I have congratulated the officers for finalizing the retirement incentive and they are deserving. Facilitating the decision to retire is a noble achievement so affected employees should recognize that without the efforts of the union officials there would be no incentive. Moreover, in that we all retire, quit or die, those retiring would have terminated employment without the $15,000 cushion. For those employees who will receive the incentive but did not belong to the union, you should be ashamed. While you will greedily accept every penny of the incentive, you made no contribution to its achievement; shame!
Agreement has been reached on the specifics of the incentive but the most important aspect of the situation has yet to be addressed. Over the past year, the subject of a retirement incentive has been a major topic of discussion among postal employees, particularly the retirement eligibles. The message emanating from union headquarters was mixed with the underlying theme that there would not be agreement. It was reported that the national executive board endorsed a position to refuse negotiations until conditions were met. Statements made at the national convention ranged from lack of interest on the part of the Postal Service to union militancy in demanding contract compliance as a pre-condition. Two news service bulletins were distributed essentially informing the members that the Postal Service had not made an offer and it was not wise to negotiate in public. No official statement was ever conveyed to the membership fully explaining the state of negotiations on the subject.
Agreement has now been achieved and the members are entitled to an understanding, not of just the details agreed to but the circumstances leading to the agreement. What changed and how did we proceed from “The USPS has not made an official offer.” “We demand contract compliance as a condition and the Postal Service does not have the funds to make an offer.”
Having engaged in the pre discussions of retirement incentives, I am aware of the behind the scenes maneuvering but the members do not have that luxury. Now is the time to share with them the details of the story surrounding the final agreement. While it is not appropriate to negotiate in public, now the deal is done and the members need to know.
Those of you who intend to file for receipt of the $15,000 incentive can thank APWU for every penny and each of you have a moral obligation to show your appreciation. Imagine a perfect stranger approaching you on the street and stuffing $15,000 in your hands and your reaction or if your supervisor informed you that he/she had approved a bonus in the amount of $15,000 because he liked you. You would search your mind for ways to express your appreciation. Well, the union achieved the incentive and you can express your appreciation by joining the retiree chapter at the minimum cost of $36 per year. It will permit you to continue affiliation with your former coworkers and engage in mutual events, but more importantly it will enable you to say thank you for “giving me $15,000 of postal money.” If you are not presently a union member you still have time to join for a few months and qualify to join the retirees organization. Maybe you think you had reasons not to belong in the past but those weak excuses will no longer apply. Over the course of your life, you cannot name one other occasion when someone was responsible for you receiving $15,000 for doing what you decided to do. Show your appreciation and do the right thing. Join the retirees!
First, defining the demand that the Postal Service comply with the CBA as militancy is ridiculous. Did I read that wrong? My thoughts on the current situation, the failure of the leadership to lead and how our failure to organize the unorganized in our industry plays a role in todays situation are pasted below, first posted on the MVS page of 21st Century Postal Worker:
What you see going on is exactly what those who opposed the tentative agreement said would happen. Granting concessions when there was no justification and in fact contradicted the official APWU position on the financial “crisis” telegraphed weakness to the profiteering capitalists and their puppets in Congress.
Further justifying our enemy’s interpretation is the abject failure of the postal union’s leaderships to mobilize the membership in any but a superficial way. The presidents of each postal union told locals specifically not to use the word protest in the 2011 “rallys” because we might anger our “supporters” in Congress. Of course our “supporters” in Congress are owned by our enemies just like every member of Congress is!
The only strategy now is to lobby our way out of this crisis. The grievance/arbitration elite are clueless and paralyzed, and of course, they would not attempt to organize militancy amongst the membership because it would be a threat to their gilded life. The most telling and sickening events at the theater called the APWU national convention was several national officers at the mikes whining about being underpaid in the midst of this crisis and, worst of all, the president of the APWU lobbying and calling in markers to defeat a resolution calling for the resignation or firing of the PMG. Yes, for those of you not in attendance, our president made every effort to protect the image and reputation of his friend, Patrick Donahoe. Brothers and Sisters in the Motor Vehicle Craft, of which I am one, can expect much help from 1300 L Street where the top priority is to protect the guy trying to destroy our jobs. We should all sleep better tonight.
