It's All In The Letters

   It's all in the letters!
  
        You know the business saying, it is always all about the numbers? In my opinion politics and our choice of who to support are always all about the letters. D,R, or I are always somewhere on any piece of legislation that is debated and voted on in our form of government. The person or persons who have proposed this bill are designated by their political affiliation. Democrat, Republican, or Independent will be stated somewhere. I personally really like this system. It is a shame that with the mood of the country we very seldom have more than one letter on any piece of legislation but maybe we will see an end to that in my lifetime. I plan on living for a few more decades so there is that possibility. The reason I do like the system is because you can match the letter with the proposals and what they request. It doesn't take a genius to connect the dots. Let me give you an example.

        There are 22 states with right to work laws in affect. Of those 22 states there is a R in front of the Governors of 21 of them. If you have been paying attention to the presidential debates going on you have heard all of the participants voice their approval of "RTW" laws. I might point out that at this time 7 of the 10 poorest states in America are RTW states. Now who do you think are benefitting from lack of unions in those places? You connect the dots. These are facts folks not rhetoric. We are fighting not only for union rights but workers rights. What is good for labor is good for America plain and simple. A vibrant economy can not be sustained with minimum wage jobs. Do not be timid when this subject is brought up with friends and neighbors.  

         If that sounds like I have made up my mind who to work for in the coming elections you would be correct. All I had to do was connect the dots. I hope you participate as well. We will be looking for volunteers.
      

 

          Ed Gorman

         Legistrative chair Br. 30

The Post Office and Billy Long

The Post Office And Billy Long by R. Duane Graham The Postal Service sells only one thing: postal service. So, naturally, those who are in charge of the Postal Service, in order to deal with a largely Congress-created financial crisis, want to jettison the service they sell.  That is what is happening with USPS management's move toward 5-day delivery and its plans to close mail processing centers and post offices all around the country. In Springfield on Wednesday, as Wally Kennedy of the Globe reported, the Postal Service held a public hearing on the closing of the mail processing plant in that city. If the plant were shut down, mail would be processed in far-away Kansas City. That would mean delivery standards for first-class mail would deteriorate. Mail that is now being delivered overnight would take a day or two more to deliver. And that would affect Joplin, too, because our mail is currently processed in Springfield. We all know that first class mail is declining in the Internet age; we all know there has been a serious recession and a slow recovery; but we all don't know that the real problem with USPS finances is Congress' ridiculous insistence in 2006 that the agency pre-fund 75 years of retiree health benefits in 10 years, which means about $5.5 billion off the top every year since 2006. Without that onerous requirement, there would be no financial crisis in the Postal Service, although it would still face some long-term challenges. But rather than focus all of its efforts on getting that burdensome requirement modified, USPS managers instead are slowly undermining the reason the Postal Service exists: to provide universal service in a timely manner. Wally Kennedy reported: So many people showed up for the public hearing that there was not enough room in the Executive Conference Center Ballroom, 910 W. Battlefield St., to hold them. Up to 100 people waited in line outside the center for seats to open inside. There are two very basic reasons why so many folks showed up. One, there are lots of well-paying jobs at stake, which around these parts are hard to come by in good times, not to mention challenging times.  Two, a lot of folks rely on the service that management is so eager to cut. The Globe story briefly demonstrates how: Specific segments of the business community, especially those with time-sensitive materials, such as newspaper and business journal publishers, said they would lose subscribers if the delivery of their products is delayed. Frank L. Martin III, editor and publisher of the West Plains Daily Quill, said, “This could very well put us out of business, and we are the only source of local news in our area.” Elaine Johnson, of Springfield, told the Postal Service representatives that she suffers from a medical condition that requires the timely delivery of medicine. She said she does not own a computer and relies on the Postal Service to help her keep in touch with other people.  As I said, USPS has only one product and that is the timely delivery of the mail. Messing with the quality of that product spells doom in the end. Finally, I want to put in a rare good word for Congressman Billy Long, who was in attendance and appeared to be trying to keep the processing center alive, according to the Globe: Echoing what some others said, Long expressed the hope that the Postal Service would take into consideration the fact that Southwest Missouri is the fastest growing area of the state. He said the loss of the mail processing center to Kansas City, the loss of dozens of good-paying jobs, and the fact that mail would take several days to be delivered instead of arriving overnight would not help the region further its growth. The paper also quoted him as saying, "This is pretty well a done deal. Is there anything we can do?" Why, yes, there is, Mr. Long. I'm glad you asked. You can co-sponsor H.R. 1351 (which will help straighten out USPS finances) and urge your colleagues to vote for it.  And you can co-sponsor and urge your colleagues to support H.R. 137 (ensures 6-day mail delivery), which was introduced by Rep. Sam Graves (MO-6). And you can vigorously oppose H.R. 2309, a bill sponsored by Darrell Issa that will eventually kill the Postal Service. If you do all that, then I might go easy on you for a while. View original post here.

