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6920 Pueblo  Wichita KS  

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APWU Protests Chaney

Bold, New Health Plan Announced

President Burrus State of the Union

Private Sector Organizing

Lieberman Vows Safety Probe

Pictures

APWU PROTESTS CHANEY

In what union President William Burrus called “an APWU welcome,” more than 3,000 postal workers rallied outside a hotel playing host to Vice President Dick Cheney and a GOP fund-raising event. The gathering on the first day of the convention was a peaceful if noisy protest against corporate greed and postalservice privatization, with APWU members covering the sid

(photo by Stuart Elliott)

ewalks and much of the streets on two sides of the Hilton Minneapolis, chanting “Cheney No! Union Yes!” and “Cheney is a crook.”

The vice president was in Minnesota to attend a fund-raiser for GOP gubernatorial candidate Tim Pawlenty. His arrival came nearly a week after APWU had set up convention headquarters in the Hilton, where several hundred APWU delegates are staying. Although protest placards focused on corporate misbehavior – “Cheney Corporate Greed Means Homeland Insecurity” and “GOP Equals Giant Oil Profits” – APWU marchers showed they are keenly aware of Republican enthusiasm for privatization. Several signs shouted “Hands Off OUR Postal Service.”

“That means our jobs and our families,” said Larry Leonard, a delegate from Tampa, FL. “Dick Cheney’s doing a lot against the post office ... We're leaving him a message.” One such message was “Frontline Heroes Against Corporate Crooks,” seen on a neatly-lettered sign that echoed the convention’s “Postal Workers Are Heroes, Heroes, Too!” theme.

“Unions have brought up the standard of living of working-class America,” said Delannie McElrath, a delegate from Greensboro, NC, “and Cheney is basically a union-buster.” Burrus addressed the crowd with a megaphone, criticizing Cheney for his corporate ties and his continuing silence. “When is he going to answer the American people about Halliburton?” Burrus said. “He’s been in hiding since Sept. 11.”

In State of Union Address,

BurrusOutlines Challenges

In his first State-of-the-Union address, APWU President William Burrus paid tribute to the union’s proud past and outlined the challenges the union faces, including upcoming contract negotiations and saving the Postal Service from the threat of privatization. “I am excited about the future of the APWU and its ability to respond to the needs of our membership,” said Burrus. “We stand poised to reach into the future with confidence that we can overcome any obstacle.”

President Burrus Delivers State of Union speech. (photo by Stuart Elliott)

Burrus noted that Moe Biller, the union’s president emeritus, “left us a solid foundation upon which we can build, and large footprints for us to follow and use as our guide into the future. Our success or failure is but a part of the continuing struggle of workers to receive fair compensation for their efforts and to be treated with dignity and respect.” One major challenge, Burrus told the delegates, will arise when the union begins bargaining its next contract a year from now. Burrus asked delegates to consider the length of the next contract. It is “a subject of major importance,” he said. “There are pros and cons for extending our contract beyond the traditional two- or three-year periods.” Burrus called for an earnest debate. “All voices should be heard. We learned much from our efforts to communicate with our locals and state bodies during the 2001 contract-explanation and the anthrax town meetings, and we will build on the lessons learned.”

Turning to the union’s efforts to save the Postal Service from efforts to privatize it, Burrus warned that “the United States Postal Service faces financial difficulties unparalleled in its history.” USPS management “is too closely aligned with the mailing industry to take the necessary action,” he said. This is why, Burrus told the delegates, “APWU has waged an ongoing and lonely battle over postage discounts that rob the Postal Service of needed revenue. “Our cry is,

‘eliminate the postage discounts and save the Postal Service.’

Addressing another important issue, Burrus pointed out that the convention will consider three separate resolutions on private-sector organizing. “I enthusiastically support organizing in the private sector,” Burrus said, “because in numbers there is strength. The wider the scope of APWU influence, the more effective we are as a labor union, economically and politically.” However, Burrus said he opposed a dues assessment to fund additional private- sector organizing. “Postal workers in New York and California are severely underpaid as compared to the exorbitant cost-of-living in their communities,” Burrus said. “Others face similar financial pressures limiting their ability to shoulder increased dues. I will not support any effort to add to that burden.” Instead, Burrus suggested dividing the cost of private-sector organizing between the locals and the national union. “The resolution that divides the cost of organizing between locals and the national is a fair process for funding,” he said. But he reminded the convention that the ultimate decision would be up to the delegates. “This is your decision. You are the highest ranking body of our union.”

