postal service

Unity: Voice of concerned postal workers

Scanned versions of Unity: voice of concerned postal workers, and anarcho-syndicalist workplace newsletter for postal workers in Australia in the 1980s produced by postal workers in the Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation.

Digitised by libcom.org, December 2012. If you have more copies of this newsletter please let us know in the comments below as we would love to expand our very small archive.

Communication Worker bulletin

Partial archive of Communication Worker, bulletin of the Communication Workers Group in the UK in the 1980s.

If you have more copies of this which could be added to the archive please contact us or let us know in the comments below.

Post office - Charles Bukowski

The job as a postal worker is a thankless one as Bukowski tries to keep his sanity delivering mail around Los Angeles. A warning, this piece is misogynistic throughout and features a rape scene.

Signed, sealed and delivered: 1978 strike against mandatory overtime, speedups and hazardous working conditions

On July 21, 1978 thousands of postal workers walked off the job, saying "No" to mandatory overtime, forced speedups and hazardous working conditions. As a result of this wildcat strike, 600,000 workers won better contracts. But 200 were arbitrarily fired by management to teach all postal workers a lesson. This documentary is the story of the struggle these postal workers waged to win back their jobs.

Signed, Sealed and Delivered: 1978 strike against mandatory overtime, speedups & hazardous working conditions from Libcom Dot Org on

Who is tampering with my mail?

Submitted by working class s... on Aug 20 2012 17:22

I am not normally someone who is interested in conspiracy theories, however, there are some strange shenanigans happening with my mail…amongst other things.

First of all, there is a definite change in the time it is taking for letters to reach my house. I receive quite a lot of mail each month, and there is a noticeable slowing down. People tell me they have posted something (as they always have) yet I don’t not receive the letter or package until a couple of days later than expected.

Big deal! I hear you say…hold on, that’s not all.

The Canadian postal workers wildcat strike 1965

Submitted by working class s... on Jul 31 2012 15:33

During 1955-1965 the volume of mail posted in Canada more than doubled. The number of postal workers did not - instead, the bosses forced workers to double their speed, work extra hours without overtime pay, and often forced to work over twelve hours a day. In order to keep up such a gruelling work rate – supervisors subjected workers to constant threats, bullying, and harassment.

Workers were represented by the 'close to useless' trade union - the CPEA. The union had no collective bargaining rights, and refused to even attempt to negotiate on the workers behalf.

Workers across Montreal and Vancouver started to organise on a rank and file basis outside of the official trade union.

Working in America III: their time and ours - David Schanoes

A 1971 account and analysis of working in the main post office in Chicago. Foreshadows the workplace violence the USPS would later become infamous for.

...They’re up there. Watching.

Let me sleep on it

Submitted by Recomposition on Apr 20 2012 09:11

Our series on work, sleep and dreams continues with a story about a sleepwalking postal worker.

I woke up and rubbed my eyes, Saturday was a long time coming this week. My aching body stumbled towards the fridge. I swung the door open and my eyes focused on the first clear object of the morning, a bottle of Catsup. I grabbed the bottle and stood up, straightening my aching back. I opened the freezer and my eyes focused again on a frozen bag of breakfast sausage.

Interviews with organizers: Canada’s postal struggles & the New School occupation

Submitted by Recomposition on Mar 31 2012 02:18

Two interviews with organizers in recent struggles.

Beginning with the crisis of 2008, a series of community, labor, and education struggles have unfolded across the world, in the US, and Canada. As experienced organizers face new challenges, and new people are brought into the movement, the challenges and problems posed by building powerful radical movements confronts us.

Fighting and firings at Canada Post

Submitted by Recomposition on Feb 17 2012 08:57

In this post, Phinneas Gage tells a story about action on the job, management retaliation, and workers’ responses.

Harjit stood outside the depot in the cold for 15 minutes before anyone else arrived. He had a stack of picket signs next to him. The sticks poking out from the garbage bags the signs were packed in. They were slowly collecting snow. It was going to be a long day, at work a half hour early to get people their picket signs and whistles, eight hours of work, and then whatever overtime was coming.