Postal Unions Call for National Day of Action Nov. 14
10/16/2014 – The four postal unions are calling for a National Day of Action on Nov. 14 to send a message to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and the USPS Board of Governors: Stop Delaying America’s Mail!
“The Postmaster General is poised to make devastating cuts in service to the American people – cuts so severe that they will forever damage the U.S. Postal Service,” the union presidents said.
- On Jan. 5, 2015, the USPS is slated to lower “service standards” to virtually eliminate overnight delivery – including first-class mail from one address to another within the same city or town. All mail (letters, periodicals, packages) throughout the country will be delayed.
- Beginning Jan. 5, 2015, 82 Mail Processing & Distribution Centers are scheduled to close or “consolidate operations.”
“These cuts will cause hardships for customers, drive away business, cause irreparable harm to the U.S. Postal Service, and lead to massive schedule changes and reassignments for employees,” the presidents wrote.
“They are part of a flawed management strategy that has unnecessarily sacrificed service and failed to address the cause of the Postal Service’s manufactured financial crisis,” they said.
- More than 140 plants have closed since 2012;
- As a result, mail is delivered much later in the day, well into the evening;
- Retail work is being sent to Staples, at more than 1,500 stores throughout the country;
- Door delivery is being eliminated in most new housing developments;
- Chronic understaffing frustrates customers and slows the mail, and
- Six-day delivery is under constant threat.
“The four postal unions are joining forces to protect service, fight for our livelihoods, and defend our great national treasure, the U.S. Postal Service. We have many allies in the fight against the proposed changes, including more than half the Senate and 160 U.S. Representatives,” the presidents wrote.
The unions selected the Nov. 14 date because it coincides with the USPS Board of Governors’ final public meeting of the year.
The union presidents are urging their members to work together in cities and towns across the country to organize rallies or press conferences in their areas.
The call for the National Day of Action is signed by Fredric Rolando, President, National Association of Letter Carriers; Mark Dimondstein, President, American Postal Workers Union: John Hegarty, President, National Postal Mail Handlers Union, and Jeanette Dwyer, President, National Rural Letter Carriers Association.
– See more at: http://www.apwu.org/news/web-news-article/stop-delaying-america%E2%80%99s-mail#sthash.PkUxEskm.dpuf
When we take the senate……… 5 day delivery will soon follow!!
It’s important to elect those who support keeping Universal Mail Service Standards and the sanctity of the citizens/customer’s mail.The path of least resistance for our Elected politicians has been gridlock/inaction…especially when the issue of the ridiculous prefunding has been presented. Too many with $$$ interests in sabotage.
ummm yeah, I will be sure to take part in the national day of action…. really? are you kidding me? if the unions would spend as much time trying to help the PO save $ rather than try to make sure their pockets stay fat it would help a lot…. too much arrogance in union leadership…. eliminate Saturday delivery is a start
Mailman ~ Yes, Burrus tried get Mailhandlers to leave the NPMHU for the APWU. The way he handled that was a mistake. Still, I believe the best strategy for moving forward would be to have one union within the plants. Management has been very successful at blurring the lines between mailhandler and clerk work. it has lead to constant fighting between the crafts over scraps of work and management sits back and laughs. Whether clerk and mailhandler remain separate crafts or are combined into one, they should be part of the same union.
One union? Yes…but not from among the career politicians in office right now. Time for decertification of APWU, NALC, RLCA & NPMHU! Follow NLRA.gov procedures….then vote the Teamsters in as the 1 union representing all crafts. It’ll be up to the remaining employees & new guys to do this. They have the bigger stake. Just Do it ! What have you got to lose except the same ole same ole?
you know the old saying, give a person enough rope and they will hang themselves. Let Potter/Donaho hang theirselves.
Joey Jo Jo Shabadoo-The APWU under Bill Burrus tried to raid the non APWU crafts by appealing to them the benefits of disbanding their union and joining up with the APWU,thank god we rejected it overwhelmingly or we would have been screwed under a Donahoe lackey like Goofy Guffey.
What would happen with union consolidation would be a massive backlog of grievances, and we’d get (probably) leaders from one branch trying to do another’s work, i.e., APWU officials addressing NALC grievances. Maybe not at first, but it would be a ****** nonetheless, and the dues would probably go way up for everybody.
Plus, every branch would have officers having to learn all four contracts, and probably doing their own jobs on top of it, with little or no help from higher ups. At least in the NALC you get little attention unless you’re a mega branch.
Finally, it would make it easier for the USPS to kill one union than four, with one bill from the GOP who are running the show, complete with a GOP majority on the BOG.
And yet we see ads on TV telling customers they are, and always have been, the USPS’ number one priority. I sincerely think the USPS is incapable of telling anybody the truth about anything. Donahoe is a menace – no PMG has ever done more to damage the USPS than him, and all of it is deliberate. I do not understand with the amount of hell being raised with legislators why he is still here. If the USPS goes ahead with its plans for 2015 it’ll be much worse, but nobody will do anything about it. On the other hand, maybe that is what it will take to raise enough public demand for **** to get the hell out.
Mailman ~ I agree with you that we will never have one postal union, I believe the reasons a different. The NALC faces much different challenges than the APWU or NPMHU. It’s said, “Their fight is not our fight and our fight is not theirs.” Our priorities focus on different issues.
Another reason why the APWU and NPMHU unions will never merge (even though they should) is that there are currently two president, two sets of national officers, and two executive boards. In a merged union there will only be one president, one vice president, etc… Who will step aside? Haggerty? Dimondstein? The fact is the APWU has more members than NPMHU and can out-vote them on any issue, including election of officers. So, I understand why the NPMHU would not want to become the small fish in a big pond. Too bad, though.
What D. Eff says ~ I think you are misinformed. An employee working a traditional 5/8, 40 hr job CANNOT be forced (or excessed) into a NTFT position unless it is at least a 40 hr schedule. So, to your point, I may have to drive 50 – 100 miles, but it will not be to a 30 hr NTFT job. Also, the threat of being excessed 50 – 100 miles is not pleasant to think about. However, not too long ago they were excessing people 500 miles away from home. Going 50 miles is better than 500.
Dear “consolidated,” kiss your jobs goodbye. You’re gonna have to drive an extra 50 to 100 miles to your new NTFT 30 hour a week job!
Wildcat
Agree with Paul,time to become one union.
ISSA same Congress that abandoned the Service 40 years ago. Same ol’ same ol’ !
@paul the red-Will never happen,at until 20 years ago the NALC and APWU joint bargained, but then after Sombrotto and Biller retired the NALC ended it because Bill Burrus of the APWU wanted to negotiate givebacks to avoid contract arbitration.
Greg, You want a work stoppage? Are you serious?! Forget the fact that our contract prohibits work stoppages. Add to that the fact the USPS would love for you to walk off the job so they could replace you with an MHA, CCA, or PSE. And if you think we will have the public on our side, think again. They will not give a rats behind about those over paid, lazy postal workers who just want more.
“The Postmaster General is poised to make devastating cuts in service to the American people – cuts so severe that they will forever damage our union coffers and style of life.”
yeah, keep telling him while he sips another spot of tea!
it time we have ONE union for all craft employees,one fist is better than four fingers fighting each other!
Only postal mgmt would come up with a business “strategy” of less service and higher prices = more revenue.
We are witness to the destruction of the greatest postal service in the world, and blame rests 100% on all mgmt.
rallies and press conferences are to watered down; time for a work stoppage!