Coming in 2019

(This article first appeared in the January/February 2019 issue of the American Postal Worker magazine) 

By Organization Director Anna Smith

Organizing is more than signing up the non-member; it is also engaging our union brothers and sisters as well as members of our communities. It’s about building our labor movement. It’s about ending the divide-and conquer tactics of our enemies. It’s about building up our union at every level of the organization.

As we begin 2019, inviting non-members to after-work events, parties, gatherings, bowling, etc. cannot be accepted any more. Understand, these aren’t our friends. It does not mean that we need to be rude or demoralizing, as every non-member is a potential member. What it does mean, however, is that they are working against all of us. While we fight and preserve what we have – the benefits that support our families, the wages we receive – these non-members work directly against us. If you start evaluating and looking at who has your back, you will find it is not the non-member standing next to you.

PSE Conversion Reports

Local and State PSE Conversion Reports should soon be available to local presidents and Secretary-Treasurers thru the “Members Only” section of apwu.org. This report will identify APWU represented employees who were in a Postal Support Employee (PSE) status (according to their Des Act Code) on the last accounting period (AP) report, and are now listed as career on the current report. Since the report is a comparison report (current AP vs. previous AP) it is recommended that you select a date in the middle of each month to download and review the report. Once the AP has ended, you will no longer be able to retrieve the previous AP data.

A few of the things you will be able to review both prior to and after conversion include: Des Act code, OCC codes, installation/finance number, and membership status. At the national level we continue to reach out via mail to the non-members who have recently been converted asking them to join with us. This will be a great opportunity for leaders to reach out at the local level as well.

Online Application to Join

We have gotten through some of the basic needs and requirements as well as initial programing to have the ability to have non-members be able to join online. This is an exciting opportunity that will hopefully allow us and our non-members access to an 1187 and join at any time.

We addressed the requirements by the Postal Service, the law, the security and privacy of the non-members personal date, as well as the needs of the Per Capita Department and local and state organizations. For example, creating automatic notification to the local with a copy of the 1187 for their records. Keep an eye out for the rollout of this program.

Member Volunteer Database

The Organization Department began including the opportunity for new members to get involved at the time of joining by allowing them to select volunteer categories they felt they could assist in. Within the first couple months of including this information, our new members have made over 8,000 selections!

We have been working on creating a database of these volunteers, so when the need arises, leaders at every level of the APWU can obtain a list of those who have said they can help.

By the Numbers

At the time of writing this article, from January 1 – November 30, 2018, we signed up over 12,000 new members. We signed up just over 2,300 more members than we did for the same period in 2017! I know many locals have put a lot of effort into organizing and to each and every one, thank you!

Organizing can be some of the most rewarding work you do. “Keep your face to the sunshine and you can never see the shadow.” —Helen Keller