In 1970 at the Hotel Statler, Manhattan 2,600 postal workers are packed into a ballroom at 6 PM to vote on something incredibly illegal: striking against the federal government. Twenty percent have second jobs outside the Post Office. 16% qualify for food stamps. These are full-time federal employees, government workers, who cannot afford to live on what the government pays them. You don't want to miss this chapter of Postal History and Union history.

Two weeks ago, Congress voted itself a 41% raise while offering postal workers 5.4%, which with inflation running at 6-7%, is actually a pay cut. Union leadership stalls all night with procedural delays, but at 10:30 PM, Vincent Sombrotto, a letter carrier with no union office and six kids to feed, grabs the microphone and forces the vote. 1,555 yes, 1,055 no.

At 12:01 AM, picket line ...