SAVE THE POST OFFICE MOVEMENT

By Jerry Stidman

Our group is brand new. It was founded August 1st of this year. The motivation to start this up came out of an AMP study that caused us to be one of the 48 plants downsized this year. We lost our tour 3 outbound function in July and knew the time for action was now or it was game over. It still maybe game over but we are not going down without a serious fight. We are now up to 675 “likes” on face book. Save The Post Office also has 4,114 people talking about it. It’s friends of fans are well over 200,000 and we have a weekly outreach of about 100,000 people.

Right now our movement is much more diverse than simply this one page on face book. We also have two internet domain names and web sites. The first is LW Media. . If the good people of the Detroit Local APWU would visit lwmedia.net and the social causes on the page I would appreciate it. Make sure you hit every “like” button possible. They are highly important to adding structure and alignment to saving the post office. We have to align ourselves with other who have similar causes as ourselves.

The second domain name is www.saveourpostoffice.us. Now this is the start of the direction. There is also a www.saveourpostoffice.us face book page. This domain name gives the organization a unique identity. It can used on all types of advertising to grow support for our cause. We also have 10 other face book community pages.

Before I write another word. The APWU COPA fund is highly important and it is important that everyone finds a way to be involved in it. This is belief I haven’t always had. In fact until meeting a man running for Congress in Indiana last month I thought it was a waste of money. He helped me to understand what it is the union does for a candidate and how it works. Now to explain why I felt the way I did and why I have changed my mind. For years and years our local has worked very hard to do their part in raising funds for COPA and they were very successful. Many times our local has displayed plaques and letters thanking them for their contributions to COPA. It was my long held belief with all that money we never really bought the first Congressman. I WAS TOTALLY WRONG. The Federal Election Commission has laws in place where a local union can’t make direct donations to any candidate. They did this because the lawmakers believed a union with a large membership base could fix any local election.

THIS IS PROFILING AND PROFILING IS WRONG! At least that’s what Ron White said. However the Supreme Court of the United States does not believe that. They ruled that corporations are people also. Given that a multinational corporation may give as much as they can afford and fix an election in a heart beat. Current laws also allow for extremely wealthy people to pool their resources and form a Super PAC which can spend any amount of money they can raise. However a large branch of AFL-CIO unions in a major city like Detroit can’t? Isn’t your local composed of people? Not according to the laws of this land! Support COPA it’s worthy!

For me this is a passion and I am self motivated to lead, guide and direct. First and foremost with over 30 years (4 military) of total government service. I refuse to simply roll over and let the post office take away what I have worked for my entire adult life for. And I don’t want you to either. If the post office implodes first we loose our jobs. Then we loose our pensions and benefits. PEOPLE DON’T LET THEM STEAL THAT FROM YOU! And that is what it truly is! Don’t let the thieves get your money.

This is our plan. And I hope we can execute it before it’s to late. If we don’t act immediately it’s all over! First the media campaign of the post office unions is excellent however it is not enough. The commercials on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News just aren’t enough. We need a following of a lot of people and we need it quickly. We need something desperately that the post office unions have struggled to get volunteers! That’s what I am. Someone who recognizes what his skills are and what they are not and allowing them to be used for the common good.
The first thing we need to do is get as much advertising at the local level we possibly can. This is going to take work. It is going to take sacrifice and money. However I believe the cause is big enough that we can get major outside support if we just put out the effort to find the right people. Our message has to be diverse and well developed. We can’t just put out a message of we are loosing our jobs and being harassed. That just won’t do. In a city like Detroit you know this. I am not telling you anything you haven’t seen for yourselves your entire life. The message isn’t what’s in it for you! The message is what ARE THEY LOSING!

By now everyone already knows the post office is mentioned in the Constitution of The United States Article 1, Section 8, Clause 7 “to establish post offices and post roads”. The constitution was ratified September 13th, 1788. So if my math is correct that makes us a 224 year old organization. At that point in time the post office was listed before the roads, the army and the navy. People need to know who we are from a historical perspective. The American people wouldn’t allow the roads, the army and the navy to shut down. But they will let us be shut down if we don’t tell them who we are and where we came from.

