Canada Post workers during a nationwide strike to protest proposed changes to the postal service in Toronto on Oct. 1.Wa Lone/Reuters

David Moscrop is a contributing columnist for The Globe and Mail.

When Canada Post workers shifted last week from a national strike to rotating strikes, the union was acknowledging a hard truth. By adopting a more targeted approach, CUPW signalled that it was failing to draw significant public support, and that it wasn’t operating from a position of strength. However one might try to spin it, that’s a suboptimal turn when you’re trying to force an employer to reconsider their plans to overhaul your industry – and your place within it.

Canada Post workers are striking because of proposed federal changes that would end home mail delivery over the next decade, close post offices, and slash jobs. The Liberal government has referred to this by the bloodless euphemism “modernization,” justified by the $5-billion lost by the Crown corporation since 2018. There has been no talk from the government about reimagining Canada Post as a service – as with, say, the armed forces, who don’t make the country any money and, indeed, cost it plenty.........

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