During one of the busiest times of the year, the Canada Post strike caused difficulties for local businesses and organizations.
More than 55,000 Canada Post employees who are members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) went on strike on November 15, and were requesting better working conditions, wages, and job security, among other demands. Negotiations had completely ceased, but on Friday, December 13, federal Minister of Labour Steven MacKinnon requested the Canada Industrial Relations Board impose arbitration.
Operations resumed Tuesday, December 17, as the board forced postal workers back to work without a deal. Canada Post has stated that Canadians should expect delays well into January and will not receive or pick up new mail until Thursday, with new international mail not accepted until December 23.
CUPW has staunchly been against the back-to-work order and will continue to negotiate for its members in the new year.
Multiple businesses and organizations rely daily on Canada Post for delivery services nationwide. They were faced with significant barriers and additional expenses in mailing their products to consumers throughout the strike.
Owner of Garden Path Homemade Soap in Vankleek Hill, Tara MacWhirter, said, “Both Canada Post and UPS offer us a discount through Shopify. Now, we’re stuck with only one option. For rural areas such as ours, UPS is considerably more expensive.”
“People in Québec or Ontario who spend more than $125 on our website get free shipping; we cover that cost. For Canada Post, it would cost about $16 to ship our products. It now costs us $28. On a $125 order, $28 is considerable,” she continued.
“Now, our UPS driver who would normally pick up shipments from us can no longer accept shipments. All of the main carriers have put a temporary freeze on new pick-up shipments unless they have regularly scheduled pick-up already in place.”
Delays, costs, and the added stressors and time of trying to get products to customers plagued businesses such as MacWhirter’s for more than four weeks.
Felecia Crothers-St-Jean, owner of Devious Designs in Alexandria, shared many of the same concerns.
“We are deeply affected by the ongoing Canada Post strike. The disruption has created significant delays as alternative carriers are overwhelmed. The strike has forced us to temporarily switch to alternative shipping providers, which has significantly increased costs.”
She continued, “While we’ve absorbed as much of these costs as possible, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to raise shipping rates for international orders outside Canada and the USA.”
Organizations such as the Arbor Gallery and Maison Interlude House also were impacted by the strike, though by varying degrees.
Artistic Director Andrea Belcham stated, “At this point, the postal strike has impacted us very little. Where it will impact us – should the strike continue – is when we have to reorder print jobs for promotional materials from more remote suppliers.”
For Maison Interlude House, this is the time of the year when they receive the most donations from individuals in the region and other organizations. Community Engagement Coordinator for Interlude House, Marie-Pierre D’Anjou, outlined the negative impact on fundraising efforts during the strike.
“We’re right in the middle of our annual fundraising campaign. Most people, during this time of the year, tend to mail their donations, and we get lots of great surprises. But we have none coming in right now.”
D’Anjou added, “Donations from the public go to services not funded by either the provincial or federal governments. These donations help women buy winter clothes for their kids, school supplies, and Christmas gifts for every child in our care. We also use these funds to reimburse volunteer drivers for gas. It’s going to be a difficult year-end for us, we’ll have to be creative to keep those services running.”
Businesses and organizations alike continue to adapt, as MacWhirter explains, “I think we’ll have to do one of two things: we would have to find another third-party shipping organization that offers more reasonable rates, or we will have to increase our free shipping option.”
Interlude House continues to accept donations via its donation website at https://minterludeh.ca/en/about-us/donate/ or by dropping donations off at its Hawkesbury office located at 872 James Street or Alexandria office located at 256 Industrial Boulevard. D’Anjou encourages those who still want to give generously this holiday season to do so using one of these options before the end of the year.
