You Can Take That To The Bank

Have you ever volunteered at a phone bank? If you haven't, let me encourage you to try it, even if it's only once. Although once you try it, I doubt you won't want to do it again.

It's quite easy, and although there are hangups and people who disagree with you, you get the chance to speak with people you'd never speak to otherwise. The phone calls are brief, you don't ask for anyone's money, and you have the opportunity to educate undecided voters.

Imagine having a voice in this country, a voice as powerful as any of the super PACs or lobbyists in Washington DC? I know that each of us on our own can't possibly garner that sort of influence. But as a collective, we certainly can!

Get involved, make your voice heard, and stand up for what you believe is right. It's great to cast a vote, in fact, it's a hard won right for many many people. I'm convinced, however, that voting and spouting off to friends and posting things on Facebook just aren't enough. If you have strong convictions in this election, I implore you to get involved!

Wear t-shirts and buttons. Display yard signs. Phone bank. Attend rallies. Participate in walks. Get people registered to vote. The more active you become, the more you feel like you've accomplished. Every vote counts, and every voice between now and Election Day counts.

Stand up, speak out, and get involved!

If you need ideas or connections to get started, please contact me and I will hook you up.

In solidarity,

Maria

The Republican Party Platform

I found it quite interesting that during all the coverage of the Republican National Convention, there was really very little attention to the party's platform.

I have been doing some phone banking with the Washington State Labor Council and I am dumbfounded by the ignorance of so many union members! They seem to be as oblivious to the GOP's platform as the media coverage was of the RNC.

Make no mistake, brothers and sisters, the GOP wants to bust all unions, and to privatize the USPS. They are out to destroy your job. Their platform clearly states that the USPS pension system is "seriously underfunded" and proposes a "great role for private enterprise". They consider the USPS a relic from the past, like the Pony Express, and don't recognize it for what it really is: a vital part of the country's economy and infrastructure.

This is a falsehood. The pension system most certainly is not underfunded, and Democrats and Republicans alike agree on this.

When I phone bank, we call only union households, and I am baffled at the number of them that angrily tell me that they are voting Republican all the way, in spite of the fact that they wish to pass a national right to work law, which would drastically weaken unions.

It is our responsibility to be educated and to vote for labor-friendly candidates who will work for, not against, unions.

I encourage you to volunteer at rallies, walks, and phone banks to help ensure that labor-friendly candidates are elected.

Your job is at stake this November!

My Day Job vs. My Passion

For over sixteen years now I've been throwing parcels, sorting flats, distributing accountables, boxing mail, working the window, dispatching the mail, clearing carriers, and other assorted tasks in my job as a clerk for the US Postal Service. It's a good job that pays me a living wage and affords me good benefits. For the most part, I love my co-workers, and my facility is less than a mile from my home.

I've met wonderful people through my job, customers who have shared their lives with me outside the Post Office. I've gone to see one customer's brand new baby goats. I went to another one's home to see her newest baby horses. I've helped another plan a wedding and I've had lunch with others. One customer brought her brand new rescue dog in to visit me at work. I could go on and on. Sure, there are customers and coworkers who sometimes get on my last nerve, but the good ones outnumber the more unpleasant ones.

I suppose I can consider myself lucky to have such a job, particularly in the recent years of tough economic times in our country. But no matter how much I appreciate my job, it's not my passion. I'm passionate about a number of causes, such as animal rescue, marriage equality, and organized labor.

It's only been in this last year that I have begun to figure out a way to mingle my job and my passion, and that's been through involvement in the American Postal Workers' Union, AFL-CIO. I was certified as a steward early in 2012, and then installed as a district representative in April. It's been challenging, exciting, frustrating, rewarding, overwhelming, fun and intense. I learn more every week, and my enthusiasm for my union grows all the time.

I'm getting involved in the Washington State Labor Relations Council Workers' Voice program, from now through the oh so critical election on November 7, 2012.

I urge you to get involved with the election as well. Wear a t-shirt or a button (not at work though, there's that pesky little thing called the Hatch Act), attend a rally, put a sign in your yard, volunteer at a phone bank, be part of informational pickets, talk to your family, friends and neighbors. Educate yourself and educate others about the issues that matter to all of us.

The USPS is at a critical juncture. Regardless of the other issues that are spiraling around us, we as postal workers must focus on saving our jobs. Whatever your feelings on abortion or guns or marriage equality, those are all things that aren't going away, regardless of who is elected. But if Romney is elected, the Postal Service as we know it will disappear, and it won't take long. The unions will be busted, service will be cut further and further, privatization will become a reality, and our jobs will all be on the line.

While we can't all make a living doing what we are passionate about, we can certainly engage in activities about which we feel passionate. Our jobs enable us to do that. Our jobs are the source of our income. Without the job, it's quite difficult to become involved in the causes that incite us to action. Without the job, there is no union.

Whatever your passion, whether it be organized labor, the environment, politics, animals, poverty, homelessness, marriage equality, education, or something else, please educate yourself on where the candidates stand on the issues that matter most to you, both the causes you feel passionately about, and your job.

