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Changes to the ABA!
All our members are automatically included in the ABA’s
Value Plan as a benefit of membership in the Local. This plan includes a $12
benefit for each day of disability from a covered accident, a $6,000 Accidental Death Benefit, and various lump sum payouts
for dismemberment. No medical exam is required for coverage, and you can opt
to continue the plan after you retire.
The ABA has expanded the benefits of the plan by including
a $2,000 accidental death benefit for the spouse of a member and all unmarried dependent children up to and including the
age of 18. This new Family Benefit Provision is included at no additional cost
to you.
There is also a ABA Advantage Plan available to members, that pays out $24 per day of disability from a covered accident,
and a $10,000 accidental death benefit. Should you wish more info on enrolling
in this plan, check out the ABA’s website www.apw-aba.org
You Work Hard
for Your Union
Let your Union
Benefits Work Hard for You
As an APWU member, you and your family are automatically eligible to receive
Union Plus benefits and discounted services.
Savings- Did you know that APWU members could save over $2,600 annually with
the APWU Union Plus benefits? Here’s how you can start stretching your hard-earned paycheck:
· Flower
and Gifts Discount Save 20% when you send flowers, 100% satisfaction guaranteed. Visit UnionPlus.org/Flowers or call 1-888-667-7779.
· Car Rentals
Save up to 25 percent on car rentals and support your fellow union members from Avis, Budget and Hertz. Visit UnionPlus.org/CarRental
· Entertainment
Save on movie tickets, movie rentals, sporting events, gift certificates and more. Call 1-800-565-3712 and use ID: 744387769
or visit UnionPlus.org/Entertainment.
Service- Union Plus benefits
guarantee member satisfaction.
Working families never need
to settle for less with Union Plus. Our member advocates, who are OPEIU Local 2 members, work with the program providers,
so if you encounter any problems or concerns, they're here to assist: 1‑800‑472‑2005 (8:30 a.m. ‑
4:30 p.m. ET, weekdays) or online at UnionPlus.org/Customer.
Solidarity- Supporting union-made products and services
strengthens the labor movement and ensures quality goods and services at UnionPlus.org/UnionMade
·
Union-Made Clothing Save up to 10% off the latest quality apparel, union-made in the USA.
· Goodyear
Tires and Service Find union-made Goodyear tires made by United Steelworkers (USW) and the United Food and Commercial Workers
(UFCW) and save 5-10% on car service and tires.
· Hawaii Cruise –Book a cruise on the world’s only all-union cruise ship to Hawaii through NCL Cruises with a special 5% discount.
More than ever, it pays to
be a member! For more info on the Union Plus
discounts, stop by the Steward’s desk, or call us 651-778-1637
$200 Weekly ‘Union Difference’
Median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage
and salary union members were $908 per week in 2009, compared with $710 for workers not represented by unions, according to
a new report from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The agency said union members earn 28 percent more than their nonunion counterparts.
Responses to Eight Reasons Non-Members Won't Join
the Union
or to Members Wanting to Quit – Reprinted from the Rank and Filer
The following is a list of common reasons non-members give
for not joining, and some responses that will give them something to think about.
REASON 1: I can't afford the dues.
RESPONSE: Could you afford to work for $6 an hour? That's what you would be making if there were no union. You don't
really believe the Postal Service gives you raises out of the goodness of its heart, do you? You saw the wage package the
proposed in the last contract negotiations. They think you make too much. Management wanted to freeze your wages, cap the
COLA and cut benefits. You've got it backwards. Given what management wants to do to our pay and working conditions, we can't
afford not to pay union dues. The union is all that stands between our paychecks and management's give back demands. Don't
you want the best contract negotiators, union advocates, and stewards working on your side? The union can't afford them with
out your dues money. Can you afford to have the second best negotiator on your side at contract time? Can you afford to have
less than the best trained steward or advocate representing you when your discipline or termination is on the line?
REASON
2: I don't believe in unions.
