Mitt Romney and his economic advisors like Kevin Hassett have a clear message in how a Romney administration would address the US Postal Service. It’s fairly simple they would eliminate it.
See Full Story (New Hampshire Labor News)
Showing posts with label Government Attack on Labor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Government Attack on Labor. Show all posts
Friday, July 6, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
BREAKING NEWS! Senate Vote on Postal Bill
(Note: Received in a recent e-mail.)
The United States Senate has Passed the United States Postal Service Bill "21st Century Postal Service Act of 2012" (S1789) by a vote of 62-37.
The Amendment voting results (as I have it) are recorded as either withdrawn, passed, or failed, are posted below.
(R) McCain #2001 Management substitute amendment WITHDRAWN
(D) Tester #2056 Amendment to modify the process of closing or consolidating Post Offices and Postal Facilities. PASSED
**(R) Coburn #2060 Amendment to provide transparency, accountability, and limitations of government sponsored conferences. (not germane to bill) PASSED
(R) McCain #2033 Amendment to establish the Commission on Postal Reorganization (in HR 2309) FAILED
**(D) Wyden-(D) Feinstein #2020 Amendment to require the Postal Service to consider the effect of closing or consolidating a postal facility on the ability of the affected community to vote by mail and to provide Post Offices and Postal Facilities to protect the ability to vote by mail. PASSED
**(R) Coburn #2058 Amendment to alternatives to Post Offices. PASSED
(R) MaCaskill-(D) Merkley #2031 Amendment to prohibit the closing of a rural Post Office unless certain conditions are met and to establish a 2 year moratorium on the closing of rural Post Offices. PASSED
(R) Coburn #2061 Amendment to require retirement eligible employees of the Postal Service to retire. FAILED
(R) Snowe #2080 Amendment to improve, sustain, and transform the United States Postal Service (closures) PASSED
(D) Udall #2043 Amendment to strike the limitations on changes to mail delivery schedule, with an offset. FAILED
**(D) Durbin #2082 Amendment to improve, sustain, and transform the United States Postal Service (closures) PASSED
(D) Akaka #2034 Amendment to replace provisions that would be financially devastating to thousands of Postal workers and Federal employees who were injured on the job and who receive compensation from the OWCP. FAILED
**(D) Bennet-(R) Blunt #2047 Amendment to establish citizen's service protection advocates in each state with respect to facility closures. PASSED
(R) Corker #2083 Amendment negatively impacts six day delivery and Collective Bargaining FAILED
**(D) Mikulski #2003 Amendment to prohibit the USPS from closing any postal facility without certification from the Governor of the state in which the Postal facility is located. WITHDRAWN
(D) Akaka #2049 Amendment to clarify consultative rights of Postmasters and Supervisors FAILED
(R) Paul #2025 Amendment to end the mailbox use monopoly FAILED
(D) Manchin #2079 Amendment to improve, sustain, and transform the USPS (closures) FAILED
**(R) Paul #2026 Amendment to provide merit pay for the PMG and limit the authority of the USPS to award bonuses WITHDRAWN
**(D) Bingamin #2076 Amendment to require that state liaisons for states without a district office are located within their respective states. PASSED
(R) Paul #2027 Amendment to close Post Offices in the Capitol complex PASSED
**(D) Cardin #2040 Amendment to prohibit the closing of a Postal Processing Plant if the nearest Postal facility is more than 50 miles away. WITHDRAWN
(R) Paul #2028 Amendment to establish a pilot program to test alternative methods for the delivery of Postal Services. FAILED
(D) Carper #2065 Amendment to provide for temporary authority to adjust the first class mail stamp rate. WITHDRAWN
**(R) Paul #2029 Amendment to require the USPS to take in consideration the impact of regulations when developing a profitability plan. PASSED
(D) Carper #2066 Amendment to limit the compensation of executives of the Postal Service PASSED
(R) Paul #2039 Amendment to eliminate Collective Bargaining FAILED
(D) Casey #2042 Amendment to maintain current delivery time for market dominated products for 4 years. FAILED
(R) Paul #2038 Amendment to end the Postal Service monopoly on First Class Mail and mailbox use WITHDRAWN
**(D) Landrieu #2072 Amendment to determine the impact of certain Postal Facility closures or consolidations on small businesses PASSED
(R) DeMint #2046 Amendment to cut union income FAILED
**(R) McCaskill #2030 Amendment to improve FECA PASSED
(R) Coburn #2059 Amendment to allow the USPS to close unprofitable Post Office Facilities. WITHDRAWN
**(D) Pryor #2036 Amendment to express the sense of the senate to place a moratorium on Postal Facility closures and consolidations until enactment. PASSED
**(D) Rockefeller #2073 Amendment to clarify retirees cannot be required to enroll in Medicare. PASSED
**(D) Rockefeller #2074 Amendment to ensure the Postal Service Health Benefits Program be comparable to the FEHBP PASSED
(D) Schumer #2050 Amendment to maintain door to door delivery point services PASSED
**(D) Tester #2032 Amendment to limit the pay of Postal Service Executives. PASSED
(D) Warner #2071 Amendment to require reporting regarding retirement processing and modernization. PASSED
I hope the above information has been helpful.
