Postal Union Too Big For It's Britches
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa ON K1A 0A2
Dear Prime Minister Harper,
I am writing to you on behalf of the 54,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. You will be aware that the Israeli navy, in an act of piracy in international waters, has hijacked the international flotilla of ships which was attempting to deliver essential humanitarian aid to Gaza. The aid includes construction materials which would enable the people of Gaza to rebuild the homes destroyed by Israel in Operation Cast Lead in 2009.
There are nearly 700 people on board the boats, all of whom are civilians from around the world, including Members of Parliament from a number of nations, eminent writers and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. They have undertaken this mission out of concern for the people of Gaza, who are now entering their fourth year under siege, without access to basic necessities. They pose no threat to Israel, and are completely unarmed.
Despite this, the Israeli navy has attacked the flotilla outside of international waters this morning resulting in fatalities estimated by the Israeli military itself as 10 and by news sources at possibly in excess of 20 with another large number injured. Israeli news sources say that hospitals around Ashdod have been told to prepare for many injured people arriving.
I urge you to act swiftly to condemn this attack on the peace flotilla, which was breaking no international laws, and, that you demand to know the fate of those on board the vessels and to ensure that Israel releases the vessels immediately to allow this vital aid to reach its destination. Since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Canada and has profusely praised you for maintaining strong relations with Israel, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers believes that you have an obligation to condemn this brutal attack.
Israel's occupation of Gaza is illegal under international law, and it has been accused in a UN report of committing war crimes in Gaza.
Your obligation must be towards a group of citizens peacefully attempting to deliver humanitarian aid, than to a country which repeatedly violates international treaties. CUPW calls on you to end the government's silence over Israel's aggressive actions against the flotilla, and intervene now to demand its safe passage to Gaza.
CUPW is calling on you to condemn this wanton act of piracy against the peaceful flotilla taking aid to the people of Gaza. Finally, CUPW is calling upon you to take every step possible to bring about an end to the inhuman treatment of the people of Gaza by acting to end the siege and blockade that is taking place against them by the Israeli Government.
Yours sincerely,
Denis Lemelin
National President
Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Cc:
National Executive Board
Regional Executive Cttee
Israeli Embassy to Canada
I talked to my postman and I know a some people that work at the post office and they told me that they don't agree with their national presidents political views.
The main function of a union is to negotiate the best possible contract between the company and the workers and the other function of the union is to protect the workers from management of the company that are breaking the contract.
The only political function of a union is to make sure that political decisions don't have adverse effects on the union members.
For some reason this union has taken their fight to the next level by trying to control politics that effect people like the free trade agreement that Canada negotiated with Columbia they are saying that it should be abandoned that would cause more people in that country not to have jobs and having families starve in the street.
This union through their aggressive expansion are representing people that work in competing industries so how can anybody trust this leader and the union that they will be represented in good faith and considering that each member pays a hundred dollars in union dues a month (according to my postman) has this union become greedy?
This postal union's present leader has apparently lost his focus on what is good for the membership and decided to follow his own agenda which if not corrected will result in job loss.
Who could ever take this leader be taken seriously and when the negotiation starts for a new contract will this leader make sure his agenda is taken care of first before the needs of the general membership?
I am really surprised that the general membership of this union doesn't demand a major investigation into where the money is being spent and since the union is supporting a boycott of Israel it is a certain part of this money is being sent to the Hamas government who will certainly buy weapons as opposed to food?
As the letter stated at the beginning of this post there are 54,000 members paying $100.00 a month in dues comes out to $5.4 million a month, this is a lot of money and when greed is involved this money can disappear pretty fast.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa ON K1A 0A2
Dear Prime Minister Harper,
I am writing to you on behalf of the 54,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. You will be aware that the Israeli navy, in an act of piracy in international waters, has hijacked the international flotilla of ships which was attempting to deliver essential humanitarian aid to Gaza. The aid includes construction materials which would enable the people of Gaza to rebuild the homes destroyed by Israel in Operation Cast Lead in 2009.
There are nearly 700 people on board the boats, all of whom are civilians from around the world, including Members of Parliament from a number of nations, eminent writers and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. They have undertaken this mission out of concern for the people of Gaza, who are now entering their fourth year under siege, without access to basic necessities. They pose no threat to Israel, and are completely unarmed.
Despite this, the Israeli navy has attacked the flotilla outside of international waters this morning resulting in fatalities estimated by the Israeli military itself as 10 and by news sources at possibly in excess of 20 with another large number injured. Israeli news sources say that hospitals around Ashdod have been told to prepare for many injured people arriving.
I urge you to act swiftly to condemn this attack on the peace flotilla, which was breaking no international laws, and, that you demand to know the fate of those on board the vessels and to ensure that Israel releases the vessels immediately to allow this vital aid to reach its destination. Since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Canada and has profusely praised you for maintaining strong relations with Israel, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers believes that you have an obligation to condemn this brutal attack.
Israel's occupation of Gaza is illegal under international law, and it has been accused in a UN report of committing war crimes in Gaza.
Your obligation must be towards a group of citizens peacefully attempting to deliver humanitarian aid, than to a country which repeatedly violates international treaties. CUPW calls on you to end the government's silence over Israel's aggressive actions against the flotilla, and intervene now to demand its safe passage to Gaza.
CUPW is calling on you to condemn this wanton act of piracy against the peaceful flotilla taking aid to the people of Gaza. Finally, CUPW is calling upon you to take every step possible to bring about an end to the inhuman treatment of the people of Gaza by acting to end the siege and blockade that is taking place against them by the Israeli Government.
Yours sincerely,
Denis Lemelin
National President
Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Cc:
National Executive Board
Regional Executive Cttee
Israeli Embassy to Canada
I talked to my postman and I know a some people that work at the post office and they told me that they don't agree with their national presidents political views.
The main function of a union is to negotiate the best possible contract between the company and the workers and the other function of the union is to protect the workers from management of the company that are breaking the contract.
The only political function of a union is to make sure that political decisions don't have adverse effects on the union members.
For some reason this union has taken their fight to the next level by trying to control politics that effect people like the free trade agreement that Canada negotiated with Columbia they are saying that it should be abandoned that would cause more people in that country not to have jobs and having families starve in the street.
This union through their aggressive expansion are representing people that work in competing industries so how can anybody trust this leader and the union that they will be represented in good faith and considering that each member pays a hundred dollars in union dues a month (according to my postman) has this union become greedy?
This postal union's present leader has apparently lost his focus on what is good for the membership and decided to follow his own agenda which if not corrected will result in job loss.
Who could ever take this leader be taken seriously and when the negotiation starts for a new contract will this leader make sure his agenda is taken care of first before the needs of the general membership?
I am really surprised that the general membership of this union doesn't demand a major investigation into where the money is being spent and since the union is supporting a boycott of Israel it is a certain part of this money is being sent to the Hamas government who will certainly buy weapons as opposed to food?
As the letter stated at the beginning of this post there are 54,000 members paying $100.00 a month in dues comes out to $5.4 million a month, this is a lot of money and when greed is involved this money can disappear pretty fast.
