Delivering Community Power: Summer 2016 Campaign Update -- Friends of Public Services

Cross-Canada Tour: 18 cities

CUPW Local President Julee Sanderson addresses the crowd at the Saskatoon event, one of 18 stops across Canada for the tour.

With a lockout of 50,000 postal workers appearing imminent, Friends of Public Services' Director Dru Jay hit the road to spread the word about the postal workers’ bold proposals. Our goal was to bring together environmentalists, social movements, labour movement folks and postal workers to talk about how we can put the tremendous publicly-owned infrastructure of Canada Post to work towards addressing the climate crisis and improving quality of life for everyone in Canada.

In a total of 18 cities, we held local discussions featuring CUPW Local members and activists. We invited the public to imagine unlocking the transformative power of the post office.

Hundreds attended, and thousands heard about the tour and subsequent actions through media coverage.

Getting the word out

Here are a few of the stories that have been written about the Delivering Community Power tour and subsequent actions (local TV stations covered several events as well):

Thunder Bay New Watch: Group envisions a greener Canada Post
Daily Miner and News (Kenora): Delivering Community Power proposal reimagines Canada Post
Our Times: Powering up our Post Office: Happy Mail and a New Economy
New Brunswick Media Co-op: Delivering community power: Postal workers pitching solutions to climate change
Rank and File: A Postal Service for the 21st Century
Greenpeace: Can our postal network help lead Canada’s green transition?
CBC: Winnipeggers rally to support postal workers
Nova Scotia Federation of Labour: Canada Post can be the hub of our next economy

Since April, over 30,000 Delivering Community Power pamphlets have been printed and distributed in communities across the country – in French and English.

Our video, released in June, has been viewed over 20,000 times.

Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association President Brenda McAuley hand-delivered a copy of Delivering Community Power to Environmental Minister Catherine McKenna at the Broadbent Institute's Progress Summit, and we got a photo:

Support for postal workers

Friends of Public Services was active in building broad support for postal workers during bargaining. We produced a pamphlet and a poster that were downloaded and printed hundreds of times.

New chapters of People for Posties popped up across the country, and FPS supported their work by emailing local contacts and providing customized supporting materials and banners.

In May, ACORN Canada and CUPW organized a series of rallies across the country in support of postal banking.

As negotiations continued, we delivered 5,000 signatures on our petition to Fire Deepak Chopra to the Prime Minister’s office.

After CUPW's successful demonstration of 2000 members and allies in Montreal, FPS Director Dru Jay wrote about how postal workers are showing the way towards progressive reforms under a Trudeau government.

As bargaining became more heated, FPS -- in collaboration with People for Posties -- launched an open letter signed by over 200 prominent women calling for pay equity, as well as an accompanying petition.

Online campaign

In an online campaign led by Leap and New/Mode, we made use of advocacy tools to make the voices of thousands heard within the postal review. Some highlights:

Over 50 community and labour groups endorsed the campaign.

Over 8,000 people participated in online actions

Posts advocating for expanded postal services were seen by over 80,000 people on social media

Over 7,000 people sent letters to the review about postal banking and other Delivering Community Power demands before the deadline.

359 people sent letters to the editor, and over 20 were published (some examples: Vancouver Sun, Leader Post, The Nelson Daily, Sudbury Star, Cambridge Times, The Barrier Examiner, The London Free Press, Langley Times, Inside Ottawa Valley, The Parksville Qualicum Beach News, Delta Optimist, Sudbury.com, Durham Region, North Shore News)

2374 (and counting) sent notes to their MP in support of postal banking after the banks’ profits were announced. It's not too late to send yours, here.

What’s next?

We will to use the momentum from the summer to deliver community power by building grassroots capacity across the country. We’re going to mobilize even more people to participate in the review of Canada Post, and start organizing on the ground in strategic areas. (Want to get involved? Fill out our volunteer form!)

Friends of Public Services is also paying close attention to Liberal Party schemes to sneak privatization into infrastructure spending and other public services. We are coming up with plans to strengthen movements to keep public services publicly owned!

(For coverage of the spring launch of Delivering Community Power, check out this page.)