Postal workers across Ontario will not be delivering unaddressed flyers — exempting areas such as the GTA, Kingston and Ottawa — as part of a new round of rotating strikes announced early Monday by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).
While the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) previously announced it would halt flyer delivery as of Sept. 15, it specified on Monday that “the Ontario Region has now joined the Quebec Region” in no longer delivering flyers.
“CUPW continues to advocate for strong public services, good, unionized jobs, and a sustainable, public post office that serves all Canadians,” it said in a statement to the Star.
The union told the Star it is continuing to deliver flyers to Metro Toronto and the Central Region, which includes cities from Thunder Bay to Ottawa and explained that CUPW’s national executive bord regularly reviews selected locations “to ensure they align with the union’s overall strategy and objectives.”
As part of its ongoing labour dispute with Canada Post and the federal government, the CUPW began rotating strikes in October, and has, so far, spared large urban centres from the actions. While some labour analysts say that decision may be an olive branch to end the dispute, business leaders lament it creates unpredictability for business owners.
At the same time, the Crown corporation is facing a restructuring plan that has already seen dozens of managers laid off.
The Retail Council of Canada told the Star that the strikes’ “many inconsistencies” cause varying impacts on deliveries across the country.
“This effectively means that service is unreliable and causes considerable frustration for both retailers and Canadian consumers, who rely on the timely and consistent delivery of flyers to plan their purchases and access promotions,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
Dan Kelly, the president of the Canadian Federation Of Independent Business, meanwhile, said the actions make Canada Post an “increasingly unreliable option” for customers.
“Nearly one in five small businesses across Canada rely on Canada Post to send promotional materials,” Kelly said in a statement. “Losing access to this low-cost advertising option is another blow to small businesses in Ontario, especially before the critical retail holiday season.”
He called on the government and Canada Post to “move quickly” and get the “needed reforms across the finish line.”
Labour analysts previously told the Star that major cities could start to be affected by the rotating strikes if the parties don’t reach an agreement in time for the holiday season.
If there aren’t concessions from Canada Post, and the federal government doesn’t walk back changes approved in September, such as the end of home mail delivery, then the union will most likely up the ante, said University of Toronto labour studies professor Rafael Gomez.
“This only goes one way if you don’t have a deal. It gets more intense, absolutely,” said Gomez, director of U of T’s Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources.
He said part of the reason the union decided to have rotating regional strikes, rather than a national strike, is that it knows almost a third of its members already voted in favour of the Crown corporation’s “final” offer earlier this year in balloting ordered by the federal government, and CUPW doesn’t want to risk dividing its membership further.
With files from Josh McGinnis and Josh Rubin
