For immediate release

Ottawa, August 29, 2005-A former Canada Post Corporation Security Chief, implicated in spying and illegal covert activities against Canadian Union of Postal Workers leaders in the 1990's, may be poised to do the same to locked-out TWU members in the bitter Telus dispute.

Accufax Investigations has hired Michael Thompson in a high-level position at the same time as major client, Telus, initiated lock-out action against its own workers. "We don't think this is a coincidence", said CUPW National President Deborah Bourque.

"AFI is a notorious strikebreaking firm and we are worried the hiring of Thompson may have ugly consequences for TWU activists" added Bourque.

The unsavoury tale of Thompson's crusade against CUPW leaders in Toronto surfaced in author, Andrew Mitrovica's, 2002 investigative book, Covert Entry. "In his capacity as manager of Canada Post Corporation Security and Investigations, Thompson ordered his inspectors to investigate and collect information on virtually every facet of postal union activists' lives," said Evert Hoogers, CUPW National Union Representative.

"The list included financial information, telephone records, intimate details of workers' personal relationships and, disturbingly, even the names and addresses of the schools attended by union leaders' children", explained Hoogers.

A CPC Security inspector who worked for Thompson has also made the highly publicized, unrefuted claim that Thompson ordered and participated in the break-in of CUPW leaders' cars just prior to the CUPW strike in 1991. The same inspector said he was authorized to intercept and scrutinize mail destined for the homes of his CUPW targets.

"Any corporation allowing covert actions such as these utterly disrespects its workers and their union", said Bourque. "If Telus, either on its own or through AFI, contemplates a similar course of action, it will reap the same response Canada Post did in the 1990s - poisoned labour relations, a state of war between workers and their employer, and a sullied reputation in the minds of the public and potential customers."

AFI International Group announced on August 8, 2005, the appointment of Michael Thompson as Executive Vice-President, citing his "esteemed career" and describing his investigative service as "revered for its preventive programs designed for the corporate sector".

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