One thought on “Mike Nodine’s 2016 National APWU Picks (with explanations)

  1. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    Atlanta Metro Area Local
    Office held, if any
    Steward
    Why should you consider national APWU election advice from someone in the Atlanta Metro Area Local?

    First off, the Atlanta is one of the most diverse major International Cities on the planet with the busiest airport in the world. Atlanta was given the title of “The City Too Busy to Hate” during the Civil Rights movement, despite being the “Hub of the South” where it is located in the center of the region where overt racism was the worst in our nation’s regrettable past. Yet Atlanta gave safe refuge to many of our greatest Civil Rights leaders during that time which is an underreported major factor in the many successes they were eventually able to achieve.

    Secondly, the Atlanta Metro Area Local currently represents over some 2,700 Members, who work in every size Associate Office and Station and Branch and in every type of plant. The Atlanta Local represents Members from the inner-city to rural farm country in a massive geographical region that covers most of North Georgia. Whatever you have there in your Local, we have here too.

    Thirdly, the Atlanta Local represents APWU Members of every race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, age, veteran status, and disability.

    In short, more than any other APWU Local, the Atlanta Metro Area Local represents the truest cross-section of everything that makes America Great! To say that I am proud of my city and my Local would be an understatement.

    But the Atlanta Metro Area Local pays a price for its notable distinction too. Being a large sprawling Local, it is difficult to maintain communication with all of our Members and many in the more remote locations feel isolated and sometimes underrepresented. Compounding our problems is the fact that every type of problem that you have ever seen in your workplace, we have dealt with here as well. And it doesn’t help that many in the South in general are stuck in a mental time-warp thinking it is okay for management to treat employees as if they were working in a plantation. We are professionals who’s career is serving the American public with the lowest-cost best mail service in the world! And we should be treated fairly with the dignity and respect our dedication to that service deserves.

    Yet despite the many additional challenges the Atlanta Metro Area Local faces, we are Organized around 80% or so, almost exactly the same percentage our national APWU is Organized.

    Unlike any other candidate, these are the strengths that our former Atlanta Local President, Kennith Beasley brings to the table as our Southern Region Coordinator. Not only has Beasley seen it all, he has decades of experience dealing with it all. Which of course is why national APWU President Dimondstein picked him for his team to lead the South.

    Some have asked me privately why my current Atlanta Local President, William Flanagan has not taken a more prominent role in voicing his opinions about this 2016 national APWU election? The answer is simply there are not enough hours in the day to run our own massive Local. He is available almost 24/7 and while he cannot answer every phone call because is busy being one of our best advocates and working a constant stream of problems, but if you leave him a message, he will always call you back without fail. The Atlanta Metro Area Local President’s job is arguably, if not probably, the hardest Local APWU President’s job in the nation.

    Those are a few reasons why you should consider what the APWU’s Atlanta Metro Area Local is doing in this 2016 national APWU election, because we are the pulse of the nation.

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