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(Bloomberg) — Canadians may face delays in getting their holiday gifts and purchases this year after workers at the national postal service went on strike.
Employees who are part of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers walked out at 12:01 a.m. Toronto time on Friday, according to a union statement. The work stoppage at Canada Post Corp. will disrupt mail services across the country.
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The government-owned company said parcel volumes already started dropping last week as customers turned to competitors to avoid potential delays.
The latest job action highlights the slower adjustments of wages for union workers whose multi-year contracts prevented them from getting big wage gains during the surge of inflation that took place in 2021 and 2022.
Canada has been hit by a series of supply-chain disruptions. Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon on Tuesday asked the country’s independent labor board to end lockouts at the largest ports in Quebec and British Columbia. The government may be forced to intervene again in a postal strike, given the importance of the carrier to the economy as well as public services.
While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government passed back-to-work legislation to end a Canada Post strike in 2018, parliament is currently gridlocked over a Conservative motion on another matter. Even if the House of Commons were functioning as usual, it would be challenging for Trudeau’s Liberal minority government to muster enough support for a bill sending postal workers back to the job.
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