Sam Wood www.swfloridaapwu.org
President - Southwest Florida Area Local / APWU
Monday, January 30, 2012
Letter From Senator Ron Johnson
Recently I contacted our Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson regarding legislation affecting Postal and other Federal Workers. It is strongly apparent that he is walking lockstep with our favorite Representative from California Darrell Issa. Perhaps those Postal and Federal employees who voted incorrectly in the last election may want to save this letter and read it again while you are at the ballot box? (If that is supposed to be my average salary – where are the rest of my checks?)
John Durben, Editor APWU of WI
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka
On Ohio Issue 2 Citizens Veto
November 8, 2011
One message rang loud and clear tonight in Ohio and across the country: those who spend their time scapegoating workers and pushing a partisan agenda will only strengthen the resolve of working people. From the very beginning, it’s been clear that Gov. Kasich, and indeed many politicians, were pushing an agenda that was about politics, not about solving our nation’s problems or creating jobs.
Today’s defeat of Issue 2 is a major victory for working families in Ohio and across the country. Ohio’s working people successfully fought back against lies pushed by shadowy multi-national corporations and their anonymous front groups that attempted to scapegoat public service employees and everyone they serve by assaulting collective bargaining rights. And it’s a great day for common sense, as Ohioans from all backgrounds and political parties rejected the crazy notion that the 99 percent -- nurses, bridge inspectors, firefighters, and social workers -- caused the economic collapse, rather than Wall Street.
Politicians in Ohio and across the country should finally understand that working people will fight hard to ensure the survival of the middle class, and politicians who fight battles for the richest 1% will find their radical efforts stopped by the voices of working people.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Contact Your Member of the House Today!
When Congress comes back into session right after Labor Day both Houses of Congress are going to be looking at revamping the Postal Service and/or fixing billions in FERS and CSRS overpayments which have been made by the Postal Service. Many bills have already been introduced in both Houses of Congress taking aim at overhauling the Postal Service while others look to allow access to billions in overpayments made by the Postal Service into both FERS and CSRS retirement funds. Multiple legislators have polarizing views as to how to fix the Postal Service and the USPS’s financial problems.
The APWU are asking our members to reach out and urge their member of Congress to cosponsor and support Congressman Lynch’s H.R. 1351, which will let the USPS use billions of dollars in CSRS and FERS overpayments to meet its financial obligations. Unlike, other bills that address the pension overpayments, H.R. 1351 will not attack the rights of workers to collectively bargain.
Also, tell your member of Congress to oppose Congressman Issa’s H.R. 2309. Rep. Darrell Issa’s H.R. 2309 does not correct the massive USPS overpayments to its CSRS and FERS pension accounts. Congressman Issa’s bill will wage an attack on current negotiated wages, benefits, and protection against layoffs of postal workers.
What can you do to help? Contact your member of Congress today! You can reach your member of Congress by calling the Capitol Hill switchboard today at (202) 224-3121 or to find your member of congress click here.
If you have not already sent a quick message to your member of congress asking them to cosponsor H.R. 1351 and oppose H.R. 2309 take action today by clicking both of the links below.
To send your member of congress a quick message asking them to cosponsor and support H.R. 1351 please click here.
To send a quick message to your member of congress asking them to oppose Congressman Issa’s H.R. 2309 please click here.
