Although mail has started moving for most of

Canada Post

‘s network, customers should still expect delays while some workers engage in

rotating strikes

, the Crown corporation said.

Canada Post said it has begun accepting and delivering mail and parcels in all locations as it resumes operations across the country following a two-week-long national strike by its workers, represented by

Canadian Union of Postal Workers

’ (CUPW). Resumption of service for commercial customers would start Wednesday, it said.

The union’s move to rotating strike activity, however, will mean ongoing disruptions in its service, the company said. It added that mail and parcels will not be delivered or picked up in locations where there are currently rotating strikes.

CUPW, which represents approximately 55,000 Canada Post workers, said on Thursday that its members would be on the picket lines on a rotating basis starting Oct. 11.

The corporation said all service guarantees will be suspended during the rotating strikes, when parts of its integrated national network would be shut down and restarted, as this “challenges our ability to provide reliable service to customers.”

“Once the strike is over and operations resume in a given location, the delivery of mail and parcels will restart as quickly as possible,” it said in a statement.

On Tuesday, CUPW said that while rotating strikes may slightly delay mail and parcels, they keep them moving — as opposed to its national strike that shut down all operations.

The union said switching to rotating strikes reduces hardship on postal workers while maintaining pressure on Canada Post and the federal government to get back to bargaining.

CUPW said in a statement that its decision to move to rotating strikes “was a strategic one.” The union noted that it had used a range of strategies throughout this round of bargaining, including nation-wide strikes, a ban on overtime, a ban on flyer processing and delivery and the current rotating strikes.

It said that strike locations, dates, times and durations would not be announced in advance, as with previous rotating strikes.

On Wednesday afternoon, postal workers were again set to meet with Joël Lightbound, the minister responsible for Canada Post, following a meeting last week.

Meanwhile, Canada Post said it has yet to receive a response from CUPW on its latest global offers from Oct. 3.

The union has previously said that the corporation’s offers remained the same as what was presented in May and rejected in August, but with “some new rollbacks.”

  • Canada Post workers switch to rotating strikes, mail to start moving
  • Howard Levitt: In striking, Canada Post workers are merely fighting against the inevitable

• Email: dpaglinawan@postmedia.com