Canada Post’s rotating strikes hit the Toronto area at 11:30 p.m. on Monday, shutting down its biggest sorting facilities.

The Toronto and Scarborough locals — among the largest in the country — walked off the job.

That means the mail plant on Eastern Ave. and the parcel sorting plant will be affected for 24 hours.

Also, the Montreal local walked out.

Clearly, the union is hoping to make an impact by having the largest cities affected. According to the union, the move brings the number of striking workers to more than 15,000.

Canada Post had already announced that there will be no home delivery for mail on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the duration of the strike.

The union representing 48,000 postal workers called the move a “partial lockout” where its members’ hours were being cut, which would affect their paycheques, and said it is an attempt to provoke a full walkout.

“Canada Post is doing everything it can to provoke the union into a national walkout in the hope that the government will intervene,” said Denis Lemelin, national president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, at a news conference in Ottawa on Monday.

Lemelin said it was part of a plan to have the federal government bring in back-to-work legislation.

The union began rotating strikes on June 3, hitting cities large and small across the country, usually for no more than 24 hours.

Last week, Canada Post said that since job action began, its mail volume has dropped to 20 million items a day from 40 million and that losses to direct revenue caused by the union’s actions are already at $65 million and growing as major customers cancel contracts.

As a result, it said home delivery would be cut to three days a week, in most urban areas, with service only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, beginning this week.

Lemelin disputes that volume has dropped that much, showing photographs from Vancouver and Calgary with lots of mail.

The company has countered that it must do something to stem losses when revenues are plummeting.

“We are doing what we have to do to minimize the damage CUPW is inflicting on the business,” said Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton.

“CUPW chose to go on strike while we were still at the negotiating table — and we remain at the table with a good offer that protects wages, pensions and job security,” he said.