Below you will find a list of those members of Congress who have not yet signed on as a cosponsor of H.R. 1351. If you see your member of Congress listed below please reach out to them and ask that the cosponsor and support H.R. 1351.
| Adams, Sandy FL 24 R | Lamborn, Doug CO 05 R |
Source: APWU E-TEAM
Saturday, August 6, 2011
30 Years Ago Today: The Day the Middle Class Died ...a letter from Michael Moore
Friday, August 5th, 2011
Friends,
From time to time, someone under 30 will ask me, "When did this all begin, America's downward slide?" They say they've heard of a time when working people could raise a family and send the kids to college on just one parent's income (and that college in states like California and New York was almost free). That anyone who wanted a decent paying job could get one. That people only worked five days a week, eight hours a day, got the whole weekend off and had a paid vacation every summer. That many jobs were union jobs, from baggers at the grocery store to the guy painting your house, and this meant that no matter how "lowly" your job was you had guarantees of a pension, occasional raises, health insurance and someone to stick up for you if you were unfairly treated.
Young people have heard of this mythical time -- but it was no myth, it was real. And when they ask, "When did this all end?", I say, "It ended on this day: August 5th, 1981."
Beginning on this date, 30 years ago, Big Business and the Right Wing decided to "go for it" -- to see if they could actually destroy the middle class so that they could become richer themselves.
And they've succeeded.
On August 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan fired every member of the air traffic controllers union (PATCO) who'd defied his order to return to work and declared their union illegal. They had been on strike for just two days.
It was a bold and brash move. No one had ever tried it. What made it even bolder was that PATCO was one of only three unions that had endorsed Reagan for president! It sent a shock wave through workers across the country. If he would do this to the people who were with him, what would he do to us?
Reagan had been backed by Wall Street in his run for the White House and they, along with right-wing Christians, wanted to restructure America and turn back the tide that President Franklin D. Roosevelt started -- a tide that was intended to make life better for the average working person. The rich hated paying better wages and providing benefits. They hated paying taxes even more. And they despised unions. The right-wing Christians hated anything that sounded like socialism or holding out a helping hand to minorities or women.
Reagan promised to end all that. So when the air traffic controllers went on strike, he seized the moment. In getting rid of every single last one of them and outlawing their union, he sent a clear and strong message: The days of everyone having a comfortable middle class life were over. America, from now on, would be run this way:
* The super-rich will make more, much much more, and the rest of you will scramble for the crumbs that are left.
* Everyone must work! Mom, Dad, the teenagers in the house! Dad, you work a second job! Kids, here's your latch-key! Your parents might be home in time to put you to bed.
* 50 million of you must go without health insurance! And health insurance companies: you go ahead and decide who you want to help -- or not.
* Unions are evil! You will not belong to a union! You do not need an advocate! Shut up and get back to work! No, you can't leave now, we're not done. Your kids can make their own dinner.
* You want to go to college? No problem -- just sign here and be in hock to a bank for the next 20 years!
* What's "a raise"? Get back to work and shut up!
And so it went. But Reagan could not have pulled this off by himself in 1981. He had some big help:
The AFL-CIO.
The biggest organization of unions in America told its members to cross the picket lines of the air traffic controllers and go to work. And that's just what these union members did. Union pilots, flight attendants, delivery truck drivers, baggage handlers -- they all crossed the line and helped to break the strike. And union members of all stripes crossed the picket lines and continued to fly.
Reagan and Wall Street could not believe their eyes! Hundreds of thousands of working people and union members endorsing the firing of fellow union members. It was Christmas in August for Corporate America.
And that was the beginning of the end. Reagan and the Republicans knew they could get away with anything -- and they did. They slashed taxes on the rich. They made it harder for you to start a union at your workplace. They eliminated safety regulations on the job. They ignored the monopoly laws and allowed thousands of companies to merge or be bought out and closed down. Corporations froze wages and threatened to move overseas if the workers didn't accept lower pay and less benefits. And when the workers agreed to work for less, they moved the jobs overseas anyway.
And at every step along the way, the majority of Americans went along with this. There was little opposition or fight-back. The "masses" did not rise up and protect their jobs, their homes, their schools (which used to be the best in the world). They just accepted their fate and took the beating.