In addition, Brother Jeff, I will never forget those sisters and brothers screaming and cursing and even threatening me at the Anaheim convention as I tried to address the urgency with which we needed to organize the unorganized in our industry. While I have the respect of most of those sisters and brothers today, and I have always shown the same respect to them, the fact is there were scores of dedicated working class fighters in our union who raised the alarm. They fought for PSO in the face of great and determined resistance, and I will always admire them for what they did, the risks they took and the heart and soul they put into the struggle. Their efforts selfless and wonderful to witness and I will always be proud to have played a small role.
It is not with “a lot of gall” that I make these points. The hope is that people will learn that making decisions based on their perceived narrow self-interest rather than what the principled thing to do is for the good of the working class results in what we have here- They win, we lose. We said it was going to happen. I wish it were not true as much as you do. I wish each of my sisters and brothers in the craft the best. Our fate rests with the success or failure of the entire struggle to save the Postal Service. At this point I am not ecouraged. If not for the valiant efforts of rank and file activists from all of the postal unions, both active and retired, who have been coordinating since the September rallies, building community coalitions and staging real protests across the nation, it would indeed be hopeless. Also, it strikes me as shamefully hypocritical and disingenuous that the APWU leadership would use the hunger strike staged in DC and other cities in the September/October APWU magazine without full disclosure. The fact is, the APWU provided no support and not one single national officer participated or even showed up, despite HQ being blocks away from some of the actions.
I was a delegate at the recent Convention, and I heard what was promulgated by the National Officials regarding an incentive. While I agree that negotiations need to be done by the parties behind closed doors, I also believe that it may also have been okay to advise everyone to wait out the end of the year before retiring. I was actually telling people that I represent that even though the official answer was that there was nothing in the works, I had a gut feeling we would get something, but not until the holiday season was over with. It just made sense. I remember you, years back, not sharing too much, but saying, “Don’t go.” To me, that meant, somethings coming, don’t leave just yet. And that is basically what I felt in this case.
It is sad that we in the field have to rely now on gut feelings based on past experiences, because after the stampede of people exit the workplace next year, and our locals are forced to draw down representation because we can no longer afford to operate, the new reps coming behind us will be PSEs with no experience to draw from. I am glad we got the incentive, but it is obvious that it was done as a trade for the other MOUs that were signed that day. I don’t like it when Management pees on my leg and tells me its raining, and I really hate it when the APWU does it.
Jim
I was not at the convention so I cannot confirm or refute your summary of the message conveyed to the delegates. This entire scenario was twisted as the members benefits were held hostage to other objectives and the story changed daily about the stage of negotiations. If as reported, the union demand was contract compliance why fashion a myriad of diversions and announce that objectives were met? The phsycology of using a member’s benefits in exchange for an objective is a bad bargaining strategy. Only the members can lose because each gain is at the expense of a loss.
Bill
I am extremely disappointed in national APWU leadership. Unfortunately this flows down to the local union levels. The Post Office is in big trouble and our union seems clueless as to how to fight. Or is it a matter as to making appearances, that they are doing something, where in reality they aren’t making a serious effort at all ?.
Finally an incentive agreement was reached and myself and many others are relieved. However how it was reached seems very disturbing. Basically Mr. Guffey lied to the delegates at the convention. He told them things like management has no money to offer an incentive, how he made an offer to them and they said “No”. Later he even said management has not offered because they think they can find landing spots for all the clerks.
Many of us felt Mr. Guffey was the one refusing the incentive over contract compliance and the return of work. I think Friday 9/28 showed everyone this was the case. On that day four major agreements were reached between management and the APWU. Two of them involved work being given to the clerk craft. (Address Management and AFCS 200) Also signed on Friday 9/28 was the incentive itself, even though it was only announced on Mon. 10/1. Coincidence? I think not. It seems clear that on 9/28 Mr. Guffey got the last of the work he was demanding and immediately signed off on the incentive.
Some Guffey supporters are now praising him for getting the work AND the incentive.
Not I. Anyone who uses members retirements as pawns in a chess game with the PMG should not be praised. Members need someone who they can trust and will not lie to them. Shame on Mr. Guffey.