Late this afternoon I went to see my oldest granddaughter play softball in a nearby community. It was about an hour and thirty minute drive. The sun was shining and Spring has definitely sprung in Central Indiana. The grass and the trees are green.
I took the time to reflect on what the APWU President said last night during his livestream about the post office’s finances. I found his matching blue suit with boutonniere and fedora very tasteful. The fact he always brings a pleasant smile and relaxed disposition will definitely work to the APWU’s benefit during contract negotiations.
The further I drove I found myself getting angry. Eventually very angry. The first thing I thought was this livestream was scheduled approximately two weeks ago or so. I don’t know the exact date but it’s been awhile. It’s just been two days or three days since the Postmaster General announced he was stopping payments into the FERS retirement system. Then yesterday we have the AP press releases announcing the vote by mail campaign. It takes a little bit of time for those type of things to fall together. I have organized two of them personally.
The further I drove I thought I needed to talk about my feelings and consider the thoughts of others. I managed to catch a couple people associated with the APWU on the phone and got to put out a lot of my frustrations. I suggested they put out my feelings far and wide about how I feel. I will not tolerate to be disrespected. End of that statement.
Me and the seven degrees of Kevin Bacon I am just that guy and don’t understand why but it’s a just a thing. I get to the school at White River Valley which is really close to Eastern Greene the school that produced the University of Michigan head basketball coach that just won the national championship. So I get into a discussion with a lady in a black jacket that had the letters FCC on it. It didn’t take long to go from angry to dam pissed off.
So I said ma’am are you an AFGE member? Her answer was yes I used to be but the PRESIDENT took away our collective bargaining rights! Certain types of Federal Law Enforcement Officers are no longer allowed to belong to LABOR UNIONS. I asked her how she felt about the post office dropping out of the FEDERAL EMPLOYEES HEALTH BENEFITS PROGRAM. She said it has cost her dramatically more money and the plans don’t seem as strong. Final question did you hear about the post office not paying into FERS and how would she feel if we dropped out of the retirement programs with the rest of the FEDS. She said she wasn’t a fan.
Now I am going to tell you straight out if we’re going to sellout our fellow federal unionists a second time while they’re struggling to survive we might as well drop out of the AFL-CIO because those folks won’t exist to help us out one bit. If we don’t parse our words wisely we will be decertified as a union.
Now what’s even scarier this morning multiple people mentioned to me their concerns about what they heard and what they thought. I stand with Jonathan. He’s one heck of a good guy. I watch what he says on a daily basis and I pray about it. He’s not doing his regular jam of just going with the flow, trying to share his vision of spirituality. He’s really a chill guy when he’s in his element or character. Help him. Pray for him. I think he’s gotten some really bad advice throwing the retirees under the bus one more time should not be tolerated.
I encourage everyone to engage in friendly dialog as if you were long lost family members.
– Submitted by APWU Retiree Member Jerry Stidman