RESPONSE: Do you believe in termination without just cause? Do you believe in child
labor? Slave wages? No retirement system? Straight pay for overtime? 84-hour work weeks? Monetary fines for breaking rules
that management set up solely to be able to fine you and get their money back? Didn't they teach history where you went to
school? All those things happened before there were unions. Some still happen in other countries, and in non-union labor industries
in this country. Unions are the only means for the workers to deal with management on an equal basis. Unions, not businessmen
or bosses, brought this country into the 20th century. How can you believe in America
and not believe in unions?
REASON 3: I don't need to be a member. I get everything that members get without paying
the dues. That's the law.
RESPONSE: It is? The law says only that raises apply to non-members as well as members,
and that the union must handle grievances for you. If you get injured on the job and have to fight a long compensation claim,
you get no help from the union unless you are a member. If you have an EEO complaint, the union won't represent you unless
you are a member. Union insurance and discount plans are available to members only. Members alone are eligible to vote for
union officers, and to ratify contracts. Only members get to choose whose their union representatives are through democratic
elections. Non-members have no say in who represents them. Many rights are stamped, "MEMBERS ONLY."
REASON 4: Who
needs the Union? What has it ever done for me?
RESPONSE: More than three quarters
of the things that make your job worth having exist only because the union exists. If you haven't worked here long, ask somebody
who has how great a place this was to work BEFORE the unions. If the unions ceased to exist tomorrow, how long do you think
you'd have the salary and benefits you have now? See responses one and two.
REASON 5: I don't like so and so.
RESPONSE:
One person isn't the union or this local. The union is all of us. So you don't like one person. By not being a member, you're
hurting everybody, including yourself. If you've got that big of a problem with an officer, then run against him. But don't
just drop out. People who didn't like Ronald Reagan didn't renounce their citizenship.
REASON 6: The union is just
here to get trouble makers out of the trouble they deserve to be in.
RESPONSE: Yes, the union defends anybody who's
in trouble. Isn't that part of the union's job - to make sure everybody gets his day in court? That isn't all the union does,
though. The union works to create jobs, improve working conditions and make sure no one's rights are violated. Look at responses
one and two. Grieving disciplinary actions is the union's job, but it's far from the only job.
REASON 7: I don't want anything to do with the union. I'm
trying to get promoted to boss.
RESPONSE: 80% of the employees in here are union members. Over 90% of the people promoted
in the last five years have been union members. Notice a trend?
REASON 8: I went to the union with a problem and didn't
get any satisfaction.
RESPONSE: Did you talk to somebody higher up? Did you bring it up at a union meeting to try
to get some action? Is one bad experience really reason enough to just give up on the union? Are you sure you really had a
legitimate grievance? If you don't believe the union is handling things properly, that should be the reason that gets you
involved in the union to try and change things, not a reason to get out. The union isn't perfect, but it's all we've got to
protect our rights and jobs.
Which side are you on?
There’s an old folk song by Pete Seeger (there’s also a great cover of the song by Natalie Merchant) that
starts with that line. It goes to say you’re either a union man, or a thug
for JH Blair, (a mining company). Back in those days, the battle lines were more clearly drawn, and the battles more violent.
But we are in our
own battle today. The battle to preserve the Service, and to preserve one of
the last well paying jobs available to those without college educations. A job
that allows you to buy a home, have a comfortable life, and even send your kids to college.
A job that lifts families from one class to another, a job that allows people to work hard and earn the American Dream.
In this battle,
we need to ask, which side are we on? Are you pulling your weight? Paying your dues, even if you don’t file grievances? Are
you supporting COPA? Contacting your representatives on bills that are important to the survival of the Postal Service, or
that protect your contractual bargaining rights through the Union?
Or are you on the
side of those that would see the Service privatized and dismantled for profit? Those
that would do away with first class protection and universal delivery at the same low cost rate? Are you taking all the benefits the union fights for but not contributing to the cost of the fight by paying
your dues?
I ask you, which
side are you on? Which side are you on?
Consider joining the fight, we need all of us pulling together if we want to succeed.
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