Dennis Perk became a letter carrier in 1972, and immediately  joined the NALC.  Early on he realized the need for stewards and union officers who will not back down from management’s threats.  He served as a steward for years, fighting  management abuses.  He learned that this is not a fight that we can “win” and have it be done.  As long as there is no accountability for those select managers and supervisors who are abusive, belligerent, and bullying, we will keep having to fight the fights on the workroom floors every day.

He says, “As soon as we think  we’ve won one battle, management comes after us from a different direction. We have to be prepared for that every day.  One of the most important things that every member needs to understand is that there is no magic bullet to stop what is happening every day on the workroom floors.  This….stuff… has been going on for as long as I’ve been in the Postal Service.  The union isn’t me or Bill Barnes or Jim Hopkins, it’s all the members who have to stand together and back each other up in the stations. You don’t have to like everyone you work with, but you do have to have everyone else’s back, every day. If you aren’t doing that, and you’re trying to make your own special deals with management or not following the contract, which, by the way, is there to protect us the workers, then management can pick us all off one by one.  Then you really are in the jackpot.  If you don’t want to stand together then you don’t have any idea what being part of a union is about. ”