Canada Post strike costs small businesses $76 million per day, association says

There’s fresh fallout from the Canada Post strike.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says the dispute has cost small-and-medium-sized businesses more than three quarters of $1 billion.

Monday marks the third week on the picket lines for Canada Post workers.

Both sides say they’ve adjusted their demands with the hope that a federal mediator will restart talks.

“In places it's going in the right direction, in places there is no movement,” said Jim Gallant, a negotiator for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.

Canada Post has presented the union with a framework to reach negotiated agreements.

Key issues include a push to expand parcel deliveries into the weekend, benefits and wages.

The CFIB says the strike has cost B.C. small businesses $138.5 million.

“At the end of the day, if the people who are going to be delivering your mail can't afford to eat and are going to food banks themselves, it's a small price to be paying,” said Holly Isaac, first vice president of the Fraser Valley West Local of the CUPW. Isaac was one of about two-dozen workers on the picket line outside of the Canada Post facility on Production Way in Langley.

The group, armed with signs, braved the near-zero temperatures Monday, huddling around a fire barrel.

The workers cheered throughout the morning as vehicles driving by gave honks in support.

“We're not just fighting for ourselves. We're fighting for every single worker in Canada to be able to have a well-paying job that actually sustains them, being able to live in this beautiful country,” said Isaac.

The mail carrier says a lot of the dispute revolves around health and safety.

“The fact that Canada Post has cut off the long-term health or long-term disability, and short-term disability members their benefits. So we've got members who are trying to go through cancer treatment that no longer have benefits, so now they're having to fork out thousands of dollars,” she told CTV News.

The CFIB says if the strike is not immediately resolved, it will have cost the sector over $1 billion as of Wednesday.

“It’s not (the) Grinch who is about to steal Christmas. It’s Ottawa sitting idly on the sidelines while small businesses are losing crucial revenue and sales due to circumstances outside of their control. The labour minister recently said mediation talks have been suspended because the two parties remain too far apart to reach a deal and that a long labour conflict is a possibility, but he is the one who has the power to put an end to this mess,” said Corinne Pohlmann, executive vice president of advocacy at CFIB.

The federation says the strike has negatively impacted three quarters of small businesses.

“The CFIB would like to see Ottawa immediately intervene and impose binding arbitration or legislate back to work, legislation to salvage some at least of the critical holiday shopping season,” said Emily Boston, of the CFIB.

On Monday, the U.S. Postal Service temporarily suspended accepting any mail headed to Canada.

Canadians are also holding off on mailing cards and gifts while they search for alternatives.

Experts say the inconvenience is changing consumer habits.

“Stop people from buying things they don't really need. To stop that impulsive purchasing, because it cannot get instant gratification, which you know, to some extent, it's not a bad thing,” said Ying Zhu, an assistant associate professor of consumer behaviour at the University of British Columbia.

Zhu says one of the phenomena online retailers may observe is the abandoned cart.

“They probably put a bunch of things in the cart, and then they realize, ‘Oh, I don't know when I'm going to receive all this. I won't buy it.’ So that will definitely influence people's purchasing behavior, move them from online to offline,” said Zhu.

The federal labour minister suspended mediation last week and says it won’t resume if the two sides won’t budge on their positions.