Why unions are important for the working man and woman.

[alfredo]

Without representation, you wouldn't see such victories.

From an NALC (National Association of Letter Carriers) newsletter:

I am thrilled to announce that earlier today NALC reached a tentative agreement with the United States Postal Service on a new National Agreement. I pledged nearly a year ago that I would do everything in my power to reach a negotiated settlement that I could proudly send out to the membership for ratification. Despite an extended impasse and a long and difficult process of negotiation, I am pleased to fulfill that pledge.

The NALC Executive Council has unanimously approved the tentative five-year contract that will provide five wage increases totaling 8.85 percent over the term of the agreement, along with nine cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). They have joined me in strongly recommending the ratification of the contract by the active members of the NALC. If you are an active member, copies of the complete contract and associated MOUs, ratification ballots and related materials will be sent to you once all the contract language is finalized.

The contract eliminates casuals in the letter carrier craft, provides significant new protections against contracting out, and resolves numerous national disputes in a manner that preserves the NALC positions on several key operational matters. Although we had to accept increased health insurance contributions, the pay and job security improvements achieved far outweigh these higher costs.


A press release and a description of the 2006-2011 National Agreement can be found on the NALC web site and more details will be provided in the August Postal Record.

I wanted to notify the union’s e-Activists first because all of you deserve a lot of the credit for what we have achieved. Thanks to the political and legislative pressure you exerted on Congress, the Postal Service finally returned to the table to deal with the key threat of letter carrier outsourcing. Our success as grass roots lobbyists and in organizing strong informational pickets in the field forced the Postal Service to abandon its rigid positions on outsourcing. Thanks to all of you, we were able to avert the need to go to interest arbitration.

The new contract will protect all existing city carrier work against outsourcing over the term of the agreement and a national Joint Committee will seek to address the issue of Contract Delivery Service for new deliveries during a six-month moratorium on outsourcing in offices where city carriers work. For this reason, we will ask Congress to pause for a few months before acting on a legislative ban on contracting out. But if we do not get a satisfactory contractual solution to this problem, I will be calling on you once again to help us win a legislative prohibition.

Thank you once again for your support and solidarity. Congratulations to all of you for helping NALC win a fair contract for America’s letter carriers.

In Solidarity,

William H. Young
President

[senseandsensibility]

1. Congrats, postal workers!

:toast: :toast: :toast: :toast: :party: :party: :party: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: I am not a postal worker, but I know that victories for working people will build and spread out to others. That's how most of us got a forty hour work week.

[alfredo]

2. Yeah, the Post Office wanted to stick it to us, but our union was

strong. Now we need the rest of the country to start standing up against the bosses.

[cherokeeprogressive]

3. Collective bargaining benefits some, hurts others.

The OCTA strike in Orange County is causing people less fortunate than most, and people who are physically challenged, to lose their jobs and be dropped from classes.

Who will speak up for these people? Their employers aren't going to invite them back after the strike is over.

And yeah, I'm a union member.

[alfredo]

5. It's a game of nerves. The bosses know the weakest will be hurt

by a long strike and will refuse to bargain in good faith to raise the stakes for the union. I used to see the coal companies do that in eastern Ky.

[unkachuck]

4. not too shabby....

....see, all you Shit-Mart empolyees, you too could be earning an actual living with dignity....

[senseandsensibility]

6. Morning kick

We got a labor thread on the greatest page, I see.:-)