Ron Suslak
President’s Report
Retirees
First and foremost I’d like to congratulate all of our recent retirees. We had 130 members from our local accept the incentive retirement and left on January 31, 2013. Most were not only faithful and supporting union members, but co-workers and (more importantly) friends of mine for many years. I want to personally wish all of them a happy, healthy, spiritual and prosperous retirement. My door is more that always open to them for whatever reason. Recently, a 40 year member stopped by the union office to say hello. While we spoke for awhile about the “good old times” we both simultaneously realized we never really appreciated those times. He went on to thank me for a job well done for the membership as local president and suggested I run for president of the national APWU. He said that as a retiree he now had plenty of time to do and say the things that just got put on the “back burner” while working full time. I thanked him for the compliment and wished him well in his retirement. Having said that, I hope that all of our retiree members enjoy this passage of their lives and may God bless all of them and their families.
Update on Recent Postal Legislation
All of the postal reform bills from last year including S.189, which passed the Senate, are now off the table by virtue of the expiration of the 112th Congress. Recently three postal reform bills have been introduced in the 113th Congress that the APWU is endorsing. The USPS Protection Act S316 and HR630 as well as HR961. Please see the Legislative Fact Sheet concerning The Postal Service Protection Act in this issue.
NY/ISC Update
Reposting of Vacant Bids
As a result of the recent incentive retirement offering, we had many vacant positions in JFK. Initially, management advised me that they were under direction from headquarters to repost as few as possible positions in the clerk craft and to fill the rest with PSE’s. Management initially proposed to post only half of the vacated positions. After intense negotiation during several meetings, we were successful in having approximately 63 of the 76 vacated clerical positions posted and all of the maintenance vacancies. We especially concentrated on the preferred duty assignments and the duty assignments affected by excessing (that members were holding retreat right for.) As a result of utilizing class action grievances concerning the improper use of 204B’s, we were also successful in creating two (2) additional Lead Clerk positions. As of this writing, we are continuing negotiations to create even more Lead Clerk positions and at least one more Ramp Clerk position.
Retreat Rights
Employees who lost bids due to excessing are entitled to retreat rights back to the section when a vacancy occurs. To date, our Union Representatives have been conducting closed bids in accordance with Article 12 in all sections containing positions that employees are holding retreat right claims for. I’d personally like to thank the Representatives that have been working with management to insure that our members retreat right entitlements are being upheld in a timely fashion. It certainly has not been an easy task to manually reach every employee involved in every section to insure that they have an opportunity to make their selections. I always believed that it is important for the union to be involved in the day to day workroom floor activities to insure they are administered correctly. Like the old cliché says, “If you want something done right, do it yourself.”
Eurosorter and 10/4 Update
We have concluded the transition of changing our non traditional 10/4 (21-0 designation) employees to traditional (11-0 designation) employees in the Eurosorter and any other 10/4 bid employees in the facility. In accordance with the memorandum I negotiated with Plant Manager Conti last year, all 10/4 positions to date were to be posted in accordance with the Modified Work Week (10/4) Guidelines Memo in the National Agreement. The agreement calls for us to utilize option 2 of the memo and forego the President’s Day and Columbus Day holidays in return for ten hours of holiday leave on the other eight holidays. Additionally, holiday worked premium pay will be limited to 10 hours on each of the eight holidays. The designated and re-designated holidays for the 10/4 employees are listed in the contract and they are also posted in the union office for any 10/4 employee that needs to review them.
I have also negotiated additional improvements in the Eurosorter section. Which, of the improvements include the upcoming construction of a satellite break area adjacent to the section. This area will contain benches and vending machines. Additionally, rest stools will be provided for the keyers, which will enable them to perform their keying functions in a more ergonomically correct manner. We have also resolved a grievance that will afford all the dispatchers and lead clerk a work clothes allowance. The authorization has been approved for those positions and we are now negotiating the authorization for the keyers in the section. I’d personally like to thank Liz Swigert, who not only is an officer of our local but also the lead clerk in the section, for filing all the necessary paperwork with the USPS accounting office for the employees in the section to receive the work clothes.
Administrative Leave Settlement
As per our administrative leave settlement for January 27, 2011, we have concluded the distribution of the orange 3971’s to all eligible employees. These employees (approximately 600) can use the Administrative Leave 3971’s for up to eight hours of leave or for the amount they used during that snowstorm on that day. I have also negotiated for the employees who were not eligible and were issued 3971’s in error and subsequently have already used the Administrative leave not to have the time deducted from their annual leave.
Tour Three SPBS Crew re-established
I have negotiated a settlement re-establishing a seven day SPBS crew on tour three. The bids are in the process of being created and our Union Representatives are now soliciting employees who are holding retreat rights to those positions. If there are any positions still vacant after the retreat right process is completed, they will be posted for bid to the entire installation.
