submitted a proposal to the federal government detailing changes to the postal service.
On September 25, Crown was directed by the Minister for Government Change, Public Services and Procurement, Joël Lightbound, to submit its plan for review within 45 days. Canada Post said it completed that on Friday.
“While our situation requires us to act urgently, we will be thoughtful and respectful in our approach and respond quickly to feedback,” Canada Post chief executive Doug Ettinger said in a news release Monday.
The plan “details the decisive actions the corporation is prepared to take to deliver the services Canadians need in a manner that is financially sustainable,” it said.
When asked for details, the company said in an email to the Financial Post that it would not provide further information about the proposal while it undergoes a review process with the government.
In an effort to “stabilize” Canada Post's financial position after it reported hundreds of millions in losses, Lightbound has instructed Canada Post
including phasing out door-to-door mail delivery and increasing weekly mail delivery to two or three days. Currently, mail is delivered to almost every address five days a week.
Other changes include converting remaining households to public mailboxes, upgrading the post office network, changing mail service standards and reducing overhead costs.
Canada Post said the government's directive to make the changes “removed long-standing barriers to reform.”
As of Oct. 30, Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), which represents the corporation's 55,000 employees, have been back at the negotiating table in an attempt to move negotiations forward with the help of federal mediators.
CUPW previously described some of the recommendations contained in Lightbound's Sept. 25 announcement as “devastating cuts” that would “harm communities and businesses,” particularly people in rural, remote and Indigenous areas, as well as older people and people with disabilities.
On October 28, Canada Post announced that it
elimination of some leadership positions
and the layoffs of employees in a so-called “company-wide restructuring” as the labor dispute with postal workers drags on.
Meanwhile, rotating strikes are still ongoing after the end of a two-week nationwide strike in mid-October.
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