Jay Gilday 
Okay, we got the CUPW 730 on strike again.
Chris Chang-Yen Phillips
Kind like a wee sandwich board sign.
Jay Gilday
I am a sandwich board. Well let's head out to the street and we'll see if we can get some reactions from traffic.
THEME SONG
Jay (1:03)
Hi, I'm Jay Gilday. And you're listening to Clock In, a podcast from ECAMP, the Edmonton City as Museum Project. We help people talk to their parents about the work they did when they were younger to learn how working life has changed here in Edmonton. In this first episode, we wanted to show you where the podcast came from and what we're hoping to do together. I'm a musician, a postal worker and your host. And I'm very on brand right now. I'm currently on strike and my kids are at home because of the largest teachers strike in Alberta history.
Chris
And I'm Chris Chang -Yen Phillips. I'm one of the producers of this show.
… Did we get some solidarity honks?
Jay
Oh, we'll probably get some solidarity honks. Why don't we just go and check in here? We're in South Edmonton. We're walking on the picket line for the CUPW Canadian Union of Postal Workers strike of October 2025, which is the continuation of a strike that started in December of 2024, where we were forced back to work by the government and we are still trying to get our issues resolved.
Chris
So there are some folks out there under a little tent trying to get drivers going down 99th Street to honk in solidarity.
Jay
Just trying to get the visibility up.
(turn around and go the other way. [Laughter] This is how it works.)

Chris
What, uh, is this a distribution center that we're by or?
Jay
That's the delivery station, so that's where all the carriers show up to work every day. You can see all the trucks over there just sitting, waiting to deliver people's mail whenever we get back to work.
Chris
What kind of reaction do you get from people coming by the picket line?
Jay
You know there's mixed reactions to the strike just because of the information that people have about what the postal union is fighting against. It's very skewed one way. The company and the government have major platforms to voice their opinions on how the postal service should work. And the union and the workers which is the bulk of everybody who makes up the delivery services we basically have very little voice. (Small honks in background)
Jay
Hey, there's a USPS bag! (Laughs)
Chris
Pro-cycling team? 
CUPW Member 1:
Ya
Chris
Nice. Cool. 
Exchange between Chris, Jay, and Other CUPW Workers:
How you guys doing? Awesome. Yourselves? Good, good. Awesome.

Jay
Yeah, this is not what I saw myself doing this fall. (honks in background) It's so funny because it's been such a reliable job for the past 19 years of my life. And now it seems like, you know, there's a 50-50 chance that it could disappear. Not that I personally would lose my job. It's more just that...
You know, someone starting at Canada Post these days, it's not going to have... They're not going to have the job that I had. They won't be able to pay their mortgage with it. They won't be able to raise kids with it. They won't... And you know, as a musician, I've had the freedom to go and do that as a second career while I've been working at Canada Post. that's just not something that someone who is a new hire at the post will be able to do.
I think it's very common across a lot of different industries right now. It's just employers are turning to gig work to make a better profit and it cuts out the infrastructure and it cuts out a reliable source of income.
Chris
What was the breaking point issue for you that made it worth going on strike here?
Jay
I think the... the breaking point issue for me was that the company who decided that full-time jobs weren't a priority anymore. You know, when you get an executive that is looking to make profit off a public service, then you a gig work economy. And they're... They're always talking about efficiency of the job and they're talking about losing money all the time. But the company as it is breaks even when they're paying full-time employees. And that's all it should do. It should just break even and just employ a bunch of people. But that doesn't fit into the for-profit market these days. that's what we're struggling against.
Chris
It of gets to the core of what are jobs for.
Jay
Yes, exactly. I was having this conversation with a friend the other night. That what is work for? Why do we need to fill up our time with work? How does that support people as a whole? How does it support the things that make life good?
I mean for me it's music and art and community and the way the job is set up, it breaks all that up and doesn't allow you to participate in that. If you're out there delivering parcels until 8 o'clock at night, know, you're going to miss out, especially if you have young kids, you're going to miss out on that part of the day. And your kids are going to miss out on you.
Chris
This is bigger route than I expected.
Jay
Well, posties get bored standing in one place.
GUITAR MUSIC, VOICES IN BACKGROUND
Chris
I've been listening to TJ's work for coming on a decade now, it feels like. I used to work at CJSR, the community radio station here in Edmonton, and I had the great pleasure of listening from the hallway when you'd be on air getting interviewed on Acimowin. And then last summer, I was lucky enough to catch one of the shows that you were playing where you told the story that really inspired this podcast.
