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Volume XXXI, No. 19, August 30, 2001 Arbitration Hearings Begin As Management Attacks Burrus In Shocking Presentation to Panel! Postal management used the Monday, Aug. 27, opening session of the APWU-USPS Contract Arbitration hearings as an opportunity to attack APWU's chief contract negotiator, Executive Vice President William Burrus, instead of focusing on our wages, hours and working conditions, plus the other important issues to be decided.
On the first day of hearings, held in Chicago, APWU made the opening presentation and repeated the union's demand for a 30-month contract with a pay increase of 13.5 percent, plus continuation of existing cost-of-living provisions, improvements in holiday pay and night-differential pay, and an improved uniform and work-clothes program. Postal management then regurgitated its proposal for a four-year contract with no wage increases (only lump-sum payments), no cost-of-living adjustments, and cuts in health benefits, night-shift differential and Sunday-premium pay. Management also demanded a contract award providing no retroactive pay increase to cover the period between the Nov. 20, 2000, expiration of the last contract and the new contract, whenever the panel renders its decision. Over the ensuing two days of the first round of contract hearings, APWU presented a comprehensive panel of witnesses, including Executive Vice President Burrus, Assistant Clerk Division Director Jim McCarthy, chief APWU economic consultant Joel Popkin, and additional expert witnesses - most importantly rank-and-file postal workers, who gave first-hand accounts of the working conditions they face on the job each and every day. The first round of arbitration hearings concluded on Aug. 29. Hearings will resume on Sept. 27 in Washington, DC. At the opening session of the APWU-USPS Contract Arbitration hearings are, from left: APWU Secretary-Treasurer Robert Tunstall, Industrial Relations Director Greg Bell, President Moe Biller, Executive Vice President Bill Burrus, and General Counsel Darryl Anderson. Shown at head of table are, from left: APWU panel member Carin Clauss, panel chair Stephen Goldberg and USPS panel member Robert Dufek. USPS team is shown at right. Social Security Privatization Bill Introduced Bush Commission Presses Privatization Reps. Charles Stenholm (D-TX) and Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) have introduced a bill, H.R. 2273, that would partially privatize Social Security by diverting a portion of the Social Security payroll tax into individual investment accounts. This is what President Bush's presidential commission on Social Security, which is unanimously predisposed to privatizing the program, is expected to recommend in a final report this fall. The commission met in Washington, DC, on Aug. 22, and will hold the first of two field hearings in San Diego on Sept. 6. The locale for the second hearing has not been finalized. Proposals to establish individual accounts would divert more than $1 trillion out of Social Security during the first decade and would double the size of the projected shortfall. According to the study by the non-partisan Century Foundation, Social Security's guaranteed retirement benefits would have to be cut by more than 40 percent on average to pay for the kind of privatization plan President Bush supports. APWU Action Needed Privatization of Social Security is extremely risky - the stock market's performance over the last year reinforces this - and reduction in Social Security benefits is unwarranted and unjustified! All APWU members, retirees and auxiliaries are urged immediately to contact their member of Congress and tell them to vote øNO" on H.R.2273, the Stenholm-Kolbe bill to privatize Social Security. You can call the AFL-CIO Congressional Hotline, toll-free, at 1-800-393-1082 to be connected directly to your representative's office. A Threat to Working Families Oklahomans to Vote on 'Right to Work' Oklahomans will make a very important decision when they consider Question 695, the so-called øright-to-work" referendum, on Sept. 25. Hard evidence shows that working people in right-to-work states make far less than employees in non-right-to-work states. Data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals that Oklahoma workers' wages would be cut by 6.5 percent under right to work. That's why the APWU urges you to vote øNO" to øright-to-work-for-less." Big Business, posing as øOklahoma Families for Jobs and Justice," has spent more than $1 million in the campaign for an Oklahoma right-to-work law, according to a recent report. Among the benefactors to the campaign are Edward L. Gaylord, publisher of the Daily Oklahoman, and Wal-Mart, of Bentonville, Ark., contributing $250,000 and $100,000, respectively. (It just proves you can't believe anything you read in the Daily Oklahoman!) Big Business supports Question 695 because it would allow corporations to increase profits at the expense of lower wages and fewer benefits for workers. It also would allow them to create more low-paying jobs and hire more part-time workers, avoiding such employee benefits as health care and pensions. ON SEPT. 25, VOTE øNO" ON QUESTION 695! Sept. 22-25 in Washington, DC APWU Retiree/Legislative Conference The APWU Retirees Department is sponsoring a Retiree/Legislative Conference Sept. 22-25 at the Capitol Hilton Hotel, 1001 16th St. NW, Washington, DC. Room Rates (Single/Double, plus tax of 14.5 percent): Saturday, Sept.
22 - $159S
To make reservations, contact the hotel directly at (202) 393-1000 and identify yourself as a participant of the American Postal Workers Union Retiree/Legisla-tive Conference. The hotel cut-off date is Sept. 6; a limited number of rooms have been reserved. Make your reservations early; they will be assigned on first- come basis. A credit card or advance deposit in the amount of one night's room and tax is to be applied to the first night of the reservation to guarantee a reservation. Hotel check-in is 3 p.m.; check-out is 12 noon. To pre-register for the conference, complete the form below and mail it to the Retirees Department, 1300 L St. NW, Washington, DC 20005. There is no registration fee. On-site registration begins at 5 p.m. and ends at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22. Pre-registered participants can pick up their badges and conference material at this time.
Oct. 30-Nov. 4 in San Diego Advanced Arbitration Training Conference APWU's Research and Education Department will conduct an øAdvanced Arbitration Training Conference" Oct. 30-Nov. 4 in San Diego. The training conference is designed to acquaint arbitration advocates, who are currently arbitrating, with the advanced techniques needed to prevail in arbitration. Students will be tested daily. To register for the conference, participants must meet one of the following criteria:
To register for the conference, participants must mail along with the registration form and check a letter from the Local or State President, on official letterhead authorizing their attendance.Participation at each conference is limited, so it is imperative that students register early. All participants must pre-register prior to the conference deadline, which is Friday, Oct. 12. No walk-ins will be allowed. Location: Holiday
Inn on the Bay Room Rate: $99 + 10.5 percent tax + a $2.63 energy surcharge daily single/double occupancy Parking: Currently is $13 overnight, with in-and-out privileges and $5 daily with hotel validation Participants must arrive at the hotel by 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 30, for registration; classes will start promptly at 3 p.m. The conference will adjourn no later than 12 noon on Sunday, Nov. 4. Participants must be in attendance for the entire program. Certificates will be awarded based on class performance. Instructors will be APWU national officers and business agents. Classes are: Rules of Contract Construction, New Evidence/New Arguments, Major Mistakes made by Arbitration Advocates, Just Cause Concepts and Challenges, Writing an Effective Brief, Due Process, Witnesses (special situations), Nexus, Latin in the Hearing, Affirmative Defense, Framing Multiple Issues and Threshold Strategies. The registration fee is $100. Included in the fee is a reception, two daily coffee breaks and a graduation breakfast. To secure the hotel rates listed below, please inform the hotel that you are with the American Postal Workers Union. All hotel rooms must be guaranteed by credit card, check or money order. Refunds will be granted if canceled 72 hours in advance of the arrival date. Check-in time is 4 p.m. Space is limited; please register early.
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