Older Than The Constitution Institution

Older-Than-The-Constitution Institution

For any of you interested in the fate of the Postal Service, MSNBC’s Up with Chris Hayes devoted a couple of segments to it Saturday morning (a little over 16 minutes). Although it doesn’t happen that often on television, most of the discussion involved an accurate portrayal of the pre-national institution’s problems as well as a good presentation of the pre-funding issue that is crippling its finances.

As you watch, you can easily pick out the conservative on the panel, although for a conservative, Josh Barro of National Review and the Manhattan-Institute, is somewhat sympathetic to (and knowledgeable of) USPS:

Original post by R.Duane Graham at The Erstwhile Conservative

Class Warfare

I have been planning on writing this article for awhile but when I read the words of Venessa Freedle in the Oct. issue of our Postal Record I knew it was time. If you did not read it get a copy and do so. Great job Venessa.

    Why is it that the only time workers are accused of class warfare with the leaders/bosses/owners is when we fight back? It is so easy to get along with these folks when we never question them on issues that affect us and our families. Every letter carrier I worked with over the years wanted a decent wage and a safe and respectful workplace. I never worked with one carrier that wanted to be the richest person in the world. Yet somehow we are always the villains when negotiations or hard economical times occur. We are at war in this country right now with people who would strip all of the rights we have fought for so long to gain. None of these benefits were given to us. Not one member of management or our government said lets give these folks more holidays, better wages, safer conditions, a good retirement, or the right to negotiate our own contracts. Our union and us did that.

    There are people in this country who think stamps should be 10 cents and letter carriers should make minimum wage. There are people in this country who think we should not have the right to organize. There are politicians in this country who use us as a way to fire up their base and claim we are a prime example of government waste. There is a political party in this country who will do anything to eliminate all labor unions. There are union members in this country who somehow think they do not need union representation because the bosses like them just fine. I am a firm believer in the truism that you get what you work and fight if necessary for. Our union and us did that.

     In 1931 Florence Reece the wife of a union organizer for the Mine Workers in Harlan County, Kentucky wrote a song. The name of the song is "Which side are you on".

     The verses throughout the song are 

  Which side are you on boys?

   Which side are you on?

     I think it is past time for every letter carrier to look in the mirror and ask yourself that question.

Ed Gorman

MO State Convention Update

Greetings from your State Secretary!
The State Convention is quickly approaching.
This year it will be held June 3,4 and 5 at Tan-Tar-A Resort at the Lake of the Ozarks.
It is not too late to get a golf team together for the annual MDA golf tournament.
The cost is $70 per person.  It is always a good time and all proceeds go to MDA.
If you have any questions, please use the Contact us link in the sidebar.
We hope to see you there.

Right to Freeload Legislation

Right To Freeload Legislation Uncertain In Missouri


By Duane Graham  original article

I watched a simultaneously hopeful and disturbing clip of Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley this morning on the issue of the Right to Freeload* legislation that just passed through a Senate committee. The clip was posted by Missouri News Horizon and you’ll see why I found it both hopeful and disturbing in a minute.



