Podcasts about American Postal Workers Union

Mark Dimondstein, President of the American Postal Workers Union, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the likely consequences of privatizing the U.S. Postal Service and efforts to protect this public institution. Kelly Dufour, Voting and Elections Manager at Common Cause Ohio, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the potential impact of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, its impact on voter accessibility and the challenges it poses to election officials.

Independent investigative journalism, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com

In our first segment, we get the latest on the Eric Adams saga from a reporter who has City Hall covered like a blanket. Then we'll take stock of the Trump-Musk administration's widening attacks on public services. We then speak with Chuck Zlatkin of the American Postal Workers Union which represents more than 200,000 postal workers nationwide. And in our final segment, we talk with journalist Liza Featherstone about why Trump and Musk are targeting many of the most popular services provided by the federal government. It's not a political miscalculation, she argued in a recent essay for The New Republic, but a key part of their plan.

We speak with Chuck Zlatkin, a longtime postal worker who is currently the Legislative and Political Director for New York Metro Area Postal Union, the local affiliate of the American Postal Workers Union. The U.S. postal service is older than country itself and provides universal service to every address in the country. While people may not write as many letters as they used to, the Postal Service remains essential to small and large businesses, to elderly who receive their prescriptions by mail, to voters who vote by mail and many others. However, with President Trump and Elon Musk indiscriminately wielding their wrecking ball across the federal government, recent comments by Trump have many concerned that he may try to privatize the post office and dismantled the services we've become accustomed to.

This is the full 12-8-2024 episode of the Labor Express Radio program. Jimmy Williams Jr., President of the International Union of Painters, Mark Dimondstein, President of the American Postal Workers Union and professor Adolph Reed Jr. all discuss the aftermath of the 2024 election and what it means for the working class. Labor Express Radio is Chicago's only labor news and current affairs radio program. News for working people, by working people. Labor Express Radio airs every Sunday at 8:00 PM on WLPN in Chicago, 105.5 FM. For more information, see our Facebook page... laborexpress.org and our homepage on Archive.org at: http://www.archive.org/details/LaborExpressRadio Labor Express is a member of the Labor Radio / Podcast Network, Working People's Voices – Broadcasting Worldwide 24 Hours A Day. laborradionetwork.org #laborradionetwork #LaborRadioPod #1u #UnionStrong

Ralph welcomes Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union. They'll discuss the crucial role that the Postal Service plays in our democratic process, and how organized labor is impacting this year's elections. Then, Ralph is joined by journalist James Bamford to talk about his latest article in The Nation: "Israel Is Killing Whole Families in Gaza—With Weapons Made in America." Plus, how candidates' positions on Israel may win or lose them voters on Election Day. Mark Dimondstein is the President of the American Postal Workers Union. Since 2013 when Mr. Dimondstein was elected, he has turned the APWU into a fighting activist organization. Mr. Dimondstein advocates for the rights of postal workers as well as the right of the American people to a vibrant public Postal Service. The American Postal Workers Union supports Medicare for All and belongs to the Labor Campaign for Single Payer. The APWU believes in paying a living wage and providing benefits to all workers.We have about 200,000 members. And we definitely represent people throughout the entire political spectrum and throughout the whole country. So we represent people from right to left, left to right, everybody in between, and we represent people from the most rural outpost in the country to the urban centers. So first, the way we handle it is we don't try to tell people how they should think and how they should vote. We're all adults, we vote for what we think is in our best interest as workers, as family members, as community members, as citizens and so on. So we don't try to dictate to our members how to vote, but we do have a responsibility to lead…So I think leadership has a responsibility to educate our members, to activate our members, and to get our members to be involved in the political electoral process.Mark DimondsteinI'm a proud Jewish American. Jewish Americans should be the first to say “never again” when it comes to genocide, when it comes to ethnic cleansing, and when it comes to war crime. And we're not going to solve all the problems of the Middle East and the complicated history of the Middle East on this radio show. But let's at least be clear that the crimes committed against the Jewish people should never be allowed to be committed against anybody else—no matter who's doing it. Mark DimondsteinKamala Harris sent her two closest advisors to Wall Street about a month ago to get advice on her economic and tax policies and not connecting with the Citizens for Tax Justice, which has a progressive proposal. She doesn't connect with citizen groups. She goes around campaigning with Liz Cheney…It's quite amazing that the most popular incumbent elected politician in America today is Bernie Sanders…And she's ignoring Bernie Sanders and going into one state after another with people like Liz Cheney. Ralph NaderWhatever happens next Tuesday, our work isn't done. The divisions that have been created by white supremacy, by this anti-immigrant fervor out here—these things aren't going away. Issues that divide workers instead of unite workers—the growing bigotry, the attack on women's rights to reproductive freedom and health, the attacks on voting rights—these are issues that are going to be here with whoever wins the election. So the working people and the trade union movement have a lot of work to do, whatever the outcome.Mark DimondsteinJames Bamford is a best-selling author, Emmy-nominated filmmaker for PBS, award-winning investigative producer for ABC News, and winner of the National Magazine Award for Reporting for his writing in Rolling Stone on the war in Iraq. He is the author of several books, including Spyfail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America's Counterintelligence.The reason I wrote [my article] was because people read about the bombs blowing up schools and refugee camps and hospitals and killing scores and scores, hundreds, thousands of people… But few people realized that it's middle America, largely, that's building the bombs, sending the bombs, and the American taxpayers are paying for the bombs. All the Israelis are doing is dropping the bombs.James BamfordI think the only way is international pressure. I wrote about this in my last book, that the only thing that you can ever do to affect Israel is to have an international boycott sanction. We have to treat it like the worst country on earth. That's what happened with South Africa. That's what stopped apartheid—once they couldn't buy anything.James BamfordRECOGNIZING TIME-PRESSURED HEADLINE WRITERS' CONTRIBUTIONS TO READERSIn Case You Haven't Heard with Francesco DeSantisNews 10/30/241. A crisis is unfolding at the Washington Post following billionaire owner Jeff Bezos' decision to block the paper's planned endorsement of Kamala Harris. In a statement signed by 21 opinion columnists at the Post, they write “The…decision not to make an endorsement in the presidential campaign is a terrible mistake.” Signatories include Karen Attiah, E.J. Dionne, and Dana Milbank among many others. Since the publication of that statement, two opinion writers have resigned: David Hoffman, who has written for the Post since 1982 and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize just last week, as well as technology columnist Molly Roberts. Editor-at-large Robert Kagan also resigned his position at the paper. This from Semafor. Responding to the outcry, Bezos himself published an op-ed in the paper arguing that Americans see the news media as too politicized already and an official endorsement would merely make matters worse. As of October 29th, over 200,000 Washington Post readers, nearly 10% of the total readership, have canceled their subscriptions, per NPR.2. Like the Washington Post, the LA Times also opted not to endorse Kamala Harris. Similar backlash followed, with the New York Times reporting “Thousands of readers canceled subscriptions. Three members of the editorial board resigned. Nearly 200 staff members signed an open letter to management demanding an explanation, complaining that the decision this close to the election had undermined the news organization's trust with readers.” Nika Soon-Shiong, the activist daughter of LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, publicly stated “Our family made the joint decision not to endorse a Presidential candidate. This was the first and only time I have been involved in the process…As a citizen of a country openly financing genocide, and as a family that experienced South African Apartheid, the endorsement was an opportunity to repudiate justifications for the widespread targeting of journalists and ongoing war on children.” Per Vanity Fair however, her father disputes this narrative, saying “Nika speaks in her own personal capacity regarding her opinion…She does not have any role at The L.A. Times, nor does she participate in any decision or discussion with the editorial board, as has been made clear many times.” The murkiness of these circumstances has left readers with many questions that likely will not be answered until well after the election.3. According to Slate, “Donald Trump told a crowd of supporters that he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [last] Saturday…According to Trump, the Israeli leader said he disregarded President Joe Biden's warning to keep troops out of Rafah in southern Gaza.” In other words, Trump is conducting foreign policy independent of the sitting president, a flagrant violation of the Logan Act and the Constitution itself. This collusion between Trump and Netanyahu is reminiscent of the Nixon campaign's collusion with the South Vietnamese to prolong the Vietnam War and thereby undermine the Hubert Humphrey campaign and similarly, the Reagan campaign's collusion with Iran to prolong the hostage crisis. Yet again however, it seems unlikely that there will be any consequences to this open criminal activity.4. Reuters reports that on Monday, Israel formally banned the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency from operating inside Israel. UNICEF spokesperson James Elder, who has worked extensively in Gaza since this campaign of slaughter began is quoted saying “If UNRWA is unable to operate, it'll likely see the collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza…So a decision such as this suddenly means that a new way has been found to kill children.” Reuters reports “over 13,300 children whose identities have been confirmed have been killed” in Gaza, while “Many more are believed to have died from diseases due to a collapsing medical system and food and water shortages.”5. The Muslim Mirror reports “In a landmark diplomatic move, Claudia Sheinbaum, the newly elected President of Mexico and the country's first Jewish head of state, officially recognized the State of Palestine.” Sheinbaum is quoted saying “Today, Mexico reaffirms its commitment to human rights and justice for all. Recognizing Palestine is a step toward peace and a signal to the international community that the Palestinian people deserve dignity, statehood, and the right to self-determination.” Neither the United States nor Canada recognize the State of Palestine.6. Over 20,000 workers have lost their lives working on Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman's Saudi Vision 2030 project, per the Hindustan Times. These workers, almost exclusively migrants, say they feel like “trapped slaves” and “beggars,” and allege widespread exploitation including “unpaid wages, illegal working hours and human rights abuses.” While rumors of the workers mistreatment has been circulating for years now, a new ITV documentary has brought more attention to the issue in recent days. The deeply suspect NEOM mega-city project alone, which is just one aspect of Saudi Vision 2030, is expected to cost at least $500 billion.7. BRICS, the loose multi-polar alliance of countries forming an alternative economic bloc to offset the United States, recently concluded their latest summit. Per Democracy Now!, the alliance voted to accept 13 more countries to the bloc, including Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. These were chosen from nearly three-dozen applicants. The outpouring of applications indicates a substantial appetite for an economic alternative to the United States throughout much of the world.8. On October 22nd, Congressman Ro Khanna re-introduced the Stop Wall Street Landlords Act, intended to curb the trend of private equity gobbling up housing stock across the country. The bill was first introduced in 2022, but the crisis has only grown since then. According to NOTUS, “In the first half of 2024, one in four ‘low-priced' homes were purchased by investors…In that same time, the percentage of Americans with a ‘high degree of concern' about housing costs rose to 69%.” If passed, this bill would raise taxes on home acquisitions by private equity firms that hold over $100 million in assets and “bar government-supported lenders from backing new mortgages for such purchases.” Both presidential campaigns have made housing a major issue on the trail, though only the Kamala Harris campaign has offered viable policy to address the crisis.9. E&E News reports Argus Insight, a conservative research firm is “collecting information that could be used to discredit officials involved in a multibillion-dollar climate lawsuit against fossil fuel companies.” The suit, filed last year in Oregon, accuses “Exxon Mobil, the American Petroleum Institute, McKinsey…and hundreds of other defendants of being responsible for a dayslong heat wave in 2021 that killed 69 people. Multnomah County, home to Portland, is seeking more than $51 billion to pay for damages from the tragedy and to prepare for future disasters.” It is unknown why exactly Argus is seeking this information, but experts speculate that they are “using the same tactics that the tobacco industry deployed against its critics decades ago.” Benjamin Franta, an Oxford professor of climate litigation, is quoted saying “The strategy is to ‘try to figure out who is helping to inform these cases and…discredit them in some way…If someone loses on the facts, they try to shoot the messenger.'”10. Finally, the Popular Information Substack reports “On October 10…[Attorney General Merrick] Garland held a press conference and announced that TD Bank had illegally laundered over $670 million of drug money.” Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo added “Time and again, unlike its peers, TD Bank prioritized growth and profit over complying with the law.” Surely such a clear, textbook case of corporate criminality would result in criminal charges…except Garland and the DOJ brought no charges, instead settling for a Deferred Prosecution Agreement and a fine of $3 billion. Only two low-level employees were hit with criminal charges, despite clear evidence showing the involvement of high-level executives. Senator Elizabeth Warren said of the deal “This settlement lets bad bank executives off the hook for allowing TD Bank to be used as a criminal slush fund.”This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

