After a month-long strike, Canada Post continues to ramp up operations and the postal service expects most of its delivery backlog to be resolved before Christmas.
Canada Post workers returned to work on Tuesday after the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) ordered them to end the nationwide strike.
The Crown corporation said its network became fully operational on Wednesday afternoon.
“Canada Post has processed packages held up in the postal system during the strike, and all of these items are now flowing through our network or being delivered,” national mail carrier. he said in an update on Friday.
“We expect a significant portion of these items to be delivered before Christmas.”
Postal workers will make deliveries this weekend in some select cities, the company said.
Will begin accepting new international mail on Monday.
Despite the increased operations, the postal service warns of delays that could continue into early next year, but hopes to return to “full service levels and normal delivery standards by early January.”
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Post offices will be closed on statutory holidays: Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
With Christmas approaching, Canada Post is also prioritizing letters sent to Santa Claus.
Canada Post said Wednesday that all letters sent to Santa before Dec. 23 will be prioritized for direct delivery.
The Santa Letter Program has been part of Canada Post’s operations for 40 years and in 2023 it delivered approximately 14 million letters to the North Pole.
More than 55,000 postal workers went on strike on November 15. The Canadian Postal Workers Union sought wage increases, better pensions and better health benefits.
On December 15, the CIRB, at the request of Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon, ordered workers to return to work after determining that Canada Post and CUPW were unlikely to reach an agreement before the end of the year.
The CUPW called the decision “disappointing.” and is defying government intervention to end the strike.
Under the CIRB order, the terms of existing collective agreements will be extended until May 2025. Canada Post will also offer a five per cent pay increase for employees, as proposed in the company’s latest offer.
In a statement on FridayThe union said it “will seek to file a national complaint regarding numerous violations of the collective bargaining agreement” after December 17.
“We are hearing about multiple situations that could constitute violations of the collective bargaining agreement and we are working with the CPC at the national level to resolve all of this,” he said.
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