Canada Post workers are officially on strike.

About 150 workers in Winnipeg have taken to the picket line for the first in a series of rotating 24-hour strikes.

Although the Canadian Union of Postal Workers could have ordered a full work stoppage of its 48,000 members across the country, it chose to launch a 24-hour strike in Winnipeg, where Canada Post has introduced new technology that the union blames for rising health and safety concerns.

CUP-W says it expects to meet senior post office management on Friday.

Even though the parties have been negotiating for seven months, the union says it has made little progress. That’s why national president Denis Lemelin issued a bulletin, hours before the strike deadline, announcing the Winnipeg walkout and warned other cities may follow.

“Management has yet to drop its major demands to eliminate our sick leave and impose an inferior short-term disability plan and significantly lower pay rates and pensions for new hires,” the bulletin said, adding the union is scheduled to meet with negotiators on Friday.

“The purpose of our strike is to encourage (Canada Post) management to return to the bargaining table with a proposal that meets the needs of current and future postal workers.”

Canada Post spokeswoman Anick Losier said management made a revised offer on Wednesday night that included raising the starting wage of new hires to $19 an hour and putting the short-term disability plan on hold, subject to a joint management-union committee review and possible arbitration.

The union did not give a formal response on Thursday, saying the national executive board is still discussing the offer and the strike.

“We obviously feel this is completely unnecessary especially since we gave them this revised offer on Wednesday,” she said. “It’s just going to penalize people in Winnipeg. We’ve done everything we can. We have given a lot of concessions. It’s frustrating.”

Losier added that any strike will have a serious impact on those who depend on mail and parcel service, especially small- and medium-size businesses.

Canada Post has said it needs to address labour costs.

It notes the letter-mail business has fallen by more than 17 per cent since 2006 due to digital communications.

Businesses and charities have been preparing for a big financial hit because of the postal strike, while rival courier services have been making plans to accommodate a potential increase in customers.

Dan Kelly of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says estimates the postal strike will cost small businesses between 200- and 250-dollars daily.

With files from the Canadian Press