by Mike Puterio

So you thought you had a job, eh? A good job. Good days off, good hours.  Seniority has its privileges, eh?  You’re a senior lead clerk, level 7, do the tasks you want to do.  But do TACS? No, I do not want to do that. Station inputs? No, let them find some junior clerk to do that.  In fact, let management do that work.  I just want to take it easy, do the little bit of watching others breaks, jot down some numbers. That is what seniority and job security is, isn’t it?

Well, brothers and sisters, if you think that way, and a lot of our members do, then think again. Your job is under attack. You let others, particularly management, do some of those ‘pesky’ duties, let some tasks go for days until it is so backed up it is a mess, and then what. You find out management wants to abolish your job. Get rid of a couple of clerks. Excess your office.

Why would the union do that, you ask?  It is not the union. It is management. It is the attitude that there is clerk work not worth doing. Pass the buck. Let the union fight. Blame everyone but the real culprit, you.

The Postal Service nationwide is looking at getting rid of some 10000 jobs, and our members have caused some of this. Simply by not being willing to do certain work, by not being willing to call management out for doing clerk work, for not caring about what is going on around them.

Brothers and sisters, it is not too late. Demand that the work that is rightfully ours is done by clerks. Be willing to learn TACS, to perform the work. Do that work that is not considered good work. Call management out for not doing the right thing.

Be unionists, not just in a label, not just by paying dues. A unionist, supporting union causes, union representatives, union issues. Demand what is right. Demand respect. The fight is not the unions; the fight is ours.