Floor Edition

December 1, 2011

Update by Jackie Engelhart

Retirement Incentive is Up to Congress...

Many are asking about the $25,000 incentive, but for now, there is no incentive and no money. The possibility of USPS offering up to $25,000 as an incentive to retire depends on and cannot happen without congress passing legislation that returns money to USPS. Senate Bill 1789, titled The 21st Century Postal Act would return the 6.9 billion FERS overpayment to USPS to be used to offer up to $25,000 as an incentive to retire, but that bill has only passed one Senate committee. This bill would have to pass both houses of congress and be signed by the President before USPS gets any money. Other bills introduced to fix USPS finances are HR 1351 which we support and the dangerous Issa bill - HR 2309 The $25,000 incentives are part of S 1789 which has a long way to go. With the Presidential election in 2012 it will be very difficult to get any postal bill passed.

10/4 Jobs Awarded

The Palatine 10/4 jobs for tour 1 Automation have been awarded and will be effective 1-14-12. Some of the 10/4 jobs were not bid on and become residual which means management can place unencumbered Clerks into them because they are 40 hours with at least two consecutive days off. Some of the 32 hour NTFT jobs were not bid on but management can only assign the former PTR's into jobs of less than 40 hours. We asked management before they posted these 10-4 jobs what the staffing will look like when the new service standards take effect in March but they could not answer. That leaves management three months to figure out what the staffing will be. Management continues to say there will be three tours for mail processing starting at 8am on tour 2. Management posted these jobs knowing there will be operational changes in March so we hope these 10/4 jobs fit in with their master staffing plan.

The Carol Stream Mess

A dispute was filed on the posting of illegal six day Clerk bids at Carol Stream and management asked to extend the time limits for that dispute until 12-9-11. They also asked to extend time limits for the three Class Action grievances filed for the improper abolishment of all Clerk bids in tour 1 Automation, tour 1 FSS and tour 3 FSS. The Step 2 Designees and the Area Labor Specialist need time to investigate what management did as they were not informed in advance or consulted. Plant Manager Johnson did not see fit to give the Union more than one day notice when he abolished 123 Clerk bids to post the illegal six day jobs but he told the employees he has was assured that he could do this, but did not say by who. Of 123 illegal jobs posted only 8 were bid on and they were tour 3 FSS. We told Labor Relations they should do the right thing and put people back in their bids but they will do what they are told. Mr. Johnson created this unnecessary mess and he needs to clean it up.

Why No Palatine Health Fair?

On 11-21-11 I received a letter that Plant Manager Chuck Sciurba promised to put out to employees on why Palatine was not having a Health Fair for Open Season. The letter was addressed to all employees but I am not sure if all employees received a copy of it. When I first asked Chuck about the Health Fair he said that the Lakeland District does not hold Health Fairs so I contacted the Lakeland HR Manager to ask that him to allow Palatine to have one. After two weeks (he was out of town) I got a call back from the Labor Relations Manager stating Chuck said to refer me to him. So in the end Chuck agrees with Palatine not having a Health Fair and did not make an effort on it. I asked him to put out a letter so the employees would know there would be no Health Fair and he said the letter would include a phone number to call to request brochures be mailed to the home. There is no such phone number in the letter for employees to call. I still see no reason why Palatine employees were denied a one-day Health Fair during Open Season, while employees at other plants continue to have the opportunity to pick up information from the FEHB Healthcare Providers. Plant Manager Sciurba states in his letter that the FEHB is "going green" and employees can view health plan brochures online. He says full brochures will still be mailed upon request but does not. say how to make that request. We pushed this issue at Palatine because employees depend on this annual one-day event to obtain information and should not have to review this information online, that is if they have a computer.

Palatine CFS Clerks on Tour 3

When CFS closed on 11-5-11 management notified the Clerks of their new assignments too late in the service week to change their schedules so they kept them on their 1192 and 1400 start times. Because of the late notice they could not change their schedule, for another week. We told them they could not keep the CFS Clerks on tour 3 because of the Clerks excessed off the tour. On 11-30-11 management faxed us the assignment letters for CFS Clerks to be effective on 12-3-11, with 8 Clerks at 2200 and 7 at 1300. We again told management they caml0t assign unencumbered to tour 3 because of the excessing, and that a grievance will be filed. Management gave the CFS Clerks only 3 days notice for a change of tour so some have requested a one week detail due to the late notice. Management: clean up this mess.

Chicago Metro Surface Hub

When I call Plant Manager Melvin Anderson about a problem he gets back to me and he usually corrects the problem or lets me know what action he is taking to correct it. This is not to say that there are no problems at CMSH but just that Melvin does try to work with us. CMSH is getting closer to having an SPBS training console fixed so Clerks who have been waiting for months can begin their training. Since they remain in their old bids until they qualify this problem has resulted in two bids being tied up for all Clerks who were awarded SPBS bids in the past few months. A working training console will allow employees to enter training to qualify for their SPBS bids. The vacated the bids they now hold should be reposted so every Clerk at CMSH will have a bid.

American Income Life Mailing

This company asked us to do a mailing to our members regarding a $2500 Accidental Death and Dismemberment Benefit. We agreed to the mailing because they are a Union company and had done mailings for other APWU Locals in the area. Enclosed in the mailing is a "Beneficiary Card" to name your beneficiary but when you send it in they will can you back to see if they can come to your home to sell you insurance. If you are not interested in buying life insurance from them do not make an appointment and you still qualify for the free $2500 policy.

ABA Back on 12-12 to 12-22

I got an e-mail from the APWU Accident Benefit Association to say they will have representatives in the area from 12-12 to 12-22. They asked me to let our members know that they will be available to set up meetings on those dates.

T-Shirts to All Members

We will be giving each member a Union T-Shirt from the Local this year for Christmas. We decided shirts were in order as they can be worn all year to promote Union pride. If you are a member and have not been contacted by a Steward yet, please give your name and size at your facility union room as soon as possible but no later than 12-9.

"Union Quote"

"The next time you wonder what the union does for you, take a look at the car you drive, the house you own, the standard of living you have, and realize that the union got these for you and that management is hell bent on driving your standard of living into the ground." ...Tom Kelly, President of an APWU Local in "Great Labor Quotations"