Thank you for your support and confidence in giving me the opportunity to serve you as one of the new Assistant Clerk Craft Directors. I promise to work hard and diligent to earn your trust. I have never forgotten where I came from, “the workroom floor.” I have held postal positions as Sales, Service and Distribution Clerk, Senior Mail Processing Clerk and Self Service Postal Clerk. My background is in customer service.
I have been active in the APWU since 1985, holding numerous positions in the Local from steward to Local President of the Northern Virginia Area Local. As a prior Local President, I worked my clerk craft duty assignment while serving in the position to earn the worker's respect. In 2001, I was elected to the position of National Business Agent for the Clerk craft of the Washington DC region. While serving as a NBA, with the help of the local stewards, I have achieved the highest win rate in arbitration for the entire country. Ninety-two percent of cases scheduled for arbitration resulted in an arbitration win, an arbitration consent award or a pre-arbitration settlement where we prevailed. As NBA, I arbitrated nearly all of the excessing cases for my region and we never lost a case involving excessing. I also handled most of the Casual-In-Lieu-Of cases for my region and we never lost a CILO case assigned to me.
Under Article 30.B( LMOU), I handled most of those cases for our region and we never lost an Article 30 case during this same nine year span as NBA. The reason we have been so successful is that I have been active with the Locals in helping them write step one and the step two grievances. In locals where there was a new administration, I assisted them in writing their grievances until they were trained to handle the process. When excessing was involved, I personally went to the respective Locals and spoke to the employees to attempt to relieve them of their anxiety and to share the heat from the membership toward the local union officers. I negotiated agreements in relocating employees to favorable work locations and secured contractual rights involving working conditions for employees involved in the anthrax attack. I negotiated the selection of the 2006 grievance /arbitration panels for the Washington DC region at the request of former Eastern Region Coordinator Jim Burke. I literally read every award issued by the potential arbitrators and separated the grievances by issues to determine who would comprise the best panel for APWU employees. I solicited information from fellow national Business agents on the different arbitrator’s views. Our panel aligns with the makeup of the members we represent as far as race, color gender, etc. This panel has led to the Union having a high win rate at arbitration in this region. I believe in thorough technical research and reaching out to all my resources to prevail.
As NBA, I realize that we have a twenty-four hour workforce, so I sleep with my cell phone next to my bed usually answering the call within two rings or responding to e-mails during tour one work hours. I will bring forward the same dedication and work ethnic to the new position you have entrusted me to do. I also realize that in such a position, you have to be decisive and willing to make the tough decision. As National Business Agent, I have served as the Article 12 instructor with Robert "Bob” Bloomer for the national APWU. I have worked on committees involving Article 1.6, pool and relief clerks and PTR issues. I developed the Stewards Bible CD with the assistance of many officers and stewards from across the country. I developed the first extensive CD involving limited duty/rehabilitation employees for the country as part of the 2004 National Convention workshops. I worked with Mike Morris and Liz Powell in changing language in the Article 12 JCIM as it relates to more protection for employees involving external (no employee movement less than 90 days prior to regional meeting)and internal excessing (protecting employees whose jobs were reposted,, instead of jobs only abolished). In Article 37, I assisted Mike Morris in securing language involving limited duty employees as it pertains to excessing and job duty assignments.
I would like to thank my Local for giving me the support in all my endeavors involivng the APWU. I would like to thank all the officers and stewards in my region over the last nine years for all they have done to allow me to take the next step in our great union. I will always be there for you and I will never forget from where I came. I would like to thank the assistance craft directors for their support and Joyce Robinson for giving me the opportunity to train at APWU training seminars for the past eight years. I would like to thank Bill Burrus for his tough love and being the rock for the APWU for the last thirty years. I would like to thank Cliff Guffey (would has put together a diverse and able team) for giving me the opportunity to be a part of his great 2010 Leadership Team. I would like to thank Rob Strunk (who is fully deserving of the position of Clerk Craft Director) for allowing me to be a part of the Clerk Craft with Pat Williams and Lyle Krueth who I enjoy working with. Last but not least, I would like to thank God for blessing me one more time in giving me the opportunity to humbly serve you in spite of me. I only ask that you pray for your leadership and God bless APWU.
I would be remiss in not thanking outgoing and highly respected current APWU National Clerk Craft Director, Jim McCarthy who initially approached me with the idea of running for the position of Assistant Clerk Craft Director. I thought that I would never get this opportunity because I am very outspoken and will challenge positions of authority or ideas that I do not believe in. I have debated Burrus, Guffey and even McCarthy on issues and yet in the end we always agreed to do what was in the best interest of the membership and in all instances they never held the challenge over my head. It is for that reason, that Jim McCarthy felt I would be a pleasant addition to the Clerk Craft. He felt APWU needed new ideas with a different mindset that would challenge the status quo.
As your new Assistant Clerk Craft Director, I will lean very hard on the knowledge and experience of the National Business Agents, of which many are very much as deserving as I, who are the conduit to the membership grievance issues.
I will work very closely with the Local presidents, officers and stewards to represent the employees to the best of my ability. When on travel, I promise to go to the workroom floor in every instance to help show local union support and to help organize the unorganized. I am a loyal, honest and no nonsense, straight to the point type of guy.
