Mail delayed by Toronto stoppage

OTTAWA • A 24-hour strike at two of Canada’s busiest postal sorting plants Tuesday forced delays in shipments of tens of thousands of letters and parcels across the country as Canada Post employees stepped up pressure to back their contract demands.

The one-day job action virtually shut down the Crown corporation’s sorting hubs in the Greater Toronto Area — the giant Gateway parcel facility in Mississauga, which processes roughly two-thirds of all parcels mailed in Canada, and the South Central mail plant in the city’s east end.

The walkout came on day 2 of rotating stoppages by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers that the union has threatened to continue until Canada Post sweetens its contract proposals for rural and urban carriers.

The union and postal service have been unable to reach new collective agreements for the two bargaining units in 10 months of negotiations.

On Monday, walkouts shut down postal operations in Victoria, Edmonton, Windsor, Ont., and Halifax, causing few delivery disruptions outside of those cities.

But Tuesday’s job action in Toronto, where nearly 9,000 CUPW members walked off the job a minute after midnight, was expected to have a “significant impact” on Canada Post operations across the country, said corporation spokesman Jon Hamilton.

The agency said a “fair” estimate of delivery delays resulting from the walkout would range in the tens of thousands.

Both sides have so far vowed to continue negotiating new agreements.