Postal Workers rally around the plant after being locked out.
This week we proudly present you the first of a three part series that detail a set of organizing actions by postal workers in Canada during 2011. It is written by fellow Recomposition editor Phineas Gage who expounds on the actions that led up to the CUPW strike, the predicaments that workers faced challenging management, and the indelible memory of seeing management flee an angry mob of strikers.
Enjoy, and check back next week for Part 2!
Turning up the Heat
by Phineas Gage
Craig stood inside the Mail Processing Plant doors, just about to punch in. His phone rang – the number for National.
The voice on his cell phone spoke excitedly. Craig nodded slowly.
“Almost ready, we have a couple depots that are slacking but this will light a fire under their ass,” he said.
The voice from the National Office spoke again.
“Okay, I’ll pass that on. So the strike could start tomorrow, it could be in a few weeks, you will keep us posted but we probably won’t hear much until you tell us to go”. Craig talked into the phone loudly enough that the other people standing near him could hear. Grand standing while no one is supposed to be paying attention is the oldest trick in the book.
“For all their talk about ‘direct action’ Depot 2 sure seems to not be interested in the big job action we have planned for a few weeks from now. You remember that one, right? The strike? That’s a pretty big job action, right?”
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