Canada Post strike marks 2 weeks during busy Black Friday shopping weekend

Tyler McCombs has about 500 pairs of underwear stuck in the mail.

The packages are trapped in Canada Post's delivery network as a nationwide strike — which has now dragged on for two weeks — has brought its postal system to a standstill.

"I feel like a pawn right now in some big fight," said the owner of Devon + Lang, a small underwear company in Calgary that does most of its sales online.

"It's really terrible they chose Black Friday and the holiday season to make this fight a public thing. It's not just hurting Canada Post. It's hurting all Canadians, and it's hurting me and a lot of small businesses," he said.

Retailers across Canada have scrambled to find different shipping companies to send out orders — at the busiest shopping time of year.

But using another courier is often more expensive, especially for small businesses. Shipping a pair of underwear now costs McCombs's company anywhere from 50 cents to $12 extra, depending on where the person lives.

"All of our profit margin is gone when we do that. So we have to unfortunately increase the shipping prices."

Jon Hamilton, a spokesperson for Canada Post, said the week after Black Friday is always the Crown corporation's busiest, with some two million parcels delivered every day that week.

"To be sitting on the sidelines during the busiest shopping period of the year is devastating to the business, but also incredibly difficult for our employees and the many people who count on us," Hamilton wrote in an email to CBC News.

"We are committed to negotiating to reach new agreements, but being shut down at this time of year means the Christmas rush has gone elsewhere."

More than 55,000 Canadian Union of Postal Workers members went on strike on Nov. 15, following a year of failed negotiations to reach a new collective agreement. Among other things, the union has asked for a 22 per cent wage increase over four years, while Canada Post has offered half that.

Peter Denley, CUPW national director of the central region, said workers would rather deliver holiday gifts than be on strike.

"This was not something we wanted to do," he said during a rally in Ottawa Thursday. 

"The fact is that Canada Post watched their market share and parcels slide for five years and never came to the union to ask for solutions," Denley said. "Now, they show up at the table demanding concessions and a big financial crisis."