10/20/02
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE
On Saturday, October 19,
2002, Postal Workers from throughout New Jersey gathered at the site of the
still closed Trenton P&DC in Hamilton Township, New Jersey to mark the
anniversary of the facility's closure due to Anthrax contamination.
Joining Postal Workers on this somber and prayerful occasion were Senator
Frank Lautenberg, Congressman Chris Smith, Hamilton Township Mayor Glen
Gilmore and many other political dignitaries. Representing the American
Postal Workers Union were Vice-President Cliff Guffey, Northeastern Regional
Coordinator Liz Powell, National Business Agents Eric Wilson, Mike Gallagher
and Bob Pritchard, as well as leaders from the New Jersey State Postal Workers
Union and the state's local unions.
Presiding over the event,
Trenton Metro Area Local President Bill Lewis (left) thanked Congressman
Smith, Mayor Gilmore, Senator Robert Torricelli and the other political
leaders who have fought tirelessly for the employees of the Hamilton Township
facility since its closure a year ago. He then called upon all Postal
Workers everywhere to break down the walls and artificial barriers that
management has built to separate us in their efforts to "divide and conquer."
"This struggle," said Lewis, "belongs to every Postal Worker in
the country." It doesn't matter, said Lewis, if you are a clerk, a
mailhandler or a letter carrier, a member of this local or that local; so long
as management can treat a single employee with such complete disregard as the
Trenton employees have experienced, we are all at risk. In just their
latest display of disrespect, Lewis informed the gathering, the USPS has
instructed the Central New Jersey District to end bus service for the
dislocated employees.
Congressman Chris Smith
(right) spoke on the Bio-Terrorism bill, which was just passed by Congress.
The Congressman then expressed how he has come to learn what Postal Workers
have long understood--that USPS management is uncooperative. When the
terrorists attacked, the Congressman said, "they
attacked everyone." It should have been a time of working together to
restore what was lost; it should have been a "team effort." While
initially giving them the benefit of the doubt, Congressman Smith stated that
he has become increasingly frustrated with USPS management and is coming to
believe that "they're putting us off and using this as an excuse to eliminate
jobs. We've got to make sure that these jobs are not lost!"
Congressman Smith emphasized that the Trenton facility must be cleaned and
reopened--doing business as they have always done business--before we can
declare victory over terrorism. And he added to those assembled, "you
deserve nothing less." Finally, Congressman Smith expressed concern over
the dichotomy between the government's rapid attention to the Congressional
Hart Building and the snail's pace in cleaning the Brentwood and Trenton
facilities.
"This tragedy is not
behind us," Senator Frank Lautenberg (left) reminded and added, "We should not
neglect those who have been victimized." The Senator told the crowd that
he has always supported Postal Workers and, indeed, all working men and women.
Senator Lautenberg said that his high esteem for the nation's Postal Workers
did not grow out of last year's acts of terrorism. "Your efforts," he
told them, " have always been heroic. I stand with
you and will continue to stand with you." As Senator Lautenberg
concluded his remarks, he paid tribute to the deceased Washington Postal
Workers (Joseph Curseen, Jr. and Thomas Morris, Jr.) and to Trenton's Anthrax
survivors, and conveyed this simple philosophy: "Remember the fallen. Pray
for the sick. And fight for the living." The Senator pledged to
continue to do just that, as he has done throughout his distinguished career.
APWU Executive Vice
President Cliff Guffey (right) pointed out that, while the employees of the
Trenton and Brentwood facilities wait for their facilities to be cleaned, the
Pentagon, virtually destroyed on 9/11/01, has been entirely rebuilt and those
employees are back in their offices. Guffey laid the blame completely at
the feet of USPS management. "Where is the commitment?" Guffey
asked, and wondered aloud whether Postmaster General Potter was dragging his
feet and asking himself, "What's in this (the cleanup) for me?" Guffey
said that "I'm sorry" was not much consolation to USPS employees whose lives
have been turned upside down. He offered that people have a right to
expect more from a 40 billion dollar corporation. "They don't care," he
said. "They'd rather save a buck." Guffey echoed the sentiments of
Congressman Chris Smith in noting that we should all be in this together,
saying, "I just wish management would get with us and be Americans, too."
The day's final speaker
was Hamilton Township Mayor Glen Gilmore. Gilmore recently returned from
Washington, D.C., where he was inspecting the USPS cleanup efforts at the
Brentwood facility. "It just strikes me," he said, "that they really
don't know what they're doing." Gilmore stated that he would not abandon
the Postal Workers, as management seems to have done, and that no one else
should either. "This has to be a priority," he said.
This country, he stated, must stand by its men and women in uniform, "because
that's what you are." At the conclusion of his remarks, Mayor Gilmore
and Bill Lewis placed flowers and a small flag beneath the facility's American
flag as a Memorial. Bill Lewis asked that those who pass by or visit
this Memorial leave additional flowers as they do so.
