Canadian business struggling amid Canada Post workers strike: CFIB

Canada Post workers are back on the job around the country Tuesday as the union changed tactics to rotating strikes, but many businesses are not satisfied with the change.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) represents over 100,000 small- and medium-sized businesses around the country, and many have had enough with the uncertainty of the ongoing job action.

The federation’s director of legislative affairs for B.C., Ryan Mitton, says rotating strikes are better than the worst-case scenario of a total shutdown.

“But the fact of the matter is that small businesses have already begun shifting away from Canada Post, which they view as an unreliable carrier. And really, the reforms that we’re seeing proposed by the corporation should go through, to ensure it’s around for the long run,” said Mitton.

He says small businesses rely on Canada Post because it’s affordable, and while the resumption of service is welcome, they need to see something sustainable and dependable.

“I was actually just down speaking with a local print shop here in Victoria, B.C., and they have artists who rely on their services, who rely on letter mail, who have been calling them crying, because they’ve been forced to shut down their websites. They’ve been forced to halt orders.”

Joël Lightbound, the federal minister responsible for Canada Post, says he’s encouraged by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers’ (CUPW) shift to rotating strikes as “Canadians count on mail delivery, and I’m glad to hear it will be moving again while negotiations between the union and Canada Post continue.”

The announcement came a day after Lightbound met with the union, which voiced concerns about recently announced changes to the postal service’s mandate to overhaul its operations.

Among the changes are the end to door-to-door mail delivery for nearly all Canadian households within the next decade, with the frequency of mail delivery set to slow down and some post offices to be shuttered.

CUPW declared the countrywide strike on Sept. 25, hours after the federal government announced its changes.

Mitton says, with the holiday season just ahead, any job action will continue to hit businesses hard. The CFIB is calling for the government to declare temporary ‘essential’ status for Canada Post workers and resolve the strike.

“Ultimately, we need predictability. We need a resolution to this strike, and we do need to see reforms,” said Mitton.

—With files from The Canadian Press