I have often wondered what would have happened had we all just stopped flying, period, back in 1981. What if all the unions had said to Reagan, "Give those controllers their jobs back or we're shutting the country down!"? You know what would have happened. The corporate elite and their boy Reagan would have buckled.
But we didn't do it. And so, bit by bit, piece by piece, in the ensuing 30 years, those in power have destroyed the middle class of our country and, in turn, have wrecked the future for our young people. Wages have remained stagnant for 30 years. Take a look at the statistics and you can see that every decline we're now suffering with had its beginning in 1981 (here's a little scene to illustrate that from my last movie).
It all began on this day, 30 years ago. One of the darkest days in American history. And we let it happen to us. Yes, they had the money, and the media and the cops. But we had 200 million of us. Ever wonder what it would look like if 200 million got truly upset and wanted their country, their life, their job, their weekend, their time with their kids back?
Have we all just given up? What are we waiting for? Forget about the 20% who support the Tea Party -- we are the other 80%! This decline will only end when we demand it. And not through an online petition or a tweet. We are going to have to turn the TV and the computer and the video games off and get out in the streets (like they've done in Wisconsin). Some of you need to run for local office next year. We need to demand that the Democrats either get a spine and stop taking corporate money -- or step aside.
When is enough, enough? The middle class dream will not just magically reappear. Wall Street's plan is clear: America is to be a nation of Haves and Have Nothings. Is that OK for you?
Why not use today to pause and think about the little steps you can take to turn this around in your neighborhood, at your workplace, in your school? Is there any better day to start than today?
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com
P.S. Here are a few places you can connect with to get the ball rolling:
Showdown in America
Democracy Convention
Occupy Wall Street
October 2011
How to Join a Union, from the AFL-CIO (They've learned their lesson and have a good president now) or UE
Change to Win
MoveOn
High School Newspaper (Just because you're under 18 doesn't mean you can't do anything!)
Monday, April 18, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Solidarity Forever - for the Union makes us strong!
by: Paula J. Gallo (Kenosha, WI - APWU)
My father is a retired UAW worker. He has been a proud member of the union for over 60 years including as a retiree. I was raised learning from and about the struggles of t
he working class all my life. I remember my Dad picketing and even striking, and yes, I even walked the picket line with him; for wages and improved working conditions. I have been a union member for almost 34 years and a union officer for over 25 years.
I have also witnessed the apathy of workers and union members over the last 30 years. We have become complacent, and let our rights slowly begin to slip away. We have accepted the status quo, busy with our lives and families and trying to get by. But now, that time is over. Workers woke up and saw the battle that needs to be fought. The line can never be clearer than it is today regarding what side you are on; you’re either for the rich or for the middle class.
I am so impressed by the people of Wisconsin that have finally said “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.” I have attended several rallies in Madison as well as locally. On Saturday March 12th I was in Madison and helped cheer for and welcome back our heroic “Wisconsin Fabulous 14.” Never have I been so moved by the outpouring of pride and thanks that these men and women were
shown, and rightfully so. They had the courage to do what so many people only hoped that we could do. To stand up against what is wrong and fight for what is right. Now hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin citizens are awakened to fight the battle that we have ignored for years. To see all ages of people from seniors to little children, men and women, people of different religions, and ethnicity. It wasn’t just teachers, nurses and other state employees. It did not matter what your job is. Wisconsin workers and families stepped up to support all employees, not just in our state but also across this country. It was so awesome to be in Madison! Words can never describe the feelings I had. I will remember this forever.
This is our generation’s time in history to pay thanks for all that our grandparents and parents did for us in fighting the early battles. Those battles that gave us the rights to form Unions, collectively bargain, gain safety in the workplace, 40 hour work weeks, weekends, vacation pay and overtime, just to name a few. Past generations fought hard, many with their lives, to pursue the rights that we enjoy today.
Now it is our time to carry and lift that torch; to thank past generations and fight for future generations. This is our time to stand up, to be proud and fight. We are making history and I am proud to be part of it here in Wisconsin.
Actress Susan Sarandon (Top Right Photo) participated in the welcoming back of the DEM 14 in Madison on March 12.
(Photos by Paula Gallo) Click on photos to enlarge.
