Dancing Dessert

Guffey and Lyons Jim Shiels

Dave Darrough

Alonzo Wells

Daryl Tate

Gufffey with Trustee Linda Hesel

Guffey Urges Action to Preserve Jobs, Benefits, and Postal Service

As Wichita Local Installs Officers, Celebrates

Cliff Guffey, Executive Vice President of the American Postal Workers Union, warned Wichita postal workers of unprecedented threats to their jobs and benefits at Local 735's officer installation dinner on January 25. He explained that Postal Commission appointed by President Bush in early January is packed with pro-business members. “Their report has already been written,” he said. “The commission has only one purpose-- to serve the interests of big business. It means an attack on your jobs and benefits.” 

Guffey said the union will wage an aggressive campaign to stop the recommendations of the Postal Commission when they are introduced to the Congress. He urged members to contribute generously to the union Committee on Political Action (COPA) fund.

COPA has suffered, according to Guffey, because USPS management has reneged on an agreement to permit automatic checkoff contributions through the payroll system.

In January the White House announced the appointment of a Commission on the Postal Service, which was heavily dominated by representatives of industry.

The nine-member Commission has been instructed to present a report on its findings by July 31, 2003. Among other things, the report is likely to include the dictum of several arbitrators who concluded that postal compensation and benefits are superior to those provided for similar work in the private sector.

This act of the president puts in motion the most serious effort in 200 years to modify the underpinnings of the United States Postal Service, including universal service, uniform rates and six-day delivery. The right-wing profiteers desire to share in the profits of the annual $71 billion in revenue generated by the Postal Service, and they intend to use the report of the commission to justify their objectives. Cato, a right wing think tank, has developed several position papers on postal privatization over the past 20 years; they undoubtedly will serve as the blueprint for the commission’s final report.