Missouri Senate President Pro tem Rob Mayer is trying to figure out a way to not only get freeloading legislation passed through his chamber, but get it passed by a veto-proof margin. Democratic Governor Nixon will, of course, nix any such freeloading law, and since no Senate Democrats will support it either, that means Mayer will likely need all Senate Republicans to support it in order to overcome Nixon’s veto. That will be tough to do, hopefully.



But what I want to focus on is the pro-business agenda the Missouri legislature is currently pursuing. Obviously, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with trying to attract businesses to this state or any state. We need jobs. The problem arises when the pro-business agenda trumps all other considerations. In other words, The Missouri Chamber of Commerce should not be running the state legislature. But that’s how it seems.



The Missouri Chamber has outlined its priorities for this session in its Fix the Six agenda, which includes weakening our state’s minimum wage law, limiting the rights of injured workers, and making it easier to fire employees. This anti-worker agenda is, of course, advanced under the rubric of “promoting jobs” in Missouri. Fair enough. The Chamber of Commerce has a right to promote its agenda on behalf of businesses, just like labor unions have a right to promote theirs on behalf of workers in the state.



But in Missouri, now dominated by Republicans, the only agenda that matters is the business agenda. In the clip I saw this morning, House Speaker Steve Tilley classified the Right to Freeload legislation as “not a priority.” That’s good, at least for Missouri workers. That is the hopeful part of the interview.



However, it appears that the Chamber of Commerce wishes it would have named its pro-business agenda, “Fix the Seven,” since it now sees an opportunity to push through the Right to Freeload in Missouri, what with all the concerted attacks on unions by various Republican governors and legislatures around the country.



Either “Fix the Seven” didn’t resonate well with Chamber marketers or they just didn’t think they had a snowball’s chance to get freeloading through this session. Whatever it was, the Chamber didn’t originally include the Right to Freeload on its agenda and Speaker Tilley made that point in the short interview:



Tilley: My concerns is [sic] that when you have the business groups come together and said,”Here’s our top six things,” it wasn’t in the top six things and so my thought process is try to address what they think are the top priorities and then when once we’re done with those things, then we can take a look at it.



Question: The state chamber came out, though, late last week, and said they do back right to work…



Tilley: All I know is when they submitted—I agree—and I’m not saying that there’s not a lot of people in the House that wouldn’t support it. I’m just saying that right now we’re going to focus on the things that the business coalition sent us at the beginning of the year that we can find some compromise. And I think in the “Fix the Six,” I think what you’ll see is, you know, you’ll see bipartisan support for quite a few of those, maybe not all of them, but quite a few.



Okay. What we have here is Tilley acknowledging that he wants to concentrate on what is already on the Chamber’s wish list, without adding something new to it. But look at that language he used:



“…try to address what they think are the top priorities…”



“…we’re going to focus on the things that the business coalition sent us at the beginning of the year…”



That is the disturbing part. What is it that gives the Missouri Chamber of Commerce such sway over legislation in Missouri? Why should it have such sway?



What if a Democratic Speaker said this:



“…we’re going to focus on the things that the labor unions sent us at the beginning of the year…and when we’re done with those things then we will take a look at their other desires…”



No, a balanced approach, recognizing both the needs of business and the wellbeing of workers, is the proper way to conduct the people’s affairs in this state or any state. But here in Missouri it’s all one-sided, and, truthfully, it has been for years.



Fortunately, polls are showing that the people around the country are siding with workers and their unions.



In a CBS/New York Times poll, 60% oppose killing collective bargaining rights and 56% are opposed to cutting pay and benefits to reduce state budget deficits.



By a 42-31 margin, the public supports public sector unions against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, in a Pew Research Poll. Those who identified as Independents supported the unions by a narrower 39-34 margin.



I did find even better news in the Pew poll. If you look at the results below, those folks with modest incomes overwhelmingly support the unions because they apparently understand that unions represent the best hope they have of moving up the income ladder.



