Webinar: Signed, Sealed and Delivered: Film and Discussion of Rank-and-File Militancy at the Post Office

Mandatory overtime, speed-up, and union-busting at the U.S. Postal Service—sound familiar? Here’s how postal workers in 1978 confronted grueling and dangerous conditions: they walked out on a wildcat strike.

Join the organizers of the ad hoc "Save Our Postal Service" Facebook page for a film and discussion about then and now.

Signed, Sealed and Delivered: Labor Struggle in the Post Office (1980, 36 minutes, by Tami Gold, Dan Gordon, Erik Lewis) shows the strike and the events that followed. Management at the New Jersey Bulk Mail Center fired 200 strikers; workers launched a campaign to get them rehired. After a young worker was tragically killed on the job, their fight against dangerous conditions drew national attention.

Today postal workers are once again facing forced overtime, speed-up, and union-busting… plus the daily risk of deadly pandemic exposure. What can we learn from this history to power up our strategy for the fights ahead? Hear from the filmmaker and from veterans of the strike, and join the conversation.

When: Sunday, December 20, 5 - 6:30 p.m. Eastern
Where: Online. After registering you will be emailed a Zoom link, which will allow you to view the event on your smartphone, tablet, or computer.
Tickets: Free, with a suggested donation of $5. Register below.

Featured speakers:

• Tami Gold and Erik Lewis, filmmakers of Signed, Sealed and Delivered
• Chris Lomolino and Bob Kirkman, two New Jersey postal workers who participated in the strike (and got fired for it)
• Lee Ornati, a New York City postal worker who participated in another 1970s strike
• Malachi Dray and Arrion Brown, postal workers active in the fight to Save Our Postal Service today

There will be an opportunity for questions and discussion.

How to Register:

Registration is free, but if you can contribute, please do. Your contribution will support the efforts of rank-and-file postal workers who are organizing together through Labor Notes to improve working conditions and save the public postal service.

Choose your own registration fee — $0, $5, or $25 — from the menu below. Add it to your shopping cart, then complete checkout. (Look for the shopping cart logo at the top of your screen.) You must complete checkout to register, even if you are paying $0.

This event is hosted by the ad hoc group Save Our Postal Service, a volunteer project of postal workers and retirees. Thanks to Labor Notes, DSA4USPS, Communities and Postal Workers United, Ann Arbor Beyond Bernie, and Stand By Your Mail, who have been supportive of this project so far.