The media is on an all-out offensive to demonize the postal workers and garner support for the Carney cuts to the postal service, saying nothing about the working conditions and the mood on the ground. Our comrades went to the pickets to hear from the workers themselves.
Some letter carriers—many of whom are forced to work “on-call”—have seen their routes nearly double. “That’s just gonna increase injuries. The insurance claims alone, that’s gonna cost them way more.”
For years, postal workers have been told they should be glad just to have a job. “And now we’re all going to be looking for new jobs.”
Would workers defy back-to-work orders? “We voted to defy last time. Now we have nothing to lose. What do you think?”
They also said: “We need solidarity and the support of the other unions. I hear the teachers are ready to walk out. Why aren’t we coordinating with them? What happened to the AFL (Alberta Federation of Labour) and the Common Front?”
– Jillian, Edmonton
I just got back from a CUPW picket line, which my comrades and I went out to in solidarity. The workers we met with told us about how the cuts they’re facing pose an existential threat to the postal service—and their employment. The pressure to ‘gigify’ the work is immense, and everyone on the picket line told us about how they’ve seen good union jobs come under attack for years. Working at the post office used to mean a stable job that you could rely on for your whole career, but when I spoke to one of the younger workers, he said that he needs to work three jobs just to make it in Toronto. The mood on the line wasn’t depressed at all though, it was a mood of deep anger, and militancy. The workers I spoke with recognized that this is not just a “business as usual” strike for wages and conditions, and that business as usual methods wouldn’t be enough to win. The main idea that I heard over and over is that this struggle needs to be bigger, get more solidarity from the other unions in the industry, and to quote one worker: “At this point, I think we need a general strike.”
– Jacob G., Toronto
