To Win Consolidation Fight, We Must Build a Movement

(This article appears in the November/December 2014 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

If we are going to win the fight to stop consolidation of 82 mail processing plants, we must build a movement – a movement that unites postal workers with the people we serve: the neighbors we greet, the businesses we patronize, the civic organizations we participate in, the clubs we join, and the places we worship.

We cannot win this fight in the grievance procedure or even in court – we must win this fight in the court of public opinion.

We are part of the communities served by the United States Postal Service, the national treasure that binds us together as one America, and we must ask for their help.

What’s at Stake

To win support, we must make sure people understand what’s at stake if mail processing plants are allowed to close and if delivery standards are degraded further:

• Overnight delivery will disappear throughout the country – not just in the 37 states where plants are scheduled to close.
• Overnight delivery will end, even from one address to another in the same town.
• All types of mail will be delayed, including medicine, packages, periodicals, church bulletins and magazines.
• Sale circulars will arrive late – often after the sales are over.
• Campaign material and vote-by-mail ballots will be delayed, infringing on our democratic rights.

But a lot more than prompt mail delivery is in jeopardy:

• Communities will lose good, living-wage union jobs.
• The tax base of our cities and towns will shrink.
• Small businesses will suffer and many will close.
• America’s once-proud mail service will be severely weakened, opening the door wider to wholesale privatization.

USPS Disinformation

Postal officials have been engaging in a campaign of disinformation to justify the closings.

• They claim that 25 percent of mail will continue to be delivered overnight. This is untrue. Service standard changes will eliminate the overnight delivery obligation for single-piece first-class mail. Even bulk mailers won’t get overnight delivery. If mail is brought in after 8 a.m., it won’t be delivered for two days.
• Postal officials neglect to point out that mail is already delayed at hundreds of sites where partial consolidation has taken place. The Postal Reorganization Act protects the right of the people to prompt, efficient service, which communities are being denied.
• Management hypes USPS “losses” to Congress and the media, neglecting to point out that the Postal Service earned an “operating profit” in the last two fiscal years. (The “losses” were the result of the requirement to pre-fund health benefits for future retirees – a requirement no other government agency or business bears – and Congress can repeal.)
• They have exaggerated the potential savings from consolidations, as the Postal Regulatory Commission concluded.

We Need You

We need union members to help build a community coalition to save the Postal Service, keep the facilities open, and much more. How do we do that?

• Talk one-on-one with potential leaders who can persuade their friends and co-workers to join the fight.
• Ask co-workers to encourage organizations they participate in to endorse resolutions of support.
• Invite non-members to join the union and join our fight.
• Stay informed and educate your co-workers so they will feel comfortable getting involved.

Locals should plan activities to bring community members on board. A great way to add community members to a coalition is to hold a Town Hall Meeting. Those that attend the town hall can be a wonderful resource for building your coalition movement.

We have developed material to help locals get started. Check out the APWU Toolkit, the booklet titled, Planning a Town Hall Meeting, a sample resolution of support, and a fact sheet. Visit www.apwu.org, click on the Issues tab in the blue bar, and select Fighting Consolidations.

Our coalition movement must stand for the betterment of all, and that includes supporting the struggles that coalition members bring to the table. It cannot be a movement that disbands after we win our issue to stop the plant closures.

We have many more fights ahead, such as expanding postal services to help our community and strengthen the Postal Service for the future.

We will need our community support to help us in winning a good contract. The coalition you help build can last a lifetime, protecting your job and your community.