Endorsements
I respectfully request you endorse the entire 2010 Leadership Team. On November 20, 2010 the current Collective Bargaining Agreement will expire. At the conclusion of the August 2010 APWU Convention, the delegates at the convention will have passed resolutions as to what the membership would like the APWU to attempt to achieve during negotiations. The next round of contract negotiations starts on September 1, 2010. That would leave the APWU less than eighty-one (81) days to achieve their goals and wishes. In the event the membership chose to elect a new group of officers they would only have five (5) days to negotiate a contract or go to binding arbitration unprepared. The Leadership Team 2010 is ready and in place to give the membership the best possible chance to secure a favorable contract. This is not the time to train national officers. Would you want new officers five days before the contract ends to walk into negotiations that have been ongoing for the past two months only to have to start again new? Would you want this at the local level in a local election?
Cliff Guffey heads the Leadership Team 2010 as the candidate for President. He has put together a diverse group of union leaders consisting of many former Local Presidents from across the country representing the age, gender, and nationality of our membership. He has added an influx of new leaders to the team to broker new ideas that more represent the workroom floor as well as to complement the already highly knowledgeable and experienced team. He is a former Local President. I have known Cliff for over twenty-five years and I know him to be a great listener and will take others input prior to making decisions. After digesting the information, he is decisive in his decisions as I have seen personally during the anthrax attacks. He has honed his skills under two of the greatest APWU national presidents (Moe Biller and Bill Burrus), considered the greatest unionist and contract enforcement negotiator respectively of all time. He is prepared and ready to lead the next generation of postal employees. He has been one of the three chief contract negotiators for the APWU since 2001. He can and will do the job. Vote Cliff Guffey for President.
Greg Bell is the candidate for Executive Vice President for the Leadership Team 2010. I call him the pit bull. He takes no prisoners. Don’t let his calming demeanor disarm you as he is a fighter who chooses his words carefully and they are well-thought out. He is a former President of the Presidents Conference and a former Local President. He has been one of the three chief contract negotiators for the APWU team since 2001. He has been the Industrial Relations Director since 1995. If you support Cliff Guffey you must respect Cliff’s choice for Executive Vice President, Greg Bell. They will make a great team. He is experienced and qualified. Vote Greg Bell for Executive Vice President.
William “Bill” Kaczor is the candidate for Director of the Health Plan for the Leadership Team 2010. In the last three years the health plan has increased its enrollment by a total of 27, 525. Based on the efficiencies of our operation the OPM has authorized a service fee to the Union in excess of 5.3 million dollars in 2010 which is the equivalent of 23,000 dues paying members. Kaczor and his staff have been innovative in their ideas and the plan always ranks highly. During these times of declining membership, this is a resource the Union can’t afford to lose. If it isn’t broke don’t fix it. Vote Kaczor for Director of the Health Plan.
Martha Shunn-King is the candidate for Director of Organization for the Leadership Team 2010. She is a former Local and State President from the state of Florida. She comes from a union family background. Her local was ninety-eight percent organized while serving as a local officer. She is involved other union organizations and she already has a plan to further the organizing cause. Vote Martha Shunn-King for Director of Organization.
Rob Strunk is the candidate for Clerk Craft Director for the Leadership Team 2010. Rob is currently the senior Assistant Clerk Craft Director for the Clerk Craft. Once Rob was selected as the candidate for the Leadership Team for the position of Clerk Craft Director, he reached out to me to join him as he pursued his ideas of where he would like to take the Clerk Craft if elected. He supported me as a candidate for the position of Assistant Clerk Craft Director on his team. His vision is to have a Clerk Craft that is all inclusive with all three Assistant Directors equally involved and knowledgeable on all clerk craft issues. His vision is includes the NBA’s on issues as well as the local officers. That vision excited me as it leaves room for growth and development. He has assembled a group of Directors from four separate regions of the country. He is not afraid or too proud to reach out to others to gather facts to achieve what is best for the membership. He is a new vision with new ideas. While Jim McCarthy’s retirement will leave big shoes to fill, Rob is capable but with a brand new pair of shoes. Rob is a fighter. Vote Rob Strunk for Clerk Craft Director.
Princella Vogel is the candidate for Southern Region Coordinator for the Leadership Team 2010. She has served admirably as Local President of the Houston Texas Area Local, the largest local in the Southern region. She is a determined union activist who has dealt with the issue of excessing on a firsthand basis of which is a big part of the Coordinator’s position. She has strong administrative abilities. Vote Princella Vogel for Southern Region Coordinator.
Robert "Bob” Pritchard is the candidate for Director Motor Vehicle Service Division for the Leadership Team 2010. Bob has a comprehensive understanding of the issues involving his craft. He fights to insure that his Craft is respected among all the APWU crafts. He understands the issues of the drivers as well as the mechanics. What I admire about him is the fact he will not run away from a storm but will stand and make the tough decisions that most do not want to make. Pritchard and Foster compose a great team. Vote Robert “Bob” Pritchard for Director Motor Vehicle Service Division.
Mike Foster is the candidate for Assistant Director Motor Vehicle Service Division for the Leadership team 2010. Mike is bold in his approach and works firsthand with Locals as it pertains to their Motor Vehicle division issues. He is better described as a right hand to Bob Pritchard than an assistant. He works long hours addressing their issues and I have never gone into the Headquarters office and not seen Mike at his desk working or on the telephone with a Local. Vote Mike Foster for Assistant Motor Vehicle Service Division.
Join Liz Powell, Mike Morris, Myke Reid, Steve Albanese, Sue Carney, Joyce Robinson, Judy Beard, Pat Williams, Lyle Krueth, Lamont Brooks, Steve Raymer, Gary Kloepfer, Idowu Balogun, Greg See, Sharyn Stone, Omar Gonzalez, Mike Gallagher, John Dirzius and Bill Manley in support of the entire Leadership Team 2010.
While I respect all the candidates that ran for office, this is NOT the time for change. There is simply too much at stake.