Friday May 4 2018
 
Canada Post’s 2017 Annual Report came out yesterday, and it confirms the position that we’ve taken for many years now: there is no financial crisis at Canada Post, there’s plenty of room for growth yet, and expansion and innovation mark the way to long-term viability for the service.
 

Where the Growth Is

The Canada Post segment made $74 Million before taxes, on revenue of $6.4 Billion – that’s revenue created by your work. The success was driven mainly by increased revenue from parcels, which grew faster than the lettermail revenue declined in 2017 and has now exceeded $2 Billion. Lettermail revenue is now less than half of Canada Post’s revenue. In 2016, parcel revenue rose faster than lettermail revenue declined in one quarter. Now it’s done so for the year as a whole – this is promising, but it’s a trend that we have to adapt to in order to address overburdening and to ensure proper route structures, and appropriate staffing for inside workers.

Pension Fund Position

For the first time in a while, the pension fund’s balance is not mentioned in CPC’s release about the 2017 report. Maybe that’s because it’s only good news: on both a going-concern basis, and on a solvency basis, the fund’s position improved – by 64% on a going-concern basis.
 
Meanwhile CPC’s temporary exemption from special solvency payments continues, so we will stand firm that they can’t use that threat as an excuse to attack our hard-won pension and other benefits.
 

Senior Management

We hope that this annual report, along with today’s new appointments to the CPC Board of Directors, signals a change in direction from the top down. Many of the senior management and the negotiators from the Harper era, who brought in the 2013 service cuts, are still around, but their vision of shrinking their way to the future was dead wrong and the Corporation’s recent performance shows it.
 
We continue to advocate for new vision and culture change at Canada Post, which could help us on many of our key issues, like overburdening, bad route structuring, bullying and intimidation by management, emissions and environmental impact, and more.
 

What This Means for Negotiations

The good result will encourage our negotiators to bargain for our fair share of the service’s revenues. And it strengthens our resolve to find solutions to emerging problems in the workplace that are brought on in part by the increase in volumes, while we advocate for the kind of innovation and expansion that the federal government and CPC’s new CEO are now talking positively about.
 
Once again, we see that the postal service is as valued and viable as ever, and it’s all based on your work. Our challenge is to make the workplace fair and safe amid the changes. Please show your support!
 
In Solidarity,
 
Mike Palecek
National President