Over 50,000 postal workers across Canada gave entered the fifth day of a labour strike over their pay and working conditions. This single act has disrupted the mail delivery ahead of the busy holiday season.
The union representing employees at Canada Post – the country’s main postal operator – remarked that negotiations were still “far apart” ongoing at the moment.
Canadian workers are asking for a wage increase, and want the ability to work on weekends with overtime pay instead of having Canada Post rely on outside contractors.
Although the operator has faced significant financial losses in recent years, they warned that the labour disruption “would affect millions of Canadians and businesses who depend on the postal service”.
The work interruption, which began on Friday, suspended mail and parcel services nationwide, including the delivery of bank cards and statements, general mail, new passports and online shopping orders and is all happening at a time when people across Canada are preparing and buying gifts for the Christmas holidays.
Meanwhile, the Canadian government has since appointed a special mediator to help both sides reach an agreement soonest.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and Canada Post entered a new round of mediated negotiations on Monday, but both sides have said they were still far away from reaching a deal.
The postal union is demanding a 24% pay increase over the next four years – higher than the 11.5% increase proposed by employer Canada Post – and are also negotiating issues around benefits, sick leave, job conditions and security.
Already, Canada Post has warned that its services will be interruptd even if an agreement with its workers is reached, writing in a statement last week that “a national strike of any length will impact service to Canadians well after the strike activity ends”.
The postal union also added that it has already felt an impact, with customers substituting to private competitors or stopping use of its services altogether as the strike is persists.
This is as rivals like Amazon, FedEx and UPS have taken a chunk of Canada Post’s business.
The last time Canadian postal workers embarked on a strike action was in October 2018.
During that time, rotating strikes lasted over a month before the federal government ordered the employees go back to work through legislation.
That job action cost Canada Post around C$135m (about $96.7m; £76.27m).
