(This article first appeared in the January/February 2019 issue of the American Postal Worker magazine) 

By Vice President Debby Szeredy

Let’s talk about the facts. Here I am, a union postal worker. What will happen if I don’t step up and help mobilize my co-workers and my community to stop privatization?

The free market plan is to privatize any and all areas that are vital to the American public. We have seen how privatization affects us. Examples of privatization include: our health care system, water and sewer services, bus and transit systems, parking meters, tolls, roads and bridges, prison systems, mortgage and pay day loans, student loans, deregulation of fossil fuels that pollute our planet, and the money in politics (dark money) that helps to fund candidates who will work hard to privatize public services.

On January 10, APWU officers and members joined hundreds of furloughed federal government employees, labor leaders, congressional representatives and other allies on the steps of the “House of Labor,” the AFL-CIO, to demand an end to the government shut down and resulting “lockout” of 800,000 federal employees.

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National President J. David Cox clarified, “I’d like to make sure that everyone knows that this effort and extortion is more of a lockout than a shutdown.”

In a decision issued on Friday, January 4, 2019, Arbitrator Stephen B. Goldberg ruled that the Postal Service did not violate the National Agreement in 2011 when it decided to subcontract roof maintenance and repair work. The Union contended that the Employer had violated Article32.1.A by failing to give due consideration to the five factors it must consider before subcontracting; violated Article 32.1.B by failing to give the Union advance notice, and by failing to comply with the other requirements of 32.1.B; violated the MOU on Contracting or Insourcing of Contracted Services; and violated ASM Section 535.112. 

Message from President Dimondstein to the APWU membership.