What happens now with your mail? Canada Post said clearing backlog will 'take some time'
CBC
Years after the longest Canada Post strike on record came to an end, a government report summarizing media coverage of the shutdown concluded "most of the effects of the strike were temporary" and only lasted "for a short time" after staff went back to work.
But that was in December 1975.
This year's strike has created a backlog of a "couple million" parcels during the busy holiday shipping season, according to Canada Post. Employees have been ordered back to work on Tuesday, but the company said it will "take some time" to clear the packages and letters that have been trapped for weeks.
It also warned that any new mail likely won't make it to its destination by Christmas, and delays are expected to continue into January.
"It's going to take some time to ramp up again. It's not like just plugging a fridge back in," company spokesperson Jon Hamilton said Monday.
"The last thing we want to do right now is make commitments to Canadians and not live up to that. We've already disappointed and impacted so many Canadians with the strike that we want to be up front to say, 'Here's what we can do and here's what we can't take,' and earn that trust back."
Canada Post won't start accepting new mail until Thursday to prioritize existing mail, a statement said. Service guarantees will stay suspended.
The Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) ordered Canada Post employees to return to work on Tuesday under their existing contracts, which have been extended until May to allow the bargaining process to resume.
On Monday, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) said it believes the order forcing employees back to work is "unlawful." A statement said "constitutional challenge to this process" is scheduled for mid-January.
"Our fight for justice is far from over," it read.
Canada Post is going to have to catch up on two kinds of deliveries: the mail that's been stuck in the system since the strike began, plus everything people have been waiting to send because new mail wasn't being accepted during the strike.
Hamilton said Canada Post needs to prioritize "a couple million" backlogged parcels first. Those packages were moved to a secure space during the strike, he said, so they'll have to be pulled back into processing centres before being sent to depots and out for delivery.
They'll be cleared on a "first in, first out" basis — meaning the oldest ones should get priority.
Even once new mail starts getting through on Thursday, Hamilton said the company will be prioritizing rural and remote communities that have been without any deliveries since mid-November.
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