Ongoing strike threat could push more customers away from a struggling Canada Post

Strike threats hurt business

Photo: The Canadian Press

A Canada Post employee returns to a delivery depot in Vancouver, B.C.

Canada Post customers may face delays as 55,000 workers swear off overtime shifts, though a much bigger disruption was averted after the union backed down from a strike threat.

However, experts say the possibility of escalating job action may continue to scare off customers who pulled their shipments over the past couple of weeks, draining more business from the cash-strapped organization.

Late Thursday, the union called for a countrywide halt to any work beyond eight hours a day and 40 hours a week, saying negotiators will continue to review Canada Post's latest contract offers.

Carleton University business professor Ian Lee says lower letter and parcel volumes in recent weeks have likely made the workload easier to manage despite the overtime boycott.

But any decline in sales will add to the more than $3.8 billion in operating losses the mail carrier has suffered since 2018.

Canada Post faces a reckoning after a report last week found it was effectively bankrupt and in need of drastic reforms such as part-time weekend workers, post office closures and a "dynamic" approach to mail routes.