Canada Post strike: Businesses hopeful as feds move to end walkout

After 29 days of a nationwide Canada Post strike, there’s a glimmer of hope.

Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon announced on Dec. 13, he is asking the Canada Industrial Relations Board to send 55,000 striking employees back to work if they agree that negotiations are at an impasse.

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The federal government said the Crown corporation and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers are moving in the wrong direction when it comes to negotiations.

Regina’s Sticks and Doodles co-owner is happy to see some movement in the strike. Kyle Moffatt sells handcrafted wooden signs, designs, and ornaments, making Christmas a very busy time.

Moffatt said hearing the news of movement in the strike has felt like a weight off their shoulders.

“I’m feeling very good and relieved right now. It’s been like, I think the biggest stress for us has been all the people that we have packages out that haven’t gotten them yet. And, you know, yeah, we’re just doing gifts, but those gifts have a lot of meaning for a lot of people,” said Moffatt.

He said this strike caused some serious concerns for them ahead of the holidays.

“At first, we were prepared that we were going to have to either remake or cancel some orders, and that’s terrifying because we are a small business, that money means a lot to us,” said Moffatt. “Often we’ve already spent it on advertising to get those sales in the first place. But I think that’s one thing you’ll hear from a lot of small businesses.”

The small business has also been faced with other issues caused in the wake of the strike.

“I know that people don’t mean to, but…we’re still lumped into that negative experience a person has waiting for anything,” Moffatt said. With the potential of Canada Post employees going back to work, Moffatt said, “This lets us kind of rejoin our customer’s team in creating those special memories for them at Christmas time, and instead of them maybe resenting us a little bit because we weren’t able to get things out.”

Over 150 orders made between the seventh and the 14th of November were in danger of not making it and were forced to sit delayed in the computer.

“This is our first time. We thought this was going to be like a rotating thing. We thought Canada Post was an essential service, so it still got stuff out, and we didn’t realize that it just meant off,” said Moffatt.

Despite the setback, Moffatt said Sticks and Doodles made some changes since the start of the strike to try and keep up with the holiday demand. They’ve switched to using other carriers, and aside from their P.O. box customers, they won’t be going back to Canada Post.

“The rates offered by the other carriers for our volume are actually cheaper than what Canada Post was offering us,” said Moffatt.