How will the Canada Post strike affect a beloved Canadian tradition — letters to Santa?
Strike affecting 55,000 workers comes at beginning of holiday season
Every Christmas season, like magic, it happens.
Children around the world write letters to Santa at the North Pole and receive a personalized response in return. Except it's not magic — it's Canada Post's Santa letter program, where "postal elves" have been sorting through more than a million letters to Santa each year for 40-some-odd years.
Now that Canada Post workers are on strike, teachers and parents of littles who still believe in holiday magic might be wondering: will this affect a beloved Canadian tradition?
CBC News has reached out to Canada Post and The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) for answers.
So far, only Canada Post has responded, saying only that the strike has "impacted Canadians, small businesses as well as our ability to get mail to and from Santa in the North Pole."
"It is our hope that postal operations can resume as soon as possible at this critical time for customers," Canada Post said in an email statement.
Letters to Santa are typically answered by Canada Post volunteers, and delivered by postal workers.
On its website, Canada Post notes the letter-writing program runs from Nov. 1 to the end of January every year, and to mail your letter before Dec. 6 to receive a response before the holidays. A strike notification banner across the top of every page on the website warns customers to expect delays.
Workers on strike
Canada Post workers went on strike early Friday after failing to reach a negotiated agreement with their employer, exactly one year after talks began.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) says approximately 55,000 workers in its urban, rural and suburban mail carrier (RSMC) bargaining units are striking, claiming little progress has been made in the bargaining process.
"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.
Canada Post said in a statement early Friday that its operations will shut down, affecting millions of Canadians and businesses. 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 strike action comes ahead of Black Friday and the beginning of the holiday season, when Canadians rely on the postal service to send and receive gifts, packages and cards.
And letters to Santa, which Canada post has been handling since 1982 — the same year Santa Claus got his own dedicated postal code at the North Pole (HOH OHO), according to the Canadian Press.
"A growing number of post office employees and pensioners ... have volunteered to act as Santa's helpers," Canada Post president Michael Warren told the wire service that year.
How previous strike affected letters
This isn't the first time a strike by Canada Post workers affected services.
In late November 2018, amid rotating strikes, Canada Post told media they would continue to process Santa's letters. The union told Global News people should expect delays if the strike continued as is.
But it didn't continue much longer. After a month of rotating strikes, the federal government ordered postal workers back to work. The legislation ordering the end of the strike, Bill C-89, was passed into law in the House of Commons on Nov. 24, 2018, and went into effect on Nov. 27, 2018.
That year's rotating strikes, which alternated between different regions on different days, differs from the current national strike affecting employees nationwide and shutting down operations.
As Jon Hamilton, a spokesperson for Canada Post, told CBC Radio's Metro Morning: "Our hope was to continue operating if they went through rotating strikes, but this is obviously very disappointing, especially at the busy holiday season."
"No one here wants to be here for the holidays. We're all looking forward to the holidays. The Grinch seems to have stolen Christmas for us and for the holidays," Mark Lubinski, CUPW president for Local Toronto, told CBC on Friday.
"We want to be able to work, but we want a fair contract at decent wages."
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With files from The Canadian Press
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