Jay
It was a couple of years ago where I was talking to my mom about my work. And at the time I'd been working for Canada Post for about seven years. And when I say that I was talking to my mom about work, I mean she said, hey Jay, how was work today? And I said, it was pretty tough. It was pretty heavy. And she said, yeah, that's too bad. You know, your grandfather used to deliver the mail. And now my mom's dad was a Dene man who lived about 300 kilometers north of Yellowknife. Working off the land, hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering firewood for his whole life. And so when she said that he delivered the mail, I had no idea what she was talking about. And so I asked her, what the heck are you talking about? 
And it turns out that he used to deliver the mail by dog sled from the Northwest territories to the Yukon over the first range of the Rocky Mountains because the mountain Dene are related to the Sahtu Dene in the Northwest Territories. When I heard this story, it gave me this full circle moment. Because the job that I do right now, delivering the mail, I've always felt very in my bones about when I'm out there bringing the people the things that they need, the things that they want also. But the things that they need to get by in life, to be connected, to feel like they're participating in the world, in the economy, it's always been something that's very close to me. And when I think about my grandfather holding onto a dog sled for two weeks in minus 30, it makes my job a little easier when I have a tough day bringing somebody their letter and it makes me feel good about what I do.
Chris
Wow. Hearing this story, your connection to your grandpa's work, just made me curious like how you could help other people connect with their relatives to learn about work and their family and to maybe learn about what work means to all of us. And luckily when we chatted you were on the same wavelength, Jay here wanted to explore these big questions about work. What our relationship is to our jobs, what we take home. What we take to work, what's fair.
Jay
Yeah, in my experience most of us don't really clock in or clock out. Our labour builds the world around us and we bring our art, our culture, our politics and our traditions to work with us. So it's kind of fitting that we're here on the picket line. This is a strike that I believe in wholeheartedly because of public service is something that's so important to people across Canada and across Edmonton.
Chris
Of course, Jay's just one of the Canada Post workers on the picket line here, walking along 99th Street with their signs, foremen up in lawn chairs, bringing out their dogs. 
Union dog.
Jay
Union dog
Chris
We were curious how they felt about their work.
Jay
Hi, my name is Jay Gilday. I've been delivering the mail out of downtown Edmonton for 19 years. And I'm here on the strike line just asking people about their work at Canada Post. Is this a career you saw yourself having? 
CUPW Member 2:
Not really. It was kind of a midlife change. 
Jay
How long you've been here? 
CUPW Member 2:
Five years. 
Jay
How do you feel about this job? what does it mean to you?
CUPE Member 2:
Well for me it was raising a child at home, a stay at home mom or part time worker and then this was my transition when she got older and was able to be out on her own. I was hoping to retire with this job. Now I'm not sure I can. 
Jay
Yeah, it's a... This job has allowed me to, you know, raise my kids, pay my mortgage. I have like a music career on the side. And you know, it's been really great. And I had hoped that it would be a good job that someone younger could have in the future. But that's freaking changing. (laughter)
CUPW Member 2:
Yeah, I was hoping I could maybe do five or six, seven years of out delivery then maybe progress somewhere other than being outside within the company. But that's not looking too good either since all jobs will be cut in every department so.
Jay
Hi, you're talking to the Clock In podcast. I wonder how long you've been working for Canada Post? 
CUPW Member 3:
11 years.
Jay
You deliver the mail? 
CUPW Member 3:
I do. 
Jay
How's your knees? 
CUPW Member 3:
They're just great.
That's good. (Chuckles) Do you see it as a career? Does it feel good as a career? Has it in the past? 
CUPW Member 3:
Yes. 
Jay
I know things are changing, but would you do the job again if you had the chance?
CUPW Member 3:
Not starting from today, but starting from where I was 11 years ago, absolutely. Yeah.
Jay
Just very generally, what does this what does this job mean to you?
CUPW Member 3:?[KK1]
It's a chance for me to look after myself because it's good fresh air and exercise which is really important for me and I love the part where I get to visit with people and be social for a couple hours each morning. I love the part where I get to be out and do my own thing for a couple hours afterwards and as you say it's just a good way to live my life. 
I've lived in situations where people are my immediate supervisor and telling me things to do and a lot of independent businesses where you're under the gun financially and or they've got specific things you need to do whereas this job was very well defined and just very easy to do my own thing and at the end of the day you can go home and forget about it as well. So that's pretty good compared to a lot of other jobs.
