Vol. XXV, No. 26 / Jerry Sirois, President / October 14, 2004.

COLA! IT DOESN’T JUST ROT TEETH!

Union Officials and members in Columbia, South America have been subject to human rights violations at the Coca Cola bottling plants there. Eye witness reports – that have been undisputed – say that Columbian paramilitary forces, in concert with Coca Cola bottling plant managers, have murdered, tortured, and kidnapped Sinaltrainal (the Union) leaders and members in an effort to crush their union.

There is presently a campaign underway in the United States to put pressure on Coca Cola and its second largest shareholder, Sun Trust Bank, to acknowledge these violations and take steps to stop them! There are petitions to Coca Cola Board and Sun Trust Board members that give a summary of the human rights atrocities and appeal to them to stop these acts of extreme oppression. Additionally, many institutions that offered Coke products have pulled them out of their stores, universities, etc. Others will pull them out when their contract expire.

This is a by product of outsourcing jobs to other countries where there are low wages and no rights! Not even the right to have human dignity, or your life in some cases.

If you have questions, ask your Officers and/or Stewards about this! There are numerous reasons your Union is taking interest in this situation. Selfishly because if allowed to go on unabated it adversely affects Postal Workers and their families! Most of all, it is the right thing to do! Contact your Steward today for a petition, or visit our Union office(s). Additionally, feel free to call Jerry at 612-623-0677, or Pat McCann, President of the St. Paul Area Local with any concerns, questions, or input that will help our effectiveness in this endeavor! You can also go directly to the following web site for more info: www.killercoke.org

SAVE MONEY WITH ONE OF THE BEST – APWU HEALTH PLAN!

Unless you have your head in the sand, an APWU HAT over your eyes, have been stranded on an isolated island, or have just plain not been paying attention, then you are well aware – Health Care costs and Insurance is going through the roof! Speaking of attention, the first member who is not an officer or steward of the local that calls our NE office at 612-623-0677 will receive one of our new Minneapolis Area Local 24/7 hats free of charge! In the event it is a member who sees the bulletin when our NE office is closed, just leave your message – name and work area – and we’ll get you your cap! No non-members please, but we do have something for you too! We know you’re reading, so don’t stop now!

Help us figure this out! The APWU Health plan is one of the most highly rated health plans in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program. It offers some of the best care for the lowest costs - an innovative consumer driven option - you can pick your own doctor – office visits are easy, no forms to fill out, no paperwork, this isn’t your father’s APWU Health Plan.

Check it out! Our representatives will be at your office or an office near you during the Health Plan open season, NOVEMBER 8, 2004 thru DECEMBER 13, 2004. Additionally, we will have a dedicated representative attempting to personally contact Postal Employees who may be eligible to take the APWU plan but, up till now have not done so! Questions? Call Sheila at 612-623-0677. You can also speak to one of our plan representatives, Alice Crosbie at the Minneapolis P&DC 612-338-6225, or Dick Greenberg at the Bulk Mail Center 651-454-4492. When our dedicated representative is named we will publish her or his contact info also.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT - VOE SURVEYS

Just say NO! We have previously published in detail why the union does not support VOE’s. We have personally addressed these reasons with local management. They are either unable or unwilling to give us the assurances we would need in order for us to take a 180 and advocate to our members that they would benefit from filling ANY PART of these out. We have phones and are easy to contact. We are always willing to listen if someone would like to address this with the Union.

The bottom line is that we believe the agenda behind VOE’s continues to be an agenda that may not necessarily benefit the bargaining unit. If that has changed, we are unaware of the changes that have been made that would now cause us to pause and reconsider our long time position.

SPREAD THE WORD! No the APWU National does not support the VOE program and the Minneapolis Area Local does not support the program. When we say the Minneapolis Area Local, this means over 60 facilities that fall under our representative umbrella! Our most recent flap involving VOE administration was at our BMC, a highly regarded facility within our union family. BMC management has taken steps to resolve this and we publicly acknowledge their willingness to do so.

We are not advocating anyone disobey a direct order, however, no one should be required to fill any part of the current ‘voluntary” surveys out, and as they come as personal mail, the recipient should be allowed to take their mail with them to go over in the privacy of their own home if they desire.

Voluntary means voluntary! We have been notified that in some instances management is instructing employees to fill out at least a part of the form, and will not allow employees to take their mail with them so they can consider filling it out at a later date. If your manger does this, they are violating their own instructions from USPS headquarters, violating the contract, and quite possibly the National Labor Relations Act!

As mentioned, we believe our most recent incident has been resolved. However, because this problem crops up from time to time, if you are ever given a direct order to fill out the VOE or any part of the VOE, ask to see your steward! We need all facts involved in each and every instance; the NLRB forum is very serious and requires precise facts in order to be a resource for us when violations exist.

POSTAL AUTOMATED REDIRECTION SYSYTEM (PARS)

We last met with local management on Wednesday, October 6, 2004. We will most likely be meeting again if we can continue to help minimize the impact to all employees. This has the potential to affect clerks in the entire Minneapolis Installation (all 554 facilities).

In an effort to reduce the possible impact, the Union and management have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will give enhanced retreat rights to any Automated Markup Clerk who voluntarily bids out of a CFS pay location on or after October 6, 2004. In effect what it does is allows clerks to bid out before the actual excessing date comes and still receive retreat rights in the event a job opens up in CFS after the restructuring of the crews takes place in the future. See your Steward for any questions or concerns and stay tuned for more PARS news as it develops.