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YOUR ACTION IS NEEDED RE S.1507
This is very important Legislation that MUST BE STOPPED!
Make no mistake about it, our future livelihood is in jeopardy. Please urge Senator Casey and Senator Specter to VOTE NO TO S. 1507.
The APWU is opposed to this bill because it is an Anti-Workers Bill that will severily hamper our ability to negotiate a fair contract with the Postal Service.
Attached is a sample letter that our Grass Roots Coordinator has urged we send by US Mail and fax to our Senators...addresses and fax numbers are also attached. I have also provided an updated flyer with information on S. 1507. As some of our members live in New Jersey and Delaware State, I have provided addresses and phone numbers (not fax numbers) for these states on the attachment of contact information.
This is the perfect opportunity for us to contact our Senators, while they are in recess. Everyone should visit our APWU website to read more, our National President Burrus has addressed this issue and we can send an email message from the Legislative/Political page, under Departments, to the Senators to voice our opposition.
I hope that we can also have support from our SE Pa ALF members as we rally together to squash this legislation.
In-Solidarity,
Gail R. Ganiszewski
Legislative Director/Director of Services
MEMBERS ARE ASKED TO CALL SENATOR SPECTOR ON EFCA
The Tri County First Area Local, APWU, is asking all members who are residents of Pennsylvania to contact Senator Arlen Spector and urge him to renew his support for the Employee Free Choice Act.
Contact Senator Spector about EFCA
LET'S TALK ABOUT THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT
Argument: Why do you want to eliminate secret ballot union elections?
Your facts are wrong. The Employee Free Choice Act does NOT eliminate secret ballot elections. We are supporting the Employee Free Choice Act because it gives working people the freedom to make their own decision about whether and how to form a union. Working people are struggling to make ends meet - it's simply not right that CEOs get million dollar paychecks while working people cannot afford the basics. The Employee Free Choice Act will allow more people to bargain for health care, better wages and better working conditions. That helps rebuild our middle class and create an economy that works for ALL. The Employee Free Choice Act gives the choice of whether and how to form unions to the WORKERS. Under the current company-dominated system, corporations can insist that employees organize unions through so-called elections on company terms, even when a majority of workers have already said they want a union. The result is intimidation, coercion and firings - a so-called election that looks more like the fake elections in dictatorships. Workers have long had the right to form unions through majority sign-up, and many enlightened companies like AT&T Mobility and Kaiser Permanente have recognized that it's a fairer, less conflict-ridden way for the will of the workers to be determined. Majority sign-up helps companies, too, because employees are more satisfied and productive when they know they are respected.
Argument: But opponents say that what unions are trying to do - get rid of elections - is undemocratic.
First, let's get the facts straight. The Employee Free Choice Act does not get rid of elections. It gives workers two ways to join together in unions so they can bargain for better wages and benefits. It allows workers to have a union once a majority of employees in a workplace signs authorization cards indicating they want to form a union. Or the workers can choose an NLRB-supervised election, although these elections have been proven to be distorted and unfair. The choice is made by the WORKERS. What could be more democratic?
Argument: At a time when our economy is in crisis, the last thing we need is more unions to eliminate more jobs.
An economy built on income inequality - where CEOs have all the power and working families do not share the benefits of economic growth and do not have money to spend or save - is not an economy that can succeed. That's the problem we're seeing now - a consumer economy built on low wages and debt that is bound to fail. There has not been greater income inequality between the wealthy and working people at any point since the Great Depression. When workers form unions, their jobs go from Wal-Mart jobs to middle class supporting jobs with health care and retirement security. Years of deregulation, privatization and anti-union forces have created the mess we're in now. Academics and economists agree that unions help strengthen the middle class - which is good for our economy and our country.
NEW NLRB CHAIR WANTS WORKER RIGHTS TO TOP NATION'S AGENDA
Wilma Liebman, the newly appointed chair of the National Labor Relations Board, told the Press Associates News Service that she hopes to bring workers' rights back to the top of the agenda of the department, and bring the discussion of labor law and policy into the public eye.
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE ABOUT H.R. 22
Due to the current economic challenges, the postal service may be forced to make very serious changes that could potentially devastate employees, mail volume, and postal customers. HR 22, a bill introduced in the House of Representatives by Representatives John McHugh of New York, and Danny Davis of Illinois, would provide needed help. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 requires the Postal Service to make an annual payment ranging from $5.4 billion to $5.8 billion from 2007 to 2016. In addition, under the Act, USPS must make additional payments for its current retiree health benefits until 2016. HR 22 would allow the Postal Service to pay its retiree health premiums out of the Retiree Health Benefits Fund, rather than make a separate payment from its operating budget. Please take the time to ask your Representatives and Senators to support financial relief and flexibility to the USPS. Without it, the Postal Service may be forced to consider drastic action (some of which have been addressed in the media in recent weeks), that we hope to avoid.
