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The following is reprinted from Eagle’s Eye, the official publication of the southwest Florida Area APWU, AFL-CIO.

The editorial policy of the Eagle’s Eye states, ”It is the policy of this newsletter to disavow any attacks on individuals.” This article is not an attack, it’s an opinion of a 20 year member of the APWU and the USPS.

The issue is the excessing and abolishing of jobs and who’ll become the last postal worker. Now we all know that this has been going on for some time now. The clerk craft is a mere dwarf of itself since 1990. Jobs have just vanished.

Many of you are asked to swipe your plastic time cards to a standby mode or other operation, sit in the swing room, and wait for work. At stations, clerks are working side-by-side with postmasters on the window, waiting on customers.

At present, there are about 14 CPUs in the SWFL area. For those of you who don’t know, a CPU is a privately owned postal store (Contract Postal Unit). These stores are eating away at your jobs (station clerks). Places like supermarkets have been selling stamps for years as well.

I ask myself, where’s the outrage from postal employees on the excessing and private postal stores? I could end this article here, but there’s more.

On July 31, 2010, I attended a party given by a postal employee near Naples. At the party, I noticed about 50 people. Most were postal employees. I was introduced to some of them, and was asked, ”What did you do in the post office?” I responded, “I was a clerk.”


The Final Swipe!
by Lorenzo Tindal
Every one appeared to be having a really good time, and as things usually go at postal parties, there were topics of discussion about the job. Not once did the topic of excessing or CPUs come up. Not once did I reveal that I was a national arbitration advocate and business agent for the APWU before I retired.

I purposely did not reveal my ID because I did not want the party to turn into a union meeting. On the 43 mile long drive back home after the party, I started to get flashbacks of personal disappointment with former employees and coworkers.

I worked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Marina del Rey district in California. I would attend union meetings that were held at night, and would not end until after nine in  the evening. I would drive the 30 miles home and help my daughter with home work, and get to sleep around 11 p.m. Then, at 3:30 a.m., I would get up and report for my  station job at 5:30 am. Instead of saying good morning to me,some asked me “What happened at the union meeting last night?” This also happened at most of the 40 stations that I filed grievances at in Philadelphia. The word my friends is APATHY.

When management violated the contract or created a hostile environment during the eighties and early nineties, the clerks and other members of the union would take to the streets and have as many as 2000 people picketing in front of postal headquarters in Philadelphia. The NALC would also join in with us.

Involved Members = Strong Union; Strong Union = Strong Contract; Strong Contract = Job Security