Don't underestimate the importance of the results of this election. Get educated, and vote!

In solidarity,

Maria

PS - Is there a topic you'd like to see discussed here? Please share it with me and we can get the dialogue going.

Knowledge is Power

With Labor Day behind us and the kids back in school, summer is definitely winding down and the fall is upon us. I hope all of you have had a wonderful summer. Mine was a whirlwind of union activity and education. In July, I had the invaluable experience of attending the Stewards College in Ellensburg, WA. The instructors were absolutely fantastic, the training was comprehensive, and the friendships I made will stay with me for a long time to come. I was warned before I went that I would come away from the College physically and emotionally exhausted; even so, I wasn't ready for the sheer volume of work and information that was required of all the students. It was a complete immersion in the grievance process and I learned more in that week than I had in the previous few months of being a steward. To meet national APWU officers and to learn from them was something special. I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to attend this intense training and I hope to go to the advanced class next summer. 

I was home for about a week and a half before I left again to attend the Biennial National Convention in Los Angeles. I had attended the Washington State convention in April, where I was installed as your District 1 Representative, but I had never attended a national convention. It was a fascinating experience, one I wish every APWU member could experience at least once. There were craft conventions and training in the days preceding the convention. The training classes covered a plethora of topics; I attended the classes on FMLA and NTFT positions. It was the second time during the summer that I learned from and met some of our national officers. More than ever, I felt invigorated and educated. The frustration of not knowing what I was doing had weighed heavily on my shoulders. I had great support from Charles and other brothers and sisters these past months for which I am so grateful, but the old saying of knowledge being power certainly holds true.

It was suggested to me that I start a blog for District One to keep everyone up to date with what's going on in, and I thought that was a great idea, hence you are reading this. Additionally, you can follow me on Twitter at @WAPWUDist1Rep or on our Facebook page, District 1, Washington State American Postal Workers' Union at http://www.facebook.com/pages/District-1-Washington-State-American-Postal-Workers-Union/251079151655682 .

Until the election, in addition to serving the members of District 1, I will be involved in the Washington State Labor Council AFL-CIO for Workers' Voice program, working closely with local unions and Central Labor Councils here in Western Washington to assist with the AFL-CIO's Labor 2012 program. The upcoming election is one of the most important ones in our country's history, and the outcome will determine the future of not only the APWU but of the USPS. I urge each of you to get out the vote and get involved in supporting the candidates who will work on behalf of the Postal Service.

Finally, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the brothers and sisters who have extended a warm welcome to me as their new District Rep. The emails, cards, phone calls, gifts, and even dinner have been incredibly kind, more than I expected. I will continue to represent you to the best of my ability. Please feel free to contact me anytime with any questions, concerns, suggestions, or just to get acquainted.

In solidarity,

Maria Risener

A Surcharge Here and a Surcharge There

There are a lot of things that the US Postal Service offers that its competitors like UPS and Fed Ex just don't offer. And even if the competition does offer a comparable service, it comes with a price tag. Remember, these are examples of surcharges assessed ON TOP of the shipping rates.

FedEx, for example, might determine that your article requires special handling. That'll cost you $8.50 as a surcharge. If your address is incorrect or incomplete, they'll charge you $11.00.There's a Declared Value surcharge of $0.80 per $100.00 of value. The Delivery area surcharge applies to select zipcodes and ranges from $2.00 - $3.75. There is a hazardous materials surcharge of $27.50. A residential delivery charge applies as well, $2.55 per package. And the current fuel surcharge is 8.5% on ground shipping and 14% on Express.

UPS also charges that special handling fee of $8.50. If your address is incorrect or incomplete, they will charge you $11.00 just like FedEx. The Declared Value surcharge matches the one FedEx as well. UPS has a Delivery Area surcharge just like FedEx, and in addition to the same hazardous materials charge that FedEx imposes, UPS takes it a step further and charges an additional $5.00 for any shipments containing dry ice. Excessive tracking requests may result in a charge per request of $3.00. Remote area surcharges apply to certain zip codes in Alaska ($15.00) and Hawaii ($6.00). Residential surcharges range from $2.55 to $3.00. The current fuel charge is the same as FedEx charges.

These are only some of the surcharges applied by the competition.

Oh, and those independent mailing agencies, where you can ship UPS, FedEx, and USPS? They all charge hefty surcharges on top of the ones imposed by the agencies.

I'm not sure what FedEx and UPS consider special handling, but the US Postal Service doesn't apply such a charge. If your package is not addressed completely or properly, the USPS won't demand $11.00 from you.  Neither are there declared value surcharges, and residential delivery and delivery to so-called "remote" areas don't cost any more than any other mail. As for fuel surcharges.... there aren't any.

Do away with the Postal Service and you'll be doing away with affordable and reliable delivery of mail and packages.

Let your Congressmen and women to save our Postal Service!

