The Local Line
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Phone: 630-833-0088 Fax: 630-833-0248
Jackie Engelhart – President Alan Czerwinski - News Director
October 05, 2006
Local Update by Jackie Engelhart
Burrus Update #14-06 Congress Adjourns Without Passing
Postal ‘Reform’.
“On the evening of
September 30, 2006, as Congress was poised to adjourn to campaign for the
mid-term elections, postal workers avoided a legislative disaster. Susan
Collins (R-ME) Chair of the Senate Government Affairs Committee,
finalized a revised version of a Senate postal “reform” bill and initiated
parliamentary procedures for a vote. Only through the combined
efforts of the postal craft unions (APWU, National Association of Letter
Carriers, National Postal MailHandlers Union, and National Rural Letter
Carriers Association) were able to delay final action on this bill that would
have been bad for American citizens and bad for postal workers. If this
legislative had passed, the winners would have been the large mailers, their
congressional supporters, and the White House. The losers would have been
individual postal customers, small businesses, and postal employees. The bill
would have put in motion a legal framework that would have led to the erosion
of service and a reduction in wages and benefits. This is a bad bill and it
does not deserve to become law. Notwithstanding the flowery rhetoric
proclaiming that it would “save” the Postal Service, this legislation would
have ensured its demise. Collective bargaining would have been subordinated to
unrealistic and inflexible restrictions on postage rates; operational control
would have been transferred to a politically appointed board, and unjustified
financial obligations would have remained, requiring the USPS to make ongoing
payments to an escrow account. Compounding this assault on workers and citizens
was an 11th hour “compromise” concerning workers rights when they
are injured on job. An early version of the bill would have required postal
workers who are injured on the job to use annual or sick leave for the first
severa1 days of their recovery and would have required eligible injured
employees to retire. This amounts to employees being forced to pay for injuries
they suffer in the performance of their duties. Through compromise, supporters of the bill agreed to eliminate the retirement requirement
but retain the requirement that injured employees use annual leave or sick
leave for the first three days of job-related injuries. In addition, a
provision APWU had worked so hard to have included in the bill, which would
have limited excessive work-sharing discounts, was gutted in this final draft
of postal reform. This bill would have legalized discounted postage rates for
large mailers far below rates that could be justified. Increasingly, our work
would have been contracted out to profit-seeking large mailers and
consolidators, even in those circumstances where the Postal Service could perform
the work more efficiently and cheaper.
Burrus on Post Reform
“This is a bad
bill and we are pleased that Congress has deferred final action. However,
Congress is expected to return for a “lame-duck” session after the November
elections, and we may once again be subject to parliamentary maneuvering
designed to pass this terrible legislation. The APWU’s position has been
consistent throughout the reform process: This bill was never about saving the
Postal Service; it is and was about reducing the rates for the large mailers
and reducing the federal budget. I want to thank Legislative Director Mike Reid
for his diligent work on this issue. We will be equally vigilant following the
November elections and can hopefully kill, once and for all, this charade of postal
“reform”.
Save Your Job, Retirement & Benefits Rally on
October 20 & 21 at Union Hall.
The Legislative
Committee will be holding this event at the Elmhurst Union Hall to help educate
and motivate our members. The times are Friday October 20 from 11AM to 3AM for
tour 3, and Saturday October 21 from 8AM to Noon for tour l, and 4PM to 8PM for
tour 2. There will be food, raffles and movies. In order to ensure enough food,
the committee is requesting that members planning on attending fill out a registration
form and return it to the union room at your office no later than October 16,
2006. Flyers should be available at all offices, and questions can be directed
to Legislative Director, Nancy Horan (tour 2 at Carol Stream), Mimi Jackson
(tour 2 at Palatine) or any committee member listed on the flyer.
Union Sets Oct 26 for Nationwide Day of Picketing
In accordance with
a resolution adopted by the delegates to the national convention, the APWU
National Executive Board has selected Oct. 26 for a nationwide day of picketing
to protest ill-advised postal consolidations. The coordinated informational
picketing is intended to highlight the potentially damaging effects of the USPS
consolidation plan, and to expose how Postal Service policy panders to major
mailers. These informational pickets are an opportunity for us to express our
concerns that consolidations will delay mail to local communities and is being
implemented without-public input. The last APWU national picket was on July 1,
1996, the Postmaster was Marvin Runyon, and the theme was “Save Our Service.”
More information on the planned Oct. 26 picketing will be provided as it
becomes available.
Chicago Metro Surface Hub
The Chicago
District Meeting with the Unions scheduled for September 29 was cancelled by
management. Chicago contacted us today to invite us to a meeting with the new
District Manager on October11, 2006. We look forward to meeting with the senior
management of the Chicago District and hope the meeting occurs. Chicago Metro
Plant Manager Melvin J. Anderson is detailed to Cardiss Collins P&DC as the
Operations Manager. We have requested that A/Plant Manager Shanteau Anderson
give us a date for a labor-management meeting as soon as possible. Our main
question at these meetings is what effect will a third APPS have on clerk
staffing at Chicago Metro Surface Hub.
Palatine Bids Re-Posted on 10-2
Several employees
informed us that the system would not accept their bids and the system instructed
them to contact personnel. I spoke with Personnel Specialist Era Rhodes and she
informed me that the posting was reposted on October 2, and would be posted for
10 days. She stated that the system error caused all bids previously submitted
to be cancelled, and that anyone who submitted a bid must resubmit, as their
previous bid was not accepted. We asked that this information be posted on the
bid board. If you have questions on this, contact the Palatine Union office.
Casual Grievances Filed
Grievances were
filed because at Carol Stream AFSM bids have been reverted as unnecessary for
operations, yet casuals have been hired to work in the AFSM for the “fall
mailing season”. Staffing requirements for the AFSM do not change, management
is not staffing additional machines, and the casuals are working in lieu of
career employees. At Palatine casuals are working in lieu of the 40 clerks
excessed to the Mailhandler craft in June of 2005. Casuals are to be separated
prior to excessing. I was advised to call Ron Woodall to hear his rationale for
hiring the clerk casuals.
Lombard
I was informed that a full-time and a part-time clerk recently resigned at the Lombard Post Office. As 7 clerks were excessed out of Lombard this year; I assumed some would be returned, but I should have known that would not happen. Carol Dellurti said they are still over complement in Lombard even after the 7 were excessed and 2 resigned in 2006. This is the same office where supervisors work and tie may have a clerk casual on the rolls. We are still waiting for requested information.