Canada Post’s 55,000 urban, rural, and suburban mail carriers have been on strike since November 15. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers members have been without a contract for a year. The strike action arrived at the busiest time of year, as Black Friday and pre-Christmas shipping accounts for more than one-third of the volume carried by the Crown corporation each year.
Much has been written on the impact to businesses, large and small, and for those who rely on the mail to receive government cheques or documents like passports. According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, this strike has so far cost the Canadian economy over three-quarters of a billion dollars. Canada Post has lost over $3 billion since 2018. Clearly things are going wrong at the post office.
Much of the narrative about the strike has been about wage increases. Canada Post has offered half of what the union is seeking. Pension plans are another issue, but the biggest stumbling block between the two sides is temporary and part-time workers. Canada Post wants to expand parcel delivery to seven days a week to compete with other parcel delivery companies. To do this, the company wants to hire part-time workers and temporary workers, similar to how Amazon’s private delivery contractors operate. That action will set a very bad precedent for a Crown corporation, and in fact, any workplace, if allowed.
Many smaller, private delivery companies have employees who work as contractors, and those are known as “gig” workers. Gig workers are paid per delivery instead of by the hour. The gig economy that flourished in the run-up to – and during – the pandemic. Most gig workers fall outside of the normal employment standards rules, even with national and provincial legislation offering protections. Gig economy workers barely make minimum wage, let alone a living wage. Think of companies like Skip the Dishes or Über – the workers have to earn their living based on volume.
Carleton University professor Ian Lee said in a recent CBC interview that the cost per hour of a truck, fuel, and employee to deliver parcels for Canada Post is about $20 per hour higher than commercial shipping companies and $40 per hour higher than what gig workers cost. Protecting jobs is what a union is supposed to do for its members, but this issue runs deeper.
The threat of Canada Post, a Crown corporation, being allowed to use gig workers instead of employees is real, and while it may not seem to affect anyone with a job, it will. Should the government allow this form of outsourcing for one of its Crown corporations, it will creep into other parts of government operations. Furthermore, if the government is allowed to do this, there is nothing stopping the private sector from doing so – employment standards be damned.
There are a lot of issues at Canada Post, and the company is facing a difficult climate to operate in, but adapting its service model and doing an end-run around employment standards is not the way forward. New ideas are needed to fix what is wrong at Canada Post and resolve the strike action. Cooler heads and compromise are needed, and Canada Post’s leadership should remember compromise is a two-way street.
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