Our Plans for 2015

As a difficult year ends and a new year begins, it is a good time to think about areas we need to concentrate on in the new year.

Our work to coordinate relationship-building between members of Congress, our local and state legislative activists, and the Legislative and Political Department in Washington, DC, has been highly successful.

This also entails educating senators and representatives and their staffs about our issues. Financial support from COPA, the APWU Committee on Political Action, is critical to this process.

These relationships create an “echo chamber,” with the same message being repeated back home as well as in Washington. It also builds an environment of unified, continued support for the congressperson financially and with voters, which all politicians crave. We will keep working to find ways to improve and expand these efforts.

Working with the AFL-CIO

Working with the AFL-CIO, we have been able to keep issues of importance to our members on the minds and lips of our union brethren. These include maintaining postal service standards, preventing the closure and consolidation of mail processing plants, and our campaign to Stop Staples!

We also have tapped into the AFL-CIO’s polling, political, and legislative resources and expertise, and have improved our efforts in these areas.

APWU activists participated in the AFL-CIO’s program for the 2014 congressional elections in many hotly-contested states, along with members of many other unions. After the elections, the input we received from several local and state leaders was that the program was not a good fit for their state and labor could have been more effective.

Although there is input from the AFL-CIO nationally, these programs are developed early in each election year by the state labor federation. Once adopted, it is hard to modify or change the plans. I encourage locals and state organizations to get actively involved in developing campaign plans in future years. Our union is extremely diverse and spread out geographically, which allows us to have our finger on the pulse of the electorate. Our voice will help state federations tailor a plan that is customized to each state, with the best chance of success.

Thank You

Our state Political Action Leaders (PALs) have been a real asset in getting local information to us and in disseminating information from national to the field. In 2015, we will focus on providing the resources, training and support these activists need to be the best asset they can be for our locals, states, retiree chapters and APWU auxiliaries.

COPA raises funds for candidates who support our issues. In the current political environment, where even a well-liked, hard-working member of Congress is vulnerable to the flood of unlimited, outside corporate money, our COPA program is more important than ever.

I want to thank all COPA contributors for their leadership, generosity and desire to fight for our jobs, healthcare and retirement programs. Our jobs and benefits can be eliminated with the stroke of a pen. COPA fights for working-class jobs with dignity for postal workers.

Unfortunately, with early retirements and the constant attacks by postal management, our membership has been decreasing – and so have our COPA contributions. Increasing COPA participation will be a constant effort in 2015 as we provide the focus, information and tools to grow the COPA family and increase our presence and influence on Capitol Hill. If you are not currently a COPA contributor, I urge you to ask your local or state officers how to join the fight and give to COPA.

While this is not an all-encompassing list of our priorities, I hope it has given you a greater understanding of what the Legislative and Political Department will focus on in 2015.