Canada Post Strike

Canada Post will be going on strike again. They went on strike during the holiday season and it last about 32 days give or take a day or two and only because the government ordered them back to work. This is one of the reasons I hate unions, workers go on striker wanting to be payed more holding the public hostage. The union and crown corporation are on opposite sides I doubt they will come to an agreement. The workers demands are unreasonable. Canada Post is essentially bankrupt, they already got a big loan from the government. The crown corporation cannot pay these employees more along with ridiculous demands like wanting to be payed for gender affirming care. These workers will eventually loose their jobs because the Crown Corporation will have to adapt to the new realities of competition from other courier companies and that mail is used less since the internet. I see the government forcing them back to work.

Mandouke said:

I long ago had no use for Canada Post or their services.

Having said that, I ordered a consumer good from overseas a week and a half ago and much to my horror, when the good was shipped, I was informed that Canada Post is the last-mile provider.

It left me very upset, as I am now being held hostage for a purchase I was expecting a timely delivery on, and I have no idea when I will receive it.

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A lot of the companies overseas use Canada Post as the last mile delivery because it is usually the cheapest option and they have the most coverage (Only Canada Post has access to rural communities where there is only a PO box). I order something off Ebay and looks like the last mile delivery will be with Canada Post. I signalled Ebay multiple times but there only response was there money back guarantee. I want the item, not my money back. Only a matter of one or two days extra and I would have got my order. Now who knows how long I have to wait and who knows if the parcel will get lost.

The main striking point is Canada Post wants to hire part-time workers for weekend delivery. There is a demand for this and the other courier companies deliver on weekends. Parcel deliveries is becoming more and more significant compared to mail delivery. That is one of the new realities and these workers are living in the past. The union said no to weekend work, they want only full-time workers to be used for that and if they work weekends they want them to be paid significantly more. See why I hate unions. These strikes got material cost. The lost strike cost the economy billions. The companies had to bare the brunt of the losses and unfortunately the costs got passed on to the customer. Some companies moved operations to the US from shipping to logistics to warehousing. The impact of the strikes were so drastic that some companies will not tolerate this again. The union is living in a dream world. Among some of the demands of the union, I am at a loss for words:

1. 19% wage increase over four years
2. 10 paid medical leave days on top of 7 personal paid days
3. Fertility treatment benefit
4. Gender affirming care benefit
5. Paid meals for shifts over 5 hours and more
6. Limit surveillance for productivity
7. 88% wages if injured at work
8. Vision care benefit
9. Increased health specialist benefit
10. Protection against technology
11. No contracting work out
12. Snow tires for rural mail carriers
13. 8 hour routes
14. Benefits for temporary employees
15. Eliminate separate sort from delivery

These demands are not all. The workers will drive Canada Post to the ground and the strike will cost the company millions. They will end up getting layed off.

Mandouke said:

Thanks for the response. I did order from overseas in the UK. It was a small music manufacturer that I have just begun dealing with who are noted for their exceptional products.

I will just wait it out and hope that it is not lost or damaged during the strike. Canada Post is a dinosaur.

I am old enough to remember many long-gone professions. There was the old milk delivery to the door, and I even remember the Humpty Dumpty Potato Chip delivery man and the round, circular boxes that the chips would come in. These professions are no more, and Canada Post should wake up and adapt if it wants to come out of this and have a model that works in the computer age.

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I like Canada Post. They are so efficient and fast. I get my parcels fast and they put directly into my community mail box, I do not have to worry about the delivery man leaving my parcel at the door and risk it getting stolen. Last month I ordered a similar item and the last mile delivery was done by DHL Int, I never got it. Said it got delivered, I checked everywhere and nowhere to be found. I filed a item not received claim and Ebay refunded me. But issue with Canada Post is the union, they are stuck in the past and driving the company to the ground. Unions are a virus for companies, that is why Amazones closed all its warehouses in Quebec when employees wanted to unionize. Strikes cost companies a lot of money and also the customer pays for it. And the unions gets greedy demanding too much and it protects bad and lazy workers who should be fired but they cannot get rid of bad employees due to the union.

gaby said:

Il semble que la grève prévue pour Vendredi puisse être reportée suite à une offre reçue.....on verra...à suivre...je le souhaite.....j'apprécie aussi beaucoup leurs services fiables.

