Retail council calls for government intervention in Canada Post strike

The Retail Council of Canada is calling on the federal government to intervene in a postal strike it says is putting businesses and their workers in jeopardy.

The organization representing 54,000 storefronts said Tuesday that the work stoppage at Canada Post is making it harder for retailers to meet customer needs and stay in business.

“Retail knows that the best labour agreement is negotiated with both parties at the table, but that’s not happening and it’s time to end the strike,” said Diane J. Brisebois, president and chief executive of the council, in a statement.

The strike by more than 55,000 Canada Post workers entered its 19th day on Tuesday as the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping period came to a close.

Canada Post said Monday it was waiting for the union to respond to a framework it presented over the weekend for reaching negotiated agreements.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has reviewed the proposal and said Monday it found Canada Post moved closer to the union’s position on some issues, but said the framework “still remains far from something members could ratify.”

On Tuesday evening, the union said it needs to see four key issues addressed in order to negotiate new agreements: wages, safe working conditions, pensions and the expansion of postal services.

One of the sticking points in negotiations has been a push to add weekend delivery, with the union and Canada Post disagreeing over how the rollout should work.

“In the meantime, thousands of retailers and millions of consumers are paying the price,” Brisebois said, noting businesses use the postal service to ship orders to customers, distribute flyers and sometimes even request or obtain payments from vendors.

The labour action has been even more disruptive for retailers as it’s the industry’s busy season, when sales tend to be higher because the holidays are nearing and businesses are working to settle their books for the year.

One bookkeeping service business in Alberta told the Canadian Federation of Independent Business that it has funds stuck at the post office as the shop’s receivables are all sent via mail from insurance companies.

Meanwhile, CFIB said a P.E.I. seed supplier that has used Canada Post for 86 years hasn’t been able to distribute 270,000 catalogues.

“Rather than looking forward to increased revenue, (the company) is now facing substantial storage fees for the large volume of printed materials and says orders for Christmas will be low,” CFIB said.

To cope, some businesses encouraged people to shop in person and offered in-store pickups for online orders.

Others were eyeing alternate delivery services but found they came with higher costs than Canada Post.

“Because of the length of this strike, alternative delivery is either unavailable or too expensive — which means shipments are not making it to businesses, stores or customers in time for the holidays,” Brisebois said.

Two weeks ago, Montreal-based pantyhose maker Sheertex told customers that alternative carriers were overloaded with orders and had implemented “significant surge pricing” on shipments.

With files from Rosa Saba