Also, younger folks are overwhelmingly supporting the union by a difference of 33%. That is a good sign. Perhaps we haven’t yet seen the end of the era of unionism, but only if unions can win the propaganda battle as workers age. Republicans and pro-business zealots are very, very good at this kind of propaganda. Here are the Pew poll results:







_____________________



* For those who don’t know, Right to Freeload, or as it is widely known, Right to Work, is a state statute that allows workers to obtain benefits obtained through union advocacy without having to pay union dues. I suggest you never go out to eat with a Right to Freeload supporter because he will always—always—expect you to pick up the check.

Article Shared by Randy Graham

The following was shared by Randy Graham, past President of Joplin Branch 366.  The original article can be found here.

Republicans Declare War On Workers

By Duane Graham

“That’s a war people will pay attention to.”

— Bob Woodward, today on Morning Joe

Forget Iraq and Afghanistan, by God we’re goin’ after the unions!  Johnny, get your gun! 

Some of the talk this morning on Morning Joe was about the seemingly sudden outbreak of war on labor unions. 

Republicans, of course, have always been in Cold War status when it comes to unions, with a fiery skirmish flaring up here and there over the last thirty years.  Remember Ronald Reagan and PATCO?

What’s new these days is that the GOP—drunk on Tea Party power—is ready to start dropping nukes on the unions.

From the New York Times on Monday:

Faced with growing budget deficits and restive taxpayers, elected officials from Maine to Alabama, Ohio to Arizona, are pushing new legislation to limit the power of labor unions, particularly those representing government workers, in collective bargaining and politics.

Wanting to hurry and start the bombing before the economy heats up enough to rob them of their largest justification, Republican reactionaries across America—including here in Missouri—are using the bad economic times and the resulting state budget shortfalls to obliterate unions once and for all time.

It’s true there are some Vichy-like Democrats in the mix, including New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and even the President himself, with their salary freezes for public employees.  But that’s small potatoes compared with what the real enemies of labor unions have in mind:

…in some cases — mostly in states with Republican governors and Republican statehouse majorities — officials are seeking more far-reaching, structural changes that would weaken the bargaining power and political influence of unions, including private sector ones.

For example, Republican lawmakers in Indiana, Maine, Missouri and seven other states plan to introduce legislation that would bar private sector unions from forcing workers they represent to pay dues or fees, reducing the flow of funds into union treasuries. In Ohio, the new Republican governor, following the precedent of many other states, wants to ban strikes by public school teachers.

Some new governors, most notably Scott Walker of Wisconsin, are even threatening to take away government workers’ right to form unions and bargain contracts.

“We can no longer live in a society where the public employees are the haves and taxpayers who foot the bills are the have-nots,” Mr. Walker, a Republican, said in a speech. “The bottom line is that we are going to look at every legal means we have to try to put that balance more on the side of taxpayers.”

Before I comment on that idiocy, I wish there was a way for those union members across the country, who in orgasmic delight ran—yes, ran—into their respective polling stations on November 2 and pulled the lever for union-hating Republicans, to immediately suffer the consequences of their actions. These ungrateful union members who supported Tea Party candidates and other Republicans deserve to lose every single benefit they enjoy today thanks to a union. 

It’s just too bad there isn’t a cosmic reality in which a union voter immediately suffers the consequences of voting for a candidate who seeks to destroy the very entity that allows him or her to enjoy what passes for a middle class income in America. 

I know some of these hypocritical union members—I used to be one and later, when I came to my senses, represented them—and I know how excited they were to see the Tea Party come to power under the umbrella of the GOP.  If these pitiful people had one tittle of integrity, after casting their deadly votes last November, they would run—yes, run—to their employers and give back everything unions have won for them, including in many cases their jobs. 

That said, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker’s threat to “take away government workers’ right to form unions and bargain contracts” is, like the GOP’s Kill Obamacare Act, a political pipe dream.  And his labeling public employees as “the haves” and taxpayers as “the have-nots” should give comfort to the real “haves” in this country, a handful of which make most of the real money and hold most of the wealth in America.

