Canada Post strike: Purolator workers won’t handle packages, union says

With Canada Post workers on strike, the union that represents workers at Purolator says its members won’t handle packages that were postmarked or identified as coming from the Crown corporation.

In a statement to Global News, Teamsters Canada said the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has its “full support” in its strike action.

“Purolator is a subsidiary of the Canada Post group. Our goal is to stop Canada Post from diverting their freight wholesale, thereby using a subsidiary to break a union,” Christopher Monette, director of public affairs for Teamsters, wrote.

“Teamsters Canada firmly believes that good union jobs — with living wages and secure retirement — are essential pillars of Canadian society. Unfortunately, Canada Post has taken a different stance at the bargaining table.”

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Monette said individual businesses that ship directly with Purolator will still get their packages delivered.

CUPW members at Canada Post began a nationwide strike on Friday, after the union said it failed to reach new collective agreements for its rural and urban members.

With the strike underway, Canada Post warned Canadians they will face delays in receiving their mail, and postage already in the system will not be delivered, with a few exceptions.

4:22 Holiday shopping impacted following Canada Post strike

It’s not the first time Canada Post has gone on strike, previously doing so in 2018 and 2011.

Both times they were legislated back to work by the majority federal governments of the time, however, Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon, part of the Liberal minority government, signalled on Friday Ottawa was not looking “at any other solution other than negotiation.”

He added that negotiations between the two sides were “extremely difficult,” with “big issues” to solve that have seen little progress made.

There will be no delivery of mail or parcels during the strike and some post offices will close, according to the Crown corporation.

However, Canada Post workers will still deliver benefits cheques on Wednesday, Nov. 20, according to a notice posted in the window of a shuttered postal office in Ottawa on Friday.