On Friday, November 15, approximately 55,000 postal workers across Canada Post walked off the job, bringing mail and parcel deliveries to a virtual standstill.
Only government benefit cheques such as Canada Child Benefit, Old Age Security, and Canada Pension Plan will continue to arrive as usual throughout the strike period.
“Mail and parcels will not be processed or delivered for the duration of the national strike, and some post offices will be closed,” reads a statement on the Canada Post website. “Service guarantees will be impacted for items already in the postal network. No new items will be accepted until the national disruption is over.”
Once operations resume, Canada Post says the mail will go out on a first-in, first-out basis. However, they warn customers that it will take some time for processing and delivery to get back to normal.
For Canadians, the strike comes at a bad time, with the holidays just around the corner and Black Friday deals beginning to surface online.
The last Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) strike took place in late October 2018 and lasted 31 days.
Negotiations between Canada Post and its unionized employees began in November 2023. Almost a year later, this past October, the federal government appointed a mediator to assist the two parties in reaching a new collective agreement.
The negotiations haven’t led to a deal, likely owing to the vast disparity between the CUPW’s proposal and Canada Post’s stated financial position.
On account of inflation in recent years, the CUPW is asking for a 22 percent wage hike for its members over the next four years. At the last negotiation, Canada Post was offering 11.5 percent.
Additionally, the CUPW is looking for increases to short-term disability payouts and ten paid sick days. For rural and suburban mail carriers, the union also seeks to include corporate vehicles for mail-carriers as well as paid meals and breaks.
According to Canada Post, its financial situation is already dire and meeting the union’s demands would break the bank. In the first half of 2024, Canada Post has lost nearly a half-billion dollars. The crown corporation has reported $3 billion in losses since 2018.
CUPW counters this position by suggesting that the corporation reconsider its ongoing executive bonuses, as well as expand its services to manage higher costs.
Previous postal strikes held in 2011 and 2018 ended when the federal government passed legislation sending employees back to work.
The Minister of Labour, Steven MacKinnon, has not yet indicated whether the same approach is a possibility this time around.
