Canada Post has had a year with an interesting end with a strike disrupting services close to the Christmas holiday.
The federal government ordered the workers back to work earlier this month after a nearly month-long strike.
Teri Nobiss, an Estevan letter carrier, says that getting back to work is a mixed bag.
"I think there's a lot of mixed emotions for that we're very happy to be back for our customers but we're also a little bit upset because we weren't able to get a negotiated contract so that kind of is a little bit of a problem going forward. So the CIRB has ordered us back and we'll have to wait to see what they find, they're actually going to be doing a lot of investigating into everything that's happened so we'll have to wait until May to find out actually what is going to come of all of that."
Canada Post's union is fighting the back-to-work order, with Nobiss saying she appreciates the move.
"I think that it's a really good thing because as a union worker that's why we have a union is so that we can get a negotiated fair contract and when the government or the CIRB gets involved in it then that causes it to be not necessarily a fair decision. Usually in other times that we've gone on strike it hasn't always maybe gone our way, but at least if the two sides are negotiating at least and you get a fair contract but when they know the government is going to be stepping in it's not always fair."
Nobiss says that getting a wage increase is important for workers in whatever new contract is made.
"We haven't kept up with inflation for a long time, we've given up a lot of things to keep the mail moving. During COVID, we were the heroes and we never took any increases in our wages, we didn't get anything sorted out at that time we just said 'Yes, we're going to keep on going because we wanted to get everything back to normal' you know we miss being interactive with our customers."
"We didn't really get anything then. Two years ago, we said, let's just wait, we'll come back in two years and hopefully get a negotiated settlement. Well here we are, it didn't happen so you know it's a little disheartening actually after working here for thirty years I'm having a really hard time with it all. I love my customers, I love that we're back to work, but the other stuff is not so easy to take"
With packages and mail getting out now that they're back to work Nobiss says it's at least good to be back on the job.
"It feels really good to see the mail moving again. It's hard when that's your job and that's what you're trying to do, it's hard to see that nothing's happening and you know we saw people trying to come to get their mail and there was no mail for them. That's hard on people who do that job every day so it's really good to see everybody back and doing what they're supposed to."