APWU President William Burrus Announces Retirement

President Burrus announced he will retire at the end of his term in 2010. The delegates at the All- Craft Conference in Las Vegas, NV gave him a standing ovation which brought tears to his eyes.

He also asked for a per capita national dues increase of $1 next year  to help offset decreases in membership. He would continue making cuts in expenses as needed.

Don Cheney

Burrus to Retire at End of Term

APWU  News  Oct. 1, 2009

In an emotional closing to his speech at the union’s All-Craft Conference Sept. 30, APWU President William Burrus announced that he would not seek re-election in November 2010, ending a 53-year career in which he fought for better wages, benefits and dignity and respect on the job for hundreds of thousands of postal workers.

“I am in good health and I love what I do,” he said. “But I want to move on to another part of my life.

“I want to spend more time with my wonderful wife, Ethelda,” he said, introducing her to the assembly. “She has been by my side throughout my 37 years as an executive officer of this union.”

“I have looked forward to every day that I have served our members, and I look forward to the next 13 months. This is not the end, but effective November 2010 it will be time for me to turn the page and move on to the rest of my life.

“In the interim, I intend to continue my commitment to the membership, every hour, every day,” he added, drawing two standing ovations from a room packed with more than 2,000 conference participants.

The end of Burrus’ term will coincide with the conclusion of negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement; the current contract expires Nov. 20.

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Also retiring:

National Assistant Clerk Craft Director “C” Rob Strunk
NBA’s John Clark (Chicago Region)
Steven J. Zamanakos (Denver Region), and
Dale “Leon” Tatum (Wichita Region).

27 thoughts on “APWU President William Burrus Announces Retirement

  1. Good luck Bill. You are an ispiration to the young brothers of America. Maybe you should run for US Senate. Your x son-inlaw

  2. it would be nice if all fed agencies were mandated to utilize the usps. its dumb to out source this work to private enterprise when the fed has there own mail room! lets save the tax payers 7 billion dollars in bailout monies.

  3. IT’S NOT HOW MANY TIMES YOU GET KNOCKED DOWN THAT MATTERS, IT’S HOW MANY TIMES YOU GET UP. MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS DON’T FORGET WHEN YOU _ARE_ DOWN, YOU SHOULD LOOK UP AND STILL COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS. THE POSTAL SERVICE GAVE ME SOME BAD TIMES
    EVEN SO, I STILL THANKED GOD FOR MY JOB BECAUSE IT KEPT ME AND MY FAMILY SURVIVING FOR MANY YEARS. O.K. EVERY UNION LEADER MAY NOT HAVE BEEN THE GREATEST, BUT THERE WAS A TIME WHEN WE COULD SAY NOTHING, NO UNION, YOU HAD NO VOICE AT ALL (GET OUT).
    YOU FEEL ME?

  4. TO RAMOS ,VICTOR WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO BADMOUTH MR. BURRIS
    WHEN YOU (WORKING FOR THE POSTAL SERVICE) CAN’T EVEN SPELL.
    YOU SHOULD BE THANKFUL(NOT FROM THIS COUNTRY) TO EVEN HAVE A JOB. WHEN SO MANY PEOPLE BORN HERE HAVE LOST EVERYTHING THEY HAVE. DON’T BE SO EVIL.

    GOD BLESS YOU MR. BURRIS, EVEN IF YOU COULDN’T PLEASE ALL.

  5. I’ve worked for the P.O.going on 30yrs. In OK it’s a good paying job. I’m a DAV and was treated much better in the military! I’m really surprized that there aren’t more shootings,the stress I’ve put up with all these years could make employees crazy. I was a union steward for about 5yrs. If you’ve never tried you should, it will really enlighten your perspective on human nature!! People we need to bond together, stop all the B.S. Fight for your rights before it’s to late!!! Don’t let the egotistical jerks put us in the streets begging for spare change to feed our families. I know the drug companies probably love Postal Employees, since a large % of us are on antidepressants of some sort just to put up with the crap we endure daily. Hope Burris enjoy’s retirement, he put up the good fight! Disgruntled in Tulsa,OK

  6. Mr. Burrus,
    Many congratulations on your impending retirement. I’m sure you’re done countless of positives things for your union members throughout your tenure. Its just unfortunate that you dropped the ball on the July 31st retiree’s. But we’re “Only Human”, right?

  7. To those blaming Bill Burrus for the woes of the Postal Service and its workers, remember the union doesn’t run the Postal Service, management does. It is the inefficiency and mismanagement of top officials, that has caused the somewhat decline of this company. Postal wokers do not have “low self esteem” and the person making the comment apparently is not a postal worker. We did not SETTLE for 1%. For the majority of my postal career, most,if not all of the contract negotiations have gone into arbitration, so this, my uninformed complainer, means neither side could come to an agreement on all the terms, and the terms were decided by a third party thus meaning the union did not SETTLE! Instead of griping about someone else’s performance, step up to the plate and try doing the job yourself if you think you can do better.

