-needed stability to postal workers and the communities across the country that we are proud to serve.”

Ratification votes are scheduled to take place in early 2026 with CUPW’s national executive board “recommending that members accept the agreements during the ratification votes to be held in the new year.”

“No strike or lockout action will take place during the ratification vote period,” the union added. “Only after members have ratified the agreements will they officially become collective agreements.

Canada Post confirmed the deals, saying “the parties have finalized contractual language for new collective agreements.”

“The tentative agreements include higher wage increases, enhanced benefits and a weekend parcel delivery model,” it said. “Both agreements are for five years and would be in effect until January 31, 2029.”

Key highlights (Source: Canada Post)

As part of the tentative agreements, the parties have agreed to:

• Five-year agreements that expire on January 31, 2029 (Urban and RSMC).
• Higher wage increases: 6.5% increase in year one (including 5% already received) and 3.0% in year two. For years 3, 4 and 5, annual wage increases would match the annual inflation rate of the Consumer Price Index (Urban and RSMC).
• No changes to employees’ Defined Benefit pension (Urban and RSMC).
• An enhanced health benefits plan for employees and better income replacement for injury-on-duty leave and leave under the short-term disability program (Urban and RSMC).
• 6 non-carry over personal days locked into the collective agreement, for a total of 13 personal days in the agreement (Urban and RSMC).
• New operating model to support weekend parcel delivery (Urban and RSMC)
• Maintaining the current job security provisions for Urban employees (Urban)
• Enhancing the current job security provisions for RSMC employees (RSMC).
• Adjusting the number of corporate post offices protected in the collective agreement to 393 (Urban)
• Moving employees to an hourly rate of pay (RSMC).