4 thoughts on “A Proven Record Trumps Election Promises”

1. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
   APWU Gaylord Local
   Email Address
   john.l.marcotte@gmail.com

   My good sister, if you want to support the incumbent who rammed this terrible Medicare integration law down all retirees and active throats by attacking the ONE national officer who spoke out against it, that is your right in our democratic union. I support your right to speak freely. If you think speaking out publicly attacking my availability to the membership is a winning hand I will gladly compare my record of accessibility and response to the membership to the incumbent. Thank you for bringing that up.

   First off I don’t know when you reached out to me and I ignored you, if you could please tell me when that happened I would like to correct how that happened so it never happens to any other member and I can apologize properly and with context. Please know I take it as a requirement of being elected to be accessible to the membership and reply at all hours. I would encourage you to ask others in our union about my accessibility.

   However, again I will point out the truth that I condemned the harmful Medicare integration for all its flaws and voiced that in my calculations it would NOT save our retirees any money, steal choices and put USPS paid retiree health insurance at greater risk. The NALC and USPS were not able to even get this proposal serious consideration while I was your Legislative and Political Director, I spoke out again at it to EVERYONE who asked me, from the podium, at state conventions and at the Health Plan Seminar. Drawing the petty wrath of the incumbent with his gaslighting, character assassinations and bullying and it did not slow me down one bit in my outspoken opposition.

   I even reached out as a private citizen to the Senate committee both in writing and on the phone to articulate the actual impact of that bill before it was passed and urged them to NOT change our FEHB health insurance one bit and we must have language in any postal bill to prevent closures, consolidations and mail slowdowns. I taught at training at a tri-state seminar this year and told the truth exposing that the law actually does not have the benefits in it the incumbent’s administration is touting with this administrations officers in the room. I don’t know what more I could do but obviously you do.

   Thank you for your engagement on this issue and ten years of activism which is impressive and I applaud you for that. I hope this clears things up as it appears my opponent is desperate to hang on to power and trying to projecting his flaws on the other candidate is a tired politician trick. However retirees and working members know what he did to their health insurance, unleashed DeJoys attack on 50,000 USPS jobs and my constant outspoken condemnation of Medicare integration and any postal bill that does not have service standards or other protection of prompt reliable mail service and APWU jobs.

2. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
   Youngstown, Ohio A/L #443
   Office held, if any
   MVS Craft Director
   Email Address
   jamesevarner@aol.com

   My mother had a “”Lifetime” health benefits program when working for General Motors.

   GM spun off the factory to Delphi Automotive in 1999, with the assurance they’d honor the agreement. I said at the time that when they pulled the “General Motors” sign off the side of the building, that would be the beginning of the end.

   Delphi went bankrupt in 2005 and with the signing of a judge’s pen, the lifetime health benefits for those employees went with it. The union contract didn’t matter.

   I fear that with the move out of FEHB, and segregating us into our own much smaller and costly group, a huge obstacle was removed in future efforts to privatize USPS – and its employees.

   I fear that the creation of a lower-tier class of retiree, will mark the beginning of our end.

3. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
   APWU – Oakland Ca
   Office held, if any
   Health Plan Director (Ret.)
   Email Address
   bolesjuanita 48@ yahoo.com

   Yes, the facts do speak for themselves. During the past ten years, I, as a retiree have questioned parts of the bill on Medicare changes. A group of us wrote up a flyer and passed it out to.our fellow retirees. You,however, never engaged the rank and file with your opinions. I did not receive a call back from your office. President Dimondstein listened to my concerns and answered me several times. You were the Health Plan Director, if you truly believed you were right, why didn’t you shout it out?
   Most importantly, wasn’t it your place to bring these concerns to us?

   .

4. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
   APWU - Philadelphia, PA Area Local
   Office held, if any
   Retiree Activist and Advocate
   Email Address
   RZelznick@aol.com
   The APWU Candidate for National President, John Marcotte, responded to you after I shared your post in the 21CPW Facebook Group

   John Marcotte’s Response:

   You might want know the facts before you post sister: this concept of Medicare integration and separating APWU Members from federal employees was proposed by the NALC when I was your Legislative and Political Director in 2013 and I opposed it to them, to any and all lawmakers from that day forward and most importantly told the incumbent president in great detail that I opposed it and how it was a terrible idea for postal workers, retirees and how it violated the passed convention resolution out of Iowa that mandated postal workers stay with federal employees for health insurance. I still personally opposed it as Health Plan Director even when asked at state conventions from the podium (APWU Legislative and Political Director by constitution makes legislative decisions) and to this day. My father and mother lost their health care In Retirement and the first step was mandating Medicare B, a year or two later retiree employer paid health care was abolished.

   As far as “ proven record” The record of the incumbent ramming this bill down our throats will be losing around 5 million federal allies if our health care comes under attack, a smaller risk pool which has more spending per insured person that will raise premiums and it gave DeJoy the money to enact his closure and consolidation scheme killing 50,000 USPS jobs by eliminating the pre funding without restrictions preventing the USPS to spend that windfall on eliminating our jobs which is exactly what DeJoy said he would do if the pre funding was eliminated.