Postal workers are warning of what they call 'substandard performance' by the U.S. Postal Service. The American Postal Workers Union is calling for the public's help in demanding improved staffing, better customer service and more opportunity for public input. It comes ahead of an election where millions will vote by mail. Geoff Bennett discussed more with union president Mark Dimondstein. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Ralph welcomes Jeff Cohen from the activist group “Roots Action,” whose “Step Aside Joe” campaign was years ahead of the curve urging Joe Biden – for many reasons – to keep his promise to be a one-term president. Plus, Harvey Rosenfield, founder of Consumer Watchdog, updates us on how the insurance industry in cahoots with governor Gavin Newsom wants to roll back the immensely successful Prop 103 that over the years has saved Californians billions of dollars in insurance premiums and why this struggle has implications for auto and homeowner insurance premiums across the country.Jeff Cohen is Co-Founder and Policy Director at RootsAction. He is a media critic, columnist, documentary filmmaker, and retired journalism professor who founded the media watch group FAIR—Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting— in 1986. For years, he was a regular pundit on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC discussing issues of media and politics, and he is the author of Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media.Now, the challenge is reminiscent of Hubert Humphrey and Lyndon Baines Johnson. And when Hubert Humphrey ran for President in 1968—he was LBJ's Vice President—he had to face the question, is he gonna stay loyal to Johnson's position on the Vietnam War…or is he going to be faithful to his own personal judgment, which was to find a way to get out of the Vietnam War. He chose the former, to be loyal—he didn't distance himself—and he lost the election.Ralph NaderYou have all of these constituencies that want a change in policy…The base of the party is for peace and social justice. Not for continual expansion of the military budget. People forget that the Democratic platform in 2020 called for a reduction in military spending, and Joe Biden has increased military spending every year.Jeff CohenWe've organized around that point that if we cut the military budget—which has grown year after year under Joe Biden—and we took that money and spent it on healthcare and housing and education, imagine what a society we would have. If we uplifted working-class people. And when I look at what Joe Biden ran in in 2020—and the promises that were made that have been broken—if he had kept even half of these promises the Democrats would be winning in a landslide.Jeff CohenHarvey Rosenfield is one of the nation's foremost consumer advocates and founder of the advocacy group, Consumer Watchdog. Among many other accomplishments, Mr. Rosenfield authored Proposition 103 that has saved consumers hundreds of millions of dollars in auto insurance premiums. He has also co-authored groundbreaking initiatives on HMO reform and utility rate deregulation and is the author of the book, Silent Violence, Silent Death: the Hidden Epidemic of Medical Malpractice.The insurance industry never stopped fighting [Prop 103]. Even though they lost at the ballot box, they constantly tried to relitigate that election. They couldn't believe that the voters would have the temerity to tell the insurance companies how to conduct business in the state of California.Harvey RosenfieldThis kind of economic blackmail—boycotting state after state in order to up their profits—has worked in the past for insurance companies and this is what they're doing now. And it's easy to predict that as their bottom line improves, as the stock market improves…they'll start coming back into these states with the promise of far higher rates, and things will calm down. But in the meantime, people will have been soaked for tens of billions, hundreds of billions of dollars nationwide.Harvey RosenfieldIn Case You Haven't Heard with Francesco DeSantis1. This week, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will address the United States Congress for an unprecedented fourth time. According to the Wall Street Journal, presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris will skip Netanyahu's address, but will meet with the Prime Minister – who is wanted on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court – and is expected to tell him that “it is time for the war to end” and to stop the “suffering of Palestinian civilians.” Harris is expected to take a new foreign policy approach, likely doing away with key Biden administration figures like Jake Sullivan, Anthony Blinken and Lloyd Austin. Jim Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute, has stated that Harris has shown “far greater empathy for Palestinians than Biden.”2. With Harris taking center stage, the Intercept's Prem Thakker reports that Representative Rashida Tlaib has released a statement saying “I welcome the opportunity to engage Vice President Harris as my team and I work hard to inspire our Democratic base...They want to see a permanent ceasefire and an end to the funding of genocide in Gaza…They want us to fight against corporate greed that wants to eliminate unions and keep our families in the cycle of poverty. I am eager to speak to Vice President Harris about all of these issues and more.” Unlike other prominent progressive lawmakers – such as Bernie Sanders and AOC – Tlaib did not back Biden against the campaign to have him step aside as the Democratic nominee, and crucially, appears to be using whatever leverage she has to demand Harris push vigorously for a ceasefire in Gaza.3. The New York Times reports several major unions – including the The American Postal Workers Union, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, the Service Employees International Union, United Auto Workers, United Electrical Workers, and the National Education Association, the largest union in the U.S. – have sent a letter to the Biden Administration demanding they “halt all military aid to Israel.” This letter emphasizes that “it is clear that the Israeli government will continue …until it is forced to stop,” and that “Stopping US military aid to Israel is the quickest and most sure way to do so.” APWU President Mark Dimondstein said in a statement “Our unions are hearing the cries of humanity as this vicious war continues…Working people and our unions are horrified that our tax dollars are financing this ongoing tragedy.”4. Reuters reports that in talks hosted in China this week, “Palestinian rivals including Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a unity government.” Al Maydeen reports “The meetings saw the participation of 14 Palestinian factions, including Fatah, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.” The so-called Beijing Declaration promises to “end the Palestinian national division [and] unify national efforts to confront…[Israeli] aggression and stop the genocide.” Implementation of this agreement will be monitored by Egypt, Algeria, China, and Russia.5. In the United Kingdom, “Five climate activists who planned a protest to cause gridlock and block traffic over four days on a major highway circling London were sentenced…to as much as five years in prison,” per ABC. Just Stop Oil, the group planning the protest, “called the prison terms ‘an obscene perversion of justice... for nothing more than attending a Zoom call.'” Protesting this decision, many prominent climate activists – ranging from Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn to Rowan Williams, Former Archbishop of Canterbury to musician Brian Eno – have signed a letter calling this “one of the greatest injustices in a British court in modern history…making a mockery of the right to a fair trial.” This letter also notes that these sentences are “higher than those given to many who commit serious sexual assault.” This letter also cites the United Nations special rapporteur on environmental defenders, who called this “a dark day for peaceful environmental protest, the protection of environmental defenders and indeed anyone concerned with the exercise of their fundamental freedoms in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”6. In more climate related news, in New York City landlords are required to provide heat for tenants in the winter. Yet, there is no equivalent rule for landlords to provide air conditioning for tenants during the increasingly blistering summers. Now, Gothamist reports New York City Councilmember Lincoln Restler of Brooklyn plans to introduce a bill “requiring [landlords] to ensure tenants can cool their homes to at least 78 degrees when it is 82 degrees or warmer during the summer.” Restler is quoted saying “Heat is the number one climate or weather-related killer – not just nationally, but right here in New York City…We've already suffered three awful heat waves this summer. Can you imagine what it's like to try to manage it without air conditioning or any cooling device in your apartment?” This move comes amid other attempts to legislate heat protections as temperatures continue to rise.7. In an infuriating example of corporate greed, the Guardian reports that pharmaceutical giant Gilead is charging outrageous prices for a new drug described as “the closest we have ever been to an HIV vaccine.” According to this report, “Lenacapavir, sold as Sunlenca…currently costs $42,250 for the first year…[yet] In a study…experts calculated that the minimum price for mass production of a generic version…allowing for 30% profit, was $40 a year.” This report continues “Given by injection every six months, lenacapavir can prevent infection and suppress HIV in people who are already infected…In a trial, the drug offered 100% protection to more than 5,000 women in South Africa and Uganda.”8. In a welcome check against corporate greed, the Federal Communications Commission has “voted to end exorbitant phone and video call rates that have burdened incarcerated people and their families fordecades.” The new rules will cap the cost of a 15-minute phone call at 90 cents for large jails and $1.35 for small ones. As of now, a 15-minute phone call can cost as much as $11.35 in a large jail and over $12 in a small one. The new rules also bar added fees.9. In more positive regulatory news, the Federal Trade Commission has “issued orders to eight companies offering surveillance pricing products and services that incorporate data about consumers' characteristics and behavior. The orders seek information about the potential impact these practices have on privacy, competition, and consumer protection.” The companies in question include Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, and perennial corporate malefactor, McKinsey. Indicating the universality of this move, no more than 3 members of the FTC can be of the same party yet the Commission voted 5-0 to issue these orders.10. Finally, in some local news, NBC4 Washington reports that “Former President Donald Trump has threatened a federal takeover of Washington, D.C., if he wins a second term in November.” Leaving aside the ever-present bluster and bombast that accompany such Trump pronouncements, NBC4 makes the crucial point that because D.C. lacks statehood “The president can take over the police department and many of the powers the mayor and D.C. Council have.” In light of this credible threat, it is more critical than ever that Congress act on D.C. Statehood and end the unjust status quo of taxation without representation.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

