Canada Post Strike Continues

Earlier this week, we blogged about the Canada Post strike that has now been in effect for the past week. Beginning with a 24 hour lockout in Winnipeg, the strike has since spread nationwide affecting the delivery and receipt of mail for business owners and everyday citizens alike. We can’t imagine anyone is all that happy about it.

On Monday, our blog touched on the fact that the mail strike is especially hard on small business owners who still often receive payments in the mail. Not to mention, the delivery of invoices to clients is being delayed by the strike, so it is further impacting their bottom line.

News coming out yesterday about the strike is sure to not make small business owners any happier. As The Toronto Star‘s business reporter Vanessa Lu writes, there has been little movement on the bargaining table between management and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.

As a result, the 48,000 unionized employees of Canada Post have been regulated to delivering mail just three days out of the week. There is some good, we suppose, in that the delivery of mail has not been cut off completely. Of course, to some entrepreneurs, receiving mail every other day simply is not good enough to run a business efficiently.

As some of our clients have mentioned to us, receiving a payment even one day late can be detrimental to the everyday running of their businesses. Supplies are needed and payments of their own need to be made. Needless to day, a quick end to the strike is what most small business owners across Canada are hoping for.

To be clear, Lu reports that beginning next week, letters, flyers and small packages will be delivered on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Parcels and other priority post services will continue to be delivered every day. Post office operating hours are not expected to be affected. As well, mail will still be picked up from street mailboxes.

While we know that small business owners are not thrilled about the strike, we imagine that the postal workers themselves can’t be too happy about it either. Lu writes that low mail volumes are affecting the number of hours that employees can be given to work. Spokesman for Canada Post, Jon Hamilton commented on the situation.

Said Hamilton: “Our volumes have dropped off a cliff since the union started their rotating strike activity. We just need to act now to avoid significant losses. Our costs are the same while our revenues have taken a plunge.” Canada Post and CUPW are expected to meet again in Ottawa today to continue negotiations.