State Summaries
Arizona G reetings from sunny Arizona. The Arizona State Association continues to contact congressional representatives re- garding H.R. 7629. By the time you read this, we will have held another meeting with Rep. Greg Stanton, and he will hopefully be the first of the House del- egation to sign onto the bill as a co-sponsor. We have held productive meetings with the of- fices of Reps. Crane, Gallego, Stanton, Biggs and Lesko, and are working hard to schedule as many meetings as we can to force action on this bill. In other news, and also as a reminder, the next state convention will be held in Yuma to- ward the end of April 2025. Mark your calen- dars now and be on the lookout for more infor- mation in the near future. Please continue to reach out to your repre- sentatives and senators and encourage them to co-sponsor all of our legislation. Thank you for your support and your hard work. The next three months just might decide our fate! In unity— Tim Fisher California A s I write this article, there is a lot of turmoil in regard to who the standard bearer in the Democratic Party will be in November. Whether or not that person is Joe Biden, as long as he or she supports the Postal Service and our right to collective bargaining, then that’s who we should support. If you think Donald Trump sup- ports working people, then I issue a challenge. Show me a piece of legislation he supported while president that strengthened unions. Show me any proof, any statement, some- thing, anything that reflects his commitment to supporting organized labor. Just because he spoke to the Teamsters does not make him pro-labor. If a UPS driver got injured on the job, would The Donald advocate that the injured employee should receive generous disability benefits? Please. Does Donald Trump support raising the min- imum wage? No. Does he support a worker’s right to form a union in his or her workplace? No. Does he commit to nominate pro-union men and women to the National Labor Rela- tions Board? Not only no, but hell no! Does he commit to supporting the idea that the United States Postal Service continue as an agency of the federal government that employs hundreds of thousands of people at the middle-class lev- el? If he had his way, the USPS would cease to exist. And that goes for most whose company he keeps. Please vote this November for candidates who support working people. No matter what your positions are on other issues, that doesn’t change the fact that you work under a collective-bargaining agreement, which can be done away with by a stroke of a pen (see Article 43 of the National Agreement). It matters who gets elected to office, espe- cially if they vote for legislation affecting your wages, benefits and working conditions. Eric Ellis 68 The Postal Record August 2024
Florida I n one of the hottest states in the country, dur- ing an unprecedented nationwide heat wave, Florida’s Gov. DeSanctimonius signed into law a bill that bans local governments from requiring heat and water breaks for outdoor workers. This is just one of many anti-worker and anti-union laws passed by the state legislature and signed into law by this governor. On a higher note, the letter carriers of Florida once again led the nation in the collection of food during our annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. Although we collected slightly less than in 2023, we collected 6.4 million pounds of food. Congrat- ulations to Tampa Branch 599 for collecting more than 1.9 million pounds, the largest amount of all branches in Category 3 and the largest amount nationwide. Congratulations to Clearwater Branch 2008 for collecting more than 1.5 million pounds, highest in Category 4 and fourth nation- wide. Others in Florida who were in the top three in their Categories are West Coast Florida Branch 1477; Spacecoast Florida Branch 2689; Lakeland Branch 1779; and Ocala Branch 1103. Our efforts this year were hampered by not being able to secure enough printed bags to deliver to every household prior to the food drive. Some of the sponsors who provided the bags in the past were unable to do so this year due to cutting their costs and the rising cost of the printed bags. It’s only due to determined efforts of FSALC President Friedman that we managed to get enough bags to cover approxi- mately three-quarters of the state. Last year, with our yearly lobbying efforts in Tallahassee, we were able to get into the Florida state bud- get a $400,000 appropriation for the purchase of printed bags, only to have it redlined by Gov. DeSanctimonius. Stay safe, stay hydrated, take rest breaks when necessary, and we hope to see you in Boston. O.D. Elliott Indiana T he Protect Our Letter Carriers Act (H.R. 7629/S. 4356) has one house rep and no senators as co-sponsors representing Indiana. This is one of 11 members of Congress who we have ignoring the crimes being committed against letter carriers while on the job. Maybe they do not agree that we should be protected on the street while on the course of our du- ties. Meanwhile, letter carriers continue to be attacked while on the street and are mentally and physically harmed. Apparently, the mem- bers of Congress from Indiana do not care about our safety, considering the one of 11. On June 28, Rep. Spartz was charged with a weapons violation after walking into a Wash- ington, DC, airport with her pistol. Should we assume she was protecting herself? Like most other members of Congress, hire a security de- tail. Meanwhile, letter carriers can only beg for an act of Congress to protect us while on the job. Oh…it is already there. We need her to co- sponsor H.R. 7629 and get her colleagues to do the same. Previously she supported NALC. We can’t let her stop now. The entire state of Indiana’s letter carriers and our family members should flood her email
inbox, her DC office, her DC address, her Indiana offices, her staff’s contacts, and any other oppor- tunity to communicate why the country needs the Protect Our Letter Carriers Act. Maybe we should take no action and simply celebrate her district’s 14 Olympian swimmers to win the gold in Paris 2024. Right now, her November 2024 election, this bill, and her gun charge have a connection. Congress is on break in August, and again in October. Advise them to co-sponsor the Protect Our Letter Carriers Act, H.R. 7629 and S. 4356. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. Kieaunta Roberson Kentucky T hanks to all our members across the common- wealth who contacted our two U.S. senators and their U.S. representative to support our NALC legislation. The easiest way to communicate with our federal reps is through the NALC website or use the NALC app on your mobile phone. Once there, you can go to the “Government Affairs” page. Then click on “Legislative Action Center.” You can register with NALC easily by combining your first and last name, ZIP, and last four of your social. Now you can go! And take action! Our leg- islation is described in simple detail. The legislative process continues despite the politics that rages across multimedia. When large numbers of constituents support legisla- tion in an election year, members of Congress and their staffs take notice (see postal reform). If you have questions about this process or the issues, then contact a NALC officer, steward or this scribe. The NALC reaches across all political parties to federal officials for the benefit of our members and their families. Congress has over- sight for all issues that affect USPS, our jobs and our benefits, including health care. Union activ- ists are harder to trap than stationary targets! Bob McNulty Michigan O n June 30, we held a training session for our LCCLs and LCPF coordinators in Lansing. Thanks to all our activists who attended on an early Sunday morning. Special thanks to Lansing Notice By making a contribution to the Letter Carrier Political Fund, you are doing so voluntarily with the understand- ing that your contribution is not a condition of member- ship in the National Association of Letter Carriers or of employment by the Postal Service, nor is it part of union dues. You have a right to refuse to contribute without any reprisal. Any guideline amounts are merely suggestions, and you may contribute more or less than the guidelines suggest and the union will not favor or disadvantage you by reason of the amount of your contribution or your de- cision not to contribute. The Letter Carrier Political Fund will use the money it receives to contribute to candidates for federal office and undertake other political spend- ing as permitted by law. Your selection shall remain in full force and effect until canceled. Contributions to the Letter Carrier Political Fund are not deductible for fed- eral income tax purposes. Federal law prohibits the Letter Carrier Political Fund from soliciting contributions from individuals who are not NALC members, executive and administrative staff or their families. Any contribution received from such an individual will be refunded to that contributor. Federal law requires us to use our best efforts to collect and report the name, mailing address, name of employer and occupation of individuals whose contribu- tions exceed $200 in a calendar year.
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