President Cliff Guffey:
‘We Must Win in November’

Convention News Bulletin #01-12, Aug. 20, 2012 | PDF

In his first State of the Union address, APWU President Cliff Guffey praised union members for their activism and said postal workers must win our battles in the political arena.

APWU President Cliff Guffey

“When we called upon you, you stepped up,” he told delegates to the 21st National Convention.

The union president credited union members with derailing legislation — at least temporarily — that would devastate the Postal Service, and with stopping massive closures of post offices.

“If I told you three years ago that we were going to stop the Republican bill — H.R. 2309 — in a Republican-dominated House…we wouldn’t have believed it.

“You stopped it! The union stopped it! You did it,” he declared. “We did it!”

Three years ago, management threatened to close 8,000 stations and branches, he reminded union members. “But you stopped them.”

APWU members also influenced the debate in the Senate, Guffey said, so that the need to protect service standards got the attention it deserved.

“I’m just damn proud of you — every one of you,” he said. But the struggle is far from over, he pointed out, and the threat to the Postal Service and postal jobs remains. "We’re going to have to win this politically,” he said.

And the fight to protect the Postal Service and postal jobs in part of a much larger struggle, Guffey said.

Thank Veterans – Give Them Jobs!

When he testifies on Capitol Hill, members of Congress frequently thank him for his military service, the union president noted. But the thanks are hollow. “Thank the veterans by giving them jobs,” he said. “Bring home the jobs!” Bring work back to the post office, where so many veterans work, he said.

The U.S. must stop giving tax breaks to companies that take jobs overseas, Guffey said. “Give them tax breaks if they build a factory in this country.”

Many of the richest people in the country are no longer willing to pay their fair share, he said.

The founding fathers, who were among the richest in the 13 colonies, “pledged their lives, their sacred honor and their wealth” in the fight for independence, he pointed out. But most of today’s wealthiest citizens wouldn’t take such an oath. They are hoarding wealth, refusing to pay their fair share of taxes, and controlling an evergreater portion of the economy, he said.

The richest 1 percent must pay higher taxes and the revenue must be used to stimulate the economy and create jobs, Guffey insisted.

Stop Attacks on Public Workers

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, the 2006 law that is responsible for the Postal Service’s financial crisis, was designed “to destroy the Postal Service, destroy the unions, and destroy collective bargaining in the Postal Service,” he said. Postage and postal salaries have both tracked inflation since 1970, the union president pointed out. But the PAEA law prevents the USPS from raising rates above inflation, while forcing the agency to pay billions in unnecessary costs.

Despite these limitations, we have done well in contract negotiations, Guffey said. “And we’re going to continue to fight together, and we’re going to win.”

“We must go out together and win in November,” he warned, or we will suffer the same fate public workers in Wisconsin endured.

If we lose the elections, if there’s a Republican House, a Republican Senate and a Republican president, it won’t be a matter of years, it will be a matter of days before we lose our right to collective bargaining, he said.

We must stop the attacks on public workers, Guffey declared. “We can do it if we stand together, if we stay mobilized… We will stop it!

“We’ve got to work our hearts out to fight for the future of our country.