Denied Entry to ‘Public’ Meeting, Postal Workers Stage Raucous Protest
Hundreds Cheer Wildly at Announcement That PMG Donahoe is Stepping Down
Approximately 250 postal workers and supporters protested loudly in the lobby of Postal Service headquarters after they were denied entry to a “public” meeting of the Board of Governors’ on Nov. 14.
But they cheered wildly when APWU President Mark Dimondstein read aloud a text message he had received from one of the few union members who managed to gain entry to the meeting: Postmaster General Donahoe had announced he was stepping down, effective Feb. 1.
The event was organized by the four postal unions, which had vowed to send a message to Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe and the Board to Stop Delaying America’s Mail! The Washington, DC, protest was one of 150 organized as part of a National Day of Action to protest management’s plans to reduce service standards and close 82 mail processing plants.
Postal workers began lining up to pass through the Postal Service’s notoriously slow security station an hour before the meeting was scheduled to begin, but after approximately 50 people entered, Postal Inspectors announced that the room was filled to capacity and refused to allow admittance to the others who had assembled.
An APWU staffer who arrived early said he observed chairs being removed from the meeting room. Others reported most of the room was filled with headquarters’ personnel.
Undaunted, postal workers and supporters from AFGE (American Federation of Government Employees) CWA (Communications Workers of America) and ATU (Amalgamated Transit Union) who were denied entry remained in the lobby and chanted ”Let us in,” and “Shame on you.”
Postal officials said that they would make special accommodation to allow the presidents of the postal unions to enter the meeting, but Dimondstein refused, saying that he would stand with the people.
At approximately 9:25am union members from both the meeting and the crowded lobby gathered just outside USPS headquarters for a rally, where they were addressed by Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC). Both members of Congress gave stirring speeches in support of a public Postal Service. National Postal Mail Handlers Union President John Hegarty, National Rural Letter Carriers Association President Jeanette Dwyer and Terry O’Sullivan, president of the Laborer’s International Union of North America, also spoke.
The program was closed by Dimondstein, who called for a referendum among the assembled protesters for maintaining current mail service standards, keeping all 82 mail processing plants open, re-opening the processing plants that have already been closed, retaining six day delivery, maintaining door-to-door delivery, and serving the people with prompt, reliable and efficient servies. The crowd responded with enthusiastic shouts of “Aye.”
Send photos and reports from your protest to sdavidow@apwu.org. (Please be sure to identify the location and local.)
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It was by a stroke of the pen that the sham accounting ploy of prefunding was produced. And equally easy stroke can eliminate it. CSET please look at the background to the PAEA. It was a gimmick conceived so that the deficit back then wouldn’t look bad. It has nothing to do with reality….
Don’t be sucked in by the misinformation games of those who wish to destroy the post office for their own gain.
The PO is also overpaid into the FERS system and has been for a good many years now to the tune of 15b dollars too….which coincidentally is the USPS’s borrowing limit with the Dept of Treasury.
Also, even though the USPS is the largest contributor into medicare in this country they are only allowed to partake of two of it’s four parts. Part of this legislation we have been working to get passed in congress would allow the USPS to partake in all 4 parts. This would resolve prefunding fully and essentially the 47b they are paid into for the PAEA act becomes reinvested into the company.
Long story short….. two minor congressional actions could elminate the need for the PAEA and payoff any debt left by it’s fabrication.
There is nothing to cheer about. Donahoe may be gone, but the service still owes billions of dollars in to the treasury for PAEA as well as future payments. The P.O. has run out of credit and many GOP members of congress will be looking to privatize the service.