Jay
Yeah, I believe in a good public service that honestly just gives a lot of full-time jobs and makes the world accessible for everybody. But thank you for talking to us.
CUPW Member 3:
You bet. Have a great day.
TRANSITION OF SPACE FROM PICKET LINE TO OPEN MIC IN A BAR
Jay
Hey! Thanks, all.
Chris
And of course, Jay's other life is as a musician.
Jay
It’s true
JAY SINGING AND PLAYING GUITAR
One, the band's up in the air too. One, two, three, the band's on the way. One, two, three.
Bye.[KK2]
Jay
You know, music has been something that has carried me through all my life. My dad was a musician, both my sisters are musicians, and my mom just enjoys music to the nth degree. And it's funny that the work that I do for Canada Post and the work that I do as a musician, they don't live in the same world, but at the same time, they're two sort of necessary parts of me. Often when music gets to be too much, if I'm touring too much or losing too much of the sort of artistic side of it, I get back to work at delivering the mail and it grounds me again.
And just being in my body, doing a job that means something to me, doing a job that brings something to everybody as a public service, it really grounds me. And then when the post becomes too much of a grind, which it is. You know, quite often I'm going to the same 500 houses every day for years at a time. Then, music is the thing that pulls me out of it and puts me back into my heart a little bit, you know, puts me back into my spirit. 
Jay at open mic
And it was this full circle moment thinking about the way I ended up doing the job that I do. It's my grandad. It's called Shoes. 
Jay in studio
You know, I think everybody needs that. And I think with this series, I think we're trying to illustrate that. The different parts of work and life and how they're connected and the threads that your parents sewed when you were a kid and when they were kids, the work that they did and the work that we do as people who are becoming adults in this time. It's really important and I just want to illustrate the threads that we're sewing through the generations.
JAY PLAYING GUITAR MUSIC, SINGING “SHOES”
Chris
What do you want listeners to understand better through the course of this series?
Jay
I want people to look at the work that they do when they listen to these beautiful people that we talk to tell their stories. I want people to be able to look at the threads of their own lives and, you know, gain a sense of worth because as trivial as some of the work that we do seems, it is the thing that makes us able to do the things that we love.
Work is something I think to be cherished and I think in this world right now we're definitely seeing that work can be abused. It can be abused in your personal life, you can do it to yourself and then more broadly we're all being taken advantage of. The public service that I work for is being stripped as we speak and I'm hoping that we can retain some of that semblance of unity, of purpose. And I hope... I don't know. I hope everybody comes out with a sense of purpose when they finish their day at work and I hope they have some beauty that they can look forward to after work. That makes it all worth it.
Chris
A tiny teaser of a couple of the interviews that people will hear if they listen into the series.
Jay
I can't wait for listeners to hear the people we're talking to about the Bences and their family application of effort into the world of food distribution and the food bank. And I can't wait for people to hear from the Robinsons about their struggles with being artists and the beautiful, beautiful things that they create and why they create it.
I can't wait for people to hear from the Harp family about their journey through Alberta and their journey through being Indigenous people in Alberta and some of the beautiful things they've created as families and some of the things they've had to endure as families in Alberta and in Edmonton.
Chris
And lots more!
Jay
Lots more.
Jay
That's it for this episode of Clock In, presented by ECAMP, the Edmonton City as Museum Project, an initiative of the Edmonton Heritage Council. Clock In was produced by Joe Hartfeil and Chris Chang-Yen Phillips. Our researcher is Cathy Roy. Artwork and design by Mike Kendrick and Raffaella Loro. Music for the show was produced by Blue Dot Sessions and myself, Jay Gilday. 
Don't miss the next episode of Clock In, where we speak to Shima Robinson and her mom, Elsa Robinson about making art and admiring the hell out of each other. Out now! 
New episodes of Clock In come out every Tuesday. You can find them in the ECAMP podcast feed on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. You can hear all of our episodes on the ECAMP website, citymuseumedmonton.ca. And you can see adorable pictures of our guests from each episode by following ECAMP on Instagram and Facebook at yegcitymuseum.
I've been your host, Jay Gilday.

[KK1]Is this the same person as before? @Chris Chang-Yen Phillips 
[KK2]@Chris Chang-Yen Phillips  - I cannot confirm the lyrics here. Do you want them, or can we remove?