Canada Stamp - NO - Semi-Official #NO1-2 - Worker Controlled Messenger Service (1975) $2.25

Set of 2 stamps

These are the stamps that were produced by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) to circumvent their own strike in 1975!

The 1970s (and around) was a decade that was shaken by multiple postal labour disruptions in Canada (1968, 1974, 1975, 1978 & 1981)! But in 1975, a major 42 day strike took place just before the extremely busy Christmas season (very similar to the recent one in 2024)!

It fortunately ended on December 2, but less than a week before their official return to work, imittating a controversial precedent set by the British postal workers the year before, the union produced its own stamps to resume mail delivery (on November 27, 1975)!

They were produced in sheets of 20 without gum, but with full plate inscriptions and via a two colour lithographic process (gold & blue). One had a facial value of $1.00 (#NO1) and the other, in lesser quantity, of $1.25 (#NO2)!

These were listed in some former catalogues, but most notably by Darnell, which is where the "NO" prefix comes from.