Affiliation


Websters defines "affiliate v. To join, connect,or associate with. affiliation. As you can see in no, way does this mean or say the elimination of the NRLCA or it's identity, we cannot afford to do that nor would we want too. We are under attack from the USPS and we have seen that we as an Association have been unable to correct same. How you ask? I will elaborate, first we need to look at our ability to bargain in good faith with the USPS I certainly don't need to detail the losses we've incurred in the last 2 arbitrated settlements only a couple should do.

The Wells decision that changed our time standards. Next the Fishgold decision that cemented the Wells decision and failed to properly address EMA or compensation. At our State convention our National representative underestimated when he told us " the USPS has Attorneys that do nothing all day but figure out ways to take advantage of the crafts" with that knowledge in hand we continue to go into negotiations with an open mind and belief that the USPS will bargain in good faith.

We have seen with our last negotiation our leaders go into those negotiations with evidence defining the actual costs of the use of our vehicles and settled for much less and told us what a great deal this was. ( Special Contract Edition, President Donnie Pitts " I am extremely proud of what the NRLCA has been able to achieve for rural carriers across the country. This is an excellent contract"  and even after we failed to ratify the arbitrator gave us a little more. I asked of Ronnie how much did we spend on the arbitrator for his services and failed to get a response and I know why, because the cost did not justify the means.

We know we spent millions on the cost study for EMA then millions more for an arbitrator who chose to do nothing and we still lost. Now I ask how can we justify the continued losses incurred by the members and not prepare for the next negotiations in the interest of the members, by giving them the best representation possible.  My next point will be made by looking at 2 crafts that have affiliated those are the NALC who bargained an almost 9% increase of wages over the course of their contract and the APWU who bargained a step level increase along with there pay increases. Certainly these should be enough to argue at looking into an affiliation.

Now the argument of we would lose our identity is a false one as they certainly haven't and the cost is written off on our taxes. So where is the argument of looking at an affiliation? It is the fear of doing something different, this argument has cost this craft again and again yet we continue to " do the same thing expecting different results" why? We are out of our league when it comes to negotiating with the USPS as we cannot afford to retain attorneys to do nothing but work full time on our negotiations yet that's exactly what the USPS is doing. This is not my opinion but that of our Association.

This National convention is the one where we need to look into an affiliation so it can be presented, pros and cons to the 2009 membership at that convention. in the words of one of the great leaders of the 20th century " We have nothing to fear but fear itself".   Certainly we as a membership can't wait till our darkest hour before we look to a more powerful base for assistance. I understand that a very strong opponent to this idea is those that are retired for change is scary but what is this Association bargaining for the future or the past? We cannot afford to look back and I understand this fact but where can we believe that a modified Union would bargain to betray our forefathers for we would like to be in their shoes one day.

Our belief that we as a membership of 70,000 members can continue to address the issues against one of the largest employers on the planet is a false argument, we are fooling ourselves if we believe we can. Never before have we needed an affiliation as much as we do now, and is it so frightening to even look?

And Thats The Way Jay Sees It