Canadian postal workers are on strike

After years of struggles with their employer, Canada Post, posties in Canada have gone on strike as the holiday season settles in. Roughly 55,000 postal workers are striking for more money, a better medical leave plan, job protections, and against the Crown corporation’s move to a seven-day parcel delivery service aimed at competing with private services.

Many large businesses have shifted their deliveries to alternative mail services, but smaller businesses are struggling to manage the cost and logistics. Experts say the ensuing mail backlog could last into the new year as the strike continues, including 85,000 passports — and counting – that are being held by Service Canada.

Meanwhile, Canada Post itself has struggled in recent years to compete with private carriers, and has been losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year since 2018.

Negotiations between the union and Canada Post, helped by a special mediator, are continuing, but the end could be a while off yet. The federal government could step in and order workers back to work, as they did with mail carriers in 2018 – and port workers earlier this month. But the move would risk further alienating workers and undermining labor rights. But the Liberals have proven before they’re willing to go nuclear and legislate employees back to work, and they may be prepared to do so again.