CUPE stands in solidarity with CUPW members as they return to the picket lines after the government’s announcement of a plan to allow Canada Post to end home delivery, slash delivery speed and shutter post offices across the country.
Parcel volume is way up but Canada Post parcel service is way more expensive than the competition, so all the business is going elsewhere. Amazon just uses gig workers to deliver parcels at a tiny fraction of the cost of standard parcels, plus Amazon’s drivers work on the weekend whereas postal workers do not.
The exact same thing would happen to letter mail if it weren’t illegal to deliver cheap letter mail in Canada (because Canada Post has a monopoly on standard letter mail).
I don’t think it’s even remotely possible for Canada Post to compete with gig workers on parcels without massive subsidies from taxpayers. I can’t imagine a world in which taxpayer subsidies for Amazon to deliver cheap packages via postal workers instead of gig workers would ever be politically feasible.
Parcel volume is way up but Canada Post parcel service is way more expensive than the competition, so all the business is going elsewhere. Amazon just uses gig workers to deliver parcels at a tiny fraction of the cost of standard parcels, plus Amazon’s drivers work on the weekend whereas postal workers do not.
The exact same thing would happen to letter mail if it weren’t illegal to deliver cheap letter mail in Canada (because Canada Post has a monopoly on standard letter mail).
I don’t think it’s even remotely possible for Canada Post to compete with gig workers on parcels without massive subsidies from taxpayers. I can’t imagine a world in which taxpayer subsidies for Amazon to deliver cheap packages via postal workers instead of gig workers would ever be politically feasible.