Canada Post’s CEO, Moya Greene, took office last year with the announcement that she wanted a “no surprises” relationship with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW). Greene’s first major public decision was to close the mail sorting plant in Québec City, eliminating hundreds of jobs. CUPW’s 54,000 members and the local community weren’t surprised—they were shocked.

It didn’t take long for the union to shrug off that shock and organize an offensive of its own: Operation Transparency, a militant mobilization aimed at preventing the closure. The union gave Canada Post a 60-day window to publicly disclose plans for the public postal service or face the possibility of nonviolent civil disobedience.