In solidarity,

Maria

A Manufactured Crisis

H.R. 6407 (109th): Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act

This house bill was passed by a lame duck session of the 109th Congress in 2006 to reform the postal laws of the United States Under the PAEA, the US Postal Service was required to "prefund its future health care benefit payments to retirees for the next 75 years in an astonishing ten year time span." Essentially, this meant that the USPS had to set aside billions of dollars to pay for the health benefits of employees it hasn't even hired yet, or quite possibly haven't even been born yet. This is something that no other government or private corporation is required to do.

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader noted that if the PAEA had never been enacted, the USPS would actually be facing a $1.5 billion surplus today:

"By June 2011, the USPS saw a total net deficit of $19.5 billion, $12.7 billion of which was borrowed money from Treasury (leaving just $2.3 billion left until the USPS hits its statutory borrowing limit of $15 billion). This $19.5 billion deficit almost exactly matches the $20.95 billion the USPS made in prepayments to the fund for future retiree health care benefits by June 2011. If the prepayments required under PAEA were never enacted into law, the USPS would not have a net deficiency of nearly $20 billion, but instead be in the black by at least $1.5 billion."

The media and politicians point to the rise of email and internet services and the inefficiency of the USPS as the major culprits for the fiscal crisis facing the agency. While it is true that these factors do have some financial impact, the majority of the losses in recent years can be traced back to this single onerous restriction forced onto the USPS by a Republican led Congress in 2006.

In order to remedy this problem, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), along with 193 co-sponsors, has introduced bipartisan legislation that would allow the USPS to spend more of its OWN MONEY to pay down its deficits, including $6.9 billion in pension and other over payments that may total anywhere from $25 to $50 billion. These are Postal Service funds NOT taxpayer dollars.

Meanwhile, Rep. Darell Issa (R-CA), the wealthiest man in Congress, has been pushing for legislation that would lead to widespread layoffs and bust the postal workers' unions. Can our fragile economy withstand the layoffs of tens if not hundreds of thousands of living wage earners? Yet this is precisely what Rep. Issa proposes, so that steps may be taken to dismantle the USPS and privatize it, cutting service standards to the millions of Americans who rely on the Postal Service for medications, checks, communication, and many other services. 

This insanity is not what is best for the USPS, it is not what is best for the working class, and it most certainly is not in the best interests of the American people. 

Educate yourselves and your family and friends as to the truth about the manufactured crisis faced by the Postal Service and educate yourselves about which position the candidates take on the matter. Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan are all for the plans that Issa proposes, plans to put an end to the postal service that has existed in this country for centuries and that was MANDATED in the Constitution.

Don't let it happen. Vote for Obama in November. 

Romney Would Eliminate the US Postal Service

Someone recently asked me how I could justify voting for Barack Obama while still considering myself to be a moral person. This question troubled me, not because supporting President Obama and being a "moral" person are mutually exclusive, but because people actually think themselves to be superior to others.

I responded to this question as I have responded to many others who have asked me similar questions:

If you worked for an agency that was threatened with drastic overhauls that directly impacted you and your family and your finances, wouldn't you do everything you could to see to it that the person who sought to dismantle your livelihood would not be elected?

People don't seem to be aware of Romney's plans for the US Postal Service. It's quite simple. He and his economic advisers like Kevin Hassett would eliminate the USPS. I wonder if Mitt Romney has ever so much as set foot inside a Post Office, or even purchased a postage stamp?

Why has the GOP turned a non-partisan government agency into such a polarizing issue? The political power wielded by unions, generally in support of Democrats, is great. Weakening those unions is key to ultimately eliminating them. If the APWU is eliminated, it is clear that other unions will follow suit.

On September 3, 2008, at the very beginning of his campaign, while speaking at the Republican National Convention, Romney stated "we must stand up to the tyrannosaurus appetite of Government Unions." The largest collection of federal union workers in the country is the USPS.

Hassett, in addressing Tea Party activists, stated that "”The possibility for real gain in the U.S. is enormous. The Postal Service owns or operates 33,000 facilities nationwide, and owns 219,000 vehicles. If we were to auction it off to private investors, the bids would likely be enormous. FedEx and UPS, for example, have a combined market capitalization of almost $100 billion. Given that, how much might a private bidder offer for the right to start a business with the Postal Service’s footprint? The $100 billion mark might be a good first guess. If the Tea Party activists want to fix the country, they should start by privatizing the Postal Service. If we can’t fix that, then it is hard to imagine how we will ever fix anything.” It strikes me as ironic that the Tea Party activists, who view the US Constitution as almost sacred, would be the ones challenged to dismantle an institution that is established in Article  1, Section 8, of the Constitution: "establish post offices and post roads." 

Selling off the Postal Service is clearly a priority for Romney. Profits for the wealthy supersede the needs of the citizens of our nation who rely on the Postal Service. Why are politicians pushing to eliminate a vital service to millions of Americans? Indeed, it seems like a crusade against workers and the public that relies on the service provided by the Post Office is merely collateral damage. 

Politics - more than the internet or technology - are endangering the very survival of the US Postal Service.

Vote for the USPS... vote for Obama.

In solidarity,

Maria