Canada Post is eliminating some managerial positions, laying off workers in what it says are “corporate-wide restructuring efforts” as the

labour dispute with its postal workers drags on. The Crown corporation confirmed the layoffs Tuesday after reportedly informing the affected employees the day before that their positions were no longer needed.

In a letter to staff, chief executive Doug Ettinger said the corporation needs to ensure that costs better align with its financial realities, meaning Canada Post “will be leaner at all levels going forward.”

“While these decisions are sometimes necessary, they are never taken lightly,” said Ettinger.

The move follows the federal government’s Sept. 25 announcement instructing Canada Post to ease its delivery standards, including phasing out

door-to-door mail delivery, in an effort to “stabilize” its financial situation after reporting hundreds of millions in losses.

“We can confirm that the changes will align with the government’s expectation that leadership and structural change from within the Corporation is essential,” the company said in a statement. “Canada Post must take decisive action to

deliver the services Canadians need in a way that is financially sustainable.” It added that it will not be sharing further details on the layoffs as it “(continues) to work on our transformation plan to implement the measures announced by the government on Sept. 25.”

The company said it will share its plan with the government in the next few weeks and with the public once it becomes finalized.

Joël Lightbound, the minister of government transformation, public services and procurement, has been meeting with postal workers represented by

Canadian Union of Postal Workers’ (CUPW) in recent weeks. Union representatives spoke about the situation at Canada Post at a hearing before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates on Parliament Hill on Tuesday.

“During our presentation, we explained how Minister Lightbound’s announcement of sweeping changes to Canada Post last month will gut the public post office, eliminate thousands of good, unionized jobs, and cause real hardship in communities across the country, and highlighted how none of these things need to happen to return the Corporation to sustainability,” CUPW said.

Hours later, however, news about the layoffs started circulating.

Canada Post said it will continue to manage its workforce first through attrition while maintaining an external hiring freeze to “minimize the impact on our teams,” both of which have helped reduce management positions over the last two years.

“We are embarking on a major transformation to strengthen the postal service and become more self-reliant and service-focused,” its statement said.

CUPW did not provide a comment on the layoffs. Negotiations between CUPW and Canada Post have been ongoing for the last 22 months.

The union, which represents approximately 55,000 Canada Post workers,

has been on a rotating strike since Oct. 11 following a two-week-long national strike. Canada Post has said that it has yet to receive a response from CUPW on its latest global offers from Oct. 3. The union has previously said that the corporation’s offers remained the same as those it presented in May and CUPW rejected in August, but with “some new rollbacks.”

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