The Postman Granite Carving
Published: May 3, 2024
Authors: Donna Sacuta, BCLHC Executive Director
The Postman is a 16-foot tall carved granite bas relief by Vancouver sculptor Paul Huba and installed in 1956. An anti-Nazi deserter from the Hungarian army, Huba came to Canada in 1954. His wife and two sons joined him shortly before his sudden death in 1959.
The Postman by Paul Huba was designed, modelled and fired inside the original Georgia Street lobby of the main Post Office in Vancouver. Originally installed in 1956 adjacent to the Homer Street entrance, it was removed for construction and re-installed at the corner of Georgia and Hamilton Streets in 2023. The cornerstone on which it sits was installed in 1955.
In a 1956 newspaper interview, Huba said he believed that “a man or woman who has done a first-rate job of work in any sphere deserves permanent recognition in art. As things are, too many outstanding personalities, hidden behind office doors, are visually unknown to the general public.” The Postman was designated as protected heritage property by the CIty of Vancouver on September 18, 2018.
The first Dominion Postal Clerks Association was formed in Vancouver in 1911. During the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, the Association was on the front lines with the letter carriers resulting in 700 postal workers losing their jobs. The Canadian Postal Employees Association (CPEA) was formed in 1931, and in 1944 joined with the letter carriers and railway mail clerks to form the Postal Workers Brotherhood.
In 1965 the Postal Clerks’ Union, with 10,500 members, adopted the now-familiar name of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW). The introduction of mechanization to postal work translated into massive job losses for the clerks and resulted in a decade of strikes and boycotts in the 1970s and 1980s. A 42-day strike in 1981 won groundbreaking maternity leave benefits. The Letter Carriers’ Union merged with CUPW in 1989.
Sadhu Binning’s poem “The Postman” explores the author’s experiences as a letter carrier and his feelings about work, racism and exploitation.
The Postman
by Sadhu Binning
