Robb M. Stewart of The Wall Street Journal reports that the walkout ahead of the holidays is the latest in a series of labor disruptions across Canada. Stewart writes:
Canada’s unionized postal workers walked off the job, halting handling of almost all mail and parcels and threatening lengthy delivery delays heading into the busy holiday season.
The strike by tens of thousands of Canadian Union of Postal Workers members began early Friday after a year of contentious bargaining failed to yield a collective contract agreement for mail carriers.
Canada Post warned its operations will shut down for the duration of the strike, affecting millions of households and businesses. The disruption is expected to be particularly acute in the more remote areas of the country. […]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will face renewed calls to intervene in the dispute, although he will need support from the country’s legislature. His Liberal party controls a minority government and recently lost the support of the opposition New Democratic Party. Trudeau’s government used back-to-work legislation to end a strike by Canada Post workers in 2018.[…]
Since 2018, Canada Post has lost more than 3 billion Canadian dollars, the equivalent of about $2.2 billion, with a string of six consecutive annual losses.
The postal agency warned earlier this week that the possibility of a labor disruption had already significantly eroded volumes and was escalating the financial impact on the company.
Read more here.
