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. Sixteen percent qualify for food stamps. These are full-time federal employees who cannot afford to live on what the government pays them. 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 lines go up. Within eight days, 200,000 workers in 30 cities join them. Nixon sends in 24,000 National Guard troops to deliver mail, they can't do it. The work requires specialized knowledge that takes a year to learn. Episode 10 reveals how this strike, the largest wildcat strike in American history, didn't just happen. In cities where it succeeded (Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York), 50-70% of postal workers were Black, and they'd been building infrastructure for this fight since 1913 when NAPFE formed after white unions excluded Black Railway Mail Service clerks. For 57 years, Black postal workers fused civil rights organizing with labor tactics: fighting Jim Crow inside segregated union branches, leading NAACP chapters while organizing workplace grievances, transferring boycott tactics to rank-and-file caucuses. The Memphis sanitation strike and MLK's assassination in 1968 radicalized them further. When the moment came, they were ready. They won: 14% wage increase, time to top pay dropped from 21 years to 8 years, full collective bargaining rights, complete amnesty with not a single prosecution. But the victory came with a cost: the Postal Reorganization Act restructured the Post Office to "operate like a business," planting seeds for 50 years of attacks. And in 1981, when air traffic controllers tried the same thing, Reagan fired all 11,345 of them. The lesson: you can win the immediate fight and still lose the long-term battle if you're not watching what the victory costs you. Key takeaways to listen for [00:00:00] Introduction  [00:03:54] Act I - There's Always Work at the Post Office: How Black Railway Mail Service clerks formed NAPFE in 1913 after white unions excluded them, why postal jobs provided security that made civil rights organizing possible when teachers and sharecroppers faced economic retaliation, and how postal workers became NAACP chapter presidents across the South while fighting dual charter Jim Crow union branches [00:14:58] Act II - Building the Rank-and-File: How Black postal workers transferred civil rights tactics (documentation, grievance procedures, coalition building) to workplace organizing, why the Memphis sanitation strike and MLK's assassination in 1968 radicalized postal workers, and how Vietnam veterans brought anti-authority militancy while three major unions removed "no strike" clauses from their constitutions [00:27:10] Act III - Collective Begging: Why starting salary of $6,176 ($50,000 today) in NYC left workers on food stamps, how it took 21 years to reach top pay of $8,442 for a $2,200 total increase, the July 1969 Kingsbridge sick-out "dress rehearsal," and how Vincent Sombrotto grabbed the mic at 10:30 PM on March 17, 1970 forcing the vote that union leadership tried to delay [00:37:47] Act IV - "They Haven't Got a Jail Big Enough": Nixon's Operation Graphic Hand deploying 24,000 troops who couldn't sort mail because specialized knowledge takes a year to learn, how postal workers in the National Guard sabotaged operations from inside, George Boyles saying "they haven't got a jail big enough to put all of us in," and the victory: 14% raise, collective bargaining, full amnesty [00:47:49] Act V - What Changed (And What Didn't): Why Southern cities didn't strike (Jim Crow lack of solidarity, right-to-work laws, lower cost of living), how the Postal Reorganization Act gave workers collective bargaining but restructured the Post Office to "operate like a business" enabling 50 years of attacks, and why Reagan firing 11,345 PATCO air traffic controllers in 1981 became the template for breaking strikes for 40 years Follow Us On Social Media Instagram @Peopleof_Agency TikTok @Peopleof_Agency YouTube @Peopleof_Agency   Connect with Us Ready to explore how ordinary people built extraordinary public institutions? Subscribe to People of Agency wherever you listen to podcasts. Find us on social media @Peopleof_Agency. Have stories about how the mail shaped your community, or thoughts on protecting public services? We'd love to hear from you! [email protected] Quotes: "Federal employees who cannot afford to live on what the government pays them. That's not a career ladder, that's a trap." - Aileen "Having a federal job gave you something that almost no other Black workers had at that time: security. You couldn't get fired just because some white business owner didn't like you organizing." - Aileen "We had a secret weapon. A lot of postal workers were veterans. They would go through the people who came in, and they would tell them how to screw up the mail." - Tara Lee, strike leader (quoted by Maia) "I don't care if it's against the law. If they want to put me in jail, put me in jail. But they haven't got a jail big enough to put all of us in." - George Boyles, Chicago letter carrier (quoted by Aileen) "There's only one thing worse than a wildcat strike. A wildcat that succeeds." - George Shultz, Secretary of Labor (quoted by Maia) "The 1970 postal strike only worked because 57 years of organizing made it possible. NAPFE building infrastructure since 1913. Black workers transferring civil rights tactics to the workplace." - Maia Hashtags #PeopleOfAgency #AileenDay #MaiaWarner #1970PostalStrike #WildcatStrike #VincentSombrotto #NAPFE #PostalWorkers #LaborHistory #CivilRightsUnionism #RankAndFile #CollectiveBargaining #NixonAdministration #OperationGraphicHand #NationalGuard #PATCO #RonaldReagan #APWU #NALC #BlackLaborHistory #UnionOrganizing #FederalWorkers #PostalReorganizationAct #MemphisSanitationStrike #MLK #PublicSectorStrikes #WorkersRights #LaborMovement #HistoryPodcast Credits  People of Agency is created and written by Aileen Day, with additional writing by Maia Warner-Langenbahn. It is hosted by Aileen Day and Maia Warner-Langenbahn. This episode was edited by the amazing Kelsi Rupersburg-Day. Our beautiful cover art is by Sam Woodring.  Sources Here are some of our other sources (use the tab function to review different episodes). How the Post Office Created America, by Winifred Gallagher, served as a significant guiding light for this project. Many of our sources were pulled from online Smithsonian resources and the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Thank you to our anonymous Historian fact checker who reviewed many of our scripts and provided invaluable feedback.