The local unit of the American Postal Workers Union has been vocal about objecting to the plan, both before its adoption and since. Jeremy Schilling, the President of APWU Local #342, returns to give a view from the postal workers side about how the transition is going.

A public meeting will be held Monday night at Creekside Banquet Center regarding the proposal to move USPS mail processing out of Buffalo.

https://prismreports.org/2024/01/22/labor-unions-unprecedented-calls-ceasefire-gaza/"Within the labor movement, hundreds of unions and union locals have responded to a call from Palestinian labor unions and signed resolutions calling for a ceasefire, even those whose leadership has historically supported Israel. On Dec. 1, UAW, one of the largest unions in the country, made history when it released a ceasefire statement. Other influential unions, such as the United Electrical Workers, American Postal Workers Union, and 1199SEIU (United Healthcare Workers East), and countless other smaller unions have also released similar statements. On Jan. 22, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the second-largest public service employees union in the country, also released a call for a ceasefire."https://ceasefire-now.com/ Get bonus content on PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Frank Resetarits, American Postal Workers Union local president, on the possible moving of mail processing plant from Buffalo to Rochester

It's day 3 of the America's Work Force Union Podcast's “Best of 2023” coverage. Today we'll feature the May 8 conversation with the President of the American Postal Workers Union, Mark Dimondstein. Dimondstein spoke on how the American Postal Workers Union was dealing with staffing issues on the retail and delivery side of postal work. He also discussed some of the fundamental issues that needed to be fixed in order to improve working conditions and ways the Post Office could improve banking access for millions of Americans. International President of the United Steelworkers, Dave McCall, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast to talk about the announcement that US Steel has agreed to be purchased by Nippon Steel. McCall outlined his thoughts on the deal and potential issues that could prevent the deal from being finalized. Finally, McCall talked about the future and what to expect from the USW in 2024.

On today's show: postal workers deliver during the holidays, letter carriers speak out; labor joins a Palestine solidarity rally in Madison (WI); Educators push for a ceasefire in Gaza; and, in our final segment, what's it like to be a progressive in charge of a traditionally conservative union for prison guards.   This week's featured shows are Communicating with You, the Member, the podcast from the APWU, the American Postal Workers Union; You Are The Current Resident, from the National Association of Letter Carriers; Labor Radio, a weekly show on WORT in Madison, Wisconsin; Labor Radio on KBOO FM, radio of the working class, by the working class and for the working class from Portland, Oregon; and the Heartland Labor Forum, which airs weekly on KKFI, Kansas City Community Radio. Help us build sonic solidarity by clicking on the share button below. Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people's issues and concerns. @APWUnational @kboo @NALC_National @Heartland_Labor#LaborRadioPod @AFLCIO Edited by Patrick Dixon, produced by Chris Garlock; social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

Ralph sits down with three guests straight out of the latest edition of the Capitol Hill Citizen. First, world-renowned food politics expert and public health advocate Marion Nestle joins Ralph to discuss America's voracious junk food lobby. Then, Ralph speaks to legal expert Bruce Fein about Congressional staffers and the part they can play in making Congress stronger. Finally, Ralph welcomes Vishal Shankar from the Revolving Door Project to explain why President Biden is letting Postmaster General Louis DeJoy continue wrecking the Post Office. Marion Nestle is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University. She is the author of a wide range of books about the politics of food, nutrition, health, and the environment, including Eat, Drink Vote: An Illustrated Guide to Food Politics, Unsavory Truth: How Food Companies Skew the Science of What We Eat, and Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics. If you want to make a profit and grow your profit every 90 days, you have to sell as much food as possible. And what that food does to public health is not your responsibility, because that's the way our system works. Marion NestleWe have a law on the books that says that the Federal Trade Commission can do nothing to restrict the marketing of foods to children on television. They're not allowed to do that. So what we're talking about here is a situation in which Congress is so corrupt that it cannot take on anything that will fight the food industry.Marion NestleBruce Fein is a Constitutional scholar and an expert on international law.  Mr. Fein was Associate Deputy Attorney General under Ronald Reagan and he is the author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for Our Constitution and Democracy, and American Empire: Before the Fall.You really can't make a career anymore of being in the legislative branch as an employee or as an aide. And so everybody leaves after a couple years to go to K Street and become a lobbyist. And so with this rapid turnover, you have a lobotomized Congress. And what this letter was attempting to do was to say, listen, Congress still—when the architecture of the Constitution is honored—is the primary predominant branch among the three branches. It's simply that you're not exercising it.Bruce FeinVishal Shankar is a Senior Researcher at the Revolving Door Project, which scrutinizes executive branch appointees to ensure they use their office to serve the broad public interest, rather than to entrench corporate power or seek personal advancement. He has also worked at Inequality Media, as well as several government offices, nonprofits, and policy research projects. His work has appeared in The American Prospect and Common Dreams, and he has been quoted in The New Republic, The Lever, and the Capitol Hill Citizen.The crisis [with Louis DeJoy] is not as immediate to Biden, his voters, his supporters, and they very wrongly believe—in my opinion—that they can work with this man who has proven to be untrustworthy, a Republican mega-donor and partisan hack, and most importantly a committed privatizer of the United States Postal Service. Vishal ShankarDeJoy has been one of the single biggest impediments to piloting or expanding to creative new ideas that can grow out the Postal Service for decades to come…DeJoy has very stubbornly refused to consider these great potential ideas and is doubling down on service cuts and rate hikes as the only way he thinks he can run the agency.Vishal ShankarIn Case You Haven't Heard with Francesco DeSantis1. Democracy Now! Reports the United Autoworkers union has called for a ceasefire in Gaza. They are the largest and most mainstream labor union to publicly come out for a ceasefire, joining the American Postal Workers Union, United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, the California Nurses Association and the Chicago Teachers Union. UAW Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla said "UAW International is calling for an immediate, permanent cease-fire in Israel and Palestine so that we can get to the work of building a lasting peace, building social justice, and building a global community of solidarity," per CBS News. At the same time, UAW is “launching simultaneous, public organizing campaigns at more than a dozen automakers including Toyota… Volkswagen…and Tesla…aiming to organize nearly 150,000 employees…which would double the number of autoworkers in the union,” per Bloomberg. In short, UAW is setting a new standard for labor. We hope other unions follow their lead.2. A new Gallup poll shows the Israeli campaign against Gaza is underwater among key segments of American public opinion. Some top line numbers: 63% of Democrats oppose Israel's military actions in Gaza, as do 67% of adults under 35, 64% of people of color, and 52% of women. Moreover, this poll was conducted in the first weeks of November, so it is likely these attitudes have hardened since then.3. Responding to the protests against Israel's campaign, the House has passed a resolution classifying anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism, even among American Jews. In a surprising move, high ranking Jewish Democrat Jerrold Nadler took to the floor to decry this resolution, saying “the resolution suggests that ALL anti-Zionism is antisemitism. That is either intellectually disingenuous or just factually wrong. And it unfairly implicates many of my orthodox former constituents in Brooklyn, many of whose families rose from the ashes of the Holocaust…the authors, if they were at all familiar with Jewish history and culture, should know about Jewish anti-Zionism that was, and is, expressly NOT antisemitic.”4. Semafor reports MSNBC has canceled Mehdi Hasan's news program. This article implies MSNBC canceled the show because it was a “cult favorite” which never “translated to ratings successes,” though it seems likely that Hasan's willingness to push back on Israeli talking points during this recent conflict played a role as well. Lest we forget this is the network that canceled Phil Donahue's blockbuster news program for criticizing the Iraq War.5. Just Foreign Policy's Aída Chávez reports “Sen[ator] Rand Paul is forcing a vote this week on getting US troops out of Syria. His Syria War Powers Resolution would remove all US troops – approx. 900 [US military personnel] – from Syria in the next 30 days.” Chávez highlights that “US forces have been targeted with dozens of attacks in Syria [in recent days] over US support for war in Gaza.”6. From OtherWorlds.org: the Pentagon has failed yet another audit. The mammoth Department of Defense has never passed an audit, and only even completed its first in 2018. In this most recent iteration, “the Pentagon was able to account for just half of its $3.8 trillion in assets (including equipment, facilities, etc)…[leaving] $1.9 trillion…unaccounted for — more than the entire budget Congress agreed to for the current fiscal year.” Congress is now set to allocate an additional $840 billion for the agency.7. The Intercept is out with a story that could have made headlines during the Populist Era of the 1880s and ‘90s. According to the report, Dan Osborn, a military veteran and labor leader who was a key figure in the 2021 strike against Kellogg's, is running for Senate as an independent – and leading Republican incumbent Senator Deb Fischer in the polls. Osborn told the Intercept “Nebraskans have had it with Washington. We've been starving for honest government that isn't bought and paid for…This poll shows that Nebraska's independent streak is alive and well.” The article notes Nebraska Democrats have not yet fielded a candidate in this Senate race and are considering backing Osborn. Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said many Nebraska voters tired of one-party control in the state, arguing it “Makes politicians lazy…[and] more beholden to corporate interests since they don't have to answer to voters.”8. NBC is out with a bombshell report on carbon monoxide deaths among Airbnb renters. According to the report, “NBC News has identified 19 deaths since 2013 that occurred at Airbnb properties and are alleged to have involved carbon monoxide poisoning, according to interviews with family members of victims and a review of news articles, autopsy reports, police records, and court and government documents. The company is currently facing at least three lawsuits pertaining to carbon monoxide deaths or poisonings.” Perhaps most damningly, following one carbon monoxide related death in 2014, the company made a blog post promising “By the end of 2014, we'll require all Airbnb hosts to confirm that they have [carbon monoxide detectors] installed in their listing.” The company never made good on that promise, and that post has since been deleted.9. Tesla has released its long awaited Cybertruck, and along with it, videos of the vehicle's crash testing. These are distressing to say the least. As the American Prospect notes, “the Cybertruck's body panels…are made of stainless steel…[which] is much stiffer than…ordinary [automobile body materials], which makes it dangerous. Since the 1950s at least, automakers have understood that stiffer cars are more dangerous to people inside and outside the car, because in a crash they deliver energy to other parties rather than absorbing it. In early crash test experiments with more heavily built cars, collisions often did only minor damage to the car but turned the test dummies into paste. Since then, cars have been designed with progressively more sophisticated crumple zones to absorb impact forces. Musk's boasts of a Cybertruck “exoskeleton,” if true, are a recipe for gruesome carnage.”10. Finally, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has died at 100 years old. A Rolling Stone obituary, which ran under the headline “Henry Kissinger, War Criminal Beloved by America's Ruling Class, Finally Dies,” argues that while Kissinger deserves to be remembered as one of “history's worst mass murderers,” he instead has been given a place of honor, even in death, among the American elite. One can only hope that his many, many victims will someday see justice served.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

