LAWYERS FLOCK TO GROUND ZERO AND A WORD FOR POSTAL WORKERS

After what most vultures would surely consider more than a decent interval, lawyers have stopped circling and have descended to plunge their beaks into the carrion—that portion of taxpayer money the government has determined will constitute the financial resources that the survivors of the September 11th tragedy can draw upon to help reconstitute their lives in the short term. Meanwhile, the airlines can only watch and speculate as to what will be their ultimate fate. There will be others who will be sued, who will be held responsible for acts committed by these foreign terrorists, but it will be you and I who will ultimately pay and to no satisfying result for the plaintiffs or for us. We contribute our pocket money and businesses give either monies or services and goods—we wait to see what the lawyers will give. I don't deny their services are needed and valuable, but in this unique and terrible situation, I wonder what their sacrifice will be.

Most of us will be spared the details of the court trials where the horific, last second minutae of those thousands of lives will be speculated upon by "experts" in death due to fire, building collapse, and airliners either lancing into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, or auguring into the fields of Pennsylvania; not least of all the final anguish of those souls who leaped to their deaths to escape the flames rising toward them in the towers or the men and women of the New York Fire and Police departments who valiantly tried to save them, just doing their jobs, as were the postal workers who never knew they were in harm's way, but died just the same. Being privy to these details could sicken us even beyond what we now feel for the horror that occured that day. Lawyers will say that no amount of money can compensate for lost lives, potential earnings, deprived families; but they say that although dollars are inadequate, that's all there is...dollars, lots of dollars.

What price could you put on the loss of your spouse, mother, father, son, daughter, or business partner? These terrible calculations have routinely been made by lawyers in wrongful death cases before the mass murder of the New York thousands and will be made again; supplicants for government relief, for what little relief money can bring.

Besides what we have already contributed to the government fund individually and through our tax dollars, we wish we could go beyond mere money. I know that money is needed to pay for necessities in the immediate aftermath, but we wish we could go to each of the thousands of families who have suffered such intimate and permanent loss due to these outrageous and godless acts of terrorism and encircle them with our arms and our resources and our compassion to somehow mitigate their suffering and ease their souls. In this life, ultimately, they are the only ones who will be able to heal their wounds, pick up the torn threads of their lives and the lives of their children, their friends, and go on to shape their own destinies, regardless.

To the extent our government can assist that journey, I believe it should. I also believe that in times of war—let there be no mistake about the fact that we are in a war—that the "colateral damage" our government has spoken about in other, foreign conflicts, does not now apply to our own citizens, on our own soil. The reason is that terrorist war is a war aimed at civilians. This newly declared "global terrorism", although it has existed for some time and well known to other countries, is everyone's war and everyone becomes a soldier, fair game for the enemy.

Was there a frenzy of litigation after Pearl Harbor? Can we really calculate such loss in dispassionate financial terms? Will the citizens of Afghanistan sue the Talliban for the loss of their loved ones and will their lawyers hire engineers to testify and try to reconstruct just what those last few moments were like before the bombs struck their homes or businesses?

I don't really argue against such a thing in America, because there are many legal precedents throughout history for such litigation. I do say that the damage wrought by these suits and the consequences for families that have already been through so much, will be the aftershock that many will find to be the last, worst blow, beyond any possible financial compensation. And could the money the lawyers' make from such a disaster really be considered "business as usual"? Will we be seeing Porches and the odd Lexus with vanity plates that say "911" on them? I don't really think so, this money, these dollars, this country's agony being taken advantage of like some homeless drunk wandering through Central Park at night, off balance and vulnerable? No, it couldn't happen here.

To my postal brothers and sisters, I say this: Go to work, do your jobs and be vigilant, demanding the same from management and your union—don't give up on either one, but make your voice heard. Participate in your local but treasure your family, making it your priority. It ain't up to anyone but us anymore.

The Postal Service is a bellweather for the national psyche and, believe it or not, we are looked up to by the average citizen. Wake up to the fact that we are all brothers and sisters under the skin. Times like these don't build character, but they do reveal it. And the next time your boss tells you you're lucky to have a job, look them straight in the eye and say, "Yeah, I am, and you're lucky to have me doing it. Now, do yours."

—Denny Hill,
Editor/Webmaster

Opinions stated in this editorial are strictly those of the Editor and do
not necessarily reflect those of the APWU, the USPS, or anyone else.

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Oct. 18, 2001

Now is the autumn of our discontent—especially for some of the former FSM workers at the Kalamazoo P&DC on Ninth St., whose jobs have been abolished due to the installation of the AFSM 100 and, in some cases, find themselves at the mercy of bosses who have chosen to throw the contract out of the window.

Set against the gruesome backdrop of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania, and the continuing threat of domestic terrorism, the working conditions of the Ninth St. plant may seem a somewhat less than significant part of our recent problems in this country. However, these are our jobs, and our Postal management seems determined to add to our troubled feelings about life in general right now.

Unencumbered Regulars as they are called—I guess because they are now "unencumbered" by protection provided by the APWU contract—find themselves assigned anywhere the Postal management needs them, regardless of seniority or job qualifications. As one Tour 2 boss likes to say, "If you don't like it, file a grievance—I'll be retired before it gets settled."

Violating the contract has become a technique increasingly utilized by Plant Manager, Cathy Lovett, and often results in less than optimum performance by the workers and a drastic decline in morale, which is fragile anyway in such disruptive times.

Lovett blindsided the APWU by her cowardly handling of the abolishment letters in August and continues to turn a deaf ear to union counsel and a blind eye to the abuses of her underlings during this transition period as automated AFSM 100 and new LIPS equipment is brought online.

This appaling behavior on Lovett's part only serves to emphasize her incompetency and she is clearly in over her head in her present position. She has bungled this transition beyond the belief of even some seasoned observers of postal management foul-ups.

The Postal Service has been undergoing a tremendous transformation to automated machinery and there will be no going back. This automated machinery will help us move more mail with fewer people than ever before and having fewer jobs is a fact we will just have to live with. However, "automation" doesn't move the mail—postal workers move the mail.

It's time for postal workers to realize the hard realities that this transformation process brings with it and it's time for postal management at all levels to wake up to the fact that they cannot use automation as an excuse to disregard and flagrantly abuse the contract that has been agreed to between the postal unions and the USPS.

If bosses like Lovett believe that stuffing a facility with automated equipment means she doesn't have to deal fairly and honestly with postal workers, she is mistaken.

—Denny Hill,
Editor/Webmaster

Opinions stated in this editorial are strictly those of the Editor and do
not necessarily reflect those of the APWU, the USPS, or anyone else.