Impact of postal workers overtime ban in Medicine Hat will be minimal, union says

CUPW declared the overtime ban — describing it as a “legal strike action” — as it entered a legal strike position overnight. A larger disruption to Canada Post delivery could be called at any moment by the union.

Canada Post confirmed Friday there were no rotating strikes or national work stoppages and that postal operations would continue, albeit with delays.

The only mail disruptions in Medicine Hat could come from times when somebody calls in sick or is on vacation and there is no relief available, or workers are running an unfamiliar route, according to Naroznick.

Even then, he said there isn’t enough mail to warrant lengthy delays.

“The volumes are low enough that it’s not going to make that much of an impact,” Naroznick said.

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READ: Strike threat could push customers away from Canada Post

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“It might be something where like a part of an area gets delayed by a day and then Monday, it’s going to be delivered out again.”

Lower letter and parcel volumes in recent weeks countrywide have likely made the workload easier to manage despite the overtime boycott, said Ian Lee, associate professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business.

“I think there’s very little overtime,” he said of mail carriers.

But any decline in sales will add to the more than $3.8 billion in operating losses Canada Post suffered between 2018 and September 2024.

The red ink has only flowed more freely since then, Lee said, pointing to a 32-day postal strike that ended in mid-December and to a $1-billion federal loan the next month.

Once they turn digital, some customers may not go back. Big firms have been reaching out to clients with messages to go paperless.

Potential postal disruptions are sparking requests from governments, businesses and other organizations to go completely online or in-person with their services.

The City of Medicine Hat is promoting use of its eTax system, where residents can view their assessment and property tax notices online, sign up for paperless billing and pay their taxes with a credit card.

The Mustard Seed is promoting alternative ways to donate as it tries to avoid delays and ensure uninterrupted services for thousands of individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness.

Online and phone donations remain the fastest and most secure options, the non-profit said in a statement.

Canada Post faces a reckoning after a report last week found it was effectively “bankrupt” and in need of drastic reforms such as part-time weekend workers, post office closures and dynamic routing rather than the fixed routes that workers walk daily.

A mail decline has dragged on for nearly two decades, weighing on the Crown corporation’s finances. In 2023, the average household received two letters per week, down from seven per week in 2006, according to Canada Post figures.

While the number of letters delivered fell 55 per cent to 2.2 billion from 5.5 billion per year in the same time period, the number of unionized employees decreased only seven per cent to 55,813, annual reports show.

On the plus side for shippers and receivers, deliveries may not lag significantly in spite of Canada Post’s warning that “customers may experience delays.”

“There’s no need for overtime because the demand for the services of these workers has declined so precipitously,” Lee claimed.

Figures for package shipments paint another dire picture.

According to its 2023 annual report, the postal service’s share of the parcel market has plummeted to 29 per cent from 62 per cent before the COVID-19 pandemic, as Amazon and other competitors seized on skyrocketing demand for next-day doorstep deliveries.

A month-long strike during peak shipping season ahead of the winter holidays last year and the ongoing possibility of another disruption have pushed some shippers into the arms of private couriers.

“We hear more customers saying I’d like to connect with you because I want to make sure I have alternatives,” said Jean-Daniel Gervais, who heads business development at Montreal-based courier Intelcom, known outside Quebec as Dragonfly.

Dustin Ellis, a carrier in Edmonton, called on the union to hold a vote on Canada Post’s latest offer, which includes a nearly 14 per cent wage hike over four years. Mail carriers typically make between $21 and $31 per hour, he said.

“Let us vote on a contract,” he said.

“Let democracy prevail.”

— With files from The Canadian Press

by Jesse Gill, Eli J. Ridder

Impact of postal workers overtime ban in Medicine Hat will be minimal, union says

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