On Saturday, July 1, 2023, Hudson Mohawk Magazine Roaming Labor Correspondent Willie Terry spoke to Jim Kaufman, Solidarity Committee of the Capital District member and former legislative director of the APWU Local 390. In this labor segment, Willie interviews him about activities and issues of the Solidarity Committee of the Capital District and the American Postal Workers Union's struggle against the privatization of the US Post Office. This is part one of that discussion.

On Saturday, July 1, 2023, Hudson Mohawk Magazine Roaming Labor Correspondent Willie Terry spoke to Jim Kaufman, Solidarity Committee of the Capital District member and former legislative director of the APWU Local 390. In this labor segment, Willie interviews him about activities and issues of the Solidarity Committee of the Capital District and the American Postal Workers Union's struggle against the privatization of the US Post Office—this is part two of that discussion.

Mark Dimondstein, President of the American Postal Workers Union, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast to discuss ongoing staffing issues on the retail and delivery side of postal work. Dimondstein also discussed some of the fundamental issues needing to be fixed to improve working conditions and he shared the potential plans for a new version of the United States Postal Savings System. President of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Matt Biggs, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast to discuss proposed federal budget cuts for the 2024 Fiscal Year and its possible impact on many programs. Biggs also discussed the impact the cuts would have on IFPTE members.

On Friday, April 28, 2023, Hudson Mohawk Magazine Roaming Labor Correspondent Willie Terry attended a press conference and rally by American Postal Workers Union, Local 390 in Albany at Central Avenue and Karner Road. The workers protested a toxic work environment and short staffing, leading to unsafe working conditions in post offices nationwide. In this part two labor segment, Willie interviewed and recorded speakers at the rally about their protest against the post office's administration.

n Friday, April 28, 2023, Hudson Mohawk Magazine Roaming Labor Correspondent Willie Terry attended a press conference and rally by American Postal Workers Union, Local 390 in Albany at Central Avenue and Karner Road. The workers were protesting a toxic work environment and short staffing, leading to unsafe working conditions in post offices throughout the country. In this labor segment, Willie spoke to the President of the local rev: Ibrahím Pedriñán, and Doug Bullock of the Solidarity Committee of the Capital Region about their protest.

Today, on the Hudson Mohawk Magazine, First, Earth Day Advocacy Day took place at the State Capitol on April 25. We hear from several participants about the key environmental bills before the legislature. Then, Willie Terry attended a press conference and rally by American Postal Workers Union, Local 390 in Albany. The workers were protesting a toxic work environment and short staffing, leading to unsafe working conditions in post offices throughout the country. Later on, Brea Barthel speaks with Danuel Butterworth, Executive Director, about the services offered to Albany newcomers through the Refugee and Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus (RISSE). After that, Brooklyn-based musician Christopher Tignor will perform on May 5 at The Avalon Lounge in Catskill, with Earthen Sea and Connor Armbruster, and on May 7 at The Studio in Troy. He spoke with Tom Roe of WGXC. Finally, this week Thom Francis speaks with Bob Sharkey who writes poetry and short fiction. Bob is a long-time board member of the Writers Guild

(PUBLIC NEWS SERVICE) - Union leaders for postal workers say they're mindful of the need for strong protections amid a push in the labor force for improved working conditions. The USPS holiday hiring blitz coincides with the need for more career clerks and carriers. Comments from Dominic Corso, president, Youngstown Area Local #443, and State Clerk Craft Director, American Postal Workers Union; Karen Garber, postmaster, Cincinnati; and Peter Rachleff, labor historian and co-executive director, East Side Freedom Library in St. Paul, Minnesota. 6 ways to support the podcast Subscribe to the podcast Ways you can support the show Check out our latest podcasts Connect with Chris Pugh on social media Ways you can save money Check out our latest contests --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/theohioan/message

The Postal Service's two largest unions are weighing in, more than a year into Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's 10-year agency reform plan.The National Association of Letter Carriers and the American Postal Workers Union are calling for USPS to increase hiring, adding that long-term understaffing is taking a toll on employee morale.

A long-awaited reform bill backers hope will save the Postal Service more than $100 billion is headed to President Joe Biden's desk. This after the Senate passed the Postal Service Reform Act. It ends a 2006 mandate to pre-fund retiree health benefits. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy supports the bill. So do postal associations and unions. For one reaction, Federal News Network's Jory Heckman spoke with the President of the American Postal Workers Union, Mark Dimondstein.

A gambit by the Biden administration to mail COVID test kits to every household, has highlighted a part of the Postal Service most people don't see. The mail and packaging sorting and logistics that takes place before items get onto the little white trucks. Joining the Federal Drive with an update, the president of the American Postal Workers Union, Mark Dimondstein.

Adolph Reed Jr. speaks with Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, on the importance of the public Postal Service to our democracy. Reed and Dimondstein share their concerns about the country's move toward authoritarianism, the role of the labor movement, and the need for independent working-class politics.

American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein made his debut on the AWF Union Podcast today. He discussed a possible new Collective Bargaining Agreement for his members, and how postal workers have dealt with the ongoing pandemic.   Alliance for Retired Americans Executive Director Rich Fiesta was the second featured guest on the podcast today and he spoke about telehealth and how it ostracizes older people who are unsure of how to proficiently use technology. He also discussed legislation affecting Social Security and unjustified pharmaceutical drug price hikes.

Christopher W. Shaw in conversation with Ralph Nader, discussing his newly released book "First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy, and the Corporate Threat," published by City Lights Books. This event was originally broadcast live via Zoom, hosted by Peter Maravelis and moderated by Katherine Isaac. Christopher W. Shaw is an author, historian, and policy analyst. He has a Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Berkeley, and is the author of "Money, Power, and the People: The American Struggle to Make Banking Democratic" (University of Chicago Press, 2019) and "Preserving the People's Post Office" (Essential Books, 2006). His research on the history of banking, money, labor, agriculture, social movements, and the postal system has been published in the following academic journals: Journal of Policy History, Journal of Social History, Agricultural History, Enterprise & Society, Kansas History, and Journalism History. Shaw was formerly a project director at the Center for Study of Responsive Law. He has worked on a number of policy issues, including the privatization of government services, health and safety regulations, and electoral reform. He has appeared in such media outlets as the Associated Press, National Public Radio, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, New York Post, Village Voice, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Buffalo News, among others. Shaw lives in Berkeley, CA. Named by The Atlantic as one of the hundred most influential figures in American history, and by Time and Life magazines as one of the most influential Americans of the twentieth century, Ralph Nader has helped us drive safer cars, eat healthier food, breathe better air, drink cleaner water, and work in safer environments for more than four decades. Nader's recent books include "Breaking Through Power" with City Lights, "Unstoppable," and "The Good Fight." Nader writes a syndicated column, has his own radio show, and gives lectures and interviews year round. Katherine Isaac is the Executive Director of the Debs-Jones-Douglass Institute (DJDI) where she advocates for the public good, including a strong and expanded public Postal Service. Previously, Isaac coordinated the Campaign for Postal Banking and A Grand Alliance to Save Our Public Postal Service at the American Postal Workers Union. She currently serves as Board Treasurer of the Global Labor Justice/International Labor Rights Forum. Isaac is the author of "Civics for Democracy: A Journey for Teachers and Students." Sponsored by the City Lights Foundation.

