Tobias “Tobi” Lutke, the co-founder and CEO of Shopify, the huge e-commerce company based in Ottawa, Ontario, has been loudly advocating against the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW). He tweeted on November 15, 2024, “This is a bad faith move by the union that discriminates against small businesses in Canada. Disgraceful” in response to the decision to walk off the job by 55,000 Canada Post workers after a year of bargaining with very little progress.
Lutke is just another high profile example of extremely rich, big business men invoking the idea of “small business” to sell ideas that hurt the working class. Whenever the minimum wage is set to be raised or any supports for working people are suggested, you have the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, a rightwing pro-business lobby group, coming out to defend the “poor small business owner that will be hurt.” And now while workers at Canada Post are striking for better wages and job security you have CEOs like Lutke come out to “cape” for small businesses.
Workers are fighting for better
CUPW announced the nation-wide strike to begin on November 15 and the key issues facing them are wage increases in line with inflation and Cost of Living Allowances (COLA), payments for injury and short-term disability, paid sick days, improved protections for pregnant and breastfeeding workers and improved protections against technological change and contracting out. Rural mail carriers are looking for job security, improved scheduling, and the ability to use company vehicles instead of their own. Urban postal workers are looking to improve rights for temporary workers, better staffing provisions for filling vacancies and contracting in services such as cleaning. They also want to expand service projects such as postal banking and e-commerce platforms.
Lutke also tweeted “At least 67k small businesses on Shopify use Canada Post, and will be affected by them going on strike right on BFCM [Black Friday Cyber Monday] weekend. Canada Post has a government monopoly on delivering to P.O. boxes and is the only carrier supplying rural areas. This should not be allowed.” The implication is that somehow the government is preventing other delivery companies from servicing rural areas, rather than the reality which is that this is a government service and a public utility that is the only option to deliver to rural areas, because the for-profit delivery services will not touch those areas as the profit incentive is not there.
Business groups put profit before people
Groups that nominally talk about protecting small businesses seem to only feel confident when it is time to attack working people, they have little to say about controlling commercial rents or the positive effect that higher wages would have on the economy. When pandemic supports were rolling out, the the CFIB and the Chamber of Commerce pushed for a government wage subsidy with no strings attached, which was exploited incredibly by corporations while they laid off employees. Meanwhile they attacked income supports such as CERB.
Canada Post workers are fighting for expanded services and a future for a public utility that actually serves all Canadians and small businesses. Their fight is part of making a more equal and fair Canada. We need more power for workers like the ones that deliver our mail and less power for CEOs like Tobias Lutke.
The union has asked Canadians to help by sending a letter to Doug Ettinger, CEO of Canada Post Corporation, printing and spreading signs showing support, and learning more about their proposals (all of which can be done by clicking here).
Justice for Workers has also published a notice on how to support postal workers.
Did you like this article? Help us produce more like it by donating $1, $2, or $5. Donate
