Canadian postal workers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action, their union has announced, setting the stage for a possible postal strike if a deal isn’t reached with Canada Post, the country’s national postal service.
Between Sept. 9 and Oct. 20, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers’ (CUPW) urban and rural bargaining units each voted 95 per cent in favour of a strike.
Negotiations began in November 2023, and the parties moved into a 21-day cooling-off period that ends Nov. 2, putting CUPW in a legal strike position as of Nov. 3 if no agreement is reached. Only after this date “would either party be in a position to initiate a labour disruption” following a minimum notice of 72 hours, according to Canada Post.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the two sides had not struck a deal but remained in talks, CUPW said in a statement to the Star.
“CUPW negotiators are still at the negotiating table. The best contracts are negotiated at the bargaining table,” CUPW said.
Canada Post said in a statement last week that its “goal throughout these negotiations with CUPW has always been to reach negotiated agreements, without any labour disruption.”
“A labour disruption would have significant consequences for the millions of Canadians who rely on Canada Post while deepening the company’s already serious financial situation, as customers move their holiday shipments to other carriers,” Canada Post said.
CUPW said in its Monday release that it is advocating for “fair wages, safe working conditions, and the right to retire with dignity.”
Though physical mail volume has decreased substantially in recent years, Dan Kelly, the president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), said that small- and medium-sized businesses remain dependent on Canada Post to send and receive payments, market themselves through direct mail and ship goods to customers.
As a result, money sent between small businesses could get stuck in the mail at a crucial time of the year, he said.
“People don’t realize that small businesses still often pay each other by sending a paper invoice and receiving a physical cheque back as a form of payment,” Kelly said. “There’s no question that payments will be an early casualty should a strike take place.”
In the event of a postal strike, Kelly advises small businesses to proactively look at alternative shipping arrangements, both for paying each other and for shipping orders across Canada.
“If there is a strike, demand will shoot up and accessibility to private sector alternatives will be that much more diminished,” Kelly said.
CUPW workers previously went on a “rotating” strike in 2018, during which service to major Canadian cities was interrupted for 24 hours at a time. Postal workers were mandated back to work by the federal government, who passed strike-ending legislation despite resistance from labour leaders.
Small businesses tend to generate a significant amount of their yearly revenue during the holiday season, surveys show, which makes the timing of the potential strike all the more troubling for small firms.
“We’re just on the cusp of the critical retail season, so a strike — particularly a lengthy strike — could throw Christmas and holiday sales into a really bad spot,” Kelly said.
