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Canada Post has laid off dozens of management employees this week as it looks to cut costs amid an ongoing contract dispute and as it works on plans for a broader restructuring. The news came in a memo to employees from Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger Tuesday, the same day the Crown corporation announced that it would return to the bargaining table with the union with the assistance of a mediator sometime this week. “These changes are a continuation of our corporate-wide restructuring efforts to better align our management team with the future needs of the organization. While these decisions are sometimes necessary, they are never taken lightly,” said Ettinger in the memo, obtained by the Star. “We need to ensure our costs better align to our financial realities, which means our organization will be leaner at all levels going forward. To minimize the impact on our teams, we will continue to manage our workforce first through attrition while we maintain our external hiring freeze.” While the memo didn’t specify the number of managers laid off, sources say it was fewer than 50, a number which would have triggered a 16-week advance notice period to the federal government. The news of the layoffs came as the federal government’s decision to overhaul the beleaguered Crown corp. was put under the microscope in Ottawa Tuesday during the continuation of hearings at the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. Last week, federal minister for government transformation, public works and procurement Joël Lightbound testified before the committee to defend his call to shutter rural offices and end home delivery. In an emailed statement, Canada Post declined to provide the precise number of management position layoffs, but said they were necessary as the Crown corp. looks to become financially sustainable. “As we continue to work on our transformation plan to implement the measures announced by the government on September 25, we will not be sharing further details,” Canada Post said. “However, we can confirm that the changes will align with the government’s expectation that leadership and structural change from within the corporation is essential. Canada Post must take decisive action to deliver the services Canadians need in a way that is financially sustainable.” The move comes after several senior executives were laid off in January, and it also comes as Canada Post works on a plan to implement a broad restructuring given the green light by the federal government in late September. Lightbound announced Sept. 25 that he’s giving the Crown corporation 45 days to come up with a plan to implement the broad restructuring, which he called a necessary step to keep Canada Post alive. At the time of the announcement, Lightbound also said he expected management to do its part in belt-tightening, noting that the Crown corporation has racked up more than $5 billion in losses since 2018, and is on track to lose $1.5 billion in 2025. At the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates in Ottawa, where MPs are probing the Liberals’ push to shake up the beleaguered Crown corporation, a representative from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers warned the feds that the removal of door-to-door delivery creates safety issues and accessibility barriers for vulnerable people, such as seniors and people with disabilities. CUPW president Jan Simpson claimed that moving delivery to community mailboxes will mean Canadians will have to deal with “litter, graffiti, ice and snow buildup” to collect their mail. “Nobody has asked us to cut door-to-door delivery. People actually want more, increased service,” Simpson told the committee Tuesday. “By eliminating door-to-door delivery and going to community mailboxes, you’re taking away your competitive advantage and therefore pushing away profits.” Lightbound told the committee last week he has made it clear that the postal office must inform the affected communities about the accommodation program for Canadians with mobility issues as the transition to community mailboxes proceeds. Simpson countered Tuesday that the accommodation program is “not a real solution,” noting it is complicated to require personal health information from a physician at a time when millions of Canadians don’t even have a family doctor. “Having this one-stop-shop plan will not be good for any Canadians,” Simpson said, adding that each region in Canada, with its own demographics, has different needs. “We need to ensure that it’s a full public mandate review that has everybody giving their input and has a lived reality of different locations.” Xavier-Antoine Lalande, mayor of Saint-Colomban, Quebec, speaking on behalf of other municipalities in the province, joined several other witnesses in challenging Lightbound’s claim that closing rural offices would mainly affect areas that were once remote but have since become suburbs, and therefore would not impact seniors’ access to mail. Lalande said Canada Post must maintain all local postal services and go beyond mere “consultation” by actively collaborating with municipalities on the issue of installing community mailboxes. “The impact could be significant on the local social fabric and in terms of access to services,” he said. “It’s essential to avoid widening regional inequalities, creating service deserts, per se, or complicating access for seniors and people with reduced mobility.”
