Postal Workers Strike in Canada, Disrupting Holiday Shipments

Canadians will face delays in getting their holiday gifts and purchases in the coming holiday season, after workers at the national postal service went on strike. Some 55,000 employees who are part of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers walked out at 12:01 a.m. Toronto time on November 15, according to a union statement.

The work stoppage at Canada Post Corp., which is the country’s largest delivery company, will disrupt services across the country. Mail and parcels won’t be processed or delivered, no new items will be accepted, and some offices will be closed, Canada Post said in a separate statement.

“A national strike of any length will impact service to Canadians well after the strike activity ends. Processing and delivery may take some time to fully return to normal.”

The government-owned company said parcel volumes already started dropping last week as customers turned to competitors to avoid potential delays. The latest job action highlights the slower adjustments of wages for union workers whose multi-year contracts prevented them from getting big wage gains during the surge of inflation that took place in 2021 and 2022.

Canada has been hit by a series of supply-chain disruptions. Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon on November 12 asked the country’s independent labor board to end lockouts at the largest ports in Quebec and British Columbia. The government may be forced to intervene again in a postal strike, given the importance of the carrier to the economy as well as public services. MacKinnon said on the evening of November 14 night that he had appointed a “special mediator” to provide additional resources at the bargaining table, where federal mediators had already been working with Canada Post and the union.

“Canadians need them to reach an agreement,” the labor minister said. “We are making sure that these two groups have everything they need to reach a deal.”

While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government passed back-to-work legislation to end a Canada Post strike in 2018, parliament is currently gridlocked over a Conservative motion on another matter. Even if the House of Commons were functioning as usual, it would be challenging for Trudeau’s Liberal minority government to muster enough support for a bill sending postal workers back to the job.