i've lived through a few strikes, so have some experience with them. The previous CP strike was right at Christmas time. Deliberately. There was literally worldwide condemnation of it, even by other postal unions, but they went ahead with it anyway. Was very disruptive but after a few weeks the gov't legislated them back to work, but by then the damage had been done as they didn't get back to work until 3 or 4 days before Christmas.
After all the bad publicity and negatvie reaction the union got from a Christmas strike, i really doubt they would do it again. They did themselves no favours, believe me.
All that said, the strikes usually start off slowly, with one or two processing centers, so it just slows down mail a bit. As the days and weeks drag on, the strike builds with whole provinces and then whole regions striking for a few days at a time (rotating strikes). While these disrupt and slow mail, things still do get through.
The problem is CP management inevitably locks out the workers and that brings CP to a halt.
I suspect there will not be a strike at Christmas. The union will start threatening it but it usually takes weeks before any action is taken, so i think it more likely it will start just after Christmas, if it happens at all.
As i recall last strike, most of the union workers did not want to strike as they counted on extra money they make at Christmas, but the union boss went ahead with it (he is since gone and has been replaced, to my understanding).
If a strike happens some people will tell you to just use courier services in the meantime. That is NOT a viable option. First off, courier services are far more expensive in most cases and secondly, courier services have, every strike, turned away business from new people because they are overwhelmed and don't want to degrade the service they give to their exisitng customer base. Using couriers during a postal strike is akin to taking taxis during a public transit strike.....far more expensive and good luck finding a cab.
