Floor Edition

April 27, 2011

Update by Jackie Engelhart

2011 NWIAL Election

President Vice President Secretary

1. Jackie Engelhart 537 1. Lindsey Jefferson Jr. 297 Linda Retel

2. Mary Corner 268 2. Dave Baskin 513

Treasurer 600 CCD 601 CCD

1. Janice Scott 277 1. Olivia Norman 132 Calvin Taylor

2. Al Modi 527 2. Jacque Jackson 58

3. Marsee Lloyd 80

Maintenance Director AO Director MVS Director

1. Bob LaFoe 42 Kathy Stokes Nigel Thomas

2. Joe Golden 118

3. Mike Kelly 45

Chief Trustee Trustee - (Maint) Trustee - (Clerk)

RayWience Dan Mulligan Seok Kwon

Going Forward...

The last three years have been the worst in history with management continuing to slash jobs due to mail volume decline that began in 2007. They eliminated tour 2 nationwide in 2009, and in 2010 continued to cut Clerk jobs based on BPI and AMP consolidations. Palatine P&DC suffered three impacts in 2010 and Carol Stream had two, but one was cancelled due to the Palatine AMP. The AMP was into CS because they were the more productive plant. The BPI impact was to make Palatine efficient but the facility continues to struggle and we have mostly the same management that made Palatine an AMP target last year. Management has cut too many Clerks so Palatine, continues to struggle. None of the Clerks from this last impact have been moved and no one has been placed on standby. Overtime is being called daily, Stewards are not released, and Supervisors and Managers are working the mail every day.

A New Plant Manager

Chuck Sciurba is making the transition from CS to Palatine and I'm sure he understands why everyone wished him "good luck". He held Town Hall meetings on tour 1 to introduce himself and talk about his expectations for Palatine. He told them he senses a lot of anger at Palatine, and said we have to get past that. The anger is due to the constant excessing and bid abolishments. On his first day I had to ask him to meet with us to discuss major bid abolishments just given to us by In-Plant Support per A/Senior MDO Ramion. Mr. Sciurba agreed to meet with us and has met with us every week since. He also agreed to keep Clerks at Palatine to be placed into future MH residuals as they become available since we did not get agreement from the MH union on details. A big reason for the anger and the dysfunctional climate at Palatine are three senior managers who do not respect the employees or the union, and think the way to manage is by fear, threats and intimidation.

Bid Changes from Last Impact

When 11 Palatine Clerks were awarded Busse jobs management realized they could not get their mail out without moving more Clerks into tour 1 Automation. They tried to meet with us months ago but we were advised not to meet because of the moratorium and they forgot about it until the Clerks bid to Busse. Recently we met with them and they gave us changes for a reduction in the tour 1 manual section, NS day changes to most other tour 1 sections, and NS day changes for tour 3 Automation. The only section being reduced was tour 1 manual section so all other Clerk bids reposted were just to change the NS days. They wanted to repost the entire tour 1 Automation section from the second person on down to change one targeted S/F bid, but since they were not reducing the section we said that did not apply. We could not believe they would repost 149 bids to change the NS days on a few bids. When we met we asked why they needed to change NS days since they made major changes last June (2010) due to the AMP loss of mail. We said they should change the NS days as bids are vacated and they agreed in some cases but not for Automation on tours 1 and 3. The tour 1 manual section is being reduced to staff tour 1 Automation due to the impacted Clerks going to Busse and due to retirements. They are reducing one section to staff another but most manual units are already understaffed. We discussed this with Chuck who said he will look at all his staffing numbers. For the last few years it seems that senior management just followed orders while Palatine and service declined.

Impacted Clerk Award on Hold

Clerks have asked when the award will be made for the bid sheets they were required to submit by 4-15-11. I was told last week that the award is on hold because the Central, IL District wants time to review all the impacts for the 601 offices, including Carol Stream, to make sure they agree with them. I have no information that the Lakeland, WI District is reviewing the impacts for the 600 offices, but the award of jobs will not be made until Central completes it's review. This should have been communicated to the affected Clerks by management but I am sharing what information I have. We asked them to delay this bidding process due to the MH issue at Palatine, due to moratorium on excessing, and due to the affect the tentative agreement would have if ratified. I was told that the Area told them to proceed and I am sure the Area VP is pushing this just as she helped sacrifice the managers at the Northern Illinois District. She will soon be a presence at Carol Stream as the office space vacated by the NID will be used for the Great Lakes Area. I used to blame Greg Johnson for the excessing but he just followed her increasingly ruthless orders. When the Area moves in she will be on the floor at CS so beware if you see her, as it can't be good. Since the tentative agreement, if ratified, would affect the options available to impacted employees, management should put the award on hold until the contract voting outcome is known on 5-11-11. That will give Central, IL time to review the 601 impacts, and give Palatine time to decide how many Clerks they need and how many Clerks they need for MH jobs.

I Voted "No" on Tentative Agreement. ..

I attended a meeting hosted by South Suburban Local regarding the Tentative Agreement (TA). Present were our Regional Coordinator and national officers for all three crafts. They all spoke in favor of the TA and we were able to go to the microphone to speak and to ask questions. After hearing all of them speak in favor I played the Devil's Advocate by speaking against it. I said I could not advise our members to vote for this TA because of the changes made to what we now know as a full-time duty assignment, which is a 40 hour week with 8 hour days and two non-scheduled days, (consecutive in larger offices). This TA gives management the right to increase non-careers from 6% per district to 20%, and how will they will have room for more casuals but by reposting jobs as less than 40 hours. This TA will allow them to repast all 40 hour jobs in an AO and 50% in a plant. The "flexibility" they get comes from changing 40 hour jobs to 30 hour jobs and hiring more casuals. They all say 40 hour employees cannot be forced into less than 40 hour jobs but they will post the worst schedules as 40 hour jobs. They have staffing matrixes they will use to re-staff every office if this TA is ratified. I vote "no".

Election Thanks to ...

the membership for allowing me and all but one of our current EB members to serve another three year term of office, to Marcy for doing a great job as the appointed 600 CCD during a difficult time, and to the Election Committee members Maria Porch-Clark, Dennis Cattenhead, Doreene Motley, and Bhupendra Patel.