[November 29th]

Leave For Christmas

Clerk Craft employees leave for the period between December 24, 2002 and January 2, 2003, must be submitted not later than the close of business Friday, December 13, 2002.

All applications received up to and including the final date of submission will be considered as submitted simultaneously, will be placed in seniority order, and awarded on a seniority basis by work center. Please list your seniority date on the application.

Happy Holidays!

        [November 25th]

Homeland Security? For Who?

Read this thought-provoking article by Bobby L. Harnage, President American Federation of Government Employees.

Do you think you are safe because you are not one of the Federal employees threatened by the Homeland Security Act about to be passed?

Think again... and read this article. Please.

        [November 25th]

Make the Connection

A note from LuAnn Glaser, Dir of Publicity & Legislation, PPWU:

"Have you had a chance to stop by Pennsylvania Postal Workers Union this week? Links to Information on the contract extension and the new postal privatization bill can be found on the main page."

"Also, you can access all APWU Family Medical Leave forms from the Know Your Rights and Stewards Center pages and now all of the basic Workers Comp forms are available directly from the Stewards' Center page and the Workers Comp link on the Know Your Rights page."

(This link, as others on our site, will open in a new browser window.)

        [November 17th]

Please Read This Update re the Proposed Contract Extension

This is a very immportant issue for all of us, and we should make sure to inform ourselves about it. Members will be voting on this proposal. You can find some details about what is included in the proposed contract extension that the Rank-and-File Bargaining Committee is now studying. President William Burrus announced this tentative agreement between the APWU and Postal Management last week.

Read the facts as they exist at this point by visiting the the national's website.

        [November 8th]

New Members/Retirees for 2002 Updated

Yes, we finally got this section of the site updated with all current information. If you'd like to see who joined us and who left us, please check out the New Members page.

This page is also accessible from the About Us page, and retirees are listed at the bottom of the New Members section.

        [November 8th]

USPS Announces CSRS Surplus

Read President William Burrus' Update (#19-02) regarding the overfunding of the CSRS retirement plan.

"The Postal Service has announced that a new financial analysis reveals that it has over-funded the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) for postal employees. This discovery will have no impact on employee contributions to the retirement fund, future benefits, or annuities to current retirees, but it may reduce future USPS payments to the CSRS system."

Read entire article....

        [November 3rd]

News for the Pittsburgh REC Site

Click over to CGO Rheba Salac's report and find out what's going on in East Pittsburgh with work hours, TEs, edits, and ergonomic seating.

        [November 1st]

Election Day Volunteers Needed!

Election Day volunteers are needed to place phone calls Tuesday, November 5th 2002 for the Election Day Phone Bank at the United Steel Workers Building downtown.

The address is:
Steelworker's International Office Building
Corner of Stanwix and Boulevard of the Allies
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

The Phone Bank will operate between the hours of Noon and 8:00 PM. Free parking will be available in the underground garage of the Steelworker's building and food and drinks will be provided.

Candidates endorsed by the AFL-CIO in the state of Pennsylvania are as follows:

Governor: Edward Rendell
Lieutenant Governor: Catherine Baker-Knoll

1 Robert Brady
2 Chaka Fattah
4 Stevan Drobac, Jr.
6 Dan Wofford
7 Curt Weldon
9 John Henry
11 Paul Kanjorski
12 John Murtha
13 Joseph Hoeffel
14 Mike Doyle
15 Edward O'Brien
17 Tim Holden
18 Jack Machek


To read more about how the AFL-CIO chooses who to endorse, visit this page and read about AFL -CIO Candidate Endorsements.

        [November 1st]

Leave For the Day After Thanksgiving

ATTENTION: All Clerk Craft Employees, Pittsburgh GMF Installation

Now is the time to submit an application for leave for the day after Thanksgiving, November 29, 2002.

PS Form 3971, Request for or Notification of Absence, must be submitted no later than the close of business, Tuesday, November 19, 2002. All applications received up to and including the final date of submission will be considered as submitted simultaneously.

Applications for leave, if approved, will be awarded on a seniority basis by work center. Please list your seniority date in the "remarks" section of the PS Form 3971.

        [November 1st]

Satellite TV Firm EchoStar Added to AFL-CIO Boybott List

For over a year New York Local 1108 of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) has been trying to negotiate a first contract for installers employed by the DISH Network, a subsidiary of EchoStar Communications. The company responded by firing a prominent union activist employee and rescinding a pending wage increase for the unit.

CWA has requested that the AFL-CIO place EchoStar on the AFL-CIO Boycott List.

EchoStar provides satellite dish television service to some six million subscribers nationwide. It has requested permission from the Federal Communications Commission to merge with its next largest and only competitor, Hughes Communications that operates a satellite television service through its Direct TV subsidiary. That merger request is still pending.

Jeff Miller, Director of Public Affairs, Communications Workers of America
Charles E. Mercer, President, Union Label & Service Trades Department

        [November 1st]

Why A Union?

~Excerpted from a sermon by Dr. David M. Baxter

"As long as there is organized capital, there will be organized labor. And, that is as it should be in a democratic society."

"The true union member wants to help and not hinder his employer. He realizes that the more successful the business is, the more successful the employee will... if he received fair value for his labor and a fair share of the profits he has helped produce."

"A working man's life is valuable. Every time the clock ticks there goes a second off that life. When he sells the hours of his life to make a profit for someone else, he is entitled to all he can get for these precious hours."

"Workers try to get as much as possible for the hours of their lives that they sell to their employers. By himself, this is difficult. He can be broken like a stick. But breaking a bundle of sticks is not so easy."

"That is why working people organize unions, to help in getting a share of the profits they bring into a successful business. Unionism has brought about, in addition to reasonable pay, better working conditions, more job security, and more leisure time for workers to enjoy vacation and pension benefits."

"It is an ignorant man who values his life cheaply, sells it cheaply and works hours to make his employer richer, to the extent that he keeps himself poor."

"And... in all the world, there is no cheaper, less self-respecting person than the "scab" who will take advantage of what others have helped to bring about, without in any way contributing to it but rather betraying it."

"Well-paid, organized labor is a good thing for any town. The more a worker earns, the more he spends. And the more he spends, the better it is for the merchant, the farmer, and everyone else."

The proceeding church sermon was delivered several years ago by Dr. David M. Baxter, an Evangelical Protestant Minister. He had been asked for advice by a group of workers, as to whether or not they should form a union at the plant where they worked.