There is still no end to the Canada Post strike and with the holiday season just five weeks away, fears are rising that the strike could put a serious dent in upcoming festivities for both consumers and small businesses.
Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) were still without an agreement as of late Monday and management said the two sides remained “far apart at the table.”
Harley Finkelstein, president of Shopify, the e-commerce software giant favoured by small businesses, said a strike two weeks before Black Friday “devastates” small businesses.
“As the leading Canadian carrier, this has massive consequences — small businesses will unfairly bear the brunt,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
A special mediator has been appointed by the federal labour minister with the goal of ending the strike quickly, but it is unknown whether the federal government would consider ordering union members back to work.
In 2018, rotating strikes continued for five weeks before workers were ordered back to work, but this time the federal government could step in sooner, given the time of year and the government’s recent propensity to intervene in other labour disputes, said Michael Lynk, an associate professor of law at Western University.
“The government will intervene some time between now and the end of next week is my guess,” Lynk said.
In the meantime, Canadians remain unable to send and receive packages through the country’s national postal service. Here’s how consumers could be impacted, along with some potential solutions.
Delays in personal mail and holiday cards
In a statement to the Star, Canada Post said that no new items are being accepted and that the strike has “has shut down operations across the country during the critical holiday period.”
The union representing workers at Purolator, a courier majority-owned by Canada Post, said it won’t handle any packages postmarked or identified as originating from the carrier throughout the duration of the strike.
Experts suggest that those sending holiday cards, gifts or other parcels should seek to send them via other couriers such as UPS or FedEx.
Stephanie Ross, an associate professor of labour studies at McMaster University, said the specific issues at hand — namely Canada Post’s push for seven-day delivery — complicate negotiations, but the appointment of a mediator demonstrates the government’s attention to the strike.
“It is a sign that the government is taking the dispute seriously,” Ross said. “It’s going to be tough because these are really fundamental, structural changes that the union is going to fight.”
Small and rural businesses taking a hit
Small businesses, particularly those in rural areas, could feel the impact of the strike the most, since Canada Post is often the most convenient, efficient or sometimes only option to ship products to customers.
Cory Babstock, a Newfoundland-based photographer who sells calendars and cards in the fall and winter on Etsy when he’s not working for a local photography tour company, closed down his online shop the day the strike was announced and has effectively halted operations until it’s resolved.
Working out of the small East Coast town of Clarenville, Babstock relies on Canada Post, and while he said he supports the union’s push for higher wages and better working conditions, the strike’s impact on one-person operations such as his are undeniable.
“When it comes to volume, I’m not a hundreds of thousands of dollars company, but it’s significant to me and my family,” Babstock said.
Many of the small businesses Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, has spoken with in recent days have told him Canada Post alternatives are two to three times more expensive than they are with the Crown corporation.
Even those that can afford to opt for other services often find capacity issues.
“It’s not like these private sector delivery companies had just massive amounts of surplus capacity, so that is very much a challenge,” said Kelly, whose organization represents more than 97,000 small businesses in Canada.
While many companies swallow the added cost of shipping goods to customers, some of them are also facing another problem: cheques and invoices stuck in the halted mail system.
“There’s still a huge number of businesses paying other businesses, suppliers or their business customers with a paper invoice in the mail,” he said.
Government benefit cheques still being delivered
Canada Post and the union have agreed to continue delivering government benefit cheques, such as the Canada Child Benefit, old age security and the Canada Pension Plan, during the labour disruption. It said seniors and others who rely on the mail service will receive timely financial assistance.
All cheques for November are set to be delivered on Nov. 20.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) said however that “to avoid interest and penalties,” it is encouraging Canadians to send payments to the CRA electronically.
With files from The Canadian Press