The post office financial crisis is self manufactured for the sake of privatization and dismantling. First they will take your job. Then they will take your retirement and benefits. It does not need to happen. The CSRS retirement system is over funded by tens of billions of dollars. The FERS retirement system is over funded by tens of billions of dollars. The employee retiree healthcare system is over funded by tens of billions of dollars. If the number of plants and small town post office close that the post office wants to close there will be in excess of 100 billion dollars of real estate vacant. And you can bet there is not one single penny of a mortgage on single post office in America. This is all about GREED and what the GREEDY people want is what you have worked for your entire adult life! So do you roll over and play dead or do you step up to the plate and knock it out of the park. Remember “it’s your money and THEY want it now!” Don’t let them take it!

90 percent of the mail is hauled by Fedex the other 10% is hauled by UPS. Why does this not make sense? What a conflict of interest. McDonalds doesn’t purchase hamburger from Wendy’s and buns from Burger King. Do they? What’s wrong with that picture? Then add the addition of last mile deliveries by our letter carriers for both Fedex and UPS that the post office collects pennies on the dollar for. There are thousands of Fedex boxes sitting right in front of post offices all over America. This is wrong! The public needs to know. Members of the one trillion dollar mailing industry have influence with Congress, the PRC and the Postal Board of Governors. This has got to change. The very banks and other financial institutions that belly up and the government had to bail out used us as a major to tool to steal from the American public! They get a bailout and we get the shaft. Oh and they have influence on Congress, the PRC and the Postal Board of Governors.. We have to tell the public.

So what are the common sense answers to some of the tough questions? It takes 9 pounds of standard bulk rate mail to equal the revenue from one pound of first class mail. Raise the price of standard bulk rate mail. Congress already gave the largest of those companies bailouts the American people don’t need to subsidize the banking industry. At one point in time the APWU offered the post office to do work for the price they gave drop shippers. Of course the post office balked at that!
We need people who have time to write letters to congress as well as the media. We need local unions and it’s members to donate funds. We need volunteers.

I could go on for hours and days about the things my eyes have seen and the wisdom I have gained working in the post office. However I am not a know it all. Not even close. I am positive many of you know much, much more than I do and you are more than welcome to share that information on our face book pages. I am very open to read and respond to all emails. I appreciate the honor of writing for your newspaper and anyone who wants to befriend me on face book feel free to. Below is a list of what we want to accomplish. And there is a plan in place to get the job done.


WHAT WE WANT TO DO
Our mission is to help preserve the post office in it's current form with the least amount of change possible.
We will seek out volunteers to assist in this goal. People of like mind who appreciate the services the post office currently perform.
We will lobby in defense of any rural post office facing closure.
We will lobby in defense of any mail processing center facing closure.
We will lobby in defense of 6 day delivery week to continue.
We will organize peaceful rallies any place where people may congregate.
We will find creative ways to promote our cause.
Our goal is to seek positive media coverage for our cause.
We will raise funds to pay for television, radio, newspaper and internet advertising for our cause.
We will organize email and letter writing campaigns to members of government at all levels.
We will seek funds to print promotional material for our cause. These items will include but not limited to the following. (t-shirts, hats, pamphlets‘, brochures and associated items)
We will seek the assistance of lawyers and legal professionals.
We will lobby for assistance from any and all labor organizations.
We will lobby for assistance from all concerned citizens groups.
We will stand firm and fast that it is our constitutional right to have the healthiest, most transparent post office in all the world.
We will work to unite the major labor unions of the post offices. As well as the professional associations representing the management of the post office and postmasters.

SUMMARY OF THE HATCH ACT BASICALLY WHAT WE CAN DO AS INDIVIDUALS

Federal and D.C. employees may:

Be candidates for public office in nonpartisan elections
Register and vote as they choose
Assist in voter registration drives
Express opinions about candidates and issues
Contribute money to political organizations
Attend political fundraising functions
Attend and be active at political rallies and meetings
Join and be an active member of a political party or club
Sign nominating petitions
Campaign for or against referendum questions, constitutional amendments, municipal ordinances
Campaign for or against candidates in partisan elections
Make campaign speeches for candidates in partisan elections
Distribute campaign literature in partisan elections
Hold office in political clubs or parties

Federal and D.C. employees MAY NOT:

use official authority or influence to interfere with an election
solicit or discourage political activity of anyone with business before their agency
solicit or receive political contributions (may be done in certain limited situations by federal labor or other employee organizations)
be candidates for public office in partisan elections
engage in political activity while:
on duty
in a government office
wearing an official uniform
using a government vehicle

I would like to thank President Ulmer, the members of the Detroit District Area Local and "The Detroit Postal Worker" for allowing me to voice my concerns. We must band and stand together to save the Post Office, which ultimately will save our jobs, our futures, our children's future. Thank you again.