How a man dumb enough to utter such tripe became governor of a state is a testimony to the imputed wisdom of P. T. Barnum.  Apparently a lot of suckers cast votes in Wisconsin a few months ago.

But what really galls me is the following, as reported by the Times:

Of all the new governors, John Kasich, Republican of Ohio, appears to be planning the most comprehensive assault against unions. He is proposing to take away the right of 14,000 state-financed child care and home care workers to unionize. He also wants to ban strikes by teachers, much the way some states bar strikes by the police and firefighters.

“If they want to strike, they should be fired,” Mr. Kasich said in a speech. “They’ve got good jobs, they’ve got high pay, they get good benefits, a great retirement. What are they striking for?”

“Good jobs,” “high pay,” “good benefits,” “great retirement.”  How the bleep does anyone think they got these things, to the extent what Kasich said is true?  And who said they were planning on striking? 

Calling this stuff bullshit would insult bulls everywhere.

But what’s really galling about Kasich’s proposals—and he has other middle-class-killing ideas, including eliminating the state requirement that even non-union construction contractors have to pay union-scale wages—is that John Kasich is the son of a letter carrier.

That’s right.  The man who has declared war not just on unions but by extension on middle class wage earners is the son of a mailman, who was represented by—guess what?—a labor union.  The National Association of Letter Carriers represents all of the nation’s more than 200,000 letter carriers—even if they don’t pay dues to the union.

Here’s the way the Ohio Republican Party described the GOP’s newly-elected anti-union governor:

The son of a mailman, John grew up in a blue collar neighborhood in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh. Like many Americans his values were shaped by a childhood rooted in faith, family, community and common sense.

Kasich’s blue collar background has given way to a scarlet conservatism; his childhood rooted in the Catholic faith has given way to evangelicalism; his first family has given way to divorce; and his community values and common sense have given way to the economic philosophy of the Republican Party, which is not only anti-worker, but is more than willing to hold the unfortunate among us hostage in return for billions upon billions of dollars worth of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, many of whom didn’t want them. 

Even now they plot to jeopardize the full faith and credit of the United States and risk economic disaster in order to obtain spending cuts in programs designed to make life better for those folks not fortunate enough to belong to a labor union.

Beyond that, it’s simply unconscionable to solve the nation’s budget problems by attacking the one instrument in our society that has lifted more people out of poverty than any other.  It’s unconscionable, but it’s not surprising.  The Republican Party, after all, has never been a friend of organized labor.  It has never been a friend of those who through collective bargaining seek a bigger piece of the American economic pie because that means less of the pie for the main constituents of the GOP: the wealthy.

Finally, nothing says more about the current state of Orwellian Republican politics these days than the following:

Republicans have decided to excise the word “labor” from the name of the House committee handling education and, yes, labor issues.

It’s time to say so long to the Education and Labor Committee and hello to the Education and the Workforce Committee, the Wall Street Journal‘s Washington Wire reports.

As the Wall Street Journal pointed out, Newt Gingrich did the same thing in 1994.  It’s the Republicans’ way of giving the finger to organized labor.  But it is more than that.  The change from “labor” to “workforce” is, indeed, important.  And revealing. It demonstrates exactly how Republicans view those who work for a living.  As Keith Olbermann put it:

No longer is it your labor. Now it’s big business’s workforce.

Get it?  Republicans see the average Joe as mere cogs in a money-making machine.  A pool from which to pick and choose and then abuse, when the time comes.

And there is no doubt that labor unions, representing the interests of the folks who actually do the work but often don’t reap the benefits, are a problem for businesses that seek ungodly profits at the expense of those who make all profits possible.

And as for public employee unions, they too get in the way of Republicans, who with their small- and often anti-government fanaticism, are trying to starve the government of much-needed revenues so as to reduce not only its size but it’s effectiveness in restraining the we-want-it-all mentality of corporate and other business interests.

It’s just a shame that these days some Democrats are, no matter how gingerly, buying into this philosophy, and are thus marching with Republicans as they make war on the most faithful of Democratic constituencies.