Over 55,000 Canada Post employees went on strike last Friday. The employees, members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, have been without a contract since the beginning of the year.
The two sides were far apart on wages and other benefits as the union filed notice of strike action last week. The strike began November 15 at 12:01 a.m., halting letter mail and parcel deliveries across the country.
“Customers will experience delays due to the strike activity. Mail and parcels will not be processed or delivered for the duration of the national strike, and some post offices will be closed. Service guarantees will be impacted for items already in the postal network. No new items will be accepted until the national disruption is over,” the crown corporation said in a statement Friday.
The union said it had no choice but to strike.
“After a year of bargaining with little progress, postal workers made the difficult decision to strike. Canada Post had the opportunity to prevent this strike, but it has refused to negotiate real solutions to the issues postal workers face every day. Instead, Canada Post left us no choice when it threatened to change our working conditions and leave our members exposed to layoffs.”
Main concerns from the union include wages, hiring contract workers for weekend work, and benefits. Canada Post said the company is at a critical juncture due to the changing economy. The company has lost $500 million so far in 2024, and has lost over $3 billion since 2018.
The company was last on strike in October 2018. Unionized workers were legislated back-to-work a month later.
Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said the government has no plan to introduce back-to-work legislation at this time. A federally-appointed mediator has been meeting with both sides as recently as Tuesday morning (November 19).
Some post offices may still be open, but no mail is being delivered. The exception is government benefit payments. Mail is not being accepted.