Floor Edition

May 19, 2010

Update by Jackie Engelhart

98 Clerks to Leave Palatine on 6-6-10

The AMP impact for 99 Clerks has been reduced due to the retirement of one Clerk on 6-1-10. Four Clerks who are no longer impacted have opted to go senior-in-lieu which will save four more impacted Clerks. The Clerks thought they were leaving on 5-22-10 but were told they will be leaving on 6-6-10. There are still about ten Clerks who did not put in enough choices who will have to choose from the remaining jobs. There are also about 12 from the BPI impact who did not qualify for Carrier jobs who will have to be put in non-Carrier jobs. At this time management has identified five non-Carrier jobs, four level 5 Mail Handler jobs at Carol Stream and one Custodian job in Rockford. I am hearing that a few of the Clerks who. went to Carrier have already "retired" and we know of one Clerk who failed the window test and is being removed.

Impacted Clerk Issued Removal for Failing Window Test!

We hoped it would not happen but it did. One of the impacted Clerks bid on an Sales Service Distribution Associate (SSDA) job and failed the test needed to qualify. The Clerk was promptly issued a Notice of Removal for failure to meet the requirements of the position. While we cannot represent this employee we have communicated with the Steward in the new office to offer assistance in his/her defense We also called the District and sent a letter to District Manager Hart, asking him to do the right thing. This Clerk worked for years in the plant without a problem but now has to deal with a Removal due to circumstances beyond his/her control. This Clerk should not lose their job and management should rescind the Removal. Between the AMP and the NRP management is finding a way around the no layoff provisions of the National Agreement.

AMP Staffing Changes

The "newly created" 1300 tour 3 Automation bids have been awarded at Palatine and management then issued abolishment letters to 1600 and 1800 tour 3 Automation Clerks. As stated in the last Local Line we questioned why tour 3 Automation Clerks were not given option letters and consulted with our national officers who stated based on the timeline management could post the 1300 jobs as newly created. Two of the newly awarded 1300 jobs will be vacated in June, one due to retirement and the other due to a senior-in-lieu of bidder leaving. Employees want to know how an employee who bid senior-in-lieu of to leave was awarded a job on the most recent posting but the employee has a right to bid until leaving the facility and did not know if they would get anything on the senior-in-lieu of. When the employee leaves the facility the bid will be vacated and posted for bid but all tour 3 Automation bids will be posted closed section until retreat right employees are exhausted.

60 Day Notices Rescinded at Carol Stream (Finally!)

The letters were issued on 2-3-10 for the BPI impact dated 12-21-09 and finally rescinded on 5-13-10. The Union argued that management knew all along these Clerks were going nowhere because of the AMP of Palatine outgoing mail into Carol Stream on 7-1-10. Management continued to drag their feet and the Union filed a grievance when they continued to hold these letters over the Clerks for no good reason. As of 5-18-1 0 about 30% of Palatine's outgoing mail is being cancelled at CS and they are confident CS can absorb this mail as the combined volume is about what CS volume was a few years ago. Carol Stream is still waiting for additional staffing needed to handle the Palatine mail and I am told they have nine of the 26 additional Mail Handlers that will be added. The approved AMP Study called for an increase of 37 Clerks at CS. Since they had an impact for 26 Clerks which is now cancelled they still need 11 Clerks based on the AMP Study. We have heard nothing from them about bringing Clerks back from the Mail Handler Craft at CS but their own data shows they need 11 more Clerks. They are very quick to excess but very slow to bring employees back. I'm sure they will wait until they have no choice but to bring Clerks back or not be able to get the mail out.

CS Plant Manager Gone?!

The word on the floor is that newly titled Plant Manager Lee Thompson is in a new position and will not be back. Management has not informed the Union so we get our information the same way the employees get it, by word of mouth.

NALC Wins NRP Grievance!

The National Association of Letter Carriers recently won a grievance on the NRP and the Award returned the Carrier to work. The Award strikes directly at the term the Postal Service is relying upon to take job offers from Injured-on Duty employees. That Award states "The process undertaken in the NRP assessment, which led to relieving the grievant of duties he had performed without incident, was based on a faulty premise...Throughout its entire process, the Postal Service through its agents used an erroneous and improper standard of "necessary" work by which to evaluate the available work tasks, i.e., that whatever work could be found must satisfy the definition of "necessary" work the Postal Service had created unilaterally. The standard of necessary work is faulty on many counts. ELM 546.142, the primary governing regulation in the grievant's case does not require the high standard of "necessary" work, as the Postal Service defines it. The regulation is devoid of any criteria or standard of work that constitutes "limited duty", except to the extent that such work must be within the injured employee's medical restrictions and should minimize any adverse or disruptive impact on the employee. From an evidentiary standpoint. the criteria of "necessary" work has been created in contravention of the applicable contractual, statutory and regulatory provisions that apply to situations such as the grievant's. By operation of this standard, the Postal Service failed to make a good faith effort to place the grievant at any level of the pecking order under ELM 546.142."

Busse Update

We met with A/Plant Manager Tony Alvarado and his staff on 5-19-10 as he wanted to meet with both Unions to discuss the new staffing plan for the Chicagoland Metro Plan that will result in the excessing of 300 craft employees from AMC O'Hare. He wanted to talk to the Unions about RI-399 jurisdictional issues before finalizing the bids as there are some units (segments) that the parties agree have been staffed by both crafts. There will be a second meeting to present the changes.

MVS Still in Withholding

Along with all other crafts, the Motor Vehicle Craft remains in withholding and that is why PTF Drivers are not being converted. The current impacts affecting this area are Detroit with a 350 mile radius and Chicago NDC and Racine both with 110 mile radius.

Convention Resolutions

We attended the Illinois State Convention in Peoria last week and submitted several resolutions that were passed by the delegates for submission at the National Convention to be negotiated in the next contract. The resolutions are: 1.) Stools at the window in AO's. (submitted by Kathy Stokes) 2.) RI-399 Regional Disputes be arbitrated within one year of appeal date. 3.) Serial impacts must be combined under Article 12. 4.) Live Bidder Letters for impacted employees who are bidding to residuals outside the installation due to an excessing. (These were submitted by Dave Baskin and I for NWIAL and #4 was suggested by Palatine Clerk Richard Griffin, so thanks Richard.