TorontoMore than 2,000 DHL workers have been on strike since June 8. Since then, DHL was using replacement workers to continue operations, but stopped deliveries Friday in light of new federal labour legislation.More than 2,000 DHL workers have been on strike since June 8Ethan Lang · CBC News · Posted: Jun 20, 2025 4:10 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoDHL containers are transported on the tarmac at John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in March. On Friday, DHL stopped all deliveries in Canada amid a strike and new federal legislation. (Nick Iwanyshyn/The Canadian Press)DHL Express Canada stopped delivery service across the country Friday as workers continue to strike and new federal legislation banning replacement workers comes into effect.More than 2,000 DHL workers represented by Unifor — including truck drivers, couriers and warehouse and call centre employees — have been on strike since June 8 after the German-owned delivery company locked them out following a breakdown in negotiations with the union. DHL has tied the shutdown to the stalled negotiations as well as a new federal law barring replacement workers from filling the role of federally regulated employees who are on strike or locked out. Unifor has said its bargaining priorities with DHL revolve around wages, working conditions and surveillance and automation in the workplace.Unifor representative Balkar Bains, who was on the picket line in Brampton Friday, said the new legislation has “empowered unions to be able to have fair bargaining.””Unfortunately, DHL is disregarding that.”Unifor representative Balkar Bains was on the picket line outside DHL’s Brampton warehouse Friday, the day the courier company stopped deliveries in light of new federal legislation. (Pelin Sidki/CBC)DHL, whose 50,000 customers in Canada include Lululemon, Shein and Siemens, continued operations for the first dozen days of the work stoppage but began to wind down earlier this week as the legislation loomed. Unifor president Lana Payne says the company had brought in replacement workers — a claim DHL has not denied — in a move she says was legal at the time but undermined negotiations for fair wages.Earlier this week, DHL wrote to Ottawa, asking the federal government to allow the company to continue operating despite the ban, arguing the company provides an essential service. In response, Unifor wrote to Prime Minister Mark Carney, asking that the federal government not intervene, saying it would remove the employer’s incentive to negotiate and settle a fair contract.DHL has not responded to CBC’s request for comment.Stoppage affecting business, customersThe DHL delivery stoppage comes at a time of turmoil for parcel delivery in Canada, as Canada Post remains at loggerheads with the union that represents 55,000 of its workers.That, along with the ongoing trade war between the United States and Canada, has been costly for Holly Rockbrune, who owns an antique store in Pickering, Ont. She says about 70 per cent of her clients are American.”We’re constantly having to update how we handle things,” Rockbrune said this week. “All of these shipping issues combined really just make things very difficult to run a business.” She says she’s had to start using smaller, private shipping companies that are sometimes twice as costly as DHL in order to keep her customers.”Our orders are down, our order numbers are down, the values are down,” she said. The DHL strike and shutdown has also already caused problems for customers, like Prateek Mahajan, who says he and his fiancée were supposed to get their wedding clothes delivered Friday. He was at the company’s Brampton warehouse in the morning in hopes they’d arrived, but he says DHL wouldn’t help him.”It’s my wedding tomorrow morning,” he said. “They are not entertaining me at all. It’s horrible.”ABOUT THE AUTHOREthan Lang is a reporter for CBC Toronto. Ethan has also worked in Whitehorse, where he covered the Yukon Legislative Assembly, and Halifax, where he wrote on housing and forestry for the Halifax Examiner.With files from Britnei Bilhete and The Canadian Press
DHL stops deliveries in Canada amid strike, new law banning replacement workers