Will Santa be late for Christmas? Will his supply chain deficiencies leave your stocking empty? Some want to blame workers who don't want to work or a global pandemic. On this week's Heartland Labor Forum, we'll explore the truth about “Supply Chain Blues” with Richard Wolff. Then we'll ask American Postal Workers Union president Mark […] The post Getting There for XMAS: Supply Chain Blues and Will Santa Deliver? appeared first on KKFI.

We will hear from an incredible lineup of speakers and an extended Q & A with expert panel. Medical Freedom: The Civil Rights Fight of Our Time. Biden's Mandates get more pointless every day. What he has managed to achieve is dissension, confusion, lawsuits and worker shortages. Biden's mandates, as well as those issued by state and corporations, have sparked a raft of lawsuits. Federal workers, contractors, American Postal Workers Union, health care workers, firefighters, police officers, United Airlines employees and more have filed suit against the U.S. government and company's vaccine mandates. So we ask, what is the point of all this? Is it to protect the vaccinated, the people Biden himself says are well protected by the experimental injection? Or is there something more going on? Is this an exercise of government control? If the public can be convinced to follow government overreach orders here, what else can be declared a " public health emergency? pastorrickbrown.com

Broadcast on July 1, 2021 Hosted by Chris Garlock and Ed Smith This week's show: The American Postal Workers Union is celebrating its' 50th birthday today; Postal Workers president Mark Dimondstein reports on how his union is still fighting for postal worker rights. PLUS: Metro Washington Council Political Director David Stephen on the Hero Pay bill in DC City Council…DC Jobs with Justice Worker Rights Policy Advocate Nikko Bilitza on the Your Rights at Work and the New Minimum Wage webinar…the San Francisco Mime Troupe's Michael Gene Sullivan previews the Mime Troupe's brand-new radio drama, “Tales Of The Resistance, Volume 2: Persistence” which we'll be carrying right here on Your Rights at Work, starting next week…this Sunday is July 4, so we get the 411 – the Labor411, on which franks are kosher for a union-made Independence Day with Cherri Senders. Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia. @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @DCJWJ @APWUnational @SFTroupers @Michaeloutloud

The Postal Service, struggling to deliver mail and packages on time during the pandemic, is getting a few upgrades. USPS finally awarded a 10-year contract to replace its fleet of ancient delivery trucks, and President Joe Biden is staffing up the USPS Board of Governors with three new nominees. Meanwhile, the Postal Service is rolling out a plan that would get the agency to break even, after a decade of financial losses. Joining the Federal Drive with all the latest, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman.

Also happening today, Governor Pritzker said his family is being unfairly and falsely targeted by critics, as new restrictions are being put in place to limit the spread of COVID-19 in Illinois; the American Postal Workers Union is calling on the postmaster general not to make more budget cuts; and much more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Postal workers nationwide rallied on Tuesday to demand Congress approve $25 billion in emergency funding for the Postal Service to ensure its continued operation, and reverse workflow changes made by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. In San Francisco, members of the American Postal Workers Union San Francisco Local #2 gathered in the rain in front of the Fox Plaza post office to distribute leaflets, saying the service was still in dire need of congressional aid and could shut down next year without it.

This is how intertwined the Medicare for All and public mail movements are: if we had a national single payer system in place for the last decade, the USPS would be running a surplus. Steve DeMatteo of the American Postal Workers Union joins us to discuss the surprising connections between the postal service and our healthcare system, the political and financial obstacles that the USPS has faced under the Trump administration, and also how you can fight to protect this vital public service. Show Notes This week we welcome to the podcast Steve DeMatteo from the American Postal Workers Union (APWU)! The postal service has become crucial for our democracy during the COVID pandemic, as many voters shift to using mail ballots for safety concerns. TOTALLY COINCIDENTALLY, the Trump administration has also attempted to undermine and privatize the postal service in the run-up to the November elections. We invited Steve on to talk about the important and, for most people, surprising ways in which protecting our public postal service and establishing healthcare as a right are intertwined. The APWU and its President Mark Dimondstein are among the leading advocates for Medicare for All in the labor movement. Why? As Steve says, postal workers are in a similar position to many workers. Although the APWU has won fairly good health benefits for their members, the rapidly rising costs of healthcare are brought to the table by their employers (the postal service) every contract, and used as a counterweight for winning decent wages and other important benefits for postal workers. What is the scale of the United States Postal Service (USPS), and how is it different from private mail companies like UPS or FedEx? The postal service employs more than 600,000 workers across the country (second only to Amazon as a national employer!), at 30,000+ post offices around the country. The USPS is also the largest civilian employer of veterans in the country. It is the only service explicitly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, and the USPS actually predates the Constitution - in 1775, Benjamin Franklin served as the first Postmaster General. In contrast to this history, in which the USPS has served as an integral part of American life since the country's founding, for-profit mailing companies like UPS or FedEx operate on a very different model. USPS service is universal, and does not charge discriminatory rates depending on whether you're rich or poor, or whether you live in an urban or rural area. For-profit mailing companies, like healthcare corporations, will not mail to unprofitable areas, and will charge every consumer as much as they can. In fact, about 25% of mail sent by UPS and FedEx are dropped off to a public post office for the final leg of your delivery - since for-profit mailing companies won't service the final address! (See this IPS study on how 70 million Americans are up-charged by UPS and FedEx because they don't live in a major city.) Now that we understand what the postal service is, how do we explain the fact that the USPS has struggled financially in recent years - even before coronavirus? Most people will never hear about it, but almost all of the USPS's losses stem from a 2006 law called the "Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act," which required the postal service to pre-fund retiree health benefits 75 years in advance (!!!). That means the USPS has to pay, right now, for the health benefits of future USPS retirees who haven't even been born yet. No other government agency, and certainly no private corporation, has to pre-fund their healthcare benefits three generations in advance, and it created an impossible financial situation. If you read or watch mainstream news on why the postal service has struggled financially, though, you will never hear about this 2006 law. The reason the press overlooks the reality of the postal service's struggles is due to a concerted effort to demonize the USPS...

