The Liberal government’s threat of introducing back-to-work legislation for striking workers at Canada Post may be too little, too late, as small business owners say they have been “crushed” by the strike.
President and co-owner of Lambskin Specialties, Myron Schultz, told True North that he generally makes two to three deposits at the bank weekly. He’s made one since the strike began.
The strike by 55,000 Canadian Union of Postal Workers members began on Nov. 15.
“We’re into the hundreds of thousands of dollars that are not in our bank account,” said Schultz.
He said his company has 300 regularly active distributors from a pool of 600. He added that his customers have been “shocked” but “understanding.”
The company stopped using Canada Post years ago. However, the mail services it uses instead have experienced such a backlog due to the strike that it is delaying their mail.
Additionally, Schultz revealed that most of their business is based in the United States, and people pay by cheque.
The United States Postal Service suspended all mail and package delivery to Canada on Nov. 29 in response to the strike.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses revealed on Friday that 73% of small businesses will do what Schultz had the foresight to do years ago – stop using Canada Post.
“It should alarm us all that thousands of small firms will permanently abandon the use of Canada Post as small businesses have been forced to put alternatives in place. Canada Post and its union may well have lost their last reliable customers – small business owners,” said Dan Kelly, president of the federation.
However, some small businesses won’t be afforded that luxury, as their companies may never recover.
A small retailer in British Columbia told Kelly that they had $217,000 of orders stuck in the system and at risk of cancellation.
“We are considering driving around hand delivering in the Metro Vancouver area, and possibly driving out to some of the other larger centres in our province and doing a mobile pick-up service,” said the business owner. “Can’t just sit here doing nothing, or our business will slowly die.”
Other businesses replied to Kelly in one of his many posts, as he has been outspoken on the strike and the GST holiday.
“My wife has shuttered her business because of the strike. Her busiest sales season totally lost,” said one X user. “She’ll be looking at other options going forward but this is devastating to her business.”
Another business owner said they would be shifting their business to a different postal courier.
“This has happened far too often, and we are always being held hostage. No more,” they said.
Two separate business owners revealed that the strike had “crushed” their businesses.
“The strike is crushing my business. 90% of our orders get shipped outside of our community by Canada Post. The comparable shipping service by courier is 2x-3x higher,” said one owner.
“This strike has crushed my business. Sales are down 90% from last year this time,” said another.
Schultz said implementing the tax holiday during the Christmas season was “ill-conceived” at best.
In Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon’s Friday announcement, he revealed that no law exists to compensate affected businesses for labour disputes.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business highlighted that the strike is costing small businesses $76.6 million daily – surpassing $1 billion on Dec. 4.
The Alberta government called for the Liberals to step in on Wednesday, highlighting that the cost has since reached $2 billion.
Schultz told True North that he doesn’t know whether collective bargaining will lead anywhere, considering Canada Post is facing seven consecutive years of fiscal losses.
He said he’s thankful for the government stepping in but that they waited too long.
“I was going to say better late than never, but it may be too late to really save the organization based on the damage that it’s done,” said Schultz. “My perspective is that both the Canada Post management and the union played a game of chicken, and everybody lost.”