No guarantee holiday parcels will arrive on time as Canada Post dispute continues
Posted November 13, 2018 12:33 pm.
Last Updated November 13, 2018 3:10 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Growing backlogs have led to the suspension of delivery guarantees at Canada Post heading into the busiest time of the year. That means, even if rotating strike action does not escalate, you can expect holiday delays.
Richard Truscott with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business is hoping for a resolution by the end of this month.
“It’s causing major headaches and frustration for, not just Canadians, but certainly for small business owners as they head into the holiday season and you know what, the long-term impact of this is going to drive even more customers, more small business owners into other forms of information and parcel delivery,” Truscott says.
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He tells NEWS 1130 too many people still depend on traditional mail.
“Half of our small firms say they pay orders by cheques and nearly two thirds of them send more than 20 pieces of mail every month and it’s going to cause some serious disruption for holiday shoppers that are trying to send or receive parcels, but no doubt this is going to cause some consternation for business owners, as well, and this definitely creates a lot of uncertainty during this busy holiday time.”
Even so, Mark Thompson, a Professor Emeritus at UBC’s Sauder School of Business, says there’s time to resolve this without stepping up to a full-blown strike.
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“The government’s not anxious to intervene, but the closer we get to Christmas the more urgent it becomes to get a settlement. They’ll try to avoid imposing a settlement or intervening in a heavy-handed way.”
He adds the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, which represents more than 50-thousand members, still has some leverage.
“As we get closer to Christmas, the volume of mail is the highest of any time of the year. If they have the full-on strike, why then, that puts pressure on the government to put an end through legislation or some other means.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has yet to make good on a threat to legislate an end to the dispute and a federally-appointed mediator has now booked out of bargaining.
Rotating job action started on Oct. 22.