My father is a retired UAW worker. He has been a proud member of the union for over 60 years including as a retiree. I was raised learning from and about the struggles of t
he working class all my life. I remember my Dad picketing and even striking, and yes, I even walked the picket line with him; for wages and improved working conditions. I have been a union member for almost 34 years and a union officer for over 25 years. I have also witnessed the apathy of workers and union members over the last 30 years. We have become complacent, and let our rights slowly begin to slip away. We have accepted the status quo, busy with our lives and families and trying to get by. But now, that time is over. Workers woke up and saw the battle that needs to be fought. The line can never be clearer than it is today regarding what side you are on; you’re either for the rich or for the middle class.
I am so impressed by the people of Wisconsin that have finally said “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.” I have attended several rallies in Madison as well as locally. On Saturday March 12th I was in Madison and helped cheer for and welcome back our heroic “Wisconsin Fabulous 14.” Never have I been so moved by the outpouring of pride and thanks that these men and women were
shown, and rightfully so. They had the courage to do what so many people only hoped that we could do. To stand up against what is wrong and fight for what is right. Now hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin citizens are awakened to fight the battle that we have ignored for years. To see all ages of people from seniors to little children, men and women, people of different religions, and ethnicity. It wasn’t just teachers, nurses and other state employees. It did not matter what your job is. Wisconsin workers and families stepped up to support all employees, not just in our state but also across this country. It was so awesome to be in Madison! Words can never describe the feelings I had. I will remember this forever. This is our generation’s time in history to pay thanks for all that our grandparents and parents did for us in fighting the early battles. Those battles that gave us the rights to form Unions, collectively bargain, gain safety in the workplace, 40 hour work weeks, weekends, vacation pay and overtime, just to name a few. Past generations fought hard, many with their lives, to pursue the rights that we enjoy today.
Now it is our time to carry and lift that torch; to thank past generations and fight for future generations. This is our time to stand up, to be proud and fight. We are making history and I am proud to be part of it here in Wisconsin.
Actress Susan Sarandon (Top Right Photo) participated in the welcoming back of the DEM 14 in Madison on March 12.
(Photos by Paula Gallo) Click on photos to enlarge.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Wisconsinites organize to block Gov. Walker's unionbusting
Wisconsin is the state to keep an eye on this week, as Republican Gov. Scott Walker has declared open war on his state's public workers' unions. Last week, Walker even went so far as to alert the National Guard to be ready in case of mass protests. Calling him the "cheesehead Pharaoh," writer Harold Meyerson compares Walker to autocrats like Hosni Mubarak, and wonders how far his repression of workers will go.
The response from the people of Wisconsin has been unequivocal: show teachers and state social workers and administrative staffers some respect and stop threatening them with budget cuts and the National Guard. Students, teachers, firefighters, private sector union workers, and thousands more showed up Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at the state capitol building in Madison to stop Walker in his tracks.
There's a roundup of Wisconsin rally schedules and news reports over at We Party Patriots. At least two separate campaigns span across labor and progressive groups, and each has a Facebook and Twitter presence: StopScottWalker and NotMyWisconsin. Check them out, and see if you think Walker will be able to stay true to his threat not to bargain with unions.
The scene yesterday inside the state capitol, Madison, WI. Photo by @millbot via Twitter.
Source: ILCA Insider Newsletter
Statement from Senator Hansen: Governor is misleading state. Issue is not benefits, but Governor’s assault on workers’ rights and middle class families
(Madison)—State Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) called on Governor Walker to stop misleading the public on the contents of his budget “adjustment” bill saying that the issue is not employee contributions for benefits, but the Governor’s assault on the rights of Wisconsin workers:
“The Governor’s actions are a lie by omission. He is trying to convince the people of this state that there is nothing extreme in his bill, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Governor Walker knows that public employees are willing to contribute to their benefits. He is trying to eliminate over 50 years of collective bargaining rights that allow workers and their employers to negotiate over issues involving workplace safety, patient wellbeing and educational opportunity for our children.
Wisconsin has a long, proud history of working together to resolve our problems. We face our challenges together. We don’t divide our citizens against each other and vilify working men and women, especially not for political gain as Governor Walker and Republican leaders are doing with this legislation.”
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