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Most
recent on John Blomander
John Blomander, Estevan letter
carrier
John passed away March
2, 2005 at the age of 47. He had not yet cleared his name.. We
do not know the circumstances of his death but we do know that
the slanders against him had put him under extraordinary stress.
We keep his story here.
Shame on Canada Post!
May 11, 2003: Still no justice for the bullies
in the John Blomander case.
The union turned back a legitimate
grievance -- settling it with management without Blomander's
knowledge or presence.
Canada Post continues to harrass
and bully. The route was finally downsized but Blomander has
yet to receive compensation for the extra half hour a day which
they acknowledged he was owed.
He has been harrassed about
wearing a parka and refusing to criss-cross (jay-walking which
is illegal).
Sun Life has not been compensated
for the money which an arbitrater ordered Canada Post to pay.
WCB has not appealed a decision
that Canada Post received from the overturning of an original
decision in Blomander's favour -- if you don't know the background
to this case, read through the pages posted here.
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June 20, 2002:
injusticebusters' received a powerful e-mail from John Blomander's
brother Bill who lives in the U.S. Bill is incensed at how his
brother -- and his family name have been slandered with the vicious
lies John Blomander's employers fabricated: that John is insane
from an insane family. Bill Blomander is looking seriously at
suing for libel. injusticebusters believe John should do the same.
The Saskatchewan government
has just settled with John Popowich, acknowledging that to be
portrayed as a Satanic child sex molester is extremely damaging.
Certainly to be portrayed as a mad letter carrier is also extremely
damaging. Popowich was able to prove there was no truth to the
allegation and John Blomander can prove that as well.
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Defamed Estevan
postie John Blomander:
"I
won't quit until justice has been done." Information he received through the Privacy
Act shows he was smeared as a crazy man.
 I
met with John Blomander at Arbie's on 22nd St. He had with him
three large dufflebags full of well organized files. I had first
spoken with him on the telephone about February 18, 2001 when
he gave me the gist of his story and faxed me some incredible
documents he had received under the privacy act.
Imagine if you had received
documents such as this
one (by Bruce Lindsay) or this
one (from the Labour Relations Board), and you suddenly realized
that one of the reasons people were treating you so badly was
that they had been poisoned by lies.
These documents disclosed
his employer had fabricated damaging lies about him: that his
father (who died of cancer at the age at 54) was an alcoholic
who dies "young" of a heart attack, that his mother
had committed suicide when he was young (in fact she of an accidental
overdose when John was 20, five years after his father), that
his brother was in an institution for the criminally insane (false),
that a letter carrier's daughter had told her father that John
had told her he was going to go to work and shoot somebody, and
that he had a long history of mental illness and was a "ticking
time bomb" waiting to explode.
Even though Blomander had
been softspoken on the phone, I was nervous about meeting him.
The man I talked to admitted
he was under some stress but he assured me that he had no previous
history of mental illness, that he had not ever been violent
and that he had never fired much less owned a firearm. Our conversation
was pleasant. -- Sheila Steele, March 7, 2001
March 13, 2002: John went
back to work for a few months. Nothing was done to improve his
situation. He was once more expected to do the disputed route,
although some adjustments were made. He is presently recovering
from hip-ball replacement surgery one one side and will have
the other side done when he is healed.
John Blomander's
Story:
John Blomander started his
job with the Estevan Post Office in 1982. He liked being a letter
carrier then and he would like to get back to it now. The only
problem with the job in 1984 is that the route he was given was
the largest route iof the seven routes in Estevan and that he
was expected to complete his job in less time than was allowed
for smaller routes. A simple mathematical problem, right? Wrong.
Informal complaints were ignored. John then asked for an assessment
of his route. This was also ignored. Not only were his requests
ignored but Blomander became the subject of ridicule and harassment
within the post office. It was suggested he was "slow"
or just "couldn't keep up." There were also comments
that he has let his personal appearance slip.
Nonetheless, John Blomander
did his job and in 1988 he entered a competition sponsored by
Canada Post. He won the Einstein award for coming up with an
idea to improve the design of the superboxes. Part of the prize
was a trip to Ottawa to attend an awards ceremony.
The post office rules specifically
forbid the practice of "criss-crossing," that is, jaywalking
back and forth across the street to get the mail delivered faster.
