UPS, Purolator announce pause in shipments, forcing Alberta businesses to scramble

Local businesses are facing an additional setback as a labour dispute at Canada Post hits the three-week mark.

On Friday UPS and Purolator announced a pause in shipments from some courier companies as they try to work through an increase in deliveries brought on by the Canada Post strike.

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The strike has been going on since Nov. 15.

Both Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers left the bargaining table on Nov. 27 after a special mediator appointed by the federal government determined the two parties were too far apart to come to an agreement.

"The Purolator network is currently experiencing service disruptions due to severe weather and a significant increase in volume," the company said in an email to The Canadian Press.

The stoppage comes just days after Cyber Monday, one of the busiest days of the year for local businesses, many of whom have been scrambling to find alternative shipping methods during the strike.

"At first, when the strike occurred, we heard from retailers that they were shifting towards alternative providers," said Santo Ligotti of the Retail Council of Canada.

"And now, what we're hearing is that those alternatives have caused concern because they're at capacity as well."

Ligotti said small retailers who were already facing higher shipping costs and barriers to shipping to remote parts of the country because of the strike are now running out of options entirely.

"Many retailers realize more than half of their annual sales in December. And if individuals are not able to order products in time, they may delay their purchases. They may not make those purchases at all."

Jenna Hill of Frock Box in St. Albert says she's concerned about the latest development in the strike.

"Frock Box is a personal styling service for Canadian women. We ship thousands of boxes to women across Canada every single week. It's a shop-at-home experience," she told CTV News Edmonton on Friday.

Hill says women are paired with a stylist and shipped five items within their budget.

They get to try on the items at home and mail back the items they don't like.

They only pay for items they keep.

"It honestly has halted so much of our business. Right now we have almost 500 packages just stuck in depots, mailboxes, customers homes across the country," she explained.

"There's five pieces in all of those, each individually priced. And what happens is, once we get your returns back, that's when we bill you. So all of that is just revenue and dollars stuck across the country, so it's super challenging for us."

Hill says the shipment fee she charges customers doesn't cover the cost of using alternate carriers.

Earlier this week she was notified that some couriers would no longer be accepting shipments, making it difficult to pivot.

"We're essentially losing money on every shipment, but we're just grateful for the carriers that are still working, because we can at least deliver what we promise to deliver."

"I would love for the Canada Post strike to end. That would be incredible. Now again, there are long, lasting effects of this," she said.

"Even if it ended tomorrow, there will be a huge cost that we'll see for a long time here."

Ligotti is calling for the federal government to step in and end the strike.

"We are urging the federal government to take immediate action, use everything in its power to bring this strike to an end because of the fact that it's negatively impacting both consumers and, especially, retailers," he said.

"We know that the best labour agreement is negotiated with both parties at the table and we know that's not happening."

Despite those calls, the government reiterated on Friday that it would not intervene in the strike.

"We urge the parties to get back to the negotiating table," Matthieu Perrotin, the press secretary for federal Minister of Labour Steven MacKinnon wrote in an email to CTV News Edmonton.

"Parties must do the work necessary to reach a deal, as Canadians are counting on them. Negotiated agreements are always the best way forward."

In statements released by Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, both parties say they have exchanged proposals and are waiting to return to the bargaining table.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Nicole Weisberg