Postal Workers Back to Work - Rotating Strikes End

(Toronto – November 28, 2018) The Federal government has passed a bill legislating Canada Post workers back to work. The legislation means the rotating strikes that have been impacting the insurance industry since October 22 ended on November 27. Talks continue between Canada Post Corporation and CUPW, the union representing postal workers in the negotiations.

Canada Post states that the strikes have touched virtually every Canadian address and postal facility, and that the backlog has grown to 1,000,000 pieces of mail, filling over 600 trailers. Canada Post estimates that customers could expect mail delays into January.

During the rotating strikes, CSIO saw a spike in eDocs adoption and sign ups to the industry’s My Proof of Insurance eDelivery solution, as carriers and brokers looked to electronic means of policy document delivery. In order to lessen the strike’s impact on insurance customers, the industry also adopted contingency plans using other delivery options including email, portals, and mobile apps. However, a continuing hurdle to adopting digital proof of auto insurance slips remains the lack of approval by provincial regulators.

Regulatory roadblocks impact customer experience

While insurance customers expect choice in how they receive their documents, the lack of regulatory approval for electronic auto liability cards is a significant obstacle to providing digital delivery. Although the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators (CCIR) has recommended that all provincial regulators permit electronic proof of insurance (eSlips), only Nova Scotia has done so.

The P&C insurance industry is one of the only remaining financial sectors still required to send paper documents to consumers. Canadian insurance regulators also lag behind in comparison to other jurisdictions: electronic proof of auto insurance is available in 49 out of 50 American states, including the 11 states that border Canada.

“Today’s consumers expect digital service options. Insisting on paper auto liability cards makes the industry look behind the times,” says Catherine Smola, President and CEO of CSIO. “We understand that many drivers are using electronic proof of auto insurance even without regulatory approval, and that police officers are accepting it at their personal discretion. Regulators across Canada should emulate Nova Scotia and formally approve eSlips, to ensure our industry can provide service continuity even when physical delivery is not an option.”

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About Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO)
CSIO is Canada’s industry technology association of property and casualty insurers, software providers and over 36,000 brokers. CSIO is committed to improving the consumer’s ease of doing business within the broker channel by overseeing the development, implementation and maintenance of technology standards and solutions such as eDocs, My Proof of Insurance eDelivery, and eSignatures. In addition, CSIO operates CSIOnet, a secure, industry-owned platform for the efficient exchange of policy information for the broker channel. CSIO maintains offices in Toronto and Montreal. For more information, visit www.csio.com.

For further information, please contact:

Sarina Visram, MBA, CIP | Director, Member Relations & Communications
CSIO
110 Yonge Street, Suite 500 | Toronto, ON M5C 1T4
(416) 360-1773 x 2300 | 1 (800) 463-2746 x 2300
svisram@csio.com | www.csio.com