Manitoba postal workers hit picket line as Canada Post strike halts deliveries
Province says it's working to address essential mail deliveries as strike begins
Workers at Canada's national postal service have officially walked off the job, including in Manitoba, where the provincial government says it's working to find ways to help essential mail get delivered.
The 55,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers were walking picket lines across the country Friday morning, after failing to reach a negotiated agreement with their employer, exactly one year after talks began.
The strike action began at midnight ET on Friday.
"We're out here holding the line, preventing mail from being processed here," said Eric Toupin, a CUPW representative for the Prairie region, outside the Canada Post mail processing plant near Winnipeg's airport Friday.
About a dozen trucks were stopped from getting to the facility in the morning, he said.
CUPW's Prairie region has 11,000 members across Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, and "all of us are off the job," said Toupin.
"We want a better contract for all workers to improve our lives and working conditions," he said.
"We were there for Canadians throughout the pandemic. We weren't able to work from home. We put our lives at risk, [so] it's our time to get what we deserve."
Workers want better working conditions and a shift away from the separate sort and delivery model, which means letter carriers spend their entire shifts delivering mail outdoors instead of sorting their mail themselves, Toupin said.
"That's causing some health and safety issues. It's a lot more strenuous on the body, and we're having to be working later in the day, often later into the dark," he said.
The union is also asking for a wage increase of 23 per cent over four years, CUPW's president previously told CBC, but Canada Post is offering an increase of 11.5 per cent over four years.
The Crown corporation says it has lost $490 million in the first half of 2024, part of a total $3 billion lost since 2018. The 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, the corporation says.
A company spokesperson confirmed to CBC News that both parties were still negotiating as of midday Friday.
But Toupin, who delivers mail in Grand Pointe — a rural community just southeast of Winnipeg — says union members know they provide a critical service to Canadians, and are willing to remain on strike until they get "a fair deal."
While no one likes to take job action, it has to be done in this case, he said.
"Our competitors are not interested in servicing rural communities, and Canadian Post has a mandate to do so," said Toupin.
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In a statement Friday morning, Canada Post said the strike means its operations will shut down, affecting millions of Canadians and businesses.
The union and the Crown corporation have agreed that benefit cheques will still be mailed out during the strike, including for the Canada Child Benefit, Old Age Security and the Canada Pension Plan.
Mail and parcels will not be processed or delivered during the strike, and some post offices will be closed, Canada Post said. 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 sales at retailers and the beginning of the holiday season, when Canadians rely on the postal service to send and receive gifts, packages and cards.
'The busiest time of the year'
Santo Ligotti, vice-president of member services at the Retail Council of Canada, says the trade association is concerned about the strike and wants the government to intervene if it doesn't end soon.
"This is the busiest time of the year, and a lot of Canadians do online shopping and rely on Canada Post to get those goods to them in time for the holidays," he told CBC News on Friday.
Canada Post is the largest and most cost-effective postal service in the country, he said. Without its services, the retail council believes consumers will wind up paying higher costs.
"Canadian consumers will end up paying for those delays and those disruptions in order for the retailers to recoup their cost of shipping," said Ligotti.
During previous work stoppages in 2011 and 2018, the federal government passed legislation that sent Canada Post employees back to work. So far, government officials say they have no plans to introduce legislation to end the strike.
"I'm not looking at any other solution other than negotiation right now," Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon told reporters in Montreal on Friday morning.
If the strike continues, the Retail Council's Ligotti encourages people to shop in store, order products online and pick them up in person, or buy gift cards for loved ones this holiday season.
People who already purchased gifts online can also try to pick them up in person or ask for a refund of the online order.
But "none of these options are ideal," he said.
The Manitoba government says it is putting the finishing details on a plan to allow Manitobans to pick up or drop off essential mail, including cheques, court orders, medical supplies, health-care services and other high-priority items, a Friday news release from the province said.
Locations, hours of operation and types of mail that can be picked up will be posted on the province's website in the coming days.
With files from Meaghan Ketcheson, Erin Brohman and Alana Cole