TORONTO — “Oh no, not again!”
That is the initial reaction Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) Canada provided to the strong possibility of a second Canada Post strike in half a year.
After Canada Post paused contract negotiations with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) on May 13, it appeared a work stoppage would be triggered by the CUPW on May 23. However, the union opted to avert a full-scale strike for now and instead opted to ban overtime for its members while considering the latest offer from the Crown corporation.
The May 21 proposition from Canada Post promises a wage increase of six per cent in year one, three per cent in year two, two per cent in years three and four. Talks between both sides are expected to resume over the next few days.
In January, ACN Canada, which supports the Church in regions of the world where Christians are persecuted or devastated by conflicts, informed The Catholic Register that the Nov. 15 to Dec. 17 strike led to a 64-per-cent drop in donations. In December, the Register reported that 86 per cent of contributions arrive to the aid organization via mail.
Donations started arriving in the mail after the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) suspended the strike. The Government of Canada also extended the charitable donation tax deduction deadline from Dec. 30 to Feb. 28.
Marie-Claude Lalonde, ACN Canada’s national director, wrote that a loss of income induced by another walkout “means we will not be able to fulfil our mission as usual; we won’t be able to send as much help abroad.”
There is also potential for an unwelcome reprise to be even more damaging, suggested Lalonde, considering that the warmer months do not traditionally rival November and December in terms of charitable giving.
“If we did not suffer too much from the strike last year, it’s because it ended before Christmas,” stated Lalonde. “In that period of the year, we usually have more donations coming in, so the difference did not show that much. However, this time, we will not benefit from that momentum.”
ACN Canada plans on mitigating the fallout of a strike by encouraging benefactors to make contributions online. Contacting individual donors is another possible avenue.
Joan Gauthier, Development and Peace – Caritas Canada’s philanthropic development director, shared that “we are very concerned that another postal workers’ strike could hamper our fundraising efforts.” She said the official international development and humanitarian aid agency of the Canadian Catholic Church is “also disturbed by the trend of arguing to privatize ‘loss-making’ essential public services when profit is not their true purpose.”
Early in May D&P sent out its spring mailer, which includes a call for donations to address the food insecurity crisis in Sudan.
“A strike could hold their cheques up in the mail,” said Gauthier. “If that happens, we will pivot to promoting online donations, as we had done last Christmas. Fortunately, our donors are as flexible and understanding as they are kind and generous, for which we are eternally grateful.”
