Walkin' the Picket Line With Our Buddies at Canada Post

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know. He's so old he remembers when you had to lick your own stamps!

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He doesn't have any teeth. He just drinks condensed owls' milk out of his bottle. He climbs way high on things and he can't get down. I say, "My son! Come down from there this instant!" He makes little squawky noises 'cuz he's afraid. I have to help him. He's a handful!

Know what? Our buddies at Canada Post can't go inside the building and work. That's too bad.

 I know what postal workers do. They work very hard. They have a very important job. The are the nice people who bring us letters and packages. They bring them right to our door!  I l-o-v-e letters and packages, don't you?


I share my Smarties and gummy worms with the nice Postal Lady who comes to our house. I think she's a princess, you know. I get mail, you know. I cards and presents on my birthday. They come by Canada Post.  My birthday is on July 1st, you know. That's the same day that O Canada has a birthday, too!

James says CUPW stands for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. It's a family. Chance and James and me are family. Our family is pretty small. There are 550 people in the CUPW family in Windsor. That's a lot of porridge to cook! They must have a really big kitchen table! Wow!

CUPW is on strike. I know what strike means. My teacher, Miss Jackie told us. I go to the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre on Sandwich Street.

Strike means nobody can go inside the Post Office. The door is locked.

Our buddies are in front of our Post Office. Our buddies are picketing. That means they carry signs and blow whistles. Sometimes good citizens have to walk the picket line until somebody will listen.

Know what? Chance and me can help! We're good citizens! We can help our friends and neighbours. We can help our buddies!  We can carry signs and blow whistles. That's a good idea! Then the big boss in Ottawa will hear them and they can go back to work! I hope it's soon. Canada Post is one of my favouritest places.

People drive past the Post Office and honk their car horns and wave. They give us thumbs up.

 Strike is what happens when the two sides stop talking. One side is the labour union and the other side is management. The big bosses sit down and talk to the workers. The workers have leaders. The leaders talk to the bosses.  When they agree and shake hands everyone can go inside and we can get letters and packages, again.

 Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Do good deeds! Help your friends and neighbours. Good citizens get to eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to Canada Post and walk the picket line with us! We can help! Okay! Over and out!"