The clock is ticking toward another strike by Canada’s 55,000 postal workers.
On Monday, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers issued strike notice — meaning they could walk off the job on Friday, May 23 at 12 a.m. local time.
It would be the second work stoppage in just over five months after a strike in November and December lasted 32 days before the federal government intervened and the Canadian Industrial Labour Relations Board ordered a temporary end to the strike — extending the collective agreement until May 22, giving the two sides until then to reach a new contract agreement.
“My main concern with the postal strike coming up or potentially coming up is it’s going to be different than last time,” said Catherine Eckersley, CEO of Valley to Peak Consulting that specializes in providing occupational therapy, help with mobility and other services to seniors and other Albertans who face challenges continuing to live and work in their community.
“I work with a lot of Calgarians and those in the surrounding rural communities — with and without disabilities — and some of them are pretty concerned because obviously being rural and remote it’s a lot harder to get supplies and essential medical supplies anyway,” said Eckersley.
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Eckersley said the last strike took place leading up to Christmas and the holiday season so everyone was affected — but this time she worries it will affect the people she works with a lot more.
“So these are essential medical supplies — these aren’t just Christmas presents or things they saw late at night shopping online. These are things like catheters, essential wound care, respiratory products, things they need in order to just be able to to breathe, to eat, to be able to toilet independently and with dignity and safety and without risking infection or potential other adverse medical effects.
“So it’s going to really impact just day to day, essential activities that the rest of us, without these concerns, take for granted.”
Her concerns are echoed by James Teague, owner of My Everything Store, that sells things like wheel chairs and other medical equipment online and has it delivered to customers’ homes.
Teague is already advising his 18,000 customers across Canada to either stock up on necessary medical supplies, or make alternative arrangements for delivery.
“If you’re in a rural environment, you know, delivering to PO boxes, Canada Post is the only one that can do that,” said Teague. “We’re telling people, if you are in a rural area, don’t use your PO box — send it to a friend’s house or send it to a local business that has a brick and mortar store address so we are able to use Purolator of FedEx to get it delivered, and order extra so you got like a little safety stock of your supplies in case … it does take an extra couple weeks.”
Teague said after the postal workers returned to the job in December, it still took several months for his business to catch up.
The Canadian Federation of Business estimates 79 per cent of the country’s small businesses use Canada Post, and the CFIB estimates last year’s postal strike cost Canada’s small business community more than $1 billion in lost revenue and sales.
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