Postal workers in Toronto, Scarborough, Ont., and Montreal will walk off the job just before midnight Monday, as their union continues its policy of rotating strikes amid contentious contract negotiations with Canada Post.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers said late Monday that about 15,000 of its members will not be reporting to work Tuesday and will be on strike for 24 hours, beginning at 11:30 p.m. ET on Monday.

The CUPW has been implementing 24-hour rotating strikes across Canada for 10 days. While most workers remained on the job, one or two cities per day have experienced a strike by CUPW workers.

Then, over the weekend, the union announced that beginning Sunday night, workers would implement 24-hour strikes in 10 regions in seven provinces.

Canada Post said Monday it is losing tens of millions as a result of the rotating strikes, while the union contends that its employer is actually trying to cause a general strike.

Jon Hamilton, a spokesperson for the Crown corporation, said Monday that the post office has lost $65 million in direct revenue since the strikes began on June 2.

Hamilton also warned that some of that money may not return when the strikes end, because major customers will have switched over to Canada Post's competitors.

"They are digging to the bone, they are pushing major customers to go to the competition," Hamilton told The Canadian Press.

"There are spin-off losses, there are customers cancelling contracts, there are customers moving away and there are Canadians not putting mail on the general mail stream."

But the president of the union representing postal workers said Monday that he believes Canada Post is trying to bully the union into calling a general strike.

CUPW president Denis Lemelin made the statement earlier Monday as urban letter carriers began a work week reduced to three shifts, as opposed to the usual five.

Lemelin called the shift-reduction a "provocation" by the employer.

"Yesterday our executive council met and we think the approach of Canada Post is to now push to a general strike, to bring about special legislation to return us to work," Lemelin said.

On Monday, the federal government signalled it has decided not to implement back-to-work legislation for the time being, despite concerns the impact a prolonged postal strike will have on the economy.

Tory MP Kellie Leitch, parliamentary secretary to Labour Minister Lisa Raitt, said the government continues to believe that the best solution is one that the two sides reach together.

"The minister is monitoring the situation closely and will continue to provide the parties with the support and assistance required through the mediator," Leitch told Parliament.

Last week, Canada Post announced mail volume had dropped by 50 per cent due to the labour dispute, and the Crown corporation couldn't afford to continue at full staffing levels.

As a result, the company said it would be scaling back to three shifts for urban, uniformed letter carriers. Canada Post said that home delivery would cease on Tuesdays and Thursday for the remainder of the strike.

"Management is penalizing our members for exercising their right to strike," Gerry Deveau, CUPW national director for the Ontario region, said in a statement.

"Reducing the work schedule to three days a week creates hardship for postal workers and their families."

Following strikes over the weekend in Red Deer, Alberta, workers went on strike in the following cities Monday:

  • Corner Brook, N.L.
  • Fredericton, N.B.
  • Cape Breton Island area, N.S. (including North Sydney, Sydney Mines, Glace Bay and New Waterford)
  • Sherbrooke, Que.
  • Trois-Rivieres and area, Que.
  • Cornwall, Ont.
  • Niagara Falls, Ont.
  • Windsor, Ont.
  • Regina, Sask.
  • Nanaimo, B.C.

Lemelin said Canada Post's decision to shut down urban mail delivery two days a week will be a far greater inconvenience to Canadians, than the union's rotating strikes.

"One day of Canada Post not delivering mail is more than what we did during all of our activities during the last 10 days," he said, adding that the rotating strikes inconvenienced only 30 per cent of Canadians.

Lemelin also showed photographs purported to prove that mail volume is still high, and Canada Post is intentionally stockpiling letters and packages.

With files from The Canadian Press