Floor Edition

May 2, 2010

Update by Jackie Engelhart

Palatine Abolishes Tour 2 Automation

Two weeks after Greg Johnson told me he would leave the 1192's alone he called to say he would have to abolish them. When I called to ask him why he had changed his mind he said he wanted to meet with us on 4-26-10 to explain his reasons. The reasons he gave for the flip-flop were that the mail is arriving "later" and Palatine will be getting Carol Stream PARS mail. His mind was made up as they had already decided to post 59 "newly created" 1300 automation bids on the following day. On 4-27-10 they began issuing the abolishment letters to the 1192's. Greg Johnson met with them on 4-29-10 and told them the move was necessary based on mail volume and to improve productivity. Greg was told by one employee there is mail at 1192 and you're doing it because you can. To change bids by one hour 46 Clerks will lose their bids.

No Option Letters for Tour 3 Automation

As I told Greg when I met with him a few weeks ago to ask him to leave the 1192's alone, abolishing these bids will create problems between the tours because the tour 3 Clerks think tour 3 bids should be for them. The contract and the LMOU state when management needs to change the time on a duty assignment by more than one hour but within the same tour, and the same non-scheduled days and principal area of assignment, the time change is offered to the incumbent and the duty assignment if reposted if they decline the option. In this case management is timing the posting of the 59 "newly created" jobs before the abolishment of the 58 tour 3 automation jobs. It was my opinion that tour 3 is entitled option letters and we consulted national Clerk Craft Director Jim McCarthy and Assistant Director Mike Morris. Our NBA's were not available but we will call them for their opinion.

Staffing Changes for Tour 3 Manual

On 4-29-10 we receive proposed changes for the Palatine tour 3 manual section and it shows only 9 manual jobs will be left on tour 3 due to the AMP. The jobs are 7 in the Low Cost and 2 in Multi-Line. All other tour 3 manual bids will be abolished and more manual jobs will be posted on tour 1. The AMP staffing plan shows 20 addition jobs in letters and 9 jobs in flats being added for tour 1, and one additional job in Express. The tour 1 Low Cost bids will be reduced from 13 to 9 but the manual section is not being reduced so there will not be closed section bidding for tour the tour 1 manual section. We're told that the tour 3 Review Clerk jobs will be reposted to tour 1 as well. We assume the employees will be getting abolishment letters soon. When management decides to abolish bids in large numbers employees ask whey we can't have a general bid. There's no such thing in the contract and if there were how often would you want to repost all bids?

AMP at Carol Stream

Carol Stream is currently taking 25% of Palatine's outgoing mail with July 1st as the completion date for the AMP. We know overtime is being called in the manual units at Carol Stream while Limited Duty Clerks are sitting at home because there is "no work available" according to management. I asked Lee Thompson how this could be and she said the overtime is because people don't come to work. She would rather call overtime than accommodate injured-on-duty Clerks in letters and flats at the straight-time rate. When they have a plan they stick with it and push the remaining employees harder to make it work. While management is posting additional bids on tour 3 to work the Palatine mail Clerks are bidding off tour 1. The obvious fact is they need more Clerks at Carol Stream but Lee Thompson and Greg Johnson refuse to rescind the 60 day notices to the 26 impacted Clerks. There is no justification for this and their action is really inexcusable to me. The Clerks still in the Mail Handler Craft should be brought back so we know the 26 Clerks should not be going anywhere. Management seems comfortable putting employees out but not in bringing them back.

Regional RI-399 Date

I was informed today by management at the Area level that our regional disputes will be scheduled for arbitration on July 16, 2010. The cases included Low Cost Tray Sorters at both Carol Stream and Palatine and the Central Dispatch unit at Palatine. We have long pushed for these cases to be heard and now at last these disputes are being scheduled for arbitration.

Chicago Metro Surface Hub

I will be meeting soon with new A/Plant Manager Tony Alvarado as he requested to meet with us prior to scheduling a Labor-Management meeting for Busse. Management has contracted out the work involved in moving the SPBS machine and bringing in a second SPBS and the Union has filed an Article 32 grievance. We hope to have more information on staffing changes at Busse after meeting with the A/Plant Manager. He is from Detroit which has been experiencing large-scale excessing because their mail was AMP-ed into the newly built "Metroplex" facility.

MVSDirector Tom Artinghelli Resigns as Craft Director

Tom resigned effective 4-30-10 as Craft Director due to health reasons after seeing his doctor. The stress and added work hours have taken a toll on his health and his health comes first. Tom was without a doubt the best MVS Craft Director we ever had and he is truly irreplaceable. Part of the stress for any Craft Director is that employees do not always understand the limits of the contract. The PTF Drivers want to be converted to full-time as they have been working full-time for the required period and should be converted, except management says we are in withholding for the MVS Craft. I have asked management for proof that MVS craft is in withholding and will share that when it is provided to me. In the meantime Tom worked tirelessly and unselfishly to represent his craft and he did great job. His knowledge and personal commitment will be missed. We have truly lost one of the good ones. Thank-you Mr. Artinghelli.

No Work Available Update

We have met with the approximately 30 NWIAL employees who have been off of work since 3-23-10. A few of them have been paid but most of them have not. At Palatine management did not send in their CA-2A's in a timely manner and sat on them for almost a month until the Union found out and raised the issue. We were told that tour 3 MDO Jeff Wisner "gave" them to the tour 3 Leave Control Supervisor to complete their portion but it appears no one in management followed up and the employees' pay is now delayed. The NRP is scripted down to the last detail when it comes to putting employees off of work but there is no script once they're out the door and need to be paid. Management says the USPS is a business and they have taken the very worst corporate tactics to reduce their payroll, and some of their actions are pure corporate greed.

Attorney to Meet Employees

We spoke to a legal firm in the area that handles federal employment issues and the firm said they are willing to speak to our employees this week at Elmhurst on the subject of EEO and MSPB representation. The Local will pay for a one-hour presentation but cannot incur the cost of each employee's legal costs. We have advised each affected employee to file EEO and MSPB complaints to protect their time limits and they will need an attorney to pursue those claims. All have signed up with the nationally certified EEO class action lawsuit known as Sandra McConnel, et al vs. USPS. The class is all USPS rehab and limited duty employees subjected to NRP since 2006