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Canada Post by the numbers: Where things stand as strike looms
Canada Post by the numbers: Where things stand as strike looms

Global News

time22-05-2025

  • Business
  • Global News

Canada Post by the numbers: Where things stand as strike looms

A looming Canada Post strike is just two days away, with 55,000 postal workers in a strike position as of Friday and fuelling concerns about mail grinding to a halt. Canada Post said on Monday it was notified by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) that employees for both urban and RSMC (rural and suburban mail carriers) bargaining units had issued strike notices. Operations are expected to continue as usual until then, but the Crown corporation warned a labour disruption would affect millions of Canadians and businesses that rely on the postal service. The corporation presented new offers to the union on Wednesday. CUPW says it is reviewing the offer and would provide an update once it had completed its analysis. A spokesperson for Canada Post said it had denied the union's request to take two weeks to consider the offer. Story continues below advertisement But as the strike date continues, here's a look at some key numbers behind the ongoing negotiations and the financial issues facing Canada Post. Where Canada Post's finances stand Canada Post is facing what the Crown corporation has called 'critical' budget shortfalls, with Robert Kaplan, the commissioner who conducted an industrial inquiry commission into negotiations, saying in his report last week that it is 'effectively insolvent, or bankrupt.' In its most recent financial report, Canada Post recorded a loss before tax of $748 million in 2023, a 26-per cent increase from the $548 million lost a year prior. Those finances have been a key point the corporation has made throughout negotiations, with the company noting in its press release about receiving the strike notices that it has recorded more than $3 billion in losses before tax since 2018 and expects another significant loss for 2024. Story continues below advertisement Amid those challenges, the federal government provided a lifeline in early January with repayable funding of up to $1.034 billion available for Canada Post's 2025-26 fiscal year. 1:48 Canada Post workers could strike again Canada Post said the funding would allow operations to continue though it wouldn't help structural issues. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy That funding came just two months after the Crown corporation reported a loss before tax of $315 million in its third quarter amid a decline in parcel revenue and volumes. That quarter's revenue saw parcels dip 5.8 per cent and volumes decline by six million pieces, or 9.6 per cent to the previous year. CUPW has not denied the corporation is in financial difficulties, though says the report by Kaplan 'categorically rejected' its ideas for service expansion as an 'immediate solution to Canada Post's financial issue.' Story continues below advertisement How the demands on Canada Post have grown Letter delivery, a key element of Canada Post's service, has dropped substantially over the years after hitting its historic high of about 5.5 billion in 2006. Since then, the number of letter mail volumes have declined by 60 per cent with just 2.2 billion delivered in 2023, even though the number of addresses it serves continues to increase. Nearly two decades ago, the Crown corporation delivered mail to about 14.3 million addresses, a number that's jumped to 17.4 million in 2023. 'Postal services in advanced economies around the world are experiencing these same challenges as part of the rapid growth of ecommerce and digital transformation for consumers and businesses,' the corporation's annual report reads. 2:02 Future of Canada Post murky as postal union issues strike notice Canada Post also notes that the surge in privately-owned delivery companies during the COVID-19 pandemic had a bigger impact, with its low-cost operations gaining 'significant ground.' Story continues below advertisement The report says its estimated parcel share has 'eroded' from 62 per cent prior to the pandemic, to just 29 per cent in 2023. Amid this drop in delivery, Kaplan suggested in his report that a moratorium on community mailboxes —put in place in 2015 — should be lifted. This shift on community mailboxes, as well as the suggestion to close post offices and end door-to-door delivery except for businesses, had the union saying the recommendations amounted to service cuts, contracting out and major rollbacks to provisions in their collective agreement. How many workers -- and weekend work? Last year, during the strike, a negotiator for CUPW told Global News that one of the key issues was securing permanent jobs for its temporary workers. Jim Gallant said of the 55,000 workers, just over 22,000 are either temporary or part-time. Story continues below advertisement He said they were not looking to end temporary work and said they recognize there would be an 'odd day' that temporary workers or part-time is needed, but 'it can't be the majority.' Canada Post wants a corps of part-time workers to be deployed on weekends in response to rising parcel demand which right now would require paying overtime, spokesperson Jon Hamilton told the Canadian Press. The union, however, has backed a purely full-time model that would move existing employees onto some weekend shifts and backs new contracts for its 55,000 members. But a recent offer by the Crown corporation presented on Wednesday instead proposed creating 'stable and predictable part-time jobs for people who are looking for flexible work.'

This is the data one former Fed president says he'd be watching
This is the data one former Fed president says he'd be watching

Yahoo

time08-05-2025

  • Business
  • Yahoo

This is the data one former Fed president says he'd be watching

There are two types of data that many in the business world watch. Hard data, which is things like economic releases, and soft data, which may be things like observations by business leaders. In the video above, former Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas president and CEO Robert Kaplan shares what hard and soft data he would be keeping an eye on as concerns about a slowing economy grow. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here. Jay Powell talked about that yesterday, Rob. You know, he said, bottom line, he said economy resilient, labor market resilient, underlying inflation good. So what when would you expect that to show up in the hard data? So there's two things going on. One, the tariffs that we were shocked by on Liberation Day haven't actually gone into effect yet. Uh and so we've seen a lot of pre-ordering and anticipation of them. We've seen businesses trying to figure out how they're going to manage them, big and small businesses. In the one country you see extraordinary highly tariffs on is China and that is having some impact. We see right now on businesses. Um so we're seeing slowing. The thing that also is going on though, the labor force is very tight. Uh unusually tight. Uh and the reason is we've we've reduced immigration flows and organic indigenous flows are very low. So you may actually see, we saw a significant first quarter weakness and we didn't see the unemployment rate spike up. Why is that? I think part of it is businesses are reluctant to get rid of workers unless as long as they're going to stay in business because they know it's going to be difficult to replace them. So I'm watch I'd be watching every employment report. I'd be talking aggressively and to contacts about what they're seeing. But we haven't seen the weakness yet. I can tell you that. And a couple of three sectors, travel, leisure, tourism, obviously, shipping, but apart from that, businesses hanging in there pretty well. And I don't think you're going to see the unemployment rate spike up either. I'm not seeing that either at this point. So Rob, you watch the data, you watch jobs data in particular, you don't listen to what's coming out of the White House, presumably, if you're a member of the Fed. That said, with the president's rhetoric persisting in terms of him now saying the Fed really needs to cut rates, do you think that at some point J. Powell's going to need to come out and make a more forceful case of why cutting is not appropriate right now? Yeah, I think I think as this unfolds, particularly if you see more more significant GDP weakness which leads to unemployment spiking up, then yes, he will have to explain more why the ramp up in unemployment isn't enough to justify adjusting rates. The other thing that should be going on here behind the scenes is normally, uh the chairman of the Fed will be talking regularly to the Treasury Secretary. I'm assuming those conversations are going on. They normally would be and I think it's very important that that line of communication is also open.

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