Some of the Trenton
employees in attendance spoke of how the USPS had held "Employee Appreciation
Day" the previous day, on the anniversary of the Trenton P&DC's closure.
Those employees viewed this as the most vicious slap in the face imaginable.
Others, from Trenton and elsewhere, spoke of how their offices were offering
overtime, even "V" time, in an effort to keep them from attending the Day of
Remembrance. Meanwhile, the Postal Service throws a party to commemorate
the release of a new "bat" stamp. Clearly,
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES.
postalnews.com remembers
Region still
has much to do (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Mourners pay
respects at Ground Zero (CNN)
September 11, 2001 (San Antonio
Alamo Area Local)
Mail carrier dressed down for her 9/11 clothing tribute
USPS Stonewalls Trenton Anthrax Grievances
An Important Message From Trenton Metro
Area Local President, Bill Lewis
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Trenton Metro Area Local here in New Jersey is submitting the enclosed
information to generate discussions and request suggestions and strategies to
combat this unprecedented USPS attack on earned wages of Postal Workers.
As many of you may know, the Trenton P&DC in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, has
been a closed USPS facility since October 18,
2001. Since that time, Trenton employees have been temporarily reassigned to
work in five (5) separate Postal installations - as Temporary Duty Stations.
These Temporary Duty Stations in New Brunswick, Edison, Eatontown, South River,
Monroe Township and Toms River, New Jersey are not suburbs of Hamilton Township
nor does Hamilton Township serve as a suburb of any of these locations.
Since October 18, 2001, the USPS has required the Trenton P&DC employees -
almost 700 in number - to travel - on their own time to these Temporary Duty
Stations.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement is clear. The Trenton P&DC employees are
required to be paid by the USPS for all travel time to Temporary Duty Stations
while their Permanent Duty Station - the Trenton P&DC - is closed due to the
Anthrax attack. Not only has the USPS withheld the wages of the Trenton Anthrax
victims, but has refused to participate in all scheduled arbitration hearings
for the issue.
The USPS refused to appear at the first hearing in July of 2003, claiming their
USPS Attorney-as-Advocate was unavailable. When rescheduled, the USPS claimed
their Attorney-as-Advocate was ill. When the APWU insisted the USPS appear
before the Arbitrator and request a continuance, the USPS agreed and then
contacted the Arbitrator in secret to cancel the Arbitration without
notification to the APWU. When the cases were scheduled for the third time, the
USPS refused to go forward and allegedly moved the cases to Step 4, claiming a
National Level Interpretive Issue existed. At the expiration of the 30-day
period - with no USPS identification of the nature of any interpretive dispute -
the cases were moved back to the Regional Level. With a fourth scheduling for
Regional Arbitration imminent, the USPS again moved the cases to Step 4 claiming
the Temporary Duty Stations referred to above were “defacto Permanent Duty
Stations.”
The USPS has made it clear they hope the issue - and the million in wages
withheld from Trenton APWU members - will be appealed to National Level
Arbitration where it can wait at the bottom of that pending list for the next
ten years.
We in the Trenton Local are seeking the aid of the Local and State APWU Unions
so that the most effective method can be developed to fight against this
unprecedented attack against earned wages of Postal Workers. We also plan to
bring this issue to the February President's Conference in Connecticut for the
agenda.
You can visit our Web Site at
TrentonMetroAreaLocal.com for the entire, more detailed history of the
issue and the events up to the present.
We certainly appreciate your
discussion, your input and your help.
One last word - if the USPS is successful in continuing the stonewalling of the
Regional Arbitration of this Wage Withholding, the USPS will - as their strategy
- use the black hole of Step 4 arbitration appeals - and the many years delay -
to stonewall other issues of great import to the APWU. If this USPS manufactured
“Defacto” Permanent Duty Station position is successful, all temporarily
dislocated APWU members will be denied pay whenever a facility is temporarily
closed.
THIS AFFECTS ALL OF US!
HOME
FIGHTING EXCESSING
Following The December 4 New Jersey State Postal Workers Union
sponsored seminars in Tinton Falls, an Article 12 Council was convened where New
Jersey Local Presidents and National Officers strategized and coordinated
efforts to fight excessing in the state.
Pictured (left to right) Central Jersey President Linda LaFauci, Jersey City
President Karen West, Trenton Metro Maintenance Director John Barry, Trenton Metro
President Bill Lewis, Red Bank President Joe Shevlin, National Maintenance Craft
Director Steven Raymer and National Maintenance Representative-at-Large Idowu
Balogun. Also present, though not pictured were Jersey Shore Area
President Kevin Meiners, Mid-State President Hank Rauer, Red Bank Vice President
Mike Levine, and NBA Jeff Kehlert.
