A special mediator has been appointed to support negotiations between Canada Post and the union representing its striking workers, a spokesperson for the federal labour minister told CBC News on Saturday.
In a statement, spokesperson Matthieu Perrotin said that Peter Simpson, director general of the federal mediation and conciliation service, has been appointed “to support the parties.”
“We are making sure that these two groups have everything they need to reach a deal,” the statement said. “Parties must reach a deal, and Canadians are counting on them.”
Canada Post workers went on strike early Friday after failing to reach an agreement with their employer, shutting down the corporation’s mail service across the country.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) says about 55,000 workers in its urban, rural and suburban mail carrier bargaining units are off the job, adding that little progress has been made during bargaining.
“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,” the union said in a statement. “Instead, Canada Post left us no choice when it threatened to change our working conditions and leave our members exposed to layoffs.”
Mail and parcels, the Crown corporation said, will not be processed or delivered during the strike, and some post offices will be closed. Service guarantees will be affected for items already in the postal network, and no new items will be accepted.
The two sides began talks toward a new contract on Nov. 15, 2023.
Canada Post’s latest contract offer included annual wage increases that amounted to 11.5 per cent over four years. It also offered protection of the defined benefit pension for current employees, as well as job security and health benefits.
Canada Post workers went on strike early Friday after the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) said little progress was made during bargaining. York University labour expert Steven Tufts says CUPW has not built the large-scale public campaign needed to pressure Canada Post into changing its business model, despite knowing that Canada Post is struggling financially.
CUPW said that wasn’t enough and that the two parties remain far apart on several issues.
Canada Post says it has lost $490 million in the first half of 2024, part of a total $3 billion lost since 2018. The company says a strike will only further contribute to its already dire financial circumstances and that the union’s demands will lead to more fixed costs that Canada Post can’t afford.
“Both sides are still working towards achieving negotiated settlements and discussions will continue,” Canada Post said in a statement on Saturday.
‘Pressure is going to become more and more intense’
Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon signalled that the Liberal government is not currently looking to intervene and end the strike, saying Friday that he is “not looking at any other solution other than negotiation right now.”
Ian Lee, an associate professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, said there is “a precedent” for the federal government to legislate striking Canada Post workers back to work and that the likelihood of it happening again rises as the job action drags on and third parties call on Ottawa to act.
“I think day by day by day, the pressures on the minister of labour and the government — [from] mayors, MPs, chambers of commerce, Canadian Federation of Independent Business — the pressure is going to become more and more intense,” Lee told CBC News.
On the second day of the Canada Post strike, the founder and CEO of CanAge, Laura Tamblyn Watts, warns about the ‘devastating’ effect the strike could have on seniors if it goes on for several days or weeks. Watts says seniors overwhelmingly rely on mail for receiving bills and medical prescriptions.
Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said the postal strike is “really bad timing” for small businesses with Christmas and Black Friday around the corner.
The strike has forced Kim Dowds, an Ontario-based small business owner who sells items online from estate sales, to pivot.
Dowds said she’ll have to stick to selling smaller items from her online shop, The Red Rooster, because shipping larger orders through private couriers will be too expensive.
“I’m going to have to adjust and not sell the big stuff. And the big stuff is sometimes where the money is, right?”
She said she knows some other small business owners in rural or remote areas who will have to put deliveries on hold entirely.
“Because Canada Post is the only game in town, they’re going to have to pause during the most important time of the year for selling.”
- How does the strike affect you? What should be done about it? Leave your story, questions and opinions here and you might be featured on Cross Country Checkup’s Nov. 17 show.
