As We Gather for National Convention, We Want the Best for Postal Workers and We Want Our Communities to Have a Robust Postal Service

The excitement of our 2024 National Convention is here. Detroit holds great memories for me as it is where I participated in my very first APWU convention in 1980. No words could describe my anticipation because the convention was where women in the APWU were taking a stand! We practiced our strategy to capture the microphones and make history. We had no idea how historical it would be. In those days, most national and international unions hadmno real empowerment program to build upon “A Woman’s Place Is in the Union” movement. I was one of many women that stood in line at the microphone so that our voices would be heard. When members voted on the floor, it was clear that we were going to be a great part of the APWU as we became intertwined in the National APWU Constitution,mand there would be an opportunity to help bring more women into the APWU like never before. We did not want to settle for a token woman to represent us in Washington, DC. We wanted the grassroots ability to have more union women step up and become union activists all around the country. We set up a structure that was local, state, and regional and our goal was to help educate and inspire women to see that they had a place in this union at all levels. Last year, I attended the Kansas State Convention, and it was very emotional because it was the first time I walked into a state convention where a mass of strong women union activists gathered.

The National Convention brings the excitement of meeting stewards and comrades from all over the country. It lets you know that this struggle is real and that we are bigger than ourselves. I hope that many of our new convention delegates feel the spirit of why our union work is so important, and the fact that we can speak our mind and voice our vote. There are politics, yes, but there is also democracy. Your contract resolutions will be very important to me and our negotiating team. We want the As We Gather for National Convention, We Want the Best for Postal Workers and We Want Our Communities to Have a Robust Postal Service very best for postal workers, we want our communities to have the Postal Service they deserve, and the service obligations we owe them under law. Some European countries have privatized their First-Class Mail service and lost many postal jobs. We do not have to follow them. Package volume is growing but First-Class Mail has been falling behind. However, we still need to protect both. Prompt services are to be provided no matter where you live or what your circumstances are. Everyone depends on first-class service. It is discriminatory to cater to those who have and take away from those who have not. Our service is based on the premise that we bind the nation together. The answer is simple, the Postal Service should build back the overnight service for First-Class Mail and continue to expand and add more package equipment throughout our network so that prompt package service does not just occur in bigger cities. While we do that, the Postal Service should also invest in more staffing and comprehensive training programs for new employees, and demand accountability for toxic managers instead of letting them go rogue in another location. Managers should be working with employees, not against them. Employees are not the enemy. The Postal Service needs to support the programs that our customers love – Express mail services, passport processing, money orders and banking, certified return receipt, and registers to expand new, affordable services and stop limiting services from those who “have not.”