Canada Post records $242M loss in 2Q — for now

OTTAWA • Canada’s postal service built a massive loss into its books Tuesday in anticipation of the potential cost of settling a pay equity dispute with its biggest union.

Canada Post said it recorded a second-quarter loss before taxes of $242 million, a dramatic drop from the $27 million profit it made during the same period in 2017.

But it left the door open to a large revision of those numbers, depending on the outcome of talks underway with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers aimed at reaching a pay equity settlement.

“A mediation process is under way to reach a negotiated settlement,” the Crown agency noted in a statement posted on its website.

“Once the process is completed, the Corporation will be in a position to disclose the financial impact of the settlement, which may differ significantly from the estimates recognized in this quarter.”

Canada Post and CUPW jointly agreed to mediated talks in early June with the aim of reaching an agreement by the end of August on how suburban and rural carriers are paid.

Those talks are ongoing, but arbitrator Maureen Flynn has warned that she will impose a final outcome if the two sides can’t come to a deal by Aug. 31.

The complicated dispute is rooted in perceived pay inequities between mostly male urban carriers and their majority female rural and suburban counterparts.

The union contends the 8,000 rural workers employed by the postal service earn at least 25 per cent less than the 42,000 carriers who deliver to urban addresses.

The agency’s Q2 loss covers a “one-time payment” it will have to make to bring it in step with the law, said CUPW national president Mike Palecek.

“Finally, justice is on the horizon for these workers,” he said. “Canada Post can’t run and hide from pay equity anymore.”