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

July 07, 2006

Local Update by Jackie Engelhart

Casuals Gone!?

Clerk casuals have been gone for years at Palatine. At Chicago Metro Surface Hub, Plant Manager Melvin J. Anderson told us all clerk casuals would be gone after the Fourth of July holiday. At Carol Stream we were promised by Senior Plant Manager Ron Woodall that clerk casuals would be gone when the SPBS operation ends. We spoke with Ron on July 6th to ask him why the clerk casuals are still there, and why regular clerks are being moved from tour 3 to tour 1 while casuals remain on tour 3. Ron assured Dave Baskin and I that the casuals should be gone as he thought their last day was July 6th. He promised to call us back to let us know when the clerk casuals will be gone. This will be the first time in our history where there are no clerk casuals at any of the 3 main NWIAL facilities. We will be checking the Associate Offices next, but there should be few if any due to excessing.

PTF Conversions

We will continue to check clockrings for all PTF's working in NWIAL offices. Both Palatine and Carol Stream have no clerk PTF's. We recently saw two converted at Busse, and we will continue to check clockrings until all are converted.

FSS to Palatine in 2007, APPS May Go!

From recent conversations I have had with senior management, Palatine is scheduled to get the Flats Sequencing System in the first round of deployment in 2007. Due to the lack of space at Palatine, and the fact that USPS is implementing the Regional Distribution Center (RDC) system, the Palatine APPS may be moved out of Palatine. This would open up space for the FSS, which requires a lot of it. No information on staffing is available yet. These changes will affect both crafts in 2007. We will continue to share information on these changes. Management will continue to find ways to reduce staffing in all crafts.

Palatine Key Handling Settlement Signed!

The settlement was signed on June 27, 2006 by APWU National Business Agent Vance Zimmerman and A/Labor Relations Manager for the Northern Illinois District, Dan Bessler. The settlement states " The parties agree that the Unites States Postal Service will pay 11,246 hours (at the applicable overtime rate on 12-8-96) to maintenance craft employees who were on the rolls during the relevant time period." This same issue was settled at Carol Stream and the payout list for Carol Scream should be finalized soon. Management contracted work on the tray transport system that could have and should have been performed by maintenance craft employees. The result for the USPS is that they paid the contractor for doing the work, and they will now pay the maintenance employees for not doing the work. This strategy does not save money, and does not send a positive message to the craft. The positive for the craft is (more) free $.

Bids at Metro

We are working with Plant Manager Anderson to get some 1700 bids posted for Scan (SWYB). Melvin has agreed to post four bids and we are asking that he post six. We need information from the clerks who start at 1700 as to how much mail is on hand to be worked at 1700. We know 1930 is not a desirable starting time, and we are working to get more bids back at 1700.

Bids at Carol Stream?

Last year management talked to the Union about detailing four AFSM-100 clerks to tour 2, so an additional machine could be run. The Union agreed with the understanding that bids would be posted if the operation was successful. At that time management stated they should know if they were going to post more tour 2 AFSM bids by January (2006). As these detailed employees are still working on tour 2 and no bids have been posted, the Union expects these tour 2 bids to be posted. Management has already posted addition bids on tours 1 and 3 to backfill for injured employees in the AFSM and Automation. No additional bids were posted on tour 2 and management has worked the detailed clerks well past six months on tour 2.

Palatine Short of Clerks Due to Labor Scheduler & Attrition

We have requested a Labor-Management meeting with A/Plant Gregory Johnson and are waiting for a date. We have talked to Tour 1 MDO Michelle 'Davis about the need for more clerks on tour 1. We have made the new Plant Manager aware of our major concerns, including return excessed clerks from the mailhandler craft.

National Convention in August

The National Convention will be held in Philadelphia from August 14 to 18. The main topic will be contract negotiations which will begin in August. A major issue for APWU is the current RI-399 System which stalls and delays jurisdictional disputes for years. The National Presidents told President Bums that RI-399 is broken and must be fixed. This is why the Postal Service is not overly concerned with jurisdictional disputes. They can assign work improperly now, and know the dispute will not .be heard for years.

One Union!?

The National Postal Mailhandlers Union is a division of the Laborer's International Union of North America (LIUNA) and until recently LIUNA was part of the AFL-CIO. In June they withdrew from the "House Of Labor", and this has prompted discussion around the country within the APWU as to whether an attempt should be made to attempt to organize the mailhandlers to become part of APWU. The national Union is seeking input as to how much support this action would have among mailhandlers.

No Steward on a Holiday !?

For years management has tried to deny employees their contractual right to see a steward on a holiday schedule. Your right to see a steward as soon as possible, but 95% of the time within two hours applies365 days a year. You have just as much right to see a steward on a holiday schedule as any other time. Management's game is to call the Union room and say no steward is available when they know there are stewards working on the floor that could be called to see the employee requesting a steward. File on this.

Rockford Consolidation Put on Hold Indefinitely

Rockford Area Local President Greg Voiles reports that an estimated 500 people showed up at the public forum on June 5th, concerning the proposed consolidation of Rockford's local originating first-class mail into the Palatine P&DC. He stated that the public was not allowed to speak, but that Congressman Don Manzullo and his staff did a brilliant job in preparing their case. He credits the congressman and the high level of public support in the community for keeping Rockford's mail in Rockford (for now). In the future, retention of postal jobs will depend not only on the Union's efforts, but also involvement of the members and support of the local community, as management continues to "transform" the USPS from a public service to a corporate entity.

Franklin Park Settlement Pay-Out

Franklin Park steward Arlene Thomas-Benford is reviewing documentation in preparation for the pay-out for a recent arbitration award. The grievance was filed in 1999 by steward Tom Calato, when management assigned an injured carrier to a permanent limited duty assignment in the Clerk Craft. The arbitrator sustained the grievance, and directed management "to compensate the Clerk Craft for all hours that the Letter Carrier worked in the Clerk Craft subsequent to October 9, 1999."Tom Calato did an excellent job preparing the grievance, and National Advocate (and Kankakee Local President) Mike O’Hearn successfully argued the case in arbitration. When the Union successfully argues crossing crafts, the remedy is free money to the violated craft ODL (for the period of the violation).