DHL Express Canada workers ratify new agreement, move to end strike and lockout

DHL containers are transported on the tarmac at John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Hamilton, Ont., Wednesday, March 26, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn

TORONTO — Canada’s largest private sector union says a three-week lockout and strike at DHL Express Canada is ending after workers ratified a new agreement.

Unifor says the four-year agreement reached with the delivery company was ratified with 72 per cent support from members.

The agreement impacts more than 2,100 DHL Express Canada employees who work as truck drivers, couriers and in warehouse and clerical roles.

“I am so proud of all the members of the national bargaining committee for standing strong and fighting for the respect they deserved,” Unifor National President Lana Payne said in a news release Saturday that announced the results of the ratification vote.

DHL Express said in a statement that it has restored all services in Canada, and that all of its operations will be reinstated effective June 30.

“We are excited to resume our operations and welcome back all our team members. Together, we’ll prioritize delivering the highest quality service to our customers,” the company’s statement said.

The workers were locked out after midnight on June 8 and went on strike hours later. The company and the union, who had been negotiating for close to a year, sparred over the use of replacement workers as federal legislation banning the practice took effect during the work stoppage.

The German-owned courier, whose 50,000 customers in Canada include Lululemon, Shein and Siemens, continued operations for the first dozen days of the work stoppage and then shut down operations early on the morning of June 20, the same day the legislation took effect.

The company tied the shutdown to stalled negotiations as well as the revised rules, which bar new hires from filling the role of federally regulated employees who are on strike or locked out.

Payne had accused the company of bringing in replacement workers -- a claim DHL hadn’t denied. She said the move was legal at the time but was undermining fair wages.

“This is a historic dispute in our union’s books because we were the test case for the new anti-scab legislation and our union and members stood tall, held strong, and the end result is we got a fair collective agreement,” Payne said in Saturday’s news release.

Unifor said the ratified contract includes a 15.75 per cent wage hike, pension increases for hourly workers and a new pension for owner-operators.

It said the agreement also features increases to short- and long-term disability payments, new mental-health benefits, a rise in severance and updated language around artificial intelligence, robotics and work-from-home policies.

The union said the DHL workers will return to work after the ratification but offered no definite timeline. It thanked the public for its patience as workers resolve the backlog of packages and deliveries.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 28, 2025.