'Stay In Your Lane, APWU'?

"Just stick to the contract!” “Focus only on work floor issues!” “Stay out of politics!” bellow some disgruntles. But our union doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

Your elected officers, pursuant to varied articles of the APWU constitution, are required to participate in the forces and events that affect all of us, including economic, political, and social justice.

Article 2 obligates us to engage in legislative, political, civic welfare, and other activities that further the joint interests of all 200,000 members fighting to improve economic and social conditions. Article 2, Sec. 9 also calls us to assist labor and other organizations in the world.

Deciding the Issues We Care About

Per Article 13, in between conventions of elected delegates, the National Executive Board (NEB), also elected by you, is the highest-ranking governing body.

The issues the APWU gets involved with are determined by the National Convention, the NEB, and the National Constitution.

So, directly or indirectly, it is you that decides the issues our union is involved in.

Our constitution’s preamble declares all members of labor have the right to economic, political, and social justice, and to hold our heads high respecting ourselves as individuals regardless of race, religion, and political affiliation etc.

Article 2, Sec. 1 directs us to secure better working conditions and a better standard of living for all of you and your families. Article 2, Section 9(a) obligates us to work with the AFL-CIO, which is the federation of national and international labor unions that represents more than 12.5 million workers. Why do we work with the AFL-CIO? Our relationship goes back to 1897. The AFL recognized the tyranny that postal workers faced and supported our forefathers in their fight to win a union. And the rest, as they say, is history.

What Labor Wants?

The AFL-CIO and APWU want better pay and benefits for workers, an end to racism, inequality, and oppression. We want corporate accountability, especially since corporate greed feeds inflation.

We support women’s rights and want all workers to enjoy health benefits, including reproductive rights. Postal workers live in a global economy, bound in the fate of working people worldwide with shared humanity. We support immigration reform, placing people before profits! Supporting infrastructure efforts produces good paying jobs in trades that boosts others who then boost us in our struggles.

Critical issues such as criminal justice reform, quality education, Social Security, tax and trade policies affect you directly or indirectly.

Politics and Postal Affairs

Not one dime of your union dues goes to a political campaign. Our Committee on Political Action (COPA) fund receives voluntary donations to give to candidates that support postal workers’ interests, regardless of party affiliation.

Legislation restricts full involvement in political affairs, yet we support, wherever the law provides, candidates who best serve you and labor’s interests. Our members in all parties under APWU’s Bill of Rights have the right to support a candidate of their choice.

Let’s Knee the PMG

Deriders of the Postmaster General (PMG) want to use his disastrous 10-year plan, poor services, and workplace disruptions to undercut the union’s current negotiations process, which convention delegates overwhelmingly rejected.

Our acrimonious relation with PMGs goes back to 1900 when PMG Cortelyou wrote that postal officials, not officers or members of organizations, present the Post Office’s needs. We fought PMG Burleson’s 1915 wage and staffing cuts. In 1973, PMG Klassen cut 33,000 workers, yet we negotiated a contract in 1975. Many remember our “Wanted!” posters for PMG Donahoe in 2014.

If this PMG fails to recognize our work value in current negotiations, we’ll fight him tooth and nail, and prevail!

Stay In Our Lane?

Coordinators Foster, Jones, Yared, Puhalski, and I recognize on the highway of reality that if we stay in just one lane, we will crash. The APWU isn’t about to crash! ■