Postal Staff Union Endorses Bernie Sanders

“The New Hampshire Democratic Party considers Senator Bernie Sanders to be a member of the Democratic Party and supports the placement of his name into nomination as a Democratic candidate for president in the 2016 New Hampshire Primary”, wrote Buckley. “And one of the ways that I think we can help not only the U.S. Postal Service, but help a lot of low-income people – if you are a low-income person, it is, depending upon where you live, very hard to find normal banking”, Sanders said last month.

The 185,000-member National Nurses United also backs Sanders.

“Politics as usual has not worked. It’s time for a political revolution”, Mark Dimondstein, president of the postal workers union, which represents 200,000 workers and retirees, said in a statement Thursday. Clinton has already nabbed the endorsement of several major public sector unions, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal employees, the two major teachers unions and a few construction unions.

“No other candidate has his record of standing with workers on picket lines, fighting for a $15 per hour minimum wage, supporting free public college tuition, and advocating for veterans” benefits”, Dimondstein also noted. “He doesn’t just talk the talk”.

Such an agreement, the senators said, must require that the company “recognize the union as the worker’s exclusive bargaining representative on the basis of a majority representation of signed authorization cards”. As the postal service bleeds millions in losses – mostly due to unique funding mandates placed upon it by Congress – Sanders has staunchly opposed the closure of postal facilities and cuts in postal service, such as Saturday delivery.

Dimondstein says APWU members are enthusiastic about the senator’s emphasis not just on saving the USPS but on expanding its mission. This includes expanding the post office’s role into banking and allowing them to notarize documents, issue licenses, establish Internet cafes and more. “We welcome the unprecedented support of the APWU executive board and look forward to working with their members across the United States”. “No other candidate has his record of exposing the rule of the billionaire class”, he said.

“No other candidate has his record of fighting to defend and expand Social Security, promoting “Medicare for all, ‘ and opposing ‘fast track trade authority” and rotten deals like the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)”, the union president added.

On Friday, 33 members of the Democratic caucus – representing 75 percent of all Democrats in the Senate – issued an open letter to the CEO of Compass Group, asking that it grant union recognition if a majority of Senate cafeteria employees express a desire to unionize.