Hamilton charity worries Canada Post strike could impact donations

The local charity Helping Hands Street Mission has expressed concern that a potential Canada Post strike could lead to fewer donations.

Helping Hands Street Mission is a central Hamilton charity that collects donations to support people experiencing poverty, and they say they will be pivoting amid the uncertainty.

“We find that a lot of folks that want to donate to us are in the older category – demographics. And a lot of those folks are still connected very much to writing a check. And so, yeah, a significant amount of our supporters want to send us a check in the mail,” said executive director Alice Plug-Buist.

Plug-Buist says they use Canada Post not only to receive donations, but to also mail out impact updates to donors. The next mailings are expected to go out within the next few weeks, and she’s hoping Canada Post doesn’t go on strike.

“Folks that are more, you know, less internet connected and more, you know, hardcopy in their mailbox connected. So getting our story out is a huge part of the loss that we get when the mail isn’t running,” said Plug-Buist.

READ MORE: Canada Post services to continue with possible delays as union initiates overtime ban

The union representing postal workers has been in a strike position since Friday. And while workers are still on the job for now, there is an overtime ban which could impact delivery.

In Waterdown, people leaving a local post office spoke to CHCH News to express their own concerns.

“As I said, if they do, that’ll be the nail in the coffin … Yeah, it does, because I’m a senior, slightly disabled and, you know, to pay my bills and everything else, I’ve got to drive into Burlington to pay them,” said one man.

If there is a strike, it would be the second one within months, and Plug-Buist says Helping Hands will be more strategic this time around.

“We are needing to pivot to being more online connected and that just means that there are people that are going to miss out on getting something,” said Plug-Buist.

Canada Post says it will respond to its union’s latest negotiation comments as soon as possible.

READ MORE: Union says Canada Post offers ‘fall short’ as strike deadline nears