Unionized postal workers on strike after plans to end most home delivery announced

Unionized postal workers are on a nationwide strike this morning, after Canada Post announced it was planning to end door-to-door mail delivery for almost all households within the next decade.

Procurement Minister Joel Lightbound said the move is among sweeping changes aimed at shoring up the Crown corporation's finances in response to a decline in letter mail and its small share of the parcel market.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers, representing 55,000 members of the postal service, said it was caught off guard by the changes and argued that Canada Post and the government are creating the conditions that drive down demand for those two services.

Details of what the nationwide strike will entail have not been released, but one union negotiator told CBC News Network's Power & Politics that different units are "organically" organizing picket lines.

However, Canada Post spokeswoman Lisa Liu said in a statement that no new mail will be accepted during the labour disruption.

In its own statement released to media Thursday night, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said the reform of Canada Post is long overdue, and it urged Ottawa to "push forward with the needed changes" despite the strike.