July and August, 2011 Legislative Report

Good afternoon brothers and sisters of the APWU CFAL 1462.  As you all know Washington Politicians are trying to threats to Medicare and Medicaid. Now they are talking of putting another nail in the coffin of America’s  struggling middle class with massive cuts Social Security benefits and higher taxes for working families. Please contact your Senators and tell them that American people reject any cuts to Social Security.

The attacks on our nation’s workers and their fundamental rights to organize, collectively bargain and participate in the political process have captivated millions of Americans. This is not just about the backs of organized workers and eliminating their power to negotiate for fair wages, decent working conditions and benefits for their families which all cut into the obscene profit margins of Americans corporations. This is also about political powers.

On July 19, 2011, I attended a meeting at the IUPAT DC 78 ( International Union Painters and Allied Trades) Union Hall, to talk about Florida Fair Districts. Different Unions and Organizations attended this meeting. Fair Districts it's important to all Floridians, that’s why we have to let our Legislators( House and Senate) in Capitol Hill that it is important that they faithfully follow the Fair Districts standards when they re-draw their own and Congressional districts.

On July 20,2011, I attended  a Jobs With Justice meeting at the Teachers Union Hall, to talk about future plans like Organizational Development, Fundraising, Leadership, Development, Public Transit Campaign, Unemployment  Council and Immigrant Worker Working Group.  

On July 27, 2011, I attended with CFAL 1462 Raul Sierra, the Redistricting Hearing at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center. Legislatures plans to pass district maps at the end of the 2012 session- March 9, 2012. This means Florida’s maps will be approved later than almost every other state in the nation. That leaves only three months for court approval and review by Department of Justice, a process that at best will take much more than three months. Legislature has spent well over a million dollars of taxpayer money hiring lawyers to fight fair districts. They held over 30 hours of committee meetings in 2009 and 2010 to try find fault with the amendments using lawyers from Speaker of the House Dean Cannon’s former firm who were paid $ 300.00 per hour.

The Florida AFL-CIO 2011 Road Show is coming to a City near you. They will be in town August 23, 2011 at 6 pm, IBEW Local 606 located at 820 Virginia Drive Orlando, FL 32803. They will be conducting presentations on Working Families Lobby Corps, Community Outreach, Media Outreach/Social Networking, Legislative Coalition and much more. So please try to attend this meeting.

Just to finish my report, I will write about H.R 1351 and H.R 2309. The H.R 135, the main thrust of the bill is to allow the Postal Service to have access to any overpayments that they have made into Civil Service Retirement Fund(CSRS0 and the Federal Employee Retirement system ( FERS). The bill would allow the USPS to transfer those overpayments directly into the Postal Service Retiree |Health Benefit Fund and thereby eliminate the need to make this fiscal year’s annual payment of $5.4 billion dollars into that fund. The USPS has been making those annual payments as a result of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement  Act( PAEA) passed in 2006 by Congress. Had those payments not been required the USPS would have operated with a surplus over the last 4 years. The APWU supports this bill as introduced by Representative Stephen Lynch of MA.

Rep. Darrell Issa’s( R-CA) H.R 2309 does not correct the massive overpayments to its CSRS and FERS pension accounts. Issa’s  bill will wage an attack on current negotiated wages, benefits, and protection against layoffs of postal workers. This bill will set up a system to empower an unelected board to unilaterally cut all of our current negotiated pay, benefits, along with our current protections against layoffs.

So let's call our Legislators and lets tell them to VOTE YES on H.R 1351 and NO on H.R 2309