Young union members, Airline Pilots,
bolster ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protesters
‘Save Our
Postal
Service’
Benjamin Franklin (photo right)
attended a “Save America’s Postal
Service” rally Sept. 23 at Portland’s
Pioneer Courthouse Square, spon-
sored by the National Association of
Letter Carriers (NALC) Branch 82.
Franklin is symbolic of the U.S.
Postal Service, having founded it in
1775 and serving as postmaster.
On Sept. 27, rallies were held in
every congressional district in the
country to deliver the same mes-
sage.
Today, as many as 3,700 post of-
fices (41 in Oregon) are targeted for
possible closure, and the postmaster
general is calling for an end to Sat-
urday delivery. Doing so would result
in the loss of some 35,000 family-
wage jobs. The postal service is a
self-funded federal agency that is ex-
periencing multi-billion-dollar
losses. A primary reason for the op-
erating deficit is a requirement im-
posed by Congress five years ago that
the post office set aside $5.5 billion a
Eight hundred young workers, ac-
tivists, and students attending the AFL-
CIO Next Up Young Worker Summit
last month in Minneapolis sent a letter
of support to protesters in New York.
The Occupy Wall Street movement
started Sept. 17 with a small group of
mostly young people protesting corpo-
rate greed, bailouts, tax breaks for the
super rich, and a political system be-
holden to the interests of Wall Street. It
has slowly gained traction, with several
thousand camped out in the financial
district. Nearly 800 have been arrested.
“...Next Up participants from around
the country stand with those on Wall
Street who are making their voices
heard,” the letter said. “The future of our
country depends on young people de-
manding the future we believe in. And
we believe that Wall Street should pay
for the damage they’ve done to our econ-
omy, our jobs, and our communities ...”
Several unions have joined with
protesters, including the Air Line Pilots
Association and the Transport Workers
Union. Amalgamated Transit Union
and United Steelworkers also have
pledged to support the activists. More
unions are expected to join the cause.
AFSCME local co-sponsors 9/11 event
year to pre-fund the medical costs for
retirees 75 years out.
“The current postal crisis has been
manufactured,” said NALC Branch
82 President Jim Cook. “No other
government agency is required to
make such a payment for future med-
ical benefits. If we did not have $5.5
billion a year taken away from our
operating budget, we would not be in
the financial crisis today. In fact, we
would be $700 million in the good.”
Postal unions are asking their cus-
tomers to write Congress and ask that
they repeal the pre-funding require-
ment. “Many have heard reports
about the USPS’s financial crisis,”
Cook said, “but few know there are
solutions that don’t cost the taxpayer
a dime.”
SALEM — AFSCME Local 2067,
which represents City of Salem em-
ployees, was one of two dozen sponsors
of “Field of Flags,” a four-day com-
memoration of 9/11 staged Sept. 8-11
at the city’s Riverfront Park.
“Field of Flags” featured over 5,000
U.S. and other commemorative flags
staged in 11 different areas of the park.
Local 2067 was the primary sponsor of
Area 6, the Pentagon Field, and as such
provided 125 banners for the event.
Throughout the park there were
flags placed to commemorate each vic-
tim of 9/11, U.S. military personnel
from the Northwest who have lost their
lives in the wars on terror, and two other
special fields to denote Oregon police
and firefighters who lost their lives in
the line of duty.
“This was another chance for our lo-
cal to reach out and participate in an im-
portant community event,” said Local
2067 President Jack Tucker.
The local co-sponsored a similar
event at the fifth anniversary of 9/11.
The Local 2067 contingent at the
memorial also sold flags in a retail booth
at the site. Proceeds from the flag sales
went to a local child abuse prevention
agency, a military personnel emergency
relief fund, and other charities.
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