  8. Hmmm, contract negotiations and Burris retiring, and an increase in dues to watch stewards who only file when the grievance affects them, too busy playing with their toys to do any real work, and all of a sudden showing just how tough they really are with the excessing, jumping through hoops before management even asks…

  9. “the truth has a certain ring to it” burrass only produced 1% year in and year out-but lived a lavish lifestyle for himself.

    if you had a stockbroker who only got you a 1% return or a surgeon who had a 1% success rate or a dentist who only had 1% of his fillings stay in your head or a pilot who only landed his plane safely 1% of the time or a lawyer who only won 1% of his cases-you would run for the hills.(plus they would be long gone)

    to all who try to use the race care to provide cover for this loser….it just don’t work anymore. just shows who the racists really are.try it on some other self-hating liberal jerk.

    problem with postal workers is that they have low self esteem and settled for 1% because they thought they had job security and a job for life.(hello internet and online bill pay) The joke is on you while this bum rides off into the sunset with a 1% track record-good riddence!

  10. Good ridance Mr Burrus. Long live the memory of Moe Biller. Now if the corruption can be stopped perhaps there will be a viable union.

  11. 25 years ago, i started working 4 the p.o. @$10.50 an hour/ptf rate.I have seen my salary increase to over
    $53,000 per year under the Biller/Burrus tenure. All you
    cowardly “haters” who hide behind your PC monitors and sprew the same toxic/poisonous enviroment thru the internet as on the workroom floor should go back to school and find a “real” job if you don’t like yours!
    Here in TEXAS, you can apply @
    S.am H.ouston I.nstitute of T.echnology………

  12. There will always be (Haters). Some because their expectations were too high and others because they are based on race and Mr Burris was a black man. Unlike Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton, Ray Burris never needed catchy rimes. He was always articulate, well spoken, and made well thought out presentations. I believe he is making a wise choice retiring now because regardless of who is at the helm for the next contract in Oct 2010, it ain`t going to be pretty. The nitrogenous waste is going to hit the fan big time. Hope the Custodians will be wearing their Haz Mat uniforms.

  13. Happy to see him go.We are about to lose our jobs.What a union to be associated with.Motor vehicle is out in the cold.Too little too late.Good job,enjoy your retirement!!

  14. only produced a 1% raise-loser! inflation ran 5%-no one ever went broke underestimating the stupidy of postal workers!

    mismanaging PO bureaucrats averaged 5%-10% raise and bonus.

    big house, fancy suits,expensive cars, 2 hour lunches on K street, and first class travel to Vegas= billy boy burrass!

    what happened to the anthrax money, 8 dollar surcharge-burrass was no Donald Trump, more like Bernie Madoff!

  15. I AM A CLERK FROM PUERTO RICO AM SHOPTEARM IN MY STATIO FOR ALONG TIME WE KHOM THA WE HAVE CRISIS IN THE POSTAL SERVICE WE KHOW THAT THIS CRISIS IF NAT TO BE BETTER IN THE FUTURE MR BURUUS CANTNOT DO NOTHIG HE IS GOING TO RETIRE BECASE HE NOTHE THA HECANT DO NOTHIG ABOAT THIS SITUASION

  16. Bill,
    To do this job you’ve had to have an almost unmeasureable passion and well as a determination to cope with critics that have no idea what really goes on behind the scenes. New to the game of Unionism, I can only wonder what it takes to make decision that affected the life of every postal worker and how they maybe able to benefit from those decisions. When you sometimes look in hind sight, you might consider what could I done differently?or was it worth it all? only you would know the answer to these and other questions. You came into the Service the year I was born, by any measure that’s a accomplishment.

    Good luck and enjoy your retirement.

  17. I am a letter carrier and have followed Burress for the past year and a half and have been extremely impressed with his actions, outspokenness, and the articles and press releases. He is throwback to union leaders of the past in his courage and defense of the clerks and, in particular, the acting for the present and future good of the Postal Service. He has been a strong defender of doing the right and fair thing for the good of the country and the Postal Service and I, personally, would love to see a man of his credibility and charactor in public office. Best of luck Bill, you did a great job.

  18. Mr. Burrus is almost 80 years old. I commend Mr. Burrus for a job well done. I am now retired, but was a dues paying member of APWU for 34 years, and it was worth every penny, and then some. For those cynics that are never happy about anything, craft or management, maybe you can step up and do a better job. But it’s easier to just gripe and complain. Happy retirement to President Burrus.

  19. Well, he’s got the mansion that the rank-and-file dues paid for, and he still has the money he collected for the anthrax victims’ families, so he’ll probably do well. Maybe Potter’ll make him a vice-president.

    If you increase dues to “help offset decreases in membership eventually you have a very few paying very very much to support an increasing number of union officials and their relatives… not a very sustainable plan. Which is probably why Burrus bailed.

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