Listen to the full radio report here, first aired October 7, 2020: https://kpfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/California-Election-Mechanics-reporter-ariel-boone.mp3 jQuery(document).ready(function($) { var media = $('#audio-345019-43'); media.on('canplay', function (ev) { this.currentTime = 0; }); });   By Ariel Boone (@arielboone), KPFA elections reporter SACRAMENTO, CA – “Do not wait. If you can vote early, please vote early this year.” That was the primary message of Sam Mahood, press secretary for California Secretary of State Alex Padilla. Mahood declined to spell out any scenarios where the state would be overwhelmed by an influx of mail-in ballots this year — 72 percent of ballots in California's presidential primary in March were returned by mail, after all — but this will be an election unlike any other in state history, with record-breaking numbers of registered voters, new election systems rolled out, and a pandemic to manage. “Just given everything with COVID, we know there's going to be a bigger strain on resources for everyone and on polling locations,” Mahood says. “We really say November 3, as much as it's Election Day, it's really the last date to vote, is how we want people to look at it this year.” California now has 21 million active registered voters — a record. The secretary of state says that number includes 83% of eligible adults. Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis says the county currently has 940,000 registered voters, and could hit 1 million by election day.  Dupuis told KPFA that along with voter registration, poll worker recruitment has spiked. The county needs 1,700 volunteer election workers to staff voting centers from October 31 through November 3, and 4,800 people signed up. It has a reserve of 3,000 extra volunteers. “We've never been in this situation,” Dupuis says. “It's just amazing, the outpour of support from our community.” Another thing that's new this year: California will mail every voter a ballot. In fact, California has already mailed every registered voter a ballot — every county was required to send them by October 5. If you have not received your ballot by October 10, the secretary of state recommends signing up to track your ballot at WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov, and contacting your county registrar. You may have heard about backups at the post office earlier this year — so we asked the people who actually handle the mail what to expect.  “I have to tell you that we will get those ballots out. It's in our DNA. That's our job.” – Shirley Taylor, American Postal Workers Union Shirley Taylor is a national business agent for the American Postal Workers Union. She says multiple postal workers' unions have formed a nationwide task force to clear every ballot from every mail processing center, every night. “The National Postal Mail Handlers Union, the National Association of Letter Carriers, the American Postal Workers Union, and the National Association of Postal Supervisors, all of us are participating,” Taylor says. “And the purpose is to ensure all election mail, mainly ballots, are processed and cleared daily and accounted for. And every night they're going to have a clearance report certification that all ballots are clear. And if not, they have to tell the reason why. And then these representatives of the committee will review these reports and walk through these plants, looking for problems and giving suggestions.” There's more scrutiny on the postal service this year. In August, a federal judge in Washington blocked moves by President Trump's postmaster general to remove mail sorting machines and bar postal workers from using overtime to finish deliveries. But Shirley Taylor says the workers are up to the task of delivering ballots.  “I have to tell you that we will get those ballots out. It's in our DNA. That's our job.” She would know — Shirley started working for the postal service in 1962 in Alameda County, for $2.67 an hour. She worked before the arrival of the high-speed mail sorting machines that Louis DeJoy would eventually have removed.  Also, California arranged with the Post Office to get ballots delivered even they don't have postage. It's “no stamp, no problem,” in the first statewide general election where no postage is required on any ballot, says the secretary of state's office.  Sam Mahood and Tim Dupuis both stressed that even though everyone's getting mailed a ballot, this is not just a vote by mail election.  There will be in-person voting machines. And, Mahood says, “These are really critical for voters who might have made a mistake with their ballot and need to get a replacement, voters who need to take advantage of same day voter registration if they miss the October 19 voter registration deadline, voters with disabilities who might need to use accessible voting machines that are available at their polling location, or voters who might need assistance in another language and need help from a poll worker.” This might be the sticky part. An executive order from Gavin Newsom in June instructed registrars to mail every voter a ballot, but also set terms of providing safe, in-person, accessible voting options. Many typical polling locations like schools and senior centers are closed to the public for safety. So some counties are switching to a “vote center” model. In Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Napa and Fresno counties, there will be fewer polling locations, and instead, voting centers will be open at least four days before the election, for early voting. In theory, they're a big step forward: voters are no longer restricted to just one voting location, and any center in your county will do. “In this election, if you happen to be in Livermore, and you're a resident of Alameda, you could go into an accessible vote location in that city, and we'll be able to produce your city of Alameda ballot so that you can vote there,” Alameda County registrar Tim Dupuis says. “It does remove those geographic restrictions. So you're able to vote where it's convenient.” But the switch to a voting center system can be tricky: when Los Angeles did it for the primary this spring, there were long voting lines because poll workers had difficulty connecting to an online database. Newsom's executive order says counties that use the vote center model must have 1 for every 10,000 voters. And big crowds can be a problem during a pandemic. “The first thing we wanted to think about is: Do we need the voter to get out of their car at all?” – Alameda County registrar Tim Dupuis Tim Dupuis says measures are in place to keep COVID from spreading at Alameda County's vote centers. “If they have the ballot already that we mailed to them, and they have the envelope, we're going to have a drive through drop stop, where they can just hand us their ballot through the window, and we'll drop it into the ballot box, and they'll get their ‘I voted' sticker. “If they want to vote and they're willing to vote in their car, we call it curbside voting. So they'll be able to come up and they can ask for their ballot. We'll ask them to park and we'll run their ballot out to them when it's ready. “Worst case, if they do have to come into the location, we have everything spread out. These locations are at least 2,500 square feet, and everybody's going to be wearing the protective equipment, the PPE that's required. We'll have all of the sanitizing that's necessary for those facilities, and we'll limit the number of people who can actually come in,” Dupuis says.  Alameda County is offering vote centers open from October 31 through November 3 in addition to drop boxes placed throughout the county. But Dupuis calls the vote centers a “last resort” for voting: “It's available to you, but we really are encouraging safe voting with all the options that we have.” Here's what else election officials want you to know: In California, you can register for a ballot to be mailed to you until October 19. After that, you can register and vote in-person up to and including Election Day. You can do this now, any day, at your county registrar's office. You will also be able to do it at voting centers, most of which will open 4 days before the election, on October 31. If you're voting by mail, you can also track your ballot on its way to you, from you, and through the counting process, using a new online tool offered in every county called “Where's My Ballot?” Mahood says 5 percent of California voters have already signed up for the tool, and assures KPFA that the state is “absolutely” ready for an influx of new sign-ups. “You'll know when it's on the way to you when it's been received by your County elections office, when it's been, and if it hasn't been counted,” he says. “You'll be alerted to an issue, which you'll still have time to correct. Usually it's a missing signature, or your signature doesn't match what's on file, but by signing up, you'll be notified much more quickly.” It's important to know where your ballot goes. In the past decade, an average of 1.7 percent of ballots cast by mail in California were rejected.  “The top three reasons for ballot rejection for everybody are late, a missing signature or a bad signature,” says Mindy Romero, founder and director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy at the University of Southern California. Her research has found mail-in ballot rejection disproportionately impacts voters aged 18-24. In a study of Sacramento, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, young voters were three times more likely to have ballots rejected in 2018, according to Romero's research. She says to make sure you sign the envelope if you're voting by mail in California, and get the ballot in the mail early, no later than November 3. But most important, she says, is to make the decision to vote. “It's the fact that we make potential voters in this country be responsible for their own voter registration, and then we put a lot of hoops there to make it more difficult to register for young people. “We will see millions of eligible voters in this election that will not vote in our state. And that is a travesty for our democracy.” The post California's election is now underway. Here's how to vote safely and securely appeared first on KPFA.

Listen to the full radio report here, first aired October 7, 2020: https://kpfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/California-Election-Mechanics-reporter-ariel-boone.mp3 jQuery(document).ready(function($) { var media = $('#audio-345019-13'); media.on('canplay', function (ev) { this.currentTime = 0; }); });   By Ariel Boone (@arielboone), KPFA elections reporter SACRAMENTO, CA – “Do not wait. If you can vote early, please vote early this year.” That was the primary message of Sam Mahood, press secretary for California Secretary of State Alex Padilla. Mahood declined to spell out any scenarios where the state would be overwhelmed by an influx of mail-in ballots this year — 72 percent of ballots in California's presidential primary in March were returned by mail, after all — but this will be an election unlike any other in state history, with record-breaking numbers of registered voters, new election systems rolled out, and a pandemic to manage. “Just given everything with COVID, we know there's going to be a bigger strain on resources for everyone and on polling locations,” Mahood says. “We really say November 3, as much as it's Election Day, it's really the last date to vote, is how we want people to look at it this year.” California now has 21 million active registered voters — a record. The secretary of state says that number includes 83% of eligible adults. Alameda County Registrar of Voters Tim Dupuis says the county currently has 940,000 registered voters, and could hit 1 million by election day.  Dupuis told KPFA that along with voter registration, poll worker recruitment has spiked. The county needs 1,700 volunteer election workers to staff voting centers from October 31 through November 3, and 4,800 people signed up. It has a reserve of 3,000 extra volunteers. “We've never been in this situation,” Dupuis says. “It's just amazing, the outpour of support from our community.” Another thing that's new this year: California will mail every voter a ballot. In fact, California has already mailed every registered voter a ballot — every county was required to send them by October 5. If you have not received your ballot by October 10, the secretary of state recommends signing up to track your ballot at WheresMyBallot.sos.ca.gov, and contacting your county registrar. You may have heard about backups at the post office earlier this year — so we asked the people who actually handle the mail what to expect.  “I have to tell you that we will get those ballots out. It's in our DNA. That's our job.” – Shirley Taylor, American Postal Workers Union Shirley Taylor is a national business agent for the American Postal Workers Union. She says multiple postal workers' unions have formed a nationwide task force to clear every ballot from every mail processing center, every night. “The National Postal Mail Handlers Union, the National Association of Letter Carriers, the American Postal Workers Union, and the National Association of Postal Supervisors, all of us are participating,” Taylor says. “And the purpose is to ensure all election mail, mainly ballots, are processed and cleared daily and accounted for. And every night they're going to have a clearance report certification that all ballots are clear. And if not, they have to tell the reason why. And then these representatives of the committee will review these reports and walk through these plants, looking for problems and giving suggestions.” There's more scrutiny on the postal service this year. In August, a federal judge in Washington blocked moves by President Trump's postmaster general to remove mail sorting machines and bar postal workers from using overtime to finish deliveries. But Shirley Taylor says the workers are up to the task of delivering ballots.  “I have to tell you that we will get those ballots out. It's in our DNA. That's our job.” She would know — Shirley started working for the postal service in 1962 in Alameda County, for $2.67 an hour. She worked before the arrival of the high-speed mail sorting machines that Louis DeJoy would eventually have removed.  Also, California arranged with the Post Office to get ballots delivered even they don't have postage. It's “no stamp, no problem,” in the first statewide general election where no postage is required on any ballot, says the secretary of state's office.  Sam Mahood and Tim Dupuis both stressed that even though everyone's getting mailed a ballot, this is not just a vote by mail election.  There will be in-person voting machines. And, Mahood says, “These are really critical for voters who might have made a mistake with their ballot and need to get a replacement, voters who need to take advantage of same day voter registration if they miss the October 19 voter registration deadline, voters with disabilities who might need to use accessible voting machines that are available at their polling location, or voters who might need assistance in another language and need help from a poll worker.” This might be the sticky part. An executive order from Gavin Newsom in June instructed registrars to mail every voter a ballot, but also set terms of providing safe, in-person, accessible voting options. Many typical polling locations like schools and senior centers are closed to the public for safety. So some counties are switching to a “vote center” model. In Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Napa and Fresno counties, there will be fewer polling locations, and instead, voting centers will be open at least four days before the election, for early voting. In theory, they're a big step forward: voters are no longer restricted to just one voting location, and any center in your county will do. “In this election, if you happen to be in Livermore, and you're a resident of Alameda, you could go into an accessible vote location in that city, and we'll be able to produce your city of Alameda ballot so that you can vote there,” Alameda County registrar Tim Dupuis says. “It does remove those geographic restrictions. So you're able to vote where it's convenient.” But the switch to a voting center system can be tricky: when Los Angeles did it for the primary this spring, there were long voting lines because poll workers had difficulty connecting to an online database. Newsom's executive order says counties that use the vote center model must have 1 for every 10,000 voters. And big crowds can be a problem during a pandemic. “The first thing we wanted to think about is: Do we need the voter to get out of their car at all?” – Alameda County registrar Tim Dupuis Tim Dupuis says measures are in place to keep COVID from spreading at Alameda County's vote centers. “If they have the ballot already that we mailed to them, and they have the envelope, we're going to have a drive through drop stop, where they can just hand us their ballot through the window, and we'll drop it into the ballot box, and they'll get their ‘I voted' sticker. “If they want to vote and they're willing to vote in their car, we call it curbside voting. So they'll be able to come up and they can ask for their ballot. We'll ask them to park and we'll run their ballot out to them when it's ready. “Worst case, if they do have to come into the location, we have everything spread out. These locations are at least 2,500 square feet, and everybody's going to be wearing the protective equipment, the PPE that's required. We'll have all of the sanitizing that's necessary for those facilities, and we'll limit the number of people who can actually come in,” Dupuis says.  Alameda County is offering vote centers open from October 31 through November 3 in addition to drop boxes placed throughout the county. But Dupuis calls the vote centers a “last resort” for voting: “It's available to you, but we really are encouraging safe voting with all the options that we have.” Here's what else election officials want you to know: In California, you can register for a ballot to be mailed to you until October 19. After that, you can register and vote in-person up to and including Election Day. You can do this now, any day, at your county registrar's office. You will also be able to do it at voting centers, most of which will open 4 days before the election, on October 31. If you're voting by mail, you can also track your ballot on its way to you, from you, and through the counting process, using a new online tool offered in every county called “Where's My Ballot?” Mahood says 5 percent of California voters have already signed up for the tool, and assures KPFA that the state is “absolutely” ready for an influx of new sign-ups. “You'll know when it's on the way to you when it's been received by your County elections office, when it's been, and if it hasn't been counted,” he says. “You'll be alerted to an issue, which you'll still have time to correct. Usually it's a missing signature, or your signature doesn't match what's on file, but by signing up, you'll be notified much more quickly.” It's important to know where your ballot goes. In the past decade, an average of 1.7 percent of ballots cast by mail in California were rejected.  “The top three reasons for ballot rejection for everybody are late, a missing signature or a bad signature,” says Mindy Romero, founder and director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy at the University of Southern California. Her research has found mail-in ballot rejection disproportionately impacts voters aged 18-24. In a study of Sacramento, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, young voters were three times more likely to have ballots rejected in 2018, according to Romero's research. She says to make sure you sign the envelope if you're voting by mail in California, and get the ballot in the mail early, no later than November 3. But most important, she says, is to make the decision to vote. “It's the fact that we make potential voters in this country be responsible for their own voter registration, and then we put a lot of hoops there to make it more difficult to register for young people. “We will see millions of eligible voters in this election that will not vote in our state. And that is a travesty for our democracy.” The post California's election is now underway. Here's how to vote safely and securely appeared first on KPFA.

