Local Unions Mobilize Against Postal "Destruction"

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Leaders of local postal unions are helping mobilize support to head off legislation in Congress they say would dismantle the U.S. Postal Service. “It should be called the ‘Postal Destruction Act’” NALC 3825 President Ken Lerch told delegates at Monday night’s Metro Council meeting. The bill – S1789, which may come up for a vote in the U.S. Senate any day – cuts postal delivery to five days, would close thousands of post offices, force many residents to pick up their mail at “clustered” mailboxes in their neighborhoods, and slash hundreds of thousands of postal service jobs. The bill threatens all union workers, pointed out Dena Briscoe, President of the Nation’s Capital and Southern Maryland APWU Local, because it essentially breaks contracts that have already been negotiated and voted on by APWU and NALC members. Lerch and Briscoe asked local activists to call a hotline – 1-888-863-6103 – to urge support for pro-worker amendments 2034, 2043, 2042, 2050, and 2056. The Council passed a resolution calling for the firing of Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, which local affiliates and organizations can download and pass to show their support. Please email us at streetheat@dclaborarchives.org if you do so. - photo of NALC 3825 rally in downtown DC courtesy of NALC (Lerch is in front at right)