[Link to website]
[Culminating dilemma demonstration: Citizen's Document Search]
Campaign Objectives
- Obtain the release of the strategic planning documents from Canada Post
- Win a moratorium on all closures, including that of the Quebec City mail sorting plant, until the plans have been revealed and publicly debated
- Launch a public debate on the future of the post office, including any plans to cut services and jobs, close down postal facilities, or otherwise privatize or deregulate our public postal service
We are asking Canada Post to reveal its strategy. Here is ours. No secrets and no surprises.
From repeated requests… to an Ultimatum
For months, Canada Post Corporation (CPC) has been pressured to reveal its plans and its documents, especially in relation to the National Network Review announced last July. To this day, Canada Post is still not giving the real answers.
Getting these documents now appears to be the only way to force the corporation to reveal its intentions and stop the closures, job cuts and service reductions from being decided without consultations.
Since Canada Post does not fall under the Access to Information Act, our only choice is to wage a public campaign to demand the strategic planning documents.
To avoid a string of postponements from Canada Post, we have issued an ultimatum which states what we want and we have set a deadline: May 15, 2006.
Search & Seizure
We do not want to do this. But if Canada Post still refuses to hand over the planning documents after two months, we will have to up the ante. The issue is too important.
The idea of a “Search & Seizure” comes from two sources of inspiration: Gandhi and the alternative globalization movement.
In the freedom struggle of India from British rule, Gandhi built a campaign against the salt tax. When the government repressed illegal salt making, the civil disobedience had to reach a new level. That is when “nonviolent raids” on the colonial salt depots were organized (a key moment in the struggle, dramatically depicted in the Oscar-winning movie “Gandhi”).
Closer to home and more recently, many groups had been asking for the draft texts of the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). In 2001, an ultimatum was given to then Minister of International Trade, Pierre Pettigrew. If he did not publish the texts in time, a citizens’ Search & Seizure operation would be conducted at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), in Ottawa.
After the ultimatum had run out, people trained in civil disobedience went to DFAIT and read a “Citizens’ Order for Search & Seizure”. They asked the police, who were waiting for them behind barricades, for help retrieving the documents. The police refused. The trained demonstrators proceeded to calmly go over the barricades, where they were arrested.
The action generated a media outcry. Why was the Canadian government refusing to publish the texts? What was it hiding? A week later, Pierre Pettigrew announced that the FTAA texts would be published in four languages.
Schedule of Actions
March 15 • Ultimatum Launch
March 15, 2006, is the public launch of the new campaign, “Operation Transparency”. Deborah Bourque, president of CUPW, delivers in person the Ultimatum to Canada Post, at Ottawa headquarters. The Ultimatum gives the corporation 60 days to make public its strategic planning documents.
In our workplaces, in our communities, we start distributing this tabloid. We ask people to sign personal letters to Moya Greene and the Pledge of Resistance. We start asking other organizations to endorse the Ultimatum.
March 17 • “Green Light to Ms. Greene”
On March 17, 2006, we invite union locals and communities to highlight the launch of the ultimatum by giving Ms. Greene the green light. Symbolically, we tell Ms. Greene: “Time to move forward. Time to go ahead and do it right. There's no better moment, publish the documents.”
Ask everyone to wear “Greene” today. Many will support us unknowingly, as we also celebrate the proud Irish heritage. Today happens to be St. Patrick’s Day. Put on green stickers saying “I want to know”. Start signing personal letters to Moya Greene. Have your family and friends sign on as well. Collect the letters and send them to CUPW’s National Office. We will deliver the letters on May Day.
April 13 • "Easter Egg Hunt"
On Easter Thursday, we go meet Canada Post managers and supervisors. We ask them important questions, such as "What is Canada Post planning for our facility?”, "Will we be closed?", "What do you know about the strategic planning documents, the plans?"
We ask managers and supervisors to write to Moya Greene themselves. They need to be able to provide answers. Leave them some chocolate, as a thank you.
May 1st • May Day Special Delivery
On Monday May 1st, 2006, let’s take part in May Day events and bring our magnifying glass and the Operation Transparency tabloid. Let us use this opportunity to gather endorsements and pledges from allies.
In Ottawa, a special team delivers by hand our "registered letters" to CEO Moya Greene, including all personal letters, messages and pledges of resistance collected since March 17.
May 15 • Ultimatum Ends
After one last call to Moya Greene, the Ultimatum ends at midnight on May 15, 2006.
May 16 • Direct Action Announced
A national press conference announces that we will hold a search and seizure operation at Canada Post Headquarters to retrieve the strategic planning documents. May 16 also marks Moya Greene’s first year as CEO of Canada Post. It is time for an evaluation. Because we are transparent, we release her report card to the Canadian public.
May 17 • Document search
If the strategic planning documents have still not been released by the end of the Ultimatum, we start looking for them. We search everywhere they could be. Whether in post offices, in Canada Post divisional offices, in mail processing plants, in the bushes around headquarters, we investigate. This may also be a good time to follow up on earlier visits to managers and supervisors.
Equipped with our magnifying glass and our patience, we scrutinize everywhere. Some even choose to dress for the occasion as Sherlock Holmes, Pink Panther’s Inspecteur Clouseau, or Agent 99. Everyone is invited to participate. Local press is invited. Some locals choose to plaster their bulletin boards with white paper, leaving only a big question mark. Whatever you do, please send photos to regional and national offices.
June 19 • Search & Seizure in Ottawa
On June 19, 2006, four weeks after the Ultimatum deadline — and if the strategic planning documents still have not been released — we resort to nonviolent direct action. Our patience has reached its limits. We now attempt to retrieve the planning documents ourselves in Ottawa.
At the same time, everywhere across the country, the public, our friends, CUPW members are invited to get organized and flood Canada Post headquarters with solidarity messages.
June 21 • Call for Management Whistleblowers
After doing all in our power, we now urge members of Canada Post management who support some level of transparency to send us anonymous tips on any secret document they may have seen.
Our tools: leaflets asking managers to come forward with information, and offering various ways they can leave anonymous tips or drop a brown envelope…