Canada Post workers back on the job

For the first time in weeks, Canada Post offices were busy spots. 

Postal workers across Canada are back on the job after a month-long strike, with leaders saying a backlog is unlikely. However, while mail is on the move again, some business owners in Winnipeg say the time has passed when it comes to sending out holiday parcels. 

Canada Post employees returned to work after the Government of Canada ordered them to end their strike, ongoing since mid-November. 

For those who have been on the picket line, like Sean Tugby, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 856, he didn’t mince words when it comes to how he’s feeling about the return-to-work order.

“Devastated,” he said. 

“People wanted to sit down and actually hammer out, with your boss, a good deal. And when the government gets involved, they’re taking away that opportunity for us to actually have that deal, and that’s not the place of the government. It should be between the employer and the employees.”

He stresses while unhappy with the move, there’s no doubt in his mind the mail will move quickly now that members are back to work saying he’s not anticipating a backlog of mail despite the more than month-long strike. 

“I say anything in the mail stream will definitely make it to where it’s supposed to be. Current orders coming in, I don’t know how fast that’s going to be moving, we have all hands on deck and again we don’t want to take the service away from our customers and we’ll do the best to move things efficiently as possible.”

But some local business owners say despite postal workers returning to work, with just over a week until Christmas, they say at this point, uncertainty is a big factor. 

“It’s too late for us,” said Regan Boueti, owner of Style Bar. I think the backlog of shipping is just, you can’t guarantee anything at this point.”

Boueti also noted the strike itself did have an effect on her business’ bottomline, as online sales saw a substantial decline this year. 

“I think a lot of customers were afraid to order,” she said. 

“I feel like customers were afraid that they weren’t going to get the item in time, and that they weren’t going to be able to get it delivered to them. So I think they just avoided ordering from some small businesses because they didn’t want to deal with the shipping costs.”

Boueti did note that while it may be too late for her when it comes to holiday shipping, she is glad to see CUPW members back on the job, as other couriers she utilized for deliveries cost her double what she was spending when using Canada Post.