The Local Line

“A PPA Award Winning Publication”

The Official Voice Of The Northwest Illinois Area Local

American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO

194 W. Lake Street Elmhurst IL 60126

Phone: 630-833-0088 Fax: 630-833-0248

Jackie Engelhart – President Alan Czerwinski - News Director

Floor Edition

June 20, 2007

Local Update by Jackie Engelhart

NBA Percy Harrison Jr. Passed on June 18th.

We share the sentiment expressed by President Bums on the APWU website "We were shocked and saddened to learn of Percy's passing. Percy was an outspoken advocate for postal workers, and he will be sorely missed. Please keep his wife and family in your thoughts.” As a Clerk National Business Agent in the Chicago Region since 1998, Percy was a formidable opponent in arbitration hearings. Percy, John Clark and Lynn Pallas-Barber were all unopposed for reelection this year. In addition to NBA, Percy also served as the President of the Bulk Mail Center (BMC) Local since 1980. He began his postal career in 1977 at the North Suburban Facility as an LSM Operator, and transferred to the BMC where he was elected Clerk Craft Director in 1977. The APWU family has not only lost a National Business Agent, we have lost a good friend, and a good man.

Candidates for President of the United States in Chicago at AFL-CIO Forum on August 7th.

We were informed on June 6th by President Burrus' office, that our members are invited to attend this forum to hear invited Presidential candidates from both major political parties answer questions. The Presidential Forum is scheduled for 7pm at the McCormack Place in Chicago. APWU is encouraging interested members to take advantage of this opportunity to hear major candidates for President of the United States. We hope to have a bus from the Elmhurst Union all to McCormack Place and back. If you are interested in tickets and/ or wish to ride the bus with us, please let us know as we need a count. We will provide more information as we get it.

Legislative Event at Elmhurst on June 29th.

The night of Fun & Games begins at 6 pm with a $10 donation to COPA for food & games.

John Cychosz Appointed NWIAL MVS Director

Due to the extended absence due to illness, and subsequent retirement of MVS Director Belden (BJ) Golden, we have appointed Palatine MVS Steward John Cychosz to fill the vacancy. John is well known to all, as he has previously served as MVS Director, and as a National Business Agent for Motor Vehicle Craft. We are happy to have John's knowledge and experience to serve our MVS Craft members.

No Quorum at June Membership Meeting . .

We have approximately 2200 members, but did not have a quorum of 25 at the June meeting. The 25^th member came at 3:01, but that was after the 3 pm deadline so we had to cancel the meeting. For this reason, we have to start over with a "first reading" of the three proposed constitutional changes. Many Locals have problems getting a quorum because most members don't come to meetings. The next meeting is July 8th, and we need 25 by 3 pm.

APWU Lawsuit Settled.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court on January 3, 2007, charging that the National Postal Mail Handlers Union and the US. Postal Service have violated a national-level three-party agreement that established procedures for resolving disputes over work assignments. Most of the national level disputes were filed by APWU, and the goal of this lawsuit was to stop the stalling of the process. The lawsuit is settled, Arbitrator Sharnoff has been re-appointed and the APWU will pick the first case to be heard. The first case must be picked from one of those in the system in 1992 when the Dispute Resolution Procedures were agreed to by the parties. Of these, the most important is “Containerization” and I believe this is the one APWU will go forward with. Containerization is placing tubs and trays into hampers, APC's , BMC's, etc. When Containerization involves distribution we consider it Clerk work, and this includes Multi-Line, Central Dispatch and the Low Cost Tray Sorter, as well as the Segment units at Chicago Metro. Carol Stream is getting a Low Cost for Culling, and I have asked if Clerks will be getting it since Low Cost distribution was assigned to Mail Handlers. While we have (had) local agreements on these units, management later decided to change the interpretation after the fact, to take work from us. The Containerization dispute will affect the craft assignments for these units. Most of the disputes were filed by APWU as the USPS continued to assign our work to the Mail Handlers. I am sure APWU will go to the AI and/or the APPS as soon as possible.

Service Talk on Future Plans

Senior Plant Manager Ron Woodall issued a Service Talk to be given to all employees at Palatine P&DC on coming changes at the plant. As we reported in the last Local Line, the Palatine APPS is going to Busse before the end of 2007. He reports the robot in Central Dispatch will be replaced by two mini LCTS to dispatch (finalize) outgoing mail. Signed agreements state this work is assigned to Clerks. He reports the first FSS will be deployed on April 10, 2010, with two more to follow in May and July. The FSS will finalize mail down to the carrier route which should make it Clerk work. Construction will begin in January of 2008 for the expansion of the back wall to accommodate the FSS. (We will be losing parking spots on the North End) All BCS will be removed and replaced by three DIOSS-D machines. The seven Phase 1 DBCS will be replaced with Phase 6 DBCS. A new 010 AFCS system (Barney) will process originating mail. Once these changes are made, all letter operations will be on the first floor and all flat operations will be on the second floor. The removal of the APPS and the Robot will impact the Mail Handler Craft. When Clerks lose work (SPBS & LIPS to the APPS) they are excessed to the Mail Handler Craft. What happens when Mail Handlers lose work? (APPS & Robot) In this case, Ron Woodall and Joe Kalisz have taken our manual distribution jobs in Multi-Line and Central Dispatch and given them to the Mail Handlers. They twisted a signed agreement beyond recognition to take work away from us, again.

Function 4 Keeps Cutting Jobs

Staffing has been cut to the bone in many post offices in the Northern Illinois District, but management continues to look for "opportunities" to cut jobs. A Window job is reverted when the Clerk retires, and then the Distribution Clerk's job is abolished and re-posted to cover the Window job. As Clerks continue to retire, management continues to revert their jobs, and then change the bids of those who are left to make up for the reduction in complement. Clerks with 30 years at Park Ridge are being abolished by the OIC (Hulquist) so he can give them split days off and force some of them to the window. The Saturday/Sunday is being changed to Sunday/Friday and the Sunday/Monday to Sunday/Tuesday. That's what you get for your 30 years , and if you decide to retire that's another job to revert. Soon we won't have any Clerks and we can hire casuals or have the Supervisors do more work, or just contract out, use the machines or go on-line.

Seniority?!

Union contracts are based on seniority, yet management is resistant to honoring seniority. Management has a long history of assigning junior Clerks to preferred details and higher level assignments. If you are a senior Clerk who wants to be trained for a detail assignment, you should write a letter to your tour MDO and retain a copy for yourself. If you are not trained and used, let us know. Management says they solicit for these details, but senior Clerks continue to complain about being bypassed by junior Clerks. Honoring seniority eliminates favoritism, which is why management fights so hard against it. Management also resists moving employees per the LMOU pecking order when moving from unit to unit.