AMRU
I received notice that our national office was advised the USPS is considering consolidating the AMRU offices around the country into the St. Louis accounting office. The Notification advised the union that a group of USPS managers from Washington will begin surveying several AMRU offices shortly to investigate the feasibility of the consolidation. Immediately after receiving notification, I met with the AMRU employees to advise them of the potential consolidation and their contractual entitlements if it were to happen. I will monitor the situation closely and update all potentially impacted employees as additional information becomes available.
JAMAICA UPDATE
Reposting of Vacant Bids
As a result of the recent incentive retirement we had several vacant bids in the Jamaica installation. Once again, management did not want to post all of the vacancies. The Postmaster initially proposed to post only two of fourteen vacancies. After negotiating with Jamaica management and agreeing to hold the vacancies in abeyance until a decision could be made, Postmaster Dan O’Connor in conjunction with the Triboro District Manager of Human Resources, Dave Rudy, agreed to repost all the vacancies for bid. Since there were employees still holding retreat rights for the vacant Airport Station bids, I assigned Executive Vice President, Ralph DeVito to conduct a closed bid in accordance with article 12 for that station. The process has now been completed and the successful bidders have been placed in the duty assignments.
Kew Gardens Bids
It was necessary to request that management not award the March 2013 three Kew Gardens Positions, because they were improperly posted with scheme requirements. After the employees were awarded the bids, we were advised by the PEDC Technicians that due to route consolidations and other changes, the Kew Gardens Scheme only contained 97 memory items. As such, in accordance with the handbooks and manuals (specifically the P-402), it was no longer considered a scheme. Schemes are established when there are between 100 and 1000 items per area or station. Memory items are distributions which are 99 items or less. Since the scheme should not have been attached to those bids, we remedied the violation by simply requesting that all three bids be reposted on the next available clerical bid without the scheme requirement, for all Jamaica clerical employees.
PSE, Twice Removed, Twice Paid
We settled a removal grievance for a PSE member that was not given their Article 15 and 16 rights. While the PSE was returned to work and was awarded over 460 hours of back pay, that is not the end of the story. While settling removals and having career employees awarded thousands of dollars in back pay is a normal occurrence within our local and others, what makes this case unbelievable, is that this is the second removal and second successful grievance settlement in less that a year for the same PSE! You read it correctly! Since many of the USPS managers have refused to recognize that PSE’s are entitle to many of the same contractual rights as career employees, it must not reimburse several more thousand dollars in back pay to a PSE. Remember, PSE’s were supposed to be supplemental employees that were to be hired at a lower wage to help the USPS reduce expenses. Well, not in Jamaica! At the completion of payment from this recent settlement, this PSE will have been paid approximately ten thousand dollars for not working a “stitch” of mail. Some way to reduce expenses! And of course as usual, the supervisors responsible for the violations that cost the USPS this unnecessary expense, were never disciplined nor were they issued a letter of demand for reimbursement to the USPS, due to their failure to adhere to the National Agreement.
Queens VMF
We were successful in arbitrating a case in the Queens VMF concerning management’s issuance of discipline to our mechanics for failing to obtain towing endorsements on their CDL. While letters of warning and 7 day suspensions have been issued, management began to threaten employees with removals, if the towing endorsement was not obtained. The arbitrator wrote in his findings, that evidence of record does not support a finding that employees who bid into the MVS mechanic position were required to acquire a “towing endorsement.” He further went on to mention a 2006 memorandum I negotiated with VMF manager Andreoli, acknowledging that all of the mechanics that we agreed to be upgraded, met all of the qualifications of the position. The towing endorsement was not listed in that agreement. Arbitrator Giordano also stated that “to make such a request at this point was perfunctory, arbitrary and counterintuitive to the 2006 memo between President Ron Suslak and VMF Manager Donald Andreoli.” In the past, I have attempted several times to settle the towing issue with Manager Andreoli, but unfortunately he was not interested. Hopefully, this award will put an end to not only the discipline, but and end to management forcing the mechanics who do not wish to tow, not do so. While I certainly do not wish to encourage management to contract the towing work out, I still believe that the issue can be resolved at the negotiating table.
Far Rockaway, Manhasset, Woodmere
Unfortunately, in the above offices, we were unable to negotiate the reposting of vacancies as a result of the incentive retirement. We have filed several class actions, requesting that the vacant clerical and maintenance positions be reposted for bid and that the successful bidders be compensated with out of schedule overtime payment.
In closing, I’d like to remind our members that it is extremely important that in these ominous times in the USPS, that we support and stand strong with our Union. We are under heavy attack by the right wing extremists in this country to systematically dismantle the USPS and “piece meal” it to private industry. All we as working people have is each other, and together, collectively as a Union, are voice will be heard and we will prevail.
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!
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