That birthday parcel expected this week from your aunt in Winnipeg might be delayed.
Those wedding invitations may have hit a glitch, and the cable bill might go missing for a while.
But the question becomes: with the proliferation of email will most Canadians really notice if 45,000 postal workers walk off their jobs this week?
Canada’s unionized postal workers are in a legal strike position as of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. But negotiations are continuing and both union and management have promised to provide 72 hours notice of a work stoppage, so it is hard to say when or if the mail will come to a halt.
Local 548 of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers represents some 1,350 workers in Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville, Dundas, Ancaster and Stoney Creek, who are bracing for the first postal strike since 1997. That last strike lasted two weeks before employees were ordered back to work by the government.
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Mark Platt, president of Local 548 said that, like last time, striking postal workers will come off the picket lines to ensure that all government pension and welfare and child benefit cheques are delivered.
Some 7,000 rural mail carriers are in a separate union and would still remain on the job, although there is some question just how much mail would still get out in the event of a strike.
Platt said the main issues concern management changes to sick time, a two-tier pay grid that would pay new employees less, and modernization changes. The union also wants to see an expansion in door-to-door delivery. Most postal workers earn about $24 an hour, and are looking at a four-year contract that boost wages by just over seven percent over the length of the contract.
Platt believes the mail is likely to come to a stop.
“I’m just literally waiting for the call. I have my cellphone on and it’s like when I get my call, then 72 hours hence is when we’re going to go,” he said.
The City of Hamilton had originally announced a contingency plan for Ontario Works/Ontario Disability Support Payment recipients. But given the union assurances that cheques will be delivered, city manager Chris Murray said the plan to have Ontario Works recipients pick up cheques at the Hamilton Convention Centre has been scrapped.
But Murray said the city is concerned about how to ensure property tax bills are delivered. He said the city plans to unveil a strategy on that front later Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Horizon Utilities has placed newspaper ads advising customers to register for online access and paperless billing through the company website.
Horizon Utilities will also try to have utility bills hand delivered to their service locations for customers who choose not to use paperless billing.
Platt believes Hamiltonians will feel the impact in the event of a postal strike.
“What we see with the mail is whether it is big business, small business or a home business, because the Internet and computers aren’t reliable, people always back it up with a paper trial, they always do,” he said.
Platt said Canada Post still processes 11 billion pieces of mail each year. “It’s still a significant amount,” he said.
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