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HEGARTY PRAISES JOINT UNION EFFORTS John F. Hegarty John F. Hegarty National National President President
DURING REMARKS AT NALC AND APWU CONVENTIONS
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uring the third week of July, National President John Hegarty traveled to both Chicago and Philadelphia to speak at the respective Conventions being held by two of our sister Postal Unions, the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC). It was an honor for the NPMHU President to be invited to speak to the delegates attending these other Postal Union conferences, and Hegarty expressed his personal appreciation for the recognition that his appearances bestowed upon all Mail Handlers across the country. During both Conventions, Hegarty spoke about the importance of Postal Union solidarity, noting in particular the recently signed Postal Union Alliance. “The Postal Union Alliance puts it out there for all to see;
we are united and we can’t be defeated,” said Hegarty. With particular reference to the Alliance, Hegarty noted that “[t]his isn’t just a piece of paper, or a symbolic gesture. This has solidified the joint spirit of cooperation that we’ve always had, and has us working together towards common goals like never before.” At the NALC Convention, Hegarty spoke at length about the onslaught of never-ending efforts to adopt postal reform legislation, and the unified presence that the Postal Unions have on Capitol Hill. The message to Senators and House Representatives, Hegarty commented, is to preserve the scope of service that the USPS provides, and to reject all efforts to diminish that service, whether through plant closures or consolidations, the degradation of service standards, the elimination of six-day delivery, or further restrictions on doorto-door delivery.
Mark A. Gardner Mark A. Gardner Secretary-Treasurer Secretary-Treasurer
Before the APWU delegates, Hegarty acknowledged the ongoing partnership of both the NPMHU and the APWU when addressing issues such as safety, health, and security, but spoke most passionately about the NPMHU’s wholehearted support for the APWU-initiated Stop Staples campaign. “We were happy to join with you in numerous locations around the country in the Stop Staples campaign. I can tell you we sent a message loud and clear: the U.S. Mail is not for sale.” Calling on all delegates at both Conventions to deliver the Union message to their Senators and Representatives, Hegarty asked everyone to “[t]ake the time to write that letter or attend that meeting. . . We need to hold our Members of Congress accountable.” In closing, Hegarty “I can tell you addressed the need to be diligent and active in we sent a message the upcoming congressional elections. “We all loud and clear: know that in November the U.S. Mail is of this year, we need to work together to ensure not for sale” that we elect a more Union-friendly, workerfriendly Congress. We consider the current log-jam in a bitterly partisan Congress to be a disaster for postal employees and all working people,” said Hegarty. The delegates from the APWU and the NALC both gave warm welcomes to the NPMHU President, as the Unions pledged continued joint efforts when their interests coincide.
COMMITTEE ON THE FUTURE CONTINUES TO LOOK FORWARD
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ince 1996, the NPMHU’s Committee on the Future, which is comprised of all members of the National Executive Board and various Local Union Presidents, has engaged in strategic planning over longterm issues that are likely to confront the Union over the coming months and years. The Committee usually focuses on five key issues facing the NPMHU: privatization of the Postal Service; the NPMHU’s legislative relations program; USPS automation and other technological changes; financial planning, especially at the Local level; and membership recruitment. The most recent semi-annual meeting of the Committee, which took place during the last week of July, continued this process. Because of current events, the Committee focused on three particular issues: First, the Committee analyzed and planned responses to the Postal Service’s recently announced plans to close or consolidate an additional 82 mail processing facilities in early 2015, which is being made possible by the Postal Service’s announcement that it was reducing the governing service standards for much of the nation’s one-day or overnight mail beginning on January 4, 2015. This degradation of service is thoroughly unacceptable to the NPMHU, as it reduces service to the American mailing public precisely when better, quicker, and more responsive mail service is what is needed to ensure the future success of the Postal Service. Various strategies for limiting or eliminating these closings and consolidations were discussed, as were strategies for dealing with the impact on mail handlers should these actions actually be implemented. Many observers believe that the USPS announcement to resurrect these closings and consolidations,
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which previously were scheduled for February 2014 before being postponed indefinitely, is another effort by USPS management to convince, or some would say threaten, Congress into enacting comprehensive postal reform before the end of this year. So it is no surprise that the Committee on the Future also focused on the Union’s legislative program during its recent meetings. The Committee conducted a comprehensive look at currently pending legislation, as well as various alternative proposals that are being prepared, analyzed, and proposed by various stakeholders, including all of the Postal Unions and many of the major mailing groups. Also of direct relevance to these issues, the Committee discussed the Union’s plans for involvement in the 2014 congressional elections, which are likely to be extremely important to postal issues now pending in Congress, and to whether such issues are resolved during the expected lame-duck session of this Congress that is being scheduled for late November and December of this year. The National Union plans to provide certain activists with paid time off to participate in this year’s elections, especially in those States and congressional districts that may have extremely close elections forecast, and therefore may determine which political party has control over next year’s Congress. Lastly, the Committee focused much of its attention on various organizing and recruitment programs aimed at newly hired Mail Handler Assistants and newly hired Full-Time Regular employees, who generally are being converted from the ranks of the MHAs. The recent Join the Union, Join the Fight organizing campaign successfully added scores of mail handlers to the union
membership rolls, and additional efforts are now being planned. In addition, at the upcoming Semi-Annual Meeting of the Local Union, the last day of that meeting will be dedicated to a training program about the rights and benefits of MHAs throughout the country. The Committee will be issuing a report on its recent meeting, and will distribute and discuss that report at this month’s Semi-Annual Meeting of the Local Unions in Washington, DC.
(l-r by row, front to rear) Paul Hogrogian- Vice President Northeastern Region and Local 300 President, TJ Branch- CAD Manager, John Hegarty- National President, Ernie GrijalvaLocal 302 President, Nick Mosezar- Local 318 President, Kevin Fletcher- Vice President Eastern Region and Local 305 President, Rudy Santos- Vice President Western Region, Michael Hora- Executive Director MHBP, Bob Losi –Legislative Director, Lawrence Sapp- Vice President Southern Region and Local 318 SEBM, J.R. Macon- Local 329 President, and Mark GardnerNational Secretary Treasurer, (Not shown: Jefferson Peppers III - Vice President Central Region)
August 2014