We get an overview of the state of the labor movement from Vermont AFL-CIO President Dave Van Deusen, followed by updates from leaders with the American Postal Workers Union, Vermont NEA teachers' union, Vermont State Employees' Association and United Academics at the University of Vermont.

We get an overview of the state of the labor movement from Vermont AFL-CIO President Dave Van Deusen, followed by updates from leaders with the American Postal Workers Union, Vermont NEA teachers’ union, Vermont State Employees’ Association and United Academics at the University of Vermont.

Every Saturday starting at 1 PM ET, Ana Kasparian and Nando Vila broadcast live from the Jacobin YouTube channel. Weekends features free-flowing and humorous commentary on current events and left political strategy, as well as interviews with prominent individuals on the left. This is the podcast version of the show from August 29th. The guest today is Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union. Subscribe to the channel and press the like button! Subscribe to Jacobin: https://jacobinmag.com/subscribe/?cod...

Join Brian Powers and co-host Daryle Lamont Jenkins for a discussion with Nora Taggart about the United States Postal Service, which has been jeopardized by bipartisan policies. How has the USPS been affected by the coronavirus and this country's disastrous leadership?

Join Brian Powers and co-host Daryle Lamont Jenkins for a discussion with Nora Taggart about the United States Postal Service, which has been jeopardized by bipartisan policies. How has the USPS been affected by the coronavirus and this country's disastrous leadership?

Keith Combs, President of the American Postal Workers Union, gives us some facts to think about concerning the US Post Office. listen to get the full story on the changes to the post office and what are the reasons behind the changes.

Friday on Lake Effect : We unpack some of the significant moments of this year’s DNC and how it could impact the November election. Then, we hear reaction from a Milwaukee postal workers union leader about changes at USPS. Plus, two videographers talk about how they became tourists in their own city for the Explore Milwaukee Virtual Experience. And a commentary on the office of the Vice President. Guests: Mordecai Lee, professor emeritus at UW-Milwaukee Chris Czubakowski, vice president of the American Postal Workers Union in Milwaukee Samer Ghani and Andrew Kosmalski, Explore Milwaukee Virtual Experience Art Cyr, distinguished professor of Political Economy and World Business at Carthage College

With the Postmaster General set to appear before Congress, a local postal leader responds to federal decisions that have slowed mail processing in the capital city.Plus, the Flag Commission moves one step closer to selecting a new design for the November vote.Then, after a Southern Remedy Health Minute, a Mississippi lawmaker supports a citizen group's effort to bring the 1894 flag to the ballot.Segment 1:U.S. Postal Workers in Mississippi are expressing concern as changes made to mail processing has caused significant delays. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a former CEO of a logistics company, has drawn wide criticism in recent weeks over executive decisions to cut costs within the postal service. These changes include removing mail processing machines, reducing the workforce and eliminating overtime. Sunny Thigpin is president of the Jackson Area Local of American Postal Workers Union. The retired expediter tells our Desare Frazier sorting machines are being removed in local mail-rooms, causing deliveries to slow down.Segment 2:Only five flags remain in the running to become Mississippi's new state flag. The nine member Flag Commission met yesterday to discuss submissions, make minor adjustments to designs, and rank their top five out of eight flag options. All five submissions selected for the final round feature a design element called the Choctaw Star - a move ensuring the state's tribal heritage will be included on the flag presented to voters in November.Segment 3:Some Mississippians are upset over the process of changing the state flag. The group Let Mississippi Vote has created a ballot initiative that puts the retired flag and three other flag designs on the statewide ballot. The group rallied in the capital city last weekend. State Senator Joey Fillingane of Sumrall voted against changing the flag and supports the initiative. He says when the public was allowed to vote on the flag in 2001, it set a precedent for public input the state legislature did not honor. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

C4 and Bryan Nehman heard weekdays from 5:30-10:00am ET on WBAL Newsradio 1090 and FM101.5.

Thousands of fish are dying in Biscayne Bay.  Why?  We talk to scientists to find out the causes and what kind of solutions are being investigated -- and how people are scrambling to help see creatures literally gasping for air.But that's not all – there are increasing concerns that actions by top USPS officials might cause problems for mail ballots for upcoming electionsThom and Tony talk about some of the topics filling our social media feeds.GuestsSegment 1 - Dying Fish Rumya Sundaram, Coordinator Key Biscayne Citizen ScientistElizabeth Kelly, Water Quality Research Manager, Miami WaterkeeperSegment 2 - Postal Problems?Wanda E. Harris, General President, American Postal Workers Union, Miami Area Local 172Support the show (https://kbindependent.networkforgood.com/projects/118797-quality-journalism-for-key-biscayne)

John Tarleton, editor-in-chief of The Indypendent, interviews Chuck Zlatkin of the American Postal Workers Union and Joel Feingold of Crown Hights Tenants Union.

John Tarleton interviews Chuck Zlatkin, the Political and Legislative Director of the American Postal Workers Union, about the current threats to the USPS' existence.

Independent investigative journalism, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com

Independent investigative journalism, broadcasting, trouble-making and muckraking with Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com

"The Postal Service has been doing vote by mail for generations," says Mark Dimondstein of the American Postal Workers Union. "We can continue to deliver for the people as long as we have the support."Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Find us on Twitter @1A.

Overtime cuts at the Postal Service could lead to delays in mail delivery. In fact, an internal memo prohibits employees from making late or extra trips to deliver late mail. It also directs mail carriers to start and complete their routes on time. That means some mail might get left behind to be delivered the next business day. The American Postal Workers Union said this comes as employees struggle with understaffing from the coronavirus pandemic. For a look from the inside, Federal News Network’s Jory Heckman spoke with the union president Mark Dimondstein on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Is Trump's Postmaster General trying to starve the Post Office as a part of the Republican war on government and unions? Or are the steps he's taken to slow mail delivery meant to undermine vote by mail? Mark Dimondstein of the American Postal Workers Union joins Thom for the view from the inside.And meanwhile- is what is going on in Portland a trial run for a much bigger crisis Trump hopes to provoke in cities across the nation?- And will Chicago succeed in keeping Trump's unaccountable goons off their streets?

The United States Postal Service is running out of money — the agency requested $75 billion in emergency funding in April, saying it would be out of money by September. Legislators had planned to give the postal service $25 billion in the CARES Act. But the Trump administration blocked the funding. Local members of the American Postal Workers Union staged a car caravan Tuesday to raise awareness of the impending financial calamity for the agency. They said they hoped to remind supporters to call on their Senators to allocate $25 billion in a new stimulus package to the Postal Service. They also rejected the notion that the agency should be reshaped to turn a profit, and emphasized the role of the service in the November elections, in which Californians will vote by mail.

Award-winning filmmaker, Eugene Jarecki, joins Ralph to talk about the electronic billboard he put up in New York’s Times Square, the “Trump Death Clock.” And Mark Dimondstein, head of the American Postal Workers Union, reminds how the health and safety of postal workers as well as the preservation of the post office is essential for delivering medicines and other vital goods as well as protecting democracy. Plus, listener questions!  

