Vol. XXV, No. 07 / Jerry Sirois, President / March 10, 2004.

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RATS WANTED! WE’LL SUPPLY THE CHEESE

We are presently developing a list of people who would like to be involved as “Rapid Action Teams” (RATS) for the purpose of going to community and/or Labor actions to show support to those in their time of need. Here is how it will work:

1) We solicit and develop a list of volunteers who can be mobilized very quickly to pull our BBQ grill out to an approved site/function in order to provide cold and/or hot beverages along with hamburgers and/or hotdogs to volunteers and supporters who are at the approved site.

2) The availability of our RATS will be advertised to various groups such as other unions, the American Red Cross, etc. They can then call us at our NE office and provided their particular events are such that our participation would reflect favorably on the local and our members we will deploy our RATS!

3) In addition to the grill, beverages, and food, our RATS will be armed with a 24/7 Postal Workers in Action T-Shirt, our 24/7 Minneapolis Area Local Banner, any information about our issues we may want to have available, and a brief message to those at the event, and covering the event, about who we are, who we represent, and why we are there!

We will reimburse our RATS for their time! We need to have your name and days and times you will generally be available. If you would like to volunteer for our RAT teams, any other area of interest, or just have questions, please call 612-623-0677 and give Sheila your name and contact info, or ask to speak with Jerry or Peggy if you have questions.

JUST SAY NO TO USPS EMPLOYEE OPINION SURVEYS

We have been apprised that there continues to be attempts by management to have people fill out their Employee Opinion Surveys (EOS). While the names used by the USPS to describe these vary with many clever acronyms designed to improve the success of these survey attempts, to date, the Union's position has not varied and that position is that APWU represented employees should refrain from filling out surveys of this type.

It is obvious that USPS headquarters officials place a high value on the percentage of surveys they get back, but for what purpose? We are aware that management has deliberated and scratched their heads as to why employees resist the EOS, however, instead of contacting the employees’ elected representatives (The Union) to seek dialog, they continue to concoct new angles to entice employee participation. We have no other reasonable conclusion to draw other than to be extremely suspicious of management's motives when they continually refuse to contact us to engage in dialog regarding these surveys.

Isn't it a reasonable concept and expectation that If contact were made and it was demonstrated to us how a particular survey was going to benefit employees that there would be a far greater chance at gaining our cooperation and support and thus greater employee participation?

Our position has remained constant yet to our knowledge has yet to be addressed by management, either nationally, or at the local level. If our suspicions weren't enough to cause us to make these recommendations, we have clear and undeniable evidence that management has previously used EOS in their argument to either erode or eliminate employee benefits in past contract negotiations!

For all of these reasons we feel we are obligated and have been left with no other alternative than to make it clear to everyone that, other than high employee participation being a factor in managerial bonuses, Employee Opinion Surveys have not been shown to improve employee benefits, working conditions, or the USPS. While management may give you the impression you have to, we are unaware of any provision that requires or obligates employees to fill out an EOS.

You may be required to go into a meeting while on the clock where management attempts to persuade you to answer various questions that seem innocent, but you should not be required to fill out the form and if you are given a direct order to do so, ask for a Steward immediately.

If the surveys are for good intentions and are designed to make the USPS strong why can't management pick up the phone and call the Union so that we can fully examine the motives and discuss these intentions with management? Instead they continue to scratch their heads over poor employee cooperation and concoct new schemes to give the impression that an EOS is not voluntary! By all means attend on the clock meetings you are required to go to by management, even enjoy the coffee and rolls if they provide them, but as far as filling surveys out our advice continues to be ? Just say no to Employee Opinion Surveys!

DID YOU GO TO YOUR CAUCUS?

Our Legislative committee would like to get the number of our members who attended their precinct caucus on March 2, 2004. Please call Sheila at our NE office 612-623-0677 and let her know if you attended your caucus.