Montreal Postal Workers Organize Procession in Support of Frontline Hospital Workers

- Interview, Guillaume Brodeur, Montreal Local,
Canadian Union of Postal Workers -

On April 3, about 100 members of the Montreal Local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) organized a procession of postal vehicles in front of the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal to express their social solidarity with hospital workers who are on the front lines of the struggle to care for the population and defeat the COVID-19 pandemic. The day after the action, Workers' Forum spoke with Guillaume Brodeur who is a shop steward at the Chabanel plant, which has this hospital on its territory. Guillaume was one of the main organizers of this action. See a video from the action below.

Workers' Forum: What was the purpose of organizing the postal vehicle procession?

Guillaume Brodeur: It's an idea that germinated at the beginning of the week, to go and show our support to the health care personnel who are mobilized in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. We, as postal workers, come across people who thank us for being there for them, for being on the front line. We discussed it and thought that being thanked like that is rewarding, but we wanted to do something ourselves to thank those who are on the front lines in caring for the people, the citizens, our families, the people around us. We wanted to go ourselves to bring this appreciation that the population gives us, directly to the hospital staff. In the case of yesterday's action, it was in front of the Jewish Hospital of Montreal, which is located near our postal plant and which has a large team that takes care of people with this disease.

We appealed to everyone, to take some time during their work day, on a voluntary basis, to go there in a procession of postal vehicles in front of the hospital, to honk their horns a little, to show our solidarity with the hospital workers.

It was an unbelievable success. There were about 100 postal vehicles, each worker in his or her vehicle, out of the approximately 180 postal vehicles on the road at that time from our plant. We almost surrounded the hospital. Several dozen workers from the hospital came outside to greet us. Also, you could see in the windows on the upper floors people with masks and patients greeting us. The turnout was such that as the first vehicles were leaving, there were some who had not yet arrived in front of the hospital. We made noise. We had some trumpets. We honked our horns. When we passed by the people who had come out of the hospital to greet us, we exchanged good words, they thanked us. The timing was excellent, because we know they're going to have a very difficult time, the worst is yet to come. Giving them a dose of our energy was important.

There were a lot of people that you don't usually see in the actions that were there. People's feeling is that there are things that go beyond our personal dissatisfaction, that are bigger than us. People are coming together based on real values right now. That's something positive that can come out of this pandemic.

WF: Do you want to say something in conclusion?

GB: Our sense of pride is incredible. People have anxiety, many people are afraid, not only for themselves, but for their families, their parents and other people. The sense of pride, the smiles that were on their lips yesterday, it's priceless. The action was a great fraternal outpouring of solidarity. I think we should multiply these kinds of gestures of solidarity among workers, regardless of their sector.

(Photo: Kaye Art. Video: M. Segreto.)

This article was published in

Number 19 - April 7, 2020

Article Link:
Montreal Postal Workers Organize Procession in Support of Frontline Hospital Workers >

    

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