FSALC President Al Friedman
22817 Bay Cedar Drive
Land O’ Lakes , FL 34639
Ph# 727-809-1776
E-mail albe143@hotmail.com
FSALC PRESIDENT’S REPORT
AL FRIEDMAN
State Officers, Branch Presidents, CDL’s, and SLL,
Reflecting back on the State Convention, the state’s 100th, it seems everyone enjoyed the event. Bringing over three hundred people together to celebrate the event took a tremendous amount of work. I’d like to thank the State Board for all their help, and a special thanks to President Bob Henning and Branch 53. Bob and his members behind the scenes help was invaluable and the convention would not have been a success without them. The photo of all the delegates in the form of the number “100” came out great. Be sure to check it out in this month’s Postal Record.
I would also like to thank the members for my election to President by acclamation. It has been an honor to serve you, the members, for the last year and a half and I will continue to proudly represent the letter carriers of the great state of Florida for the next two years.
We accomplished many great things in 2012 with the national election, and we must continue to fight those who are against us now. Congressman Issa and Ross have finally put their ideas of how the Postal Service should do business, in H.R. 2748. Again, we must rally all letter carriers, active and retired to call, write and rally when needed to defeat this attack.
Another bill that has surfaced recently, S 1486, seeks to dismantle the Postal Service also. Calls to our senators should begin soon, along with calls to Senator Harry Reid’s office urging a NO vote on this bill. I urge each carrier to produce 20 calls or letters. Ask your family, friends and neighbors to do the same. The 2014 election is a little over one year away. We must elect a more union friendly Congress. Keep the ones who fight for us and boot out the ones who do not.
Enclosed with this letter is a copy of the 27 Congressional representatives and their Washington phone numbers. It is never too early to start the calls informing their staff of how we feel. I hope you will share these numbers in your newsletters, bulletin boards and any other multimedia your branch may use. Stay informed by visiting the now more user-friendly FSALC web site at www.fsalc.com or the NALC website at nalc.org.
Upcoming items of interest include the following District training for the fall:
District 1, Training Oct,6 at Branch 1071 union hall
District 2, Training Sept 15th TBA.
District 3 and 4, Training Sept 29th at Orlando union hall
District 5, Training Oct 27th Tallahassee union hall.
‘We are also putting together a Florida delegation made up of CDL’s, Branch President (or designee), and State officers for a trip to Washington in March of 2014- The details are still-being worked out with NALC legislation department however; we will have this information to you soon, so your plans can be made.
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Al Friedman ,FSALC President
Welcome Delegates to our 72nd Biennial Convention held here in Jacksonville.
This will mark the 100th anniversary of the Florida State Association of Letter Carriers. That is surely something to celebrate, a 100 years of improving the working conditions, pay and benefits for Letter Carriers.
In 1913 our Brothers and Sisters struggled with many Postal issues just as we do today. In the last few years the FSALC has had to take on another role, getting aggressively involved in the Political arena, due to the many attempts to dismember the United States Postal Service to a group of low paid, no benefit’s, smaller work force. All the things this great Union, the NALC has fought long and hard for, and will continue to do so with our very last breath.
On February 10th at 10:01 AM 2012,I assumed the role of President of the FSALC with the resignation of Brother Matty Rose. Matty Rose was asked by NALC President Fredric Rolando to be a trustee at Nalcrest. Filling Matty’s shoes has not been an easy thing to do, and I along with many people realize and appreciate all the hard work he did as President and continues to do wherever he goes.
With 2012 being a Presidential election year and our National Convention endorsement of President Obama, our State was already six points behind, and was predicted to be a Red State. When asked by our Legislation Department what it would take to turn this State from Red to Blue, the answer was 12 Letter Carrier boots on the ground. On the ground getting out there door to door making the voters aware of what was involved in the coming election and what the issues were from the elderly to the young voters of this State. Organizing people to man phone banks and try to get a feel of what the public wanted to see happen, and possibly help them understand the issues that they faced in this election.
We covered every corner of this State and the outcome will be written in the history books. I would now like to take a minute and ask these 12 individuals to be recognized for their unselfish efforts, time and dedication to make this State what it is listed as today, BLUE. Although that goal was accomplished the election didn’t bring in as many Union Friendly Candidates as we had hoped for and therefore we must continue the fight to educate Congress and the public about what the real truth is concerning the USPS and its financial stability. Because of all the work that had to be done, we have made some friends in Washington, and hopefully with our ever growing COLCPE members, we will be able to increase our friends on the Hill, and educate them about how important 6 day delivery is, and why we need to stop the prefunding of our health care for people who haven’t even been born yet. Our goal is to have long term relationships in Congress today. We have gone to Washington numerous times to get the word out in an effort to stop bills from reaching the Congressional floor that could end our jobs as we know them. We have rallied, signed petitions, made phone calls and visited all our Congressional Leaders to let them understand what is at stake here. Throughout all of this too, we have had to sometimes educate our own membership, to make them see what the big picture is and not the little one the Postmaster General is trying to use to mislead Congress and the American Public. Daryl Issa and the party that he represents have mandated a goal to destroy all Unions in the country. That is why we must support American made products, and any Union that still is in existence. We must all stand as Brothers and Sisters together, or we will fail.
On a positive note, with the hiring of CCAs we will be able to recruit them into joining the Union. We must tell them of the benefits of the Union, and what it means to be a Union, and not an individual. Since the downsizing in 2006, it has been a long time since we have had the opportunity to bring in new ideas and future leaders for the NALC. This is a great thing, because we have to train the young members, so they can step in as people retire. They have to learn more at a faster rate than any time in Postal History because we can see by the events in the Post Office today, those in charge are not looking to save the Postal Service, but dismantle it.
In closing, if we could go back in time and ask those in the State 100 years ago what they did in the dire times they lived in, I am sure they would tell us that they didn’t stop fighting to get better working environments or pay increases that matched the cost of living, and the start of the benefits we enjoy today. In 1970 with the Reorganization Act a change was brought about led by Brothers like Vincent Sombrotto. These changes have carried us through to today. They fought long and hard, and it is our obligation to honor them and continue the fight today, and in the future, to keep this great Union, the NALC, a strong and ever growing organization.
I hope all the Delegates enjoy the 72nd biannual convention and 100 years of FSALC.
Thank you to all the members of Branch 53 for putting on a great Convention.
Fraternally,
Al Friedman
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