The APWU president also appealed to members to make their voices heard by taking an active part in this November’s elections. “The special interests will invest hundreds of millions of dollars into the political process to rig the results. They have been increasingly successful because too many individual citizens voluntarily void their right to vote or vote their emotions instead of their interests .” Burrus reminded delegates that APWU’s legislative department has developed a scorecard that tracks congressional voting and said, “we must evaluate the candidates’ records on issues that are relative to working people.”

Lieberman Vows Push for USPS Safety Probe

In a rousing speech to the American Postal Workers Union convention Tuesday, Sen. Joseph Lieberman railed against the Bush administration’s economic policies and its lack of concern for worker safety. The Connecticut Democrat paid tribute to the victims of last fall’s anthrax attacks, but noted that “the tragedy of their loss was compounded by the confusing and contradictory signals sent to the workers.” Bringing the crowd to its feet, Lieberman said that he has requested an investigation by the General Accounting Office to determine whether government officials had misrepresented what they knew about the discovery in December of anthrax in the Wallingford, CT, mailprocessing center.

“

Senator Lieberman

The simple fact is that no one will be able to move forward with confidence as long as our postal workers are convinced they’re being kept out of the loop and in the dark,” Lieberman said. “We need the facts. We need the truth.” “If another attack comes, we just can’t afford another third-rate response.” As chairman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees the Postal Service, Lieberman’s demands for the truth on worker safety issues will be taken to heart. “It’s a responsibility I take very seriously,” Lieberman told delegates. “Some in the Bush Administration may see the Postal Service as just another business, but I consider it an indispensable part of the heart of this country.”

He called for more funding targeted to APWU members’ safety. “We have to help the Postal Service get the technology and equipment it needs to protect workers from biological and chemical attacks.” He acknowledged that securing funds will be difficult under America’s “economic leadership deficit.” “For months, as Enron and other companies shredded the integrity of our markets and the savings of millions of American families,” he said, “the President and his economic team hemmed and hawed. They fiddled while the stock owned by millions of Americans burned.” 

The concern for workers’ rights is also  fading, Lieberman said. He called on APWU delegates to help fight “those in Washington who see the urgent reorganization of our government as an opportunity to revoke longstanding labor rights.” Postal workers’ union rights, the senator said, “have served the country well for more than 30 years now, and I will vigorously support their continuation and work just as hard to stop any attempt to curb, curtail, or cut your right to collective bargaining.”

The speech included what was perhaps Lieberman’s harshest criticism to date of the Bush Administration’s economic policies. “The most expensive and least progressive parts of the Bush tax cut” have yet to go into effect and should be postponed, he said. With the money we save, he continued, “we should shore up Social Security. At the same time, we should cut some federal spending, including unwarranted corporate subsidies.”

UNION ANNOUNCES BOLD NEW HEALTH PLAN

The APWU Health Plan Department announced an innovative new option it will introduce during this fall’s Open Season that puts participants in charge of how and where they spend their healthcare dollars. The new Standard Option, Self-Directed Health Plan covers in-network preventive care at 100 percent – separate from other components of the new insurance plan, such as a Personal Care Account (PCA) and traditional health coverage. Full coverage for in-network preventive preventive care is available regardless of the PCA balance.

The PCA is the core of the new health insurance option, Health Plan Director William Kaczor told the convention. Instead of co-payments or co-insurance, participants in the plan are given upfront money to cover health-care expenses. APWU members – and other workers who choose the APWU plan – will receive the health care services they need, and their costs will be covered at 100 percent, Kaczor said. Expenses not normally covered, such as dental and vision care, are taken care of up to specified limits. And at the end of the year, the Health Plan director said, the unused money in the PCA will be rolled over to the next year: This will enable APWU members to build a health-care savings account for future needs.