Floor Edition

March 24, 2011

Update by Jackie Engelhart

NWIAL Candidates (in ballot order)

President Vice President Secretary

1. Jackie Engelhart 1. Lindsey Jefferson Jr. Linda Retel

2. Mary Corner 2. Dave Baskin

Treasurer 600 CCD 601 CCD

1. Janice Scott 1. Olivia Norman Calvin Taylor

2. Al Modi 2. Jacque Jackson

3. Marsee Lloyd

Maintenance Director AO Director MVS Director

1. Bob LaFoe Kathy Stokes Nigel Thomas

2. Joe Golden

3. Mike Kelly

Chief Trustee Trustee Trustee - (clerk)

RayWience Dan Mulligan Seok Kwon

Congratulations to all the unopposed candidates.

American Arbitration Association to Mail Ballots on 3-29-11

Ballots will be mailed by the American Arbitration Association on 3-29-11. The deadline for receipt of ballots will be 9am on 4-26-11 at the designated PO Box. The count will be at the AAA office in Chicago on 4-26-11. Requests for duplicate ballots should be made as soon as possible before the count date of 4-26-11 to AAA representative Mr. Mathew Lacy at 312-616-6582 or Email to LacyM@adr.org. After the counting process AAA will certify the results of the Election.

AAA Also Conducting Voting for Tentative National Agreement...

As the same company will be mailing ballots for NWIAL and the National Union you should check each mailing carefully.

Ratification Ballots to be Mailed on 4-8-11

Voting on the tentative agreement will begin on 4-8-11 when ballots will be mailed to all APWU members with a copy of the tentative agreement. The ballots are due back on 5-10-11 and will be counted on 5-11-11. The APWU will be sending a ratification packet to nonmembers who will be able to vote providing they complete the sign-up card enclosed with the mailing. The packet will be sent out from 4-8 to 4-11-11. If you have not received a ballot by 4-18-11, contact the American Arbitration Association at 800-529-5218 to request a duplicate or by e-mail at apvvu@adu.org.

National Executive Board Says Vote "Yes"

They believe they have negotiated the best contract to protect current members and provide for future members as well. This is a very important vote and all APWU members should take the time to review the tentative agreement, make an informed decision, and vote!

House Republicans to Probe APWU Labor Agreement...

(From the "Federal Eye" 3-23-11) "House Republicans are skeptical of the recent deal struck between the USPS and the APWU and are inviting both sides to Capital Hill to explain themselves. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee plans to meet on 4-5-11 to review the tentative 4 1/2 year tentative agreement. The committee's chairman, Rep. Darrel Issa (R-CA.) said he's doubtful the new deal will help improve the mail agency's fiscal situation and stated "This looks like a missed opportunity." The deal struck after six months of negotiations would give workers a 3 1/2 percent pay increase over the life of the contract, starting with a 1 percent raise in November of 2012. By 2016 USPS would be contributing less to a worker's health care costs, paying just 76 percent of premiums, down from 79 percent. Most federal agencies cover about 72 percent of employee health care cost. Lawmakers have introduced several bills designed to restructure USPS finances and will have to act this year to avoid another short-term fix similar to what was passed the last two years."

Republicans Introduce Bill to Eliminate FERS Retirement for New Hires...

Republican Senators Coburn and Burr introduced a bill on 3-17-11 that would eliminate the pension portion of FERS for all new employees hired after 2012. The bill would not affect Thrift Savings Plan benefits and agency matching contributions. It will also not affect pensions for current federal employees and retirees. It would apply to members of Congress.

23 Busse Clerk Jobs Awarded...

The 23 Busse Jobs were awarded as of 3-23-11. 12 of the jobs went to Palatine Clerks and the rest to impacted Associate Office Clerks. Letters are being provided to the successful bidders notifying them of additional local jobs that will be added on the next round and giving them the option to accept or decline the Busse job awarded. The Clerks were to start at Busse on 3-26-11 but that has changed.

More Local Jobs Added...

Per the letters sent to these Clerks, additional local residual vacancies in the Mail Handler Craft will be offered in the next bidding round as follows: 7 jobs in Fox Valley in Aurora, 12 in South Suburban in Bedford Park, and 19 jobs at NDC in Forest Park. These 38 jobs were not included on the lists used for the current bidding so we said that management should either cancel this round of bidding and start over or notify any Clerks awarded a Busse bid they had the option to accept or decline the job. All other jobs on the list minus the non-local jobs will be re-offered to impacted and senior in lieu of Clerks with the 38 MH jobs added to the list. We were told by management that Palatine should have about 40 residual MH jobs but at this time they only have eight. Management has agreed to create details until these residual MH vacancies are available but there must be agreement from the MH Union to do this. There will be also be some MH residuals at Carol Stream but they must be offered to impacted Clerks within the installation and cannot be offered senior in lieu of. The number of impacted Clerks at CS is down to 38 due to attrition and we need an updated list for Palatine.

Northern IL District is Gone!!!!

As has been rumored for many weeks, the Northern IL District is one of seven being eliminated in a major restructuring of the USPS. Northern had been notified at the start that it was a district targeted for elimination and district EAS employees have been soldiering on since this bomb was dropped on them some weeks ago. They were informed of their fate today in a 9:30 am meeting which may be one of the last held in the NID. These EAS employees may be subject to a RIF or Reduction in Force if they cannot find another position within a limited amount of time, but with seven districts being eliminated and headquarters being reduced there won't be jobs. Voluntary Early Retirement and a $20,000 incentive is being offered to eligible career non-bargaining employees in affected districts. Management has fewer rights and protections that craft employees because they do not have a union! While we rarely agree with most of what management does no one wants to see anyone lose their job.

Plants Split-up Between Lakeland and Central IL Districts

Palatine P&DC and Rockford will become part of Lakeland District and Carol Stream P&DC will become part of Central IL District. The district office for Central is in Bedford Park at South Suburban, but the district office for Lakeland is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Will the Palatine Senior Plant Manager have to shuttle back and forth to Milwaukee every time there's a district meeting, and the union will now have to deal with three different districts with Busse still under the Chicago District. How the changes will affect 600 - 603 offices is the big question.