October 2006

President’s Report

by Shelly Alvarado

 

91% ORGANIZED……CONGRATULATIONS

 

Congratulations go out to the members of our local. Our local is one of the top organized locals in the nation and received an award at the National Convention.  You should be proud.  Now maybe we can get some non-members to get on the bus.  Please check with your steward for the non-members in your station and maybe you can convince them to join.  I just mailed a letter with a personal request that asked each of them to join.  Hopefully we can gain a few new members.

 

CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS ARE UNDER WAY

It has been 6 years since the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement.  We have done quite well over those 6 years with raises in excess of $6,000.00 including the $812.00 COLA we received in September.  We are very fortunate in this economy.  On August 29, 2006 negotiations commenced, your local will keep you updated or you can go to www.apwu.org for updates.  I’m sure you’ve heard that the USPS is in dire straights financially.  At least that is what they have been trying to tell us prior to the commencement of the negotiations.  The USPS will not be able hide their financial situation from the APWU during the negotiation and the truth shall set you free.  Your Union is Your Voice!

 

Please remember that the APWU is firm in opposition to filling out VOE surveys.  The USPS in the past has misrepresented the surveys during the negotiations of your contract in the past for their benefit.  You have an opportunity to talk to your supervisor and manager everyday, so take that opportunity but don’t support the VOE surveys - it does not benefit you.  Remember, that a VOE survey is 1st class mail and it is unlawful for management not to deliver your 1st class mail to you. Whether you fill it out or not is really none of management’s business. Remember that management receives kudos for the number of VOE surveys they turn in whether they are filled out or not.  We need to send a united message to management that it doesn’t matter whether you feed us, try to intimidate us, reward us etc. we will not participate in VOE surveys.  If anybody has a problem with management singling them out, intimidating them or management refuses to give you your VOE survey because you’ve notified them that you will not participate, then request a steward immediately.

 

YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE

In the history of our great nation there was a time where the workers were respected and honored as the backbone of this country. What happened?  We live in a day where jobs are being outsourced to other countries, where the price of benefits, homes, cars, groceries, gas etc. is going up and wages are going down.  Where the working class has to have two incomes to survive; where the rich receive the tax breaks and workers do not; where the workers have worked all their lives to retire just to have their pensions taken from them and are forced to seek a job at Starbucks; where the richer are getting richer at the expense of workers.  What happened?  We continually elect representatives that could care less about the working class. Do the research yourself; if you are a member of the APWU you are also a member of AFL-CIO.   Try going to their web site - they have information concerning the issues and the candidates for the upcoming election.  On every bulletin board in Aurora are endorsements of the candidates that the AFL-CIO says are for working family candidates.  The candidates are endorsed by the AFL-CIO because they support the workers.  Exercise your right on November 7th and remember to vote in behalf of yourself the worker.

 

STILL OVER STAFFED IN AURORA?

Management insists that we are overstaffed in Aurora.  At present we have an equal number of positions versus full time regulars so I hope you’re happy with the current position you have because in the near future we will be frozen in time. Until either someone retires, transfers or management decides to make staffing changes there will be no movement.

 

The USPS continues to implement changes to replace the work we do.  Recently it was PARS. We no longer have to endorse all  return to sender mail so, therefore, it takes less time to process.  We have new APC’s at Tower and previously APC’s were installed at Gateway & the AMPO to the replace the one-on-one customer service our Sale Service Associates offer everyday to our customers.  We have the implementation of flat sorting machines that are supposed to DPS the flats, and USPS’s position is that this relieves some work from our craft.  This is the way of the world…Replace workers with machines.  

 

So the reality is we need to hold on to the work we can hold on to and not stand by and let Supervisors and Carriers perform APWU bargaining unit work.  Are supervisors doing lobby sweeps in your office?  If they are, and your office has over 100 bargaining unit employees, it is a violation of Art. 1.6A of the contract.  Stations and branches are considered a part of the main facility. Aurora does have over 100 employees so Art. 1.6A applies.  Lobby sweeps, includes retrieving hold mail, certified, registered parcel post etc.  APC’s host duties are also clerk work.  The only time management can host the APC’s is in the 1st 90 days of implementation.  So if you see management performing bargaining unit work or carriers crossing crafts by performing APWU bargaining unit work, write what they did on what day and how much time they performed these duties and request a steward.  We need to protect the work we have and stop giving it away.

In closing and with the Holidays approaching we have so much to be thankful for. We have so much more then others in the private sector with layoffs, reduced benefits, reduction in pay & no job security.  The sacrifices that past APWU labor activists have given us are what we enjoy today. Pay, benefits, retirement, job security, a collective bargaining agreement, etc. The current APWU activists continue to fight the fight in order to keep what we have.  I wish all of you a safe and blessed holiday session.

 

In Unity & Solidarity,

Shelly