Whereas, organizing the unorganized is the battle cry of the labor movement, and

Whereas, the APWU has constitutionally mandated the funding and work of private sector organizing, and

Whereas, millions of non-unionized workers in the postal industry do work similar to that of USPS workers at much lower wages, few benefits and no rights, and

Whereas, this situation creates a “race to the bottom” and without organizing the postal industry the APWU will continue to shrink, lose power, and will be suppressed to the non-union levels and suffer severe reduction in wages and benefits, and

Whereas, difficulties in organizing is due to employer resistance to workers having a union and any power in the workplace but still can and must be done, with or without the important Employee Free Choice Act, and

Whereas, there is apparently well over 7 million dollars of unused money accumulated in the private sector organizing fund and the generates about $3 million a year, 80% funded by local unions and their members, and

Whereas, by constitutional mandate, this money cannot be used for any other purpose, and

Whereas, in the name of the financial crisis in the union, APWU President Burrus has cut-back on our organizers, reducing four full-time organizers to one full time and three part-time, when in fact the organizing funds are a completely separate stream of money from the general treasury, and

Whereas, the AFL-CIO has projected that there should be one organizer for every 100 workers during a union campaign, indicating the labor and resource intensive character of organizing in the U.S. and

Whereas, the multi-year DHL organizing effort has largely dissipated when DHL pulled out of the U.S. domestic market but is no reflection on the capabilities of our full-time and other well trained part-time organizers, and

Whereas, the postal industry made up of Fed Ex sorters, pre-sort houses, the massive mail order and logistics industries, Amazon, same day courier companies and the like remain virtually unorganized and there is much work to do, therefore be it

Resolved that the National Presidents' Conference meeting in Virginia Beach, VA on June 15, 2009 reinforces our full commitment and support for private sector organizing as a core part of our union and the labor movement and calls on APWU President Burrus and the National Executive Board to release the private sector organizing funds, restore the full-time organizers, appoint necessary part-time organizers and get busy performing this necessary and vital work, and be it further

Resolved that this resolution be sent to each Executive Board member and to APWU State Organizations and the 500 largest APWU Local Unions

Lance Cole, President
Des Moines Area Local