After negotiations between Canada Post and the union representing 55,000 of its workers ended in early March without a contract, both sides resumed talks last week amid a looming strike deadline.
The current collective agreements between Canada Post and CUPW is in effect until May 22. If no deal is reached by that date, tens of thousands of workers could once again be on the picket lines.
John Chan, the co-owner of Wonder Pens, a specialty stationery shop in Toronto, says he appreciates Canada Post workers and, as a small business, he relies on the Crown Corporation to get orders to his customers across the country. But the last labour dispute during the peak holiday shopping season was challenging for his business.
“There’s quite a few difficulties with shipping with alternate shipping carriers, especially servicing our customers in rural areas,” Chan explained. “We also had to eat some of the costs, a little bit more of the costs, out of our own pockets.”
With rumblings of another possible strike on the way, Chan is looking to pivot once again.
“It makes us feel a little worried, especially in this environment. There is a lot of stuff going on in the world,” he added. “We are just holding our breath a little bit.”
Some banks like TD, having been sending letters to customers, letting them know about possible Canada Post disruptions on the way.
The latest Canada Post strike happened last November after both sides failed to reach a deal. It lasted about a month, after the Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered both sides back to work.
“It’s not about bad labour relations per se, it’s not about the one side being bad to the other,” said Ian Lee, associate professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business. “It’s that the revenues are collapsing at Canada Post because the business model is collapsing because people don’t write letters anymore and put them in the letter in an envelope and put them in the mail.”
Ahead of the May 22 strike deadline, a federal commission is expected to deliver a report on Canada Post’s financial troubles on May 15.
“The only major policy question that is going to face the Carney government … is what are you going to do with the post office?” Lee said. “They’re going to have to bite this bullet and confront this.”
It’s unclear what the current federal government will do. Back in January, Ottawa provided Canada Post over $1 billion in short-term funding. Canada Post has said that it has lost $3.3 billion since 2018.
“They can deny and kick the problem down the road and give them another billion dollars to bail them out for another six months, then they got to bail them out again and again and again,” Lee quipped. “I think they’re finished in the big cities … But there is a future for Canada Post in those villages and small towns where the courier companies, the private courier companies will not go because the market’s too small.”
Where negotiations stand right now is unclear, but small business owners like John Chan are hoping day-to-day operations can continue without any repeated labour disruptions.
“We would very much like to continue working with Canada Post, but in the meantime, hopefully our customers will understand,” Chan explained.
