Canada Post strike could hurt charity donations during holiday season

Dozens of envelopes are stuffed with radon testing kits, but sit piled up in an offices at NB Lung. 

A strike at Canada Post has halted mail from going out and the charity is concerned the strike may stop donations from coming in.

“Eighty-five per cent of our donations arrive through the mail,” said Dusty Green, NB Lung’s director of marketing and communications, adding that about 50-to-60 per cent of the charity’s donations arrive in November and December.

“We’re pretty anxious for sure,” Green said. “We’ve definitely tried to make it easier for people to donate online.”

Across Canada, charities and non-profits rely on Canada Post, especially at this time of year. It’s over the holidays when organizations mail out reminders to donors to give, and in return, cheques or cash come back.

“This is the time of the year when charities are raising the money that sustains them for the rest of the year.” Nicole Danesi of CanadaHelps said.

Charities and non-profits are having to pivot after nearly 55,000 workers represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers walked off the job Friday.

The Scott Mission, a charity serving homeless and vulnerable people in Toronto, says the disruption in mail service threatens to delay or prevent donations from reaching the organization in time—putting thousands at risk of going without meals and grocery bags, as well as toys for children.

They’re encouraging donors to go online or drop money off at their locations.

“This is not about us. This is about the people that are so desperately in need,” The Scott Mission CEO Peter Duraisami said.

Canada Post spokesperson Jon Hamilton says the two sides had good discussions with a special mediator Monday. They’re negotiating two collective agreements—one for rural suburban mail carriers and another for urban operators. Monday’s discussions focused on the rural suburban workers.

“There’s still a lot of ground to cover. There’s still healthy discussions,” he said. “We are starting to see some progress. I don’t want to sound too optimistic because there’s a lot of things that have to be discussed today.”

Jan Simpson, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal, says there has been a bit of movement at the table.

“But we still have a far way to go,” she said. “I’m very hopeful that we’ll be able to work things out if we stay at the table and hash out some of the demands that we have.”

Simpson says there’s been some movement around rural and suburban mail carrier issues and noted issues around wages, health and safety and pension are still on the table.