Campaigning For Our Jobs
This April, the Congressional District Liaisons for Branch 6000 made their annual trek to Washington DC to Lobby our representatives in the House as well as Senate. For me it was Republican Representative Nick Lalota. Like my father, his mother was an Employee of Grumman so I felt that I would be able to find some common ground, and I feel like I was largely successful in my mission. By the trip’s end I was able to secure his co-sponsorship on four of the larger more important bills of the six that I went down there to lobby on. Additionally I was pleasantly surprised by his concern with the Post Master General (PMG) Dejoy’s future plans for the USPS. He seemed alarmed about it. the consolidation of the Sort and Delivery Centers as well as the negative impact to the USPS’ relationship to our customers that Dejoy’s plans seem to have.
I found Lalota’s criticism of Dejoy to be encouraging considering that Congressman Lalota is a Republican. To me it means that the USPS is still important enough to the American Citizens for Democrats and Republicans alike, who are not ready to see it parish at the hands of a PMG that clearly would profit from its demise. It reminded me of how important the political aspect of our Union is. I feel very strongly that every Letter Carrier and every Union rep has a role to play in supporting and protecting the USPS. Especially in today’s environment every Letter Carrier needs to know that there is a direct connection to how the public views you as a Civil Servant and their general feeling about the USPS as a governmental agency. Almost every term of Congress there is legislation submitted that could either help to secure and improve our jobs or start the path to destroying them.
For many of our customers, the face of their Letter Carrier is the face of the USPS! YOU are the face that the voter is likely to be thinking about when they decide whether or not to support the USPS with their votes or their messages to their representative in Washington DC. How you treat the customers and the quality of service you provide matters.
Most Letter Carriers are unaware of how legislation and politics are tied so heavily into our jobs. Let’s face it, to most Americans their thoughts on politics are boiled down to what they hear on whatever News Network they watch, however the pieces of legislation that are most impactful are often supported on both sides of the isle. Just in the current congress there are the following legislation: Protect Our Letter Carriers Act (H.R. 7629) that mandates harsher Penalties for those who assault Letter Carriers, Repeal Social Security’s WEP and GPO provisions (H.R. 82/S. 597) that will make more Social Security funds available for federal retirees, Federal Retirement Fairness Act (H.R. 5995) that will allow Carriers to get credit for their non-service time, Improving Access to Workers’ Compensation for Injured Federal Workers Act (H.R. 618/S. 131) that will allow Carriers injured on duty to receive treatment from more accessible medical workers, USPS Shipping Equity Act (H.R. 3721) that will allow the USPS to ship tobacco and Alcohol and Door delivery (H. Res. 376) that will shore up Door to Door Delivery. All Letter Carriers will be impacted by at least one of the above pieces of legislation. Of all the nonsense that we distract ourselves with, this is worth your while.
Politics is a dirty business that requires a cover-charge to participate. We are lucky that we have a platform available for Members to contribute to any level we deem appropriate. For organizations such as ours, the best option is a Political Action Committee (PAC); ours is called The Letter Carrier Political Fund. It is non-partisan and is established for the purpose of electing qualified candidates who support us and who are committed to maintaining the U.S. Postal Service. Since union dues can’t be used to support candidates for political office, NALC relies on member contributions to the LCPF, which in turn helps us support those on Capitol Hill who defend us. It is our best weapon to protect our ability to take care of those that we love and to provide decent service to our customers! Only together we are successful.
