Lethbridge residents react to Canada Post operations resuming

Canada Post signage and parked vehicles are seen at a Canada Post mail sorting facility during nationwide strike action in Ottawa, Nov. 18, 2024. (Spencer Colby / The Canadian Press)

Lethbridge residents will see mail begin moving again, now that Canadian postal workers are heading back to work.

The Canada Industrial Relations Board announced Monday that postal workers must head back to the job Tuesday, with a deal to be hammered out in the coming year.

Members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) local 770 have been picketing outside the downtown branch of Canada Post since the strike started.

"it's kind of disappointing," said Cole Morgan with CUPW local 770.

"Many of our members feel that this was the corporation's strategy all along, is just to wait for the government to intervene, so it's kind of a travesty."

Canada Post workers will be receiving a five per cent raise retroactive to the start of the strike until negotiations resume, but local union representatives say the raise falls well short of expectations.

"At the end of the day, the five per cent doesn't even catch us up for the favour that we gave to Canada Post, by extending the contract for two years in 2022. It's literally a slap in the face," Morgan said. "It's completely disrespectful to the workers."

While union members are frustrated with the strike's end, some Lethbridge business owners are celebrating.

Sarah Amies, executive director of the Downtown Lethbridge Business Revitalization Zone, says local businesses have been deeply impacted by the strike.

Local businesses have found it re difficult to send and receive goods since the strike started.

"A lot of our small to medium businesses rely on the postal service to get their goods, either to the shops or out to their customers," Amies explained.

Local charities, meanwhile, say it's a huge relief.

"It brings us hope," said Danielle McIntyre, executive director of the Interfaith Food Bank, which relies heavily on donations through the organization's mailed newsletter.