As 53,000 postal workers hit the picket line for the second time in under a year, businesses across the country worry about reaching their customers, charities express concern with staying in touch with donors, and Canada Post and its workers’ union seem further apart than ever.
Friday, members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers were on strike, a day after the federal government gave Canada Post 45 days to come up with a plan for broad restructuring, including the end of home delivery.
There are no formal talks currently scheduled, and the Crown corporation said Friday it’s “reassessing” its latest contract offer after federal procurement minister Joël Lightbound announced Thursday that it’s giving Canada Post the green light to end home delivery, close some rural post offices, and send mail by land instead of air.
“Canada Post has informed the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) that, in light of the significant transformational changes announced by the Government of Canada, it is reassessing its new Global Offers,” Canada Post said of the new offer, which was expected to be presented Friday.
Still, the Crown corporation poured cold water on the union’s insistence that a union counter-offer made in mid-August is a good step towards a contract agreement.
“We are disappointed that, in response to the government’s reforms, the union chose to launch a national strike. This will further deteriorate Canada Post’s financial situation,” Canada Post said in a written statement. “Facing a growing financial crisis — more than $5 billion in losses from operations since 2018 — the company cannot agree to CUPW’s counter offers… which maintained or hardened the union’s position on many items.”
The Aug. 20 counter offers would result in an additional $700 million in costs per year if implemented, Canada Post claimed, including adding four new “personal days,” to bring up each union member’s allotment to 17 personal days.
In a news release Friday, CUPW blasted the federal government for what it said was siding with company management.
“Instead of supporting good, stable jobs and protecting universal mail service for all Canadians, the government has chosen to side with Canada Post’s corporate plan — a plan that the union has long warned was designed to erode services, undermine workers, and pave the way for privatization,” CUPW said.
“This strike is about more than just workers’ rights. It’s about defending a public service that communities across this country rely on every single day.”
There’s little doubt Canada Post will implement the restructuring plan — and issue layoff notices — even if the strike is still going on, labour experts agree.
“Yes, they’ll try to do it. Do I think it’s an optimal strategy? No,” said Rafael Gomez, director of the University of Toronto’s Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources.
“It happens all the time in the private sector,” said York University labour studies professor Steven Tufts. “There’s a long history of employers announcing layoffs during a strike.”
While unions have often argued that layoffs during a strike are inherently punitive, it’s something that’s harder to prove, Tufts said.
“Are you being fired because you’re on strike, or being fired because there’s no work?” Tufts said.
While Tufts suspects the federal government is preparing back to work legislation or using Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to order an end to the strike, it’s an open question whether or not CUPW leadership or members would obey the order, he said. They might just might be trying to follow the example of Air Canada flight attendants, who disobeyed a Section 107 order this summer, and then secured a contract offer a few days later.
But it’s a risky tactic that could result in hefty fines or even jail time for union leadership, said Tufts, who pointed to then-CUPW president Jean-Claude Parrot, who was jailed for two months in 1979 after refusing to order his members back to their jobs, disobeying back-to-work legislation.
“Is (current CUPW president) Jan Simpson willing to do that? We’ll see. I think it’s going to get a little bumpy over the next week,” said Tufts.
A spokesperson for federal jobs minister Patty Hajdu wouldn’t say if a Section 107 order or legislation were under consideration, and said the best contract agreements are reached at the negotiating table.
Tufts suggested that Prime Minister Mark Carney could also be using Canada Post and CUPW as an implicit threat to other unions as it looks to cut costs in the federal civil service.
“Is he trying to use this to set the tone for what he wants to do with the federal civil service? Is he really telling PSAC and other unions to get ready,” said Tufts.
Meanwhile, business groups expect a “massive” hit to small companies’ operations amidst the strike.
A Canada Post work stoppage around the holiday period last year cost small firms over $1 billion, said Dan Kelly, CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
“We are kind of at the cusp of the start to the retail sales season, where Canada Post is still a giant player in distributing goods,” said Kelly.
He added that sending a cheque by mail also remains the top way that businesses pay each other because it is a low-cost option. That means many firms are now worried about payments being frozen while deliveries are halted.
Last year’s work stoppage was also a blow to Canadian charities, which typically see a huge chunk of annual donations during the final two months of the year, said Nicole Danesi, a spokesperson for online giving platform CanadaHelps.
The organization said Canadian charities lost an estimated $266 million in donations during the 2024 strike.
“A lot of charities still rely on direct mail to receive donations. They often are mailing out appeals, for example, and they really rely on some of those key donations that come through the mail,” said Danesi.
With files from The Canadian Press
