Negotiating Team Deserves Your Support

(This article first appeared in the January/February 2007 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

By the time you receive this magazine, you will have received an important mailing seeking your participation in the referendum process concerning a proposed 2006-2010 APWU-USPS contract. More than 220,000 ballots were distributed to union members covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The single-question ballot offers a choice of ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ on a proposed agreement that would run from Nov. 21, 2006, to Nov. 20, 2010. The ratification mailing included a summary of the agreement, the exact wording of each proposed contract change, a ballot, a return envelope, the statement of the Rank-and-File Bargaining Advisory Committee, and a letter from APWU President William Burrus. The next step is up to you.

I favor ratification of this proposed contract and would like to remind everyone that your elected officers negotiated what they believe is the best contract obtainable.

Before the contract could be sent to you, the Rank-and-File Bargaining Advisory Committee studied the tentative agreement and agreed unanimously that it was acceptable and would be more fruitful than anything that might come out of interest-arbitration.

The chart below offers comparative information on the four major postal employee union contracts, and I believe that it shows why President Burrus and your negotiating team have deserved your support:

National Elections

I would like to thank everyone who cast a ballot in the November elections: Whether you “merely voted” or — more importantly — got involved and worked for the candidates of your choice, in either party, you did it! What occurred on Nov. 7 makes our country great.

I continue to rejoice in the outcome of the elections. Now we will judge the Democratic leaders on what they do to help working families.

Just days before the 2006 election, Cliff Guffey and Nancy Pelosi addressed a rally in Denver.

I would like to add that I enjoyed working with the locals and candidates throughout the country. I was especially proud to work with Dennis Enderson and the Denver Metro Area Local. While in Denver, I spoke at a rally, as did Nancy Pelosi, the newly elected Speaker of the House. Afterwards I had a chance to meet with her and have a brief conversation, which I enjoyed tremendously. Again, my personal thanks to the Denver local.

Quick Notes

• If your state begins a vote-by-mail initiative, get involved. Contact the APWU Legislative Department.
  
  
• The briefs have been filed in our long-ongoing case asserting that PMRs (Postmaster Relief workers) are doing Clerk Craft work. Simply put, our case is that these assignments must be filled by clerks; either career employees or casuals.
  
  
• We have a January court date during which we will pursue the enforcement of our arbitration win that has awarded us the Address Information Specialist work that so often was being performed by EAS (Executive and Administrative Schedule) employees.
  
  
• Meanwhile, in Iraq: Before the war, generals who insisted that while 150,000 troops could win the war, more than 200,000 troops were needed to keep the peace were fired. President Bush has repeatedly stated that generals in the field have been getting all that they asked for. Everyone sees that the war is going terribly. Have they been fired? No. But the commander-in-chief has asked for their input on a new strategy. Go figure.

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