'A month is a long time': Canada Post workers back on job

Surge of mail after postal strike ends Thousands of Canada Post employees went back to work under a government order on Tuesday.

Canada Post workers are once again making deliveries across the country.

After a month-long strike, the Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered 55,000 postal employees off the picket lines effective Tuesday morning.

“A month is a long time and this time of the year, it's got to be bad for everybody,” says customer David Bowes.

The back-to-work order didn't go smoothly.

Supporting unions formed their own blockade that postal workers didn't want to cross.

“Everybody has decided that for their health and safety reasons, they don't want to cross the picket line, but they are here and willing and able to go to work,” says Canada Post employee Brian Lee.

Eventually, workers did cross the line and headed inside en masse.

Canada Post says, even though workers are back on the job, it will take some time to safely ramp up their services. The postal organization is asking for customers to be patient – saying its focus is on clearing the backlog of letters and parcels on a first in, first out basis.

Other measures include:

Still, some people were dropping off Christmas cards and parcels shortly after the picket lines came down.

“The sentiment is still there so regardless of whether they get it at Christmas or after Christmas, the thought is what matters,” says customer Mitchell Hunt.

“I kind of resigned myself that I wasn't going to send anything out this year and then when things opened up again, we thought we'd take a chance at getting something in the mail,” adds Derek Richards, whose parcel is heading out west.

It’s a different story for deliveries headed out of the country. Because of significant accumulation, delays are expected for international destinations too.

Canada Post says it will start accepting overseas parcels and letters on Dec. 23.