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I hope so also because Canada Post is so much more reliable then shady companies like DHL, Intelcom, and UniUni.

Looks like the strike is imminent. Canada Post made an offer and the union wanted two weeks to review it but Canada Post rejected that. They want them to accept the offer or go on strike. Reasons is that the negotiations has been going on for two years. The union is delusional, Canada Post is loosing billions and they want to be payed more and are refusing any measures to reduce costs. What I predict is first a lot of these greedy workers will be layed off. I also see Canada Post being eventually privatized if the union does not try to work with the Crown Corporation. Canada Post is likely headed the same route like Royal Mail in the UK which was sold to a company in the Czech Republic.

^^^^^

Canada Post will not be on a national or a rotating strike. The union decided to not walk off the job but workers were told to refuse overtime and to work no more then a 8hr shift. The union wants some time to review the latest offer.

Doc Holliday said:

I also used to be anti union until some prick bosses tried to fuck their employees & the union stepped in & i’ve been a big union booster ever since! In other words its been my experience that people who hate unions hate them until 5hey need them to come to the rescue! And if it wasn’t for unions the minimum salary would be $7 an hour & people would be forced to work 16-hr shifts in the worse working conditions. Unions actually saved a lot of lives over the years when you think about it. When i was still working whenever i’d do my taxes & look up the annual amount i paid for union dues sure the amount always seemed a bit higher than i wanted however i was glad to pay those dues whenever i needed the union to represent me. Anyways I don’t know what the current is about & it’ll suck if they end up going on strike but no matter what i’ll always side with the workers over the man. Always!

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The problem with unions is that they make it very hard to get rid of bad employees. I seen it, many that should be fired or just bad lazy employees the company cannot get rid of. Unions also bring out arrogance in employees. Unions just do their thing to justify their existence, they are nothing but cash cows.

Doc Holliday said:

As for Canada Post being in the hole & needing the government to bail them out financially well guess what? They are a government entity so it’s the government job to fund it in order to make it operational! It’s supposed to be a non--profit corporation to serve the public & especially rural areas that are harder to reach. They serve the public & it’s not a private company looking out to make a profit. I don’t care how much it costs & i want it to attract top competent workers so i’m fine with the workers getting their due. I was approached to work for them after i retired but when i found out what the starting wage was i said ‘fuck that!’ and i wasn’t going to wait four years to earn a decent salary even if I didn’t need the money!

So unless you’ve been in the workers’ shoes stop bitching about their godgiven right to strike. And take it from a once union hater: unions are a good thing, not a bad thing.

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You got it all wrong. Canada Post is a CROWN CORPORATION, which means it operates as a private company away from government management or funding. Like Bombardier, when Canada Post is stuck they can get bailed out also. Before in the 70s when it was Royal Mail, then it was a government entity. But you want to bring it back to what made Canada Post become a Crown Corporation. During the 70s Canada Post was in a severe financial crisis due to inefficiencies and strikes. Face it, strikes cost everyone. They cost the company millions and businesses loose money. They are no good for anyone. Also with private courier companies that are able to provide the service of delivering parcels cheaply and without the threat of strikes makes it very attractive and hard for Canada Post to compete with. Canada Post remained relevant due to mail delivery and being the only one with access to rural communities. But times changed since covid, everything is going online now so mail delivery is much less now. Ppl like to order things and have it delivered which means parcel delivering is having a much larger share of deliveries vs mail.

Now coming to why I hate unions, Canada Post wants to be adapt to the new realities to remain competitive which is to hire part-time employees to deliver parcels on weekends. They also want to remove the 5 mins paid time to wash their hands. Which private company offers that? It is unproductive time and with 55,000 employees it becomes very significant. Whatever the Crown Corporation proposes to reduce costs the union refuses. For example they want the corporation to use full-time employees for weekend delivery but that comes at a significant cost it means they got to be paid more. Does not work. The one thing I am fascinated by is human greed, humans are never satisfied. From greedy CEOs and executives to politicians to unionized workers like Canada Post. They got it so good yet they want more. Their greed will be their undoing. One of two things will happen, the corporation will be fully privatized or it will be converted into a government entity. But this will come with lots of layoffs. The reality is Canada Post is a failure and it needs to change its model.