by Shelly Lucido
As we enter the New Year, many of us reflect on the past, and think about the present and future. But do these reflections include me – or we? Many people fought and sacrificed in the past so that we can have the wages, hours and working conditions we currently are blessed with. There are many today who still continue the fight for workers’ rights so we can continue to enjoy what we have and provide for our families. We must continue the fight for the future of our children, our grandchildren, our neighbors and Americans we have not even met, so they may also benefit from what we have gained, to provide for themselves and their families. To do anything less reflects badly on us, and is selfish.
We need to give and not just take. We must get involved and not just sit back while workers’ pensions are taken away, while workers are not paid a decent wage, while workers lose collective bargaining rights, while good postal jobs are eliminated and contracted out to places like Staples.
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It is time for all of us to think about we not me.
This is what being a part a union is all about.
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The bubble of your security is about to burst. Postal employees are under attack and a lot of you are not paying attention and are not actively doing anything about these attacks. Many in Congress would like to see nothing more than the Postal Service privatized and the Postal Unions eliminated. What has been given can be taken away. Wages, benefits, pensions, Social Security, health insurance – our jobs can all be taken away if we sit idly by and do nothing to protect it.
Our National President Mark Dimonstein has made a commitment to do his part to form a Grand Alliance to bring together all the Postal unions; to bring together Americas communities and other labor organizations to fight for workers rights, to save America’s Postal Service from destruction and save the middle class from extinction. I will make a commitment to do my part, will you? We must get involved in our communities, we must pay attention to what is happening in congress and DC, we must start reflection on we instead of me.