Many of his co-workers did this and were often finished several
hours early. His already oversized route kept expanding and Blomander
took the time that was necessary to complete the route -- about
an hour and a half more than he was alotted. He didn't claim
overtime because the atmosphere was so poisoned that he feared
he would be fired. Over seven years, John Blomander claimed only
110 hours of overtime. Eventually he was exhausted and took sick
leave for stress.
Part of this stress involved
John Blomander's need to reassure himself and others that he
was reasonable in his request to have his route reduced. (That
same route was divided into three in 1994. )
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| Blomander arranged
to have pictures taken. Above is his work station, below, left
the containers ready to load, and right, the parcels and the
van fully loaded for the daily delivery |
| When management
learned he had taken pictures, he was told he could face criminal
charges because he took pictures of people's mail. injusticebusters
challenge anyone to read a name on any letter or parcel. |
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At his own expense, Blomander
hired a private investigator to compare the routes and to observe
how the mail was delivered. The report he received included videotape
of major criss-crossing and a worker using a taxi to deliver
the mail on part of his route.
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On October 8, 1997,
G. Van Eaton submitted his report on the meeting with John Blomander
on behalf of the two-member WCB panel. Blomander feels this report
truthfully reflects his situation. It is posted here. Van Eaton Report: Page
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
The Leader Post carried John
Blomander's story in 1997. Newsclippings are also posted. August
26, 1997: 1 | 2
| Dec. 19, 1997
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Workman's Compensation, Canada
Post management and the union have now all conspired to cover
up the injustice done to John Blomander. We will provide details
in the weeks to come.
We will continue to add to
this page. The injustice which has been done to John Blomander
stuns the imagination. Management first refused to address his
initial complaint, using procedural gobbledegook to cover up
the fact that his route was measurably much too large. As if
that was not enough, (and we know that this happens all the time),
they defamed him to his co-workers, his fellow workers, and anyone
who would listen as the kind of mad postal worker who commits
the kind of headline making crimes that scare the public half
to death . It is important to keep in mind that John had no mental
health history and no record, official or otherwise of any kind
of violence. He clearly states he believes most disputes can
be resolved through nonviolent means.
Blomander received. through
the Privacy Act, in Jan., 1998, the stunning lies that management
had told to the Worker's Comp. Board and learned for the first
time that in 1995 Post Office Security in Winnipeg had contacted
the Estevan City Police, on September 20, 1995 on the request
of Post Office manager Ian Irwin warning them that Blomander,
an "unusual individual" would be receiving some bad
news shortly regarding his WCB and insurance claim and "
. . .were concerned about how he may react. Sergeant R[e]nwick
agreed to create an intelligence file on John and would make
all members of the Estevan police aware of the possibility of
John acting up. He states that the police are ready to assist
in any way." Interestingly enough, John himself did not
receive the "bad news" until Feb. 1996.
A civil suit dragged on for
two years and finally the Court dismissed it, told him "defamation
is part of the collective agreement" and that his only remedy
would be to take it up through the union. He went to the union
who refused to file his grievance. On January 31, 2001, he received
from CUPW, Winnipeg an express post including forms advising
him to file his own grievance and to expect a prompt response.
He filed his grievance regarding defamation, discriminatin and
the over-assessed route Feb. 7 by fax to Winnipeg and Ottawa
CUPW. On Feb. 26, he filed additional grievances and asked for
a prompt reply. As of this writing, March 13, 2001, he has heard
nothing from them.
Even though John Blomander
has been exonerated by the Van Eaton Report, he has not yet received
the justice which it has been recommended he receive. There is
egg on the faces of the Post Office Management. Through the typical
Saskatchewan method of death by slander and harassment they told
lies (1
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) which failed to kill him. Having failed to kill him, they are
using stalling tactics to cover their sorry asses. (We will continue
to publish material Blomander received through the Privacy Act.)
Injusticebusters suspect that
there are other cases in the post office which compare to this
one. We are interested in hearing from anyone who has been driven
out of their job or who is hanging on by the skin of their teeth.
Meanwhile John Blomander is asking for the overtime that is due
to him, damages for the harm done to his health and reputation
and that those who wronged him be made to properly account for
their actions.
John Blomander currently
has a case pending before the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell
The Crown is still fighting Fred Poirier
-- and they are losing. Secret Commissions Case from Northern
B.C.
