The 2004 American Postal Workers Union national officer election has been completed. All votes have been tallied and the winners have been announced.   Here are the official final results:

As you may recall, the Denver Metro Area Local APWU conducted a Get Out the Vote Drive relative to the 2004 American Postal Workers Union national officer election. Members who completed and returned their ballots for this election were afforded an opportunity to win any one of 27 different prizes in our GOTV drive. The total number of members who participated in this election was used to determine the dollar value of the Grand Prize. Winners were selected via a random drawing conducted by the APWU National Election Committee from the ballots returned by members of our local.   Here are the results of the contest:

Tuesday evening at approximately 20:15 a hazardous liquid was discovered by two employees working at the Mail Processing Annex located off of Tower Road in Aurora. Eight employees in the immediate area were evacuated to other areas of the facility. The USPS Inspection Service, Aurora Police, Fire and Hazmat teams were called to the scene. The substance was found to be the insecticide Diazinon. Two employees, who had come in contact with the substance, were treated at a local hospital and released. Full operations resumed at the facility just after midnight. Approximately 300 people work at the MPA on Tour 3 processing a daily average of 100,000 Priority Mail Packages.  

The Denver Metro Area Local APWU began investigating the hazardous substance incident at the MPA shortly after it began on October 14, 2004. Several union officials were present at the Mail Processing Annex during the incident, and Clerk Craft Director Brian Thomason was able to enter the facility after the police perimeter was relaxed later the same evening. We have collected a number of eyewitness statements and plan to continue with our investigation over the next several days. We have attended several high level briefings with postal officials and received extensive information relative to management’s actions during the incident.

As you will recall, the Day of Mourning for former president Ronald Reagan was June 11, 2004. In accordance with a national Memorandum of Understanding, all employees who were not afforded a day of administrative leave on the actual day of June 11, 2004, will be granted the opportunity to take a day of makeup leave within six months. This means all affected employees must use or lose their day of “makeup” administrative leave by no later than December 11, 2004! If you have not yet received your day of administrative leave, please contact your supervisor and schedule it as soon as possible. If you have any questions or concerns about your rights relative to this issue, please contact your union steward. 

One of your benefits as an APWU member is the right to take advantage of the AFL-CIO’s Union Plus Benefits Program. One of these benefits is access to a reduced cost mortgage program in association with Chase Mortgage. The Denver Metro Area Local APWU and the Colorado National Postal Mail Handlers Union are co-sponsoring free Home Buyers Seminars at the NPMHU Local 321 office on Tuesday, November 9, 2004. The seminars will begin at 10:00 AM and 7:00 PM. The NPMHU Local 321 union office is located at 1833 West Elk Place, Denver, Colorado. To RSVP and for more information, please call 303-759-6755. We are pleased to co-sponsor this event with our sisters and brothers of the Mail Handler’s Union, with whom we hope to work more closely in the future on other matters of mutual interest. This seminar represents an excellent opportunity for union members to learn more about the process of purchasing a home, and more about the excellent benefits available in conjunction with the AFL-CIO Union Plus program. We hope you will plan on attending.

Our 2004 Organizing Drive continues to go forward with excellent results. We have signed up 35 new members during the drive. Every member who signs up a new member from the current non-member list receives a $100 “bounty” for each person recruited. In addition, the top recruiter will receive a Grand Prize of $500! The current leader for the Grand Prize is Charlie Garcia, who has recruited three new members! There is also a second prize of $300, and a third prize of $100. There are many other ways to win prizes. Please contact the union office if you need a list of non-members, blank membership forms, or any other information about our Organizing Drive. The drive runs through December 31, 2004, so there is still plenty of time to qualify for prizes! Thank you for helping us to make our union stronger!

The Local’s voter registration drive concluded October 1^st. The totals were truly impressive! We registered 624 people. These included casuals, family members, mail handlers and the general public. We also received 287 applications for absentee ballots. Of the 624 registrations, 408 were members of our local. Volunteers staffed the registration booth at the GMF on September 16^th and 17^th. The last chance booth was at the GMF on October 1^st. I would like to send my heartfelt thanks to the people who helped. Pam Burrell, Muriel Pounder, Dave Coker, Shane Allen, Deanna Tesone and Phil Desautels. I would also like to give an extra thanks to Chris Arellano, Miguel Salazar and Steve Claeson who sat out in the cold and rain to help with this important work. As we all have heard, this is the most important election of our time. Now the next task will be to encourage everyone we know to vote. Early voting begins on October 18, 2004. Please consider this as the various County Clerk offices are expecting long lines at the polls on November 2^nd. You can still apply for absentee ballots and this is also a good way to avoid a wait. Remember: “The right to vote is precious - Use it or lose it!”

• The next regular Membership Meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:00 PM on Wednesday, October 27, 2004.
• The next Executive Board Meeting is scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM on Friday, November 19, 2004.