Shawnee Love   •  
June 8, 2011

I don’t want to diss Canada Post. It is a Canadian institution I remember fondly for delivering Sears Christmas Catalogues, birthday cards, and of course gifts and cheques.  However, where 20 years ago a strike at Canada Post had some repercussions, today a striking Canada Post won’t hurt me or my business at all.

My clients can electronically transfer the money and call or email the work contracts; my suppliers can send me e-bills, my friends and family can Skype. The one package I needed to guarantee arrived this week was sent via UPS for about $2 more than it would cost me to send it via Canada Post, and it arrived the next day!

In some companies (hospitals, schools, etc.), strikes still have impact. When it comes to mail, there are too many other available and arguably better options.  In fact, this strike is simply encouraging me to opt for the more environmentally friendly and efficient methods available online which will mean even less of my business for Canada Post in the future.

As a general rule, I think Canadian unions would have greater success attracting new members if they collaborated with management for the success of the company to protect workers’ jobs. A successful company with stakeholders working together will have an added benefit of the success cascading down through the ranks to the people unions have sworn to protect.

In this case, if I were the head of Canada Post’s union, I would be working with Canada Post to figure out how to save that Titanic rather than drilling more holes in the hull.

What would you do if you were the head of  Canada Post’s union?