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P.O. Contract Sellout

By VVAW

WORKERS: ROUNDS 1& 2, BOSSES: ROUND 3, FIGHT STILL ON

The new postal contract was laid on postal workers by the heavy hand of the government's arbitrator. It took the U.S. Postal Service, the federal mediator, and the top union officials over two months to engineer the forced settlement. The country's half million mail handlers, letter carriers and clerks were threatening to pull of an illegal strike nationwide, and had already voted down the lousy offer their union leaders tried to peddle to them. Conventions and leadership meetings had mandated direct action. Walkouts at the Bulk Facilities serving New York City and San Francisco had given a taste of the mail tie-up that was in the works, and 175 postal workers were fired for standing up to the sellout contract.

But, a group of misleaders named Andrews, Vacca, LaPenta, and Johnson took a dive. These presidents of the postal unions betrayed the mandates of their membership and agreed to binding arbitration. After two weeks of showcase negotiations, the arbitrator came down with his decision: he promptly took away key no lay-off protection in exchange for a little more money. To cover their sellout, two of the union presidents have set up phoney ratification elections, even though the mediator's decree is final, and they have no intention of leading a strike to change it. Andrews and Vacca hope that a "yes" vote on the contract will boost their slim chances for re-election to their union jobs during union elections in October.

The turning point came when the officials ignored union mandates so strike if the 15 days of renegotiation didn't produce a good contract. The "NO" vote on the earlier contract, and the threat of a strike had forced the U.S. Postal Service to re-open negotiations despite the statements of Postmaster General Bolger that he would never do it. But the scope of the re-negotiations was restricted to only two issues—pay and the no lay-off clause; arbitration automatically followed after 15 days if a contract wasn't agreed on.

As a result, Harvard labor arbitrator James Healy took away what all the judges, stand-by federal troops and union sellouts combined couldn't touch. With the power of the U.S. government behind him, Healy attacked the very thing that unions had declared non-negotiable—the no lay-off clause. From now on, new employees will not be protected against lay-offs until they have worked for six years. In the period from June 76 to June 77, 103,000 new postal employees were veterans, making use of vets preference; and one of the reasons so many vets saw the Postal Service as the place to work was the security offered by no lay-offs. But no longer!

This new category of workers will be more insecure in their jobs. The Postal Service will try to use them as a wedge against the rest of the work force. In fact this is happening already with part-time and short-term postal workers who have few rights and different conditions from the regular workforce. An original contract demand from rank and file workers for an all regular workforce was set aside by the union sellouts early in the negotiations.

Abandoning the no lay-off clause means that postal workers, already divided up into four different unions, will be in a weaker position to fight against job eliminations and speed-up in the future. The Postal Services calls it "flexibility, cost-cutting, and automation." In reality it is an attack on postal workers.

And it is even a step back from the contract which postal workers voted down earlier. Even with the cap lifted from the cost of living allowance, the new pay raise will stay under 22% over the next three years, well below the 39% and 37% won by coal miners and railroad workers earlier this year. Jimmy Carter's scheme to use postal workers as a spearhead in his attempt to drive down wages all over the country was at least a partial success.

Unchanged points in the original sellout include attacks on the grievance procedure allowing management even great power to harass and fire. It did not deal with demands against forced overtime, sick leave policy, or unsafe conditions, all points that the rank and file had demanded. Amnesty for the 175 workers who were fired because of the walkouts in Richmond, California, and Jersey City, NJ, was never even brought to the bargaining table.

Across the country, from the huge bulk centers to neighborhood sorting rooms, rank and file postal workers are focusing their anger on the top union officials who caved in to the Postal Service. After a militant walkout on both coasts which forced one contract out of the Postal Service, after rank and file rejection of the first sellout contract, after the threat of a strike forced the Postal Service to back down and engage in re-negotiations, the union misleaders finally managed to sellout. Working hand in glove with management, they threw away the power which the rank and file had built.

At the Denver Convention of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), angry opposition to union president Emmett Andrews erupted in a prolonged outburst against in the contract. Andrews was unable to speak for almost an hour as delegates hooted him down. At the same convention, they gave a standing ovation to a delegation of fired strikers and set up a relief fund of $50,000 to support these brothers and sisters, showing the rank and file support of the workers who took a stand for all postal workers.

Had he been able, Andrews no doubt would have done the same as the gangster leadership of the Mailhandlers Union which has not allocated one red cent for their 60 fired workers.

With a series of examples of how rank and file strength can win victories, postal workers now have the chance to voice their bitterness against the contract in one more vote. In protest against both the terms of the contract and the way it was dictated to postal workers, hundreds of thousands of NO VOTES will declare the anger of the rank and file.

The chance is also coming when postal workers get a shot at the union officials who engineered the sellouts. APWU head Andrews faces an election challenge from John Napurano, a candidate from Clifton, NJ. Joseph Vacca, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers is being challenged by Vincente Sombrotto, the head of the New York local. Even though neither challenger distinguished himself as a leader in the contract fight, both incumbents are likely to be knocked out for their betrayal of the membership.

Amnesty for the fired workers will be a key demand during the elections, with postal workers looking closely at how the candidates propose to win back the jobs of the 175 strikers. The fighting spirit demonstrated by these postal workers cannot be betrayed—no union can permit its members to be punished for fighting for what's right. And pious words and good wishes from candidates for union leadership aren't going to be enough since there have been plenty of these already. Instead, union members will look at exactly what these candidates propose to do—are they setting up defense funds, providing lawyers, helping to jam the hearings (a tactic which the striking workers are using already without the support of the union leadership).

A no vote on the contract and making amnesty the key issue in union elections are two steps in the continuing struggle of postal workers. Even though their victories along the path of the contract struggle were sold out, the key lies in organizing to make sure it doesn't happen again and continuing the fight.