APWU Seeking Justice for the 'Jena Six'
Sep 19 2007 19:03
APWU Web News Article #85-07, Sept. 14, 2007
The American Postal Workers Union will join with other progressive forces at a demonstration in Jena, LA, to protest the excessively disparate punishment of six African-American high school students who were embroiled in a racially tinged altercation.
Mychal Bell, age 17, is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 20, and APWU members intend to lend their voices to the demand that justice be color blind – that this child should not be imprisoned for a period of 15 years or longer because of his color.
Details of the events leading up to the altercation that resulted in Bell’s incarceration (since December) can be found at www.naacp.org/news/press/index.htm. Unless something is done, it is clear that this small community with a history of racial division intends to disproportionately penalize these teenagers.
The NAACP is coordinating activities demanding justice for the ‘Jena Six.’ Included in the planned events is a rally at the LaSalle Parish Courthouse in Jena on Sept. 20. An APWU contingent of support will be led by Secretary-Treasurer Terry Stapleton and Human Relations Department Director Sue Carney, who is coordinating the union efforts.
President William Burrus urges APWU members to participate. Locals should notify the Human Relations Department of their plans by calling 202-842-4270. The national union will reimburse locals for the cost of chartering buses for the protest.
“This union will not sit idly by as justice is perverted and children of any color are victimized by their communities,” Burrus said.
Sep 19 2007 21:34
#2
Well, they signed on to a call for a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal a few years back, which shows willingness. Overall though I'm not sure.
There are four postal unions including APWU, which makes not a bit of sense.
National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), the National Rural Letter Carriers Association (NRLCA), and the National Postal Mail-Handlers Union (NPMHU).
APWU was formed after the 1971 postal wildcat by the merger of an assortment of postal service craft unions.
Sep 20 2007 04:36
#3
On a less serious note I heard that David Bowie himself donated
10 g to the Jena Six defense fund.
Sep 20 2007 06:26
#4
Sep 20 2007 17:34
#5
He could obviously afford more, but good for him!
Sep 20 2007 19:00
#6
NALC are as far as I know the only union to have their own retirement village, Nalcrest.
It must be like a syndicalist paradise?
Sep 21 2007 01:59
#7
But does their mail come on time?
Sep 21 2007 04:20
#8
Hah! Your mail will arrive when the workers say it will.
Sep 21 2007 11:09
#9
Quote:
APWU was formed after the 1971 postal wildcat by the merger of an assortment of postal service craft unions.
What on Earth is a 'postal service craft union'?
Devrim
Sep 21 2007 11:45
#10
Devrim wrote:
Quote:
APWU was formed after the 1971 postal wildcat by the merger of an assortment of postal service craft unions.What on Earth is a 'postal service craft union'?
Devrim
Good question! First I should mention the strike was in 1970, the merger in 71.
The unions that merged were, from wikipedia,
Quote:
The United Federation of Postal Clerks and the National Postal Union, the two largest unions, and the National Association of Post Office and General Service Maintenance Employees, the National Federation of Motor Vehicle Employees, and the National Association of Special Delivery Messengers.
According to APWU History a number of the early postal unions defined themselves as crafts to block supervisors from joining.
Sep 21 2007 12:28
#11
Prior to the introduction of postal code technology and mail sorting machines all the mail was sorted by hand and by memory. Postal clerks in plants in Canada would have to memorise over 4,000 different locations to sort mail. It was a job where you apprenticed for a long time. These skilled clerks were in their own union, separate from other workers in the plant like forklift drivers, secretaries, and people who did warehouse type work. Of course the skilled sorters were eventually wiped out with mail sorting machines and the postal code, something CUPW fought vehemently in the 70's mounting a massive public 'boycott the postal code campaign' ultimately though they lost.
Sep 21 2007 12:38
#12
David in Atlanta wrote:
He could obviously afford more, but good for him!
That's especially good seeing as he used to be a racist who supported Enoch Powell!
Sep 21 2007 12:42
#13
i hate bowie. always have.
sorry, carry on.
Sep 21 2007 13:18
#14
John. wrote:
David in Atlanta wrote:
He could obviously afford more, but good for him!That's especially good seeing as he used to be a racist who supported Enoch Powell!
How far into that did he actually get? Was it just a matter of stupid remarks or was he serious? I seem to recall he later tried to blame it on cocaine!
Always lliked his music and wished he'd shut up otherwise.
Sep 21 2007 14:28
#15
David in Atlanta wrote:
I seem to recall he later tried to blame it on cocaine!
Ah, the time honored tradition of blaming racist remarks on cocaine. If I had a nickel for every time a celebrity went on a late night talk show, looked into the camera apologetically, and said, "I'm not a raging bigot, I just have a problem!" It's really amazing how drugs somehow make people say racist things. Someone should do a study...
Sep 21 2007 17:52
#16
It wasn't Powell Bowie praised, it was Hitler, it was Clapton that praised Powell. These were the two incidents that led to the setting up of Rock against Racism.
I think he told a journo that HItler was the first rock star or something. In fairness it sounds like drugs were involved. I wouldn't have any sympathy for Clapton though - who took an actual political stance in support of Powell and against immigrants and had a hit with a piss poor version of a reggae song (not to mention being a blues muscian). I suspect Clapton may have come out with this at a concert in one of the towns the NF was growing in, Birmingham? Bowie it seems more like a drug addled mind on a rant. Bowie's music is better too.
Sep 21 2007 17:53
#17
There is a documentary BBC World, or This World, or something, on google video about the Jena Six. Worth watching.
Sep 21 2007 23:04
#18
Channel 4 also had a good piece on it on Thursday
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/americas/louisiana+arrests+spark+race+rally/823062
Sep 24 2007 00:41
#19
I hear they have a saying in Newfoundland:
"My gran always used to say, what comes out drunk went in sober"
I's say it applies to cocaine, too.
Sep 25 2007 18:41
#20
Gwen wrote:
I hear they have a saying in Newfoundland:
"My gran always used to say, what comes out drunk went in sober"I's say it applies to cocaine, too.
there's a certain element of truth to that, but take my word for it, there are moments of extreme intoxication when you might say or do things you can spend the rest of your life regreting.
Does the APWU have a strong track record of fighting racism? How are they as a union down there? I hear there are several postal unions in the USA instead of one industrial union like in Canada.