NEWSLETTER OF THE NJI&BMC BRANCH OF LOCAL 300

                                        “LETS TURN IT AROUND”             

   VOLUME 17, NO.17                                                      80 COUNTY ROAD J.C.N.J 7097

   DECEMBER 5, 2001                                                      (201) 653-1767, IN HOUSE 5082,5083

   GRADY R. FITZGERALD, BRANCH PRESIDENT         FAX NUMBER  (201) 714-4869

                                  BRANCH WEB SITE ADDRESS                                               

                                http://www.l300nji-bmcbranch.org/

                                          WE ARE UNITED!!!!

            SUPPORT THE APWU RALLY

           RALLY AGAINST ANTHRAX IN N.Y.C.

                      DECEMBER 7^TH 2001

                         4:00 P.M.-7:00 P.M.

      8^TH AVE. BETWEEN 31^ST AND 33^RD STEETS

The NJI-BMC Branch of Local 300 would like to express our solidarity with APWU President William Smith in his struggle to battle management in their attempt to ban him from the facility. He is the elected President of our Sister Union here at the Bulk and Managements attempt to ban him from speaking with his members is a violation of labor law and we stand firmly behind him!

If they don’t like what he is saying then too bad. He wasn’t elected to speak for them he was elected to represent the APWU members of NY Metro. We refuse to stand on the sideline and be silent as management attempts to silent the President of our Sister Union.

If you will recall, it was APWU President Smith who was the most vocal Union representative during the anthrax crisis. When other Union leaders were nowhere to be found Smitty was out there pointing out the disparate treatment that Postal workers were receiving compared to our elected elite in Washington. When anthrax was found in their facilities they were closed when it was found in Postal facilities they wrapped plastic around it and the workers were told to report to work.

He fought Postal Management tooth and nail for your safety.

He supported you, now it’s time for you to support him.

      CHECK OUT THE UPDATED NJI-BMC WEB SITE

                    NJI-BMC CHRISTMAS PARTY

               TICKETS ARE CURRENTLY ON SALE.

Don’t wait until the last minute. Dinner orders have to be in by this weekend. Ticket sales are going fast and there are only 300 tickets available. If would like to reserve a table act quickly. Come out and have a good time the food is good, the DJ is on the money, the tickets are very reasonable. You can’t get a better deal! 

                               Guest Editorial

This, from a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing.
 
  America: The Good Neighbor.
 Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a
 remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a
 Canadian television commentator. What follows is the full text of his
 Trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:
 
  "This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the
 most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth.
  Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted
 out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars
 and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today
 paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.
 
  When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans
 who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the
 streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
 
 
  When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that
 hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by
 tornadoes. Nobody helped.
 
  The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars
 into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing
 about the decadent, warmongering Americans.
 
  I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the
 erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplane. Does any
 other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the
 Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10?
 
  If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines
 except Russia fly American Planes? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and
 you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles.
 You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon - not
 once,
 but several times - and safely home again.
 
  You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the
 store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not
 pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless
 they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and
 pa at home to spend here.
 
  When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down
 through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania
 Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old
 caboose.
 Both are still broke.
 
  I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of
 other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else
 raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help
 even during the San Francisco earthquake.
 
  Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned
 tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing
 with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their
 nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope
 Canada
 is not one of those."
 
  Stand proud, America!

 

WHAT YOUR SHOP STEWARD DOES WHEN ON DUTY

They’re are a lot of misconceptions on what a shop steward

Does. When not on the workroom floor and on union

business. Some people have a tendency to think that if

you’re not doing actual physical work than you are doing

nothing. They think that we become stewards just to get

over. In reality, if we wanted to get over the simple

solution would be is to go to management. Well here are

some of the things we do when you don’t see us. When we

go to the union office we check our messages, see if

there are any phone calls, look at any in-house and

other mail we may have received(this is before we even

sit down.)

We then sit at the computer where our recent and or

new grievances are stored and typed. We go through the

publications like the national and local agreements as well as the ELM the ASM(administrative support manual)and a host of many other books and papers we have available to us. We may confer with our chief steward as to what avenue we should take in order to fight management.

At this time we go back to the computer and do some

more typing. Between all this we answer the phone and

argue with supervisors. After that we print the grievances from computer and put the paperwork in a file with the employees name. During the course of the day we may also meet with the step II designee about another grievance we have filed, hoping to settle. None of this takes five minutes. It takes a great deal of time. Keep in mind this is only a brief summary of what we do.

Meetings are being held, appointments are being kept,

questions are being asked as well as answered, the fight

for mail handlers goes on. The battle lines are drawn on

a day to day basis. Rest assured your dues money is money

well spent.

                             SPECIAL APPEAL FOR HELP

On Saturday December 1, 2001 a five alarm fire on Summit Ave in Union City destroyed Carlos Gonzalez (the cafeteria cook) apartment. We are requesting any kind of donation (clothing, food, etc.) to help our friend Carlos overcome the loss he has suffered. For clothing donation please contact custodian Luis Nieves P/l 224 or clerk E. Galan P/l 242.