Must Reads...
Postal Service Disrespects Harlem Community
Refuses to hold Town Hall meeting on “Relocation” of historic College Station Post Office
USPS uses unpublicized committee meeting to sneak through downsizing and possible sale of Harlem’s post office
By Chuck Zlatkin, Legislative and Political Director
New York Metro Area Postal Union, APWU, AFL-CIO
December 10, 2013 – New York City. The United States Postal Service will make a proposal to “relocating: the historic College Station Post Office located at 217 West 140th Street at an unpublicized meeting of Community Board 10’s Economic Development committee this Thursday, December 12th at 6:30 pm. In other communities such as Chelsea and the Lower East Side, the Postal Service has held well publicized, centrally located Town Hall meetings for relocations, why not Harlem? Instead the Postal Service is substituting an obscure committee meeting, not even located in the College Station Post Office’s zip code. The meeting is a full 15 blocks away from College Station, will make it virtually impossible for the people most impacted by the “relocation” of the post office: the elderly, the disabled, the poor, and small business owners from attending.
College Station Post Office is one of the 1100 post offices constructed during the New Deal throughout the country. These post offices, paid for by the American people though their tax dollars. are now being sold off to private real estate interests. The excuse is a manufactured postal financial crisis, created by Congress that is being used as an excuse to downsize the Postal Service, reduce service and eventually privatize its remains. The New York Metro Area Postal Union, the largest local in the American Postal Workers Union, was notified of the so-called public meeting on Monday by email from the Postal Service. The notification of the community was a single posting of the notice in an out of the way location in the College Station Post Office itself. There was no mailing to the public and the local elected officials weren’t notified either. The union sees that the Postal Service is acting in bad faith with the Harlem community by this action. What the Postal Service should do immediately is to promise to the people of Harlem that they will have a genuine Town Hall meeting where they can hear the Postal Service’s proposal, ask questions, and may their own statements why they think that the plans to move or sell College Station Post Office must be changed.
The Postal Service so-called “relocation” is a downsizing of service. College Station is centrally located in Harlem. All the Postal Service says is that there will be adequate service somewhere else in the Zip Code of 10030. By its track record, the Postal Service will provide a smaller, less convenient location. The College Station already in understaffed. There are long lines every morning at opening.
The people of Harlem have already suffered poorer mail service with shorter hours, fewer windows staffed, long lines, fewer collection boxes and delayed mail delivery. If the planned location goes through, there will be less service in a more crowded facility.
It Takes A McDonald's Worker 4 Months To Earn What The CEO Gets In An Hour
Jillian Berman, Huffington Post
A McDonald's employee working overtime for nearly four months straight would make as much as the company's former CEO earned in just 60 minutes, according to an analysis published Tuesday.
How Defending Walmart's Low Paying Employment Policies Puts The Lie To Conservative Philosophy
Rick Ungar, Forbes
Standing up for Walmart’s employment practices has become nothing less than a badge of honor among conservatives who view the ability of the nation’s largest employer to benefit from the low wages the market will currently bear as a fundamental win for free market capitalism.
America's Retirement Crisis Grows as Cities Raid Pension and Health Plans
Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
Across America, states, counties and cities are taking steps that will make retirement for ex-public employees much harsher. Courts, politicans and corporations are all working together to chip away at deferred wages: reducing pensions or eliminating promised healthcare, or both.
Federal workers outraged by pension squeeze
Jennifer Liberto, CNN
Federal workers are outraged that a possible bipartisan budget deal expected by Friday could require workers to pay more into their pensions to offset other budget cuts.
Low minimum wage a global worry, not just in U.S.
By Andrew Ross, SFGate
Last week 3.5 million Bangladeshi garment workers got their minimum pay raised to $67 a month, an 80 percent increase.
A Death Knell for the McJob?
By David Moberg, In These Times
Dawn Moore was on “strike” Thursday. It was more a protest than a conventional attempt to stop all work at her job site, but it still packed a punch.
WATCH: ABC News' David Muir make a push for Made in America at Christmas
The average American will spend more than $700 on gifts this holiday season. In 1960, nine out of every 10 products were made in America; Today, more than half are foreign made. Watch ABC News' David Muir make a push for the great Made in America Christmas.
Union-made recipes now on Pinterest
You’re invited to have extra-special cooking fun this holiday season. Give these union-made recipes your taste-test.
Haven’t wrapped up your holiday shopping? Get union-made gift lists sent straight to your mobile device, text a category keyword – TOYS, CANDY, BEER or WINE -- to 22555.
Text SHOP to 22555 to see all available shopping lists.
McDonald's Pulls Advice On How To Tip Au Pairs, Massage Therapists
Maxwell Strachan, Huffington Post
McDonald’s has pulled down advice on how to tip au pairs and pool cleaners from a website meant to provide company workers with “practical solutions to many of life’s problems and challenges.”
Taxpayers pay for fast-food wages
Donn Esmonde, Buffalo News
“The low wages come at a tremendous social cost to the rest of us,” said Andy Reynolds of Buffalo’s Coalition for Economic Justice. “If fast-food workers were paid a fair wage, they wouldn’t need food stamps and other public programs.”
Hormel to WalMart: Low-wage workers protest, organize
By Peter Rachleff, Labor Historian
http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/blog/rachleff/hormel-walmart-low-wage-workers-protest-organize#.UqBrmVVtmqA.email
a dirty word, conjuring up worthy "makers" forced to hand over hard-earned income to undeserving "takers."
Union Plus Scholarships.pdf
