|
|
|
|
A Striking History Review by Mary Campbell Memory and Muscle: The Postal Strike of 1965 Video by Michael Ostroff Cine Metu, 1995 49 minutes, $10 ANYONE WHO'S EVER MADE A joke about striking postal workers should watch Memory and Muscle: The Postal Strike of 1965. Written and directed by Michael Ostroff on behalf of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, it's a documentary about the first postal strike of note in this country. The video, as it says on the jacket, tells the story of local activists who transformed two company unions into two militant unions: CUPW and the Letter Carriers Union of Canada. Postal workers were among the first public employees to unionize - the letter carriers in 1891 and the postal clerks in 1911 - but their first strike, in 1924, was crushed mercilessly. In the intervening years, the unions became "little better than social clubs," according to the video's narrator, Montreal playwright David Fennario. In 1965, postal workers had no collective agreement, no grievance process, and their wages were set by the Treasury Board. While mail volume had doubled in the 10 years leading up to the strike, levels of employment remained the same. Tired of low wages, ever-increasing workloads and (in the case of many female employees) the unwanted attentions of postal supervisors, the clerks and carriers decided to strike. But their biggest battle was with their own unions. "Ten days that shook the government" is the way one strike organizer describes the strike in Memory and Muscle, but it was the gutless leadership of the existing postal unions that did most of the shaking. "Prudence, moderation and consultation," advised the leaders of the Postal Workers Brotherhood. A strike would be "irresponsible," Fortunately, hotter heads prevailed. One of them was "Big Mouth" Willy Houle, a postal worker from Montreal who emerges as one of the heroes of this story. He and Bill Kaye of Vancouver formed the sort of alliance federalists either dream of or have nightmares about: "We speak different languages, but we have the same ideals and goals - and that's what counts," says Houle in Muscle and Memory. The two were among the key organizers of the strike, along with Roger Decarie of Montreal. Memory and Muscle is a mix of black and white historical stills, strike footage and present-day interviews with most of the main players on the union side. The overall effect is stirring. When the organizers describe exactly what happened on the shop floors the night of July 22, 1965 - the night Canadian postal workers took to the streets for the first time in 41 years - you sense the excitement that must have been in the air. One beautiful still photograph of a dazed postal clerk, sitting in a deserted sorting area looking bemusedly at a letter, says it all. The strikers had no strike fund, nor did they have the support of their union executives. The president of the Toronto postal clerks' union crossed his own line. The president of the Toronto letter carriers' union said of his own members, "They should all be thrown in jail." Both the postal brotherhood and the Canadian Labour Congress leadership of the time leaned heavily on the strikers to go back to work, but the strikers prevailed. Memory and Muscle, the story of how the workers prevailed, makes for interesting viewing in these cynical times. The use of photographs and footage is effective (as is the upbeat soundtrack, which starts with The Beatles' song "Mr. Postman"), but the video's real strength is in the present-day interviews with the actual strikers. The strike was obviously a watershed experience for all of them: it shows in their faces as they discuss it 31 years after the fact. Then again, would you ever forget that you'd once changed the world? Mary Campbell is a freelance writer who halls from Cape Breton, but lives in Toronto. For a copy of Memory and Muscle, send a cheque or money order payable to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, 377 Bank Street, Ottawa, Ontario K2P 2Y3. OUR TIMES 1996 July/August Pg.45 -30- |
|
|
