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Our Battle in the Private Sector

(This article was first published in the November/December 2003 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine)

APWU-represented private-sector mail-haul drivers in Jacksonville (FL), Greensboro (NC), Des Moines, Memphis, and Kansas City (KS), are facing intense union-busting activities in their fights for decent contracts.

APWU drivers sign their contract with the Pat Salmon & Sons Company at the Memphis Area Local union hall, Sept. 24, 2003. The company representative faxed his signature simultaneously.

 

In efforts to derail negotiations over the past six months, the employer at all five sites, Mail Contractors of America (MCA), has held group meetings with employees designed to dissuade them from joining the APWU, and a high-priced law firm has sent mailings to employees' homes disparaging the union. Investor-owned MCA is facing the potential of bankruptcy due to wrongheaded investment strategies and is looking to balance the books on the backs of the drivers. Meanwhile, it has been waging psychological warfare against the APWU with lies and distortions.

North Carolina Mail Haulers Local President Mark Williams has challenged the company to open the books, deal with the facts, and cease the attacks on the drivers and their union. The APWU union committees and local leaders will not chase the tail of the company's anti-union campaign. We have full confidence in our drivers to see through the MCA bag of tricks and fight our way to decent contracts.

The APWU national office has provided resources and support for the MCA drivers' "fight-back" campaign. In addition, the call has gone out to APWU locals all across the country. Everyone's support is needed in this key struggle; it may eventually require job actions and community mobilization.

Long-Sought Success at Salmon & Sons

After three years of struggle, numerous NLRB legal challenges by the employer, and a three-day strike in 2001 that ended in a truce, the APWU mail-haul drivers at Pat Salmon & Sons stuck with their union and won their first collective bargaining agreement.

The three-year "master" contract, which was ratified Sept. 23, covers over 800 drivers in separate bargaining units at terminals in Dallas, Memphis, Albuquerque, Little Rock and Shreveport. In addition to preserving service contract wages and giving the drivers the choice on how their benefit monies are allocated, modest gains were made in fringe benefits to include company contributions to health insurance, short-term disability coverage, holiday banking, additional vacation time, paid bereavement leave, jury duty pay, and call-in pay. Non-economic issues included grievance-arbitration; a just-cause provision, and extensive seniority and job-bidding protections.

The first-contract campaign was a collective effort by many APWU members as well as the firm commitment by driver-negotiation teams to stay the course over the long haul. Credit is especially due Mark Dimondstein for his tenacious lead in negotiations, the professional staff support of Phil Tabbita and Mike Bohanon, attorneys Anton Hajjar and Dan Smith, and organizers Dan Henderson, Elaine Henderson, Melissa Dimondstein, and Tom Edwards.

Ironically, Moe Biller passed away on the day we were conducting a nationwide teleconference with the drivers' rank-and-file negotiating committee to vote on submitting the tentative agreement for ratification. We paid tribute to Moe for opening the door to private-sector organizing and for giving us this opportunity to get a contract.

It was a good day for the union — while we wanted to say "Thanks, Moe!" we realized that he would have felt that securing the contract was thanks enough.

Grievance and Arbitration Updates

In September, the Postal Service assigned new labor relations representatives to conduct Step 3 grievances, schedule national and regional level cases, and deal with the APWU on emerging issues at National Labor-Management Committee meetings pertaining to the IT/ASC, OS, MES and MDC bargaining units. Following successful NLRB complaints against the employer's inaction, we are now up and running and on track to stay current on caseloads.

In private-sector grievance-arbitration, we are working with the Federal Medication and Conciliation Service in scheduling cases and using its "online service" to expedite panel requests. A number of cases are backlogged due to scheduling conflicts with current contract talks, but we hope to have most cases scheduled by year's end.

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