Holiday worries rise as Canada Post strike continues into second week

As the strike between Canada Post and around 55,000 workers moves into week two, Canadians are worried about what this means for the holiday season.

A recent poll from Leger says that 61 per cent of respondents are worried about potential impacts and 57 per cent are concerned about delays during the holiday season.

A 57 per cent of people would be in favour of the government stepping in altogether.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is echoing those calls and sent a letter to the Federal Minister of Labour Friday calling for government intervention.

They say 75 per cent of small businesses are being negatively affected by the work stoppage, including some companies seeing a rise in order cancellations.

Black Friday and letters to Santa

Black Friday is also this week and then Cyber Monday follows after the weekend, meaning Canadians are going to be waiting for their deliveries to come in.

The cut-off date is also rapidly approaching to send packages and cards in the mail to ensure they arrive by Christmas.

Canada Post told CHCH News that the company usually starts to receive letters for Santa mid-to-late November, and says because CUPW has shut down the postal service they would be unable to get mail to and from Santa in the North Pole.

“When operations do resume, we will help Santa by delivering a response to every letter sent to him this year,” they said.

Canada Post has been sending mail to and from Santa for over 40 years, and says they handle between 1.2 to 1.5 million letters each year.

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Canada Post reports significant loss

The Crown Corporation reported last week a $315 million loss before taxes in the third quarter of this year.

That’s a larger deficit than the corporation saw last year by $25 million.

The company says they’re on track to record a 7th consecutive annual loss.

The postal workers union says Canada Post could recover by investing in new revenue-generating services like postal banking and senior check-in services.

Canada Post says that talks have been continuing, with meetings being held even during the weekend, but limited progress is being made at this point.

The Union is pushing for fair wages, safer working conditions and other improvements.

The Crown Corporation has offered an 11.5 per cent wage increase over the next four years, while the union is looking for an over 20 per cent increase.

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