LABOR ACTIVISTS URGED TO HOLD LAWMAKERS TO PROMISE OF MOVING ON EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT
During the presidential campaign last year, the Democratic Party pledged to pass the Employee Free Choice Act in return for support from labor unions and activists. Since then, corporate interests such as Walmart and McDonald's and right-wing Republicans such as Newt Gingrich have mobilized to defeat this legislation. Some observers are concerned that the Democratic Party may yield in the interest of bipartisanship. Labor journalist and lawyer Steve Early is urging activists to make sure lawmakers do not back down on this critical piece of legislation.
EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE LEGISLATION - ACT NOW!
Sign a petition to help achieve one million signatures in support of this critical legislation.
The Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800, S. 1041), supported by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, would level the playing field for workers and employers and help rebuild America’s middle class. It would restore workers’ freedom to choose a union by:
- Establishing stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations.
- Providing mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes.
- Allowing employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.
NEW PRESIDENT OBAMA INAUGURATED ON JANUARY 20, 2009
January 20, 2009 - A few minutes after noon, Barack Hussein Obama was inaugurated as our nation's first African-American President. President Obama ran his campaign on the promise of change, and was endorsed by the national APWU during the primary season.
Read the text of President Obama's inauguration speech
LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR/DIRECTOR OF SERVICES ACTIVITY REPORT, DECEMBER 2008
A few years ago, the AFL-CIO gathered union representatives to participate in a very successful political activity called Labor 2006. An unprecedented number of Working/Family and Labor-Friendly politicians were elected all over the country due to the efforts of those union activists working together.
Fred Heller was the Director of Industrial Relations and our Legislative Director. Having recently retired, Brother Heller was unable to participate in Labor 2006. President Hennessy asked me and I was released to participate. At the time, I was our Local's Clerk Craft Director.
My Labor 2006 experience was very fulfilling (see video below). When the Office of Legislative Director/Director of Services became vacant in our Local, I jumped at the chance to try.
Gail Ganiszewski, Tri County First Area Local Legislative Director and SSA at the Woodlyn Post Office is featured in this Labor 2006 video encouraging union members to get out and vote.
I looked forward to participating in the Labor 2008 effort to help elect the next President of the United States. I relished the opportunity of working with our AFL-CIO brothers and sisters again and am proud to have participated in this historic and successful campaign. I feel very optimistic about our future.
I am grateful to APWU President Burrus and Legislative Director Myke Reid for making it possible for me to take part. I thank our Local's President Mark Hennessy for all of his support. Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate all the members, family and friends of our Local who worked on the campaign and helped us achieve this victory, including recently retired Administrative Secretary Connie Campisi.
In Solidarity,
Gail Ganiszewski
Director of Services
Legislative Director
Tri County First Area Local #3800, APWU
Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney Denouncing McDonald’s Opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act
December 9, 2008
Working men and women should be deeply concerned about McDonald’s USA’s announcement that it will throw its super-sized weight into defeating legislation to restore workers’ freedom to bargain with their employers and improve their jobs through unions. Working people know that the bargaining power they gain through unions for fair wages, better health care, pensions and job security is our nation’s single best tool for creating an economy that works for all - - 60 million say they’d join a union tomorrow if given the chance. In launching a campaign to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act, McDonald’s has taken direct aim at the customers and communities it serves and is shooting down their best chance at realizing their aspirations for their families and futures.
Corporations like McDonald’s and their CEOs hold all the cards in today’s economy and working families are left to struggle with the economy they leave behind. McDonald’s CEO James Skinner took home over $12.3 million in total compensation last year. If he were paid by the hour, he would make nearly 600 times the less than $10/hour pay of many of McDonald’s 600,000 employees.
McDonald’s could not have picked a more telling moment to announce its decision to actively fight reform of our nation’s broken labor laws. Tomorrow, human rights activists worldwide will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which declares that workers’ freedom to form and join unions is a fundamental human right. Human Rights Watch warns that the U.S. labor law is so broken and its penalties so weak that U.S. workers have effectively lost their fundamental human right to freely associate and bargain in unions. McDonald’s has now positioned itself squarely on the side of those opposing the protection of this basic human right.
The AFL-CIO plans to make sure the 10 million working men and women who make up our membership know that McDonald’s has just announced a whopper of a campaign against their economic interests and against their hopes for an economy that works for all, not just for the CEOs.
In April, the national APWU endorsed Barack Obama as the presidential candidate most likely to help with issues of great importance to union members. Start the video above to watch the full speech Barack Obama gave at the DNC convention in Denver on August 28, 2008.
THE HATCH ACT
Important Points to Remember
NOT ON THE CLOCK.
NOT IN THE BUILDING.
NOT IN UNIFORM.
NOT WHILE USING A POSTAL VEHICLE.
--Mike Gallagher, Eastern Region Coordinator
GAIL GANISZEWSKI
Tri-County First Area Local APWU
PO Box 483
Media, PA 19063
Phone: (610) 715-2668
Fax: (610) 544-6417