A story from our archive on the importance of the US Postal Service to rural people and their communities. Dateline: 12/15/2011: As the U.S. Postal Service faces financial crisis, Central Appalachia and much of rural America may be hard hit by pending closures of post offices and mail processing centers.  To avoid bankruptcy, the Postal Service had announced plans to make reductions amounting to approximately $3 billion.  Such drastic cuts would result in slower first class delivery and close hundreds of mail facilities nationwide.  After public and Congressional outcry, USPS announced a moratorium on closures until May 15, 2012. In this expanded WMMT report customers at the Burdine and Premium post offices, two of the nine in Letcher County, KY on the closure list, describe what the service means to their communities while officials from the USPS and the American Postal Workers Union offer differing solutions to the Postal Service financial crisis.

The wave of worker, student, and renter strikes is growing into a campaign for a general strike that begins on May 1 and continues at the first of each month from there. The government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic collapse, a purely neoliberal money grab, has revealed that the only way we are going to survive and maintain social programs is by fighting for them. We speak with Mark Dimondstein, the president of the American Postal Workers Union, about Congress' failure to provide necessary funding for the US Postal Service as revenue has fallen by 50%. The USPS faces the real possibility of going bankrupt and the administration is openly saying it will let it fail in order to privatize it. We also speak with Joe Henry, political director of the League of United Latin American Citizens in Iowa, about the Meatless Monday campaign for meatpackers and against factory farming. For more information, visit PopularResistance.org.

Episode 178 Here's a little riddle: What has 157 million daily delivery points, 35,000 offices and 500,000 workers? It's your U.S. Postal Service, that would be the service that really is a democratic, small “d”, institution—it's there for everyone at a reasonable cost, no matter where you live or who you are. Putting it mildly, postal workers are frontline workers—and to pile the safety and health dangers on top of everything else, the service is facing a massive budget hole because of the collapse of the economy because, obviously, less commerce means a lot less stuff being sent via the postal service which relies on fees. I go in-depth on what's happening to postal workers with the Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union. And Jeff Bezos is up to his usual despicable behavior—the wealthiest human on the planet is piling up more money but at the expense of the safety and health of Amazon's warehouse workers who are getting sick from COVID-19. Hundreds of Amazon workers stayed away from work yesterday to protest the dangerous conditions. Rachel Belz, an Amazon worker, joins me to discuss the uprising

Episode 178: Here’s a little riddle: What has 157 million daily delivery points, 35,000 offices and 500,000 workers? It’s your U.S. Postal Service, that would be the service that really is a democratic, small “d”, institution—it’s there for everyone at a reasonable cost, no matter where you live or who you are. Support the podcast here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast Putting it mildly, postal workers are frontline workers—and to pile the safety and health dangers on top of everything else, the service is facing a massive budget hole because of the collapse of the economy because, obviously, less commerce means a lot less stuff being sent via the postal service which relies on fees. I go in-depth on what’s happening to postal workers with Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union. Support the podcast here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast And Jeff Bezos is up to his usual despicable behavior—the wealthiest human on the planet is piling up more money but at the expense of the safety and health of Amazon’s warehouse workers who are getting sick from COVID-19. Hundreds of Amazon workers stayed away from work yesterday to protest the dangerous conditions. Rachel Belz, an Amazon worker, joins me to discuss the uprising. Support the podcast here: www.patreon.com/WorkingLifePodcast -- Jonathan Tasini Follow me on Twitter @jonathantasini Sign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasini.3

The Postal Service is searching for a new postmaster general as it offers up a new five-year plan to staunch its financial losses. The search has taken longer than expected. Postmaster General Megan Brennan, who was to retire at the end of January, has postponed her departure indefinitely until the Postal Service finds a successor. For one view of this situation, Federal News Network's Jory Heckman spoke with the President of the American Postal Workers Union, Mark Dimondstein, on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

Episode 136: It seems so simple—post offices are everywhere, often literally on Main Streets in towns all across the country. Everyone knows where the post office is. So, why not turn post offices into hubs of financial transactions for people, from pay check cashing, which could be a first step, and then on to remittances of money to families around the globe and even installing Postal Service ATMs? You can boil down this down to a simple question: who would you rather give your business to, Citibank or the Post Office? I take up this idea with Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, and Ohio Representative Marcy Kaptur. Then, Catherine Feingold, director of the AFL-CIO’s International Department, is back to dig into a new global treaty to combat violence and harassment at work. -- Jonathan Tasini Follow me on Twitter @jonathantasini Sign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasini.3

Episode 119: They are back—and trying to get their hands on your mailbox. Big money interests have tried for a very long time to make a ton of money by privatizing the postal service, and now the danger is ramped up with the ideologues in the White House. Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, is back on the show to explain the threat to universal, affordable mail service—and to the security of your information. I, then, chat with Katharine Hayhoe, a leading atmospheric scientist and a co-author of the last two National Climate Assessments, about the challenges inherit in educating people about climate change, especially in the face of the media’s willingness to consider the arguments of climate change deniers as legitimate. Our Robber Baron of the week is a building contractor who stole millions from hundreds of workers.

Episode 98: Curious which states have a better work environment? We have the answer thanks to Oxfam which unveils a ranking based on wages, worker protections and the right to organize a union. I chat about the details with Oxfam's Minor Sinclair. I, then, welcome back Alicia Priest, president of the Oklahoma Education Association, for a chat about how the teachers' uprising in her state led to a slew of primary defeats for Republicans who voted against a tax hike to fund education. Lastly, I engage in a "what does labor need to do to grow?" with Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, who always has an interesting, informed progressive take on the way forward for unions. Our Robber Baron is the CEO of Primavera, an online charter school.

Episode 89: Patriotism isn’t embodied in flag-waving. It’s seen every day in the hard work done by community and union activists. So, with the fluke of our regularly scheduled podcast falling on July 4th, I start by talking with Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, the co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health about a new initiative called “Our Turn” that is turning the spotlight on the sexual abuse and harassment rampant in the world of low-wage workers like janitors, farmworkers, hotel workers and other people who labor in factories. I also chat with Mark Dimondstein, the president of the American Postal Workers Union, about not only the union’s contract negotiations underway right now but ways in which we can re-imagine the post office to do a whole lot of things for the betterment of the people. Our Robber Baron of the Week is the recently-departed CEO of Mattel, Margaret Georgiadis.

Federal News Radio's Jory Heckman spoke with two postal unions: the National Association of Letter Carriers and the American Postal Workers Union. First you'll hear Jim Sauber, the chief of staff for the National Association of Letter Carriers. He says a strong first quarter should set the tone for improvement this year.

Thom is live today from APWU. Mark Dimondstein, President, Judy Beard, Director and Clint Burelson, Clerk Craft Director all join Thom. Plus - the new of the day.

Episode 57: Leading off, Jonathan has a thought about how we should think about the estate tax—billionaires owe us that dough! Keeping up the podcast's regular reporting on real people running for office, longtime union organizer and first-time candidate Tanya Boone stops by to talk with Jonathan about her race for a Congressional seat in New York. And if you want to re-imagine what the Post Office can do for people, you will love Jonathan's chat with Mark Dimondstein, the president of the American Postal Workers Union. Our Robber Baron of the week is Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who is about to engage in a big-time scamming of the people.

       Our guest Chuck Zlatkins Executive Assistant to the President of the American Postal Workers Union. Washington, DC.and political analyst with something real to say .

Greetings! Welcome to the Holbrook New Media Audio Feed. We do audio, video, content creation, and that other stuff. holbrooknewmedia.com.   Today on Episode 12 of The Geoff & Jeffrey show, here are some of the things we are talking about: Geoff faked out Jeffrey with a plane crash photo from Universal Studios War of the Worlds exhibit. A comparison of celsius in Australia and fahrenheit in the U.S.. http://www.rapidtables.com/convert/temperature/how-celsius-to-fahrenheit.htm Geoff's using a more simple setup, and Jeffrey is sporting some new sound treatment. Jeffrey's older brother loves the show and says he likes it better than Jeffrey's earlier podcasting efforts. Younger people seem to interpret podcasting as the free exchange of ideas in conversation, not a scripted thing like public radio. Geoff likes the No Agenda show with John C. Dvorak and Adam Curry. http://www.noagendashow.com/ High megapixel cameras are really getting up there. The differences in the old film method of photography and the new methods of digital. Jeffrey's first 35mm film camera was a used Yashica TL Super. He got it to learn about how aperatures and shutter speeds interacted. http://www.mikeeckman.com/2015/12/quick-review-yashica-tl-super-1966/ The balance between good composition and just blazing away taking hundreds of images. Jeffrey got a taste of the eLearning module work that Geoff usually does by doing a voice over of the announcement of the highlights of the new union contract for the American Postal Workers Union. http://www.apwu133.com/ Geoff says that it is much easier to do voice over work that you are personally invested in, as opposed to general voice over work. Different audio takes seem to have a slightly different sound if you don't do them in one sitting. Most union websites have only text and very few do audio. No matter what you do, some people will like it, and some will not. Adobe Captivate has a good text to speech feature. Another Verses In Vox episode was released that Jeffrey did the voice over for. "The Children's Hour" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. holbrooknewmedia.com/verses2 We explore some features on Blab that Geoff discovered. blab.im Comparing Geoff getting into Blab easier directly with a webcam and mic as opposed to using Wirecast. Geoff's Rode NTG-2 shotgun mic. Track pads, vs trackball mouse, vs conventional mouse. Looking around our studios on the video.   If you would like to receive the show notes in your email with links for things mentioned in episodes, go to holbrooknewmedia.com. On the right side of the page there is a place to subscribe to the blog. We hope you enjoy the show!   Geoff Blanchard's Web Site: geoffblanchard.com All Things Jeffrey K. Holbrook is at: holbrooknewmedia.com