I don't have anything to do with the "Overall Planning Fiasco", so no, I won't comment on that b/c that was not what I experienced. Was everything perfect? No. We had late freight issues as well, but you can only plan for that to a point...start sorts later, bring help in earlier if available, start sort earlier on days with good arrivals, etc. We had plenty of rentals, all but 3 of our PT PM'ers VOLUNTEERED to come in early and help deliver in their PM areas, and we used our AM handlers as runners, at least the ones who wanted to do it.
The only freight we rolled were 3 AKE's that came in at 13:00 on the 22nd...that was only b/c we were already blown out that day as was everyone else. We did break them down and get the perishable stuff OFD though.
I don't know of any stations around here that were mandated to work on Christmas Day, we had the front counter open for 4 hours like most, but that's it....one mgr and one handler that volunteered. Do you have any actual proof of this, or at least a station ID? Easy enough to look in COSMOS and see if/how many POD's that station did that day if so.
Sorry yours didn't go well, but it sounds to me like it's your local mgmt team that dropped the ball....again.