Halifax businesses worry about uncertain future with Canada Post

A family owned shop in Halifax that relies on Canada Post is worried about a strike.

Shop owners in Halifax are frustrated by uncertainties surrounding the dispute between Canada Post and The Canadian Union of Postal Workers.

A family-owned Japanese-themed shop in Halifax relies heavily on Canada Post’s services. Most of their inventory is shipped from Japan. The strike last year had a big impact and they worry about another one.

“When Canada Post stopped services last year it was a hard time for us because we couldn’t get anything and we had to switch to private couriers and that was more expensive,” says Ferdinand Ballesteros, the Ikebana Shop owner.

Ballesteros said he and his wife took the hit to their company’s bottom line thinking it was only temporary. They said they are ahead of things if there’s another strike.

“We have tried to manage the schedule such that we don’t ask our suppliers to ship out right now and not do anything for them to be caught in limbo,” says Ballesteros.

Cailean Jan, owner of the Silk Route in Halifax, said she’s trying to figure out more reliable options to reach her customers.

“People do like to shop online and I don’t want to have people being discouraged to shop because they are not sure if or when they are going to get their items.”

Canada Post has rejected a request from the CUPW to send their ongoing labour dispute to binding arbitration.

“CUPW has put forward an option to go to binding arbitration, that would add another 12 to 18 months of uncertainty because it’s a long lengthy process with the lawyers battling it out,” says Jon Hamilton, vice president of communications at Canada Post.

Hamilton said it would mean their employees wouldn’t have a contract for a long time and it would sideline their right to vote on another agreement because it’s binding.

CUPW made the request in a statement Saturday, saying it was inviting Canada Post to a fair, final and binding arbitration process to resolve negotiations.

“This all comes down to the government,” says Dwayne Corner, CUPW president. “When they ordered us back to work, they did not send us to binding arbitration like they did the other parties like the rail workers and the port workers.”

Corner said this would have been settled had it gone to arbitration the first time.

The Crown corporation dismissed the proposal in a response on Sunday, saying it wants to “restore stability” to the postal service and arguing the union’s request for binding arbitration would do the opposite.

“We are probably further apart now than we were last year, so after 18 months we have put forward an offer and we believe employees should have a chance to voice their opinion and vote,” says Hamilton.

CUPW has been in a legal strike position since May 23 and has opted to ban their members from working overtime.

“We hope that the minister will support us and deny the corporation’s request to take the vote to the members. we want them to continue bargaining with us,” says Corner.

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