Some postal workers will be heading back to work Monday to prepare for mail delivery Tuesday -- more than three weeks after union members first hit the picket lines.

A few pickets were still up at the Eastern Avenue sorting plant early Monday. Most workers returned to work Monday afternoon and evening -- a day after the back-to-work legislation passed in Ottawa.

"We're certainly going in with our heads held high, that's for sure," said Gary Whitehouse, who has worked for Canada Post for 39 years.

"We know that in a fair fight, Canada Post loses," he told CityNews.

After negotiations that lasted about seven months finally broke down, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers began a series of rotating strikes on June 3. Canada Post locked out its workers and suspended mail delivery on June 14.

The legislation forcing the union members back to work imposes wage hikes that are lower than what Canada Post had put on the table in its final offer.

It also means an arbitrator will have to choose between the final offers. Talks between the two sides collapsed late Wednesday and on Saturday.

"We're supposed to be negotiating. It's a free country. We fight for democracy in other countries and yet we feel like we're being slammed," said Pat Byrne, a 26-year Canada Post employee.
 
The Senate approved the bill in a rare Sunday sitting that followed an NDP marathon filibuster, lasting 58 hours.

Liberal Sen. Terry Mercer said this bill represents “the beginning of an attack on public service unions.” Progressive Conservative Sen. Lowell Murray said the legislation is “contemptuous in its attitude toward a labour union of any kind.”

Canada Post insisted it needed to rein in labour costs due to a 17 per cent decrease in letter mail business since 2006.

With files from the Canadian Press.