The Local Line
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The
American Postal
Workers
Phone: 630-833-0088 Fax: 630-833-0248
Jackie Engelhart – President Alan Czerwinski - News Director
December 15, 2007
A-I Excessing Palatine
Vice President Dave Baskin phoned
the Region to request the Comparative Work Hours for the period 30 days prior to
and 30 days after the excessing of 41 Clerks. This report was received by the
Local and reviewed by Dave. The number of work hours during the 30 day period prior
to the excessing was 118,074.
The number of work hours used for the 30 days following the excessing was
116,550. This amounts to a savings of 1,524 work hours for the 30 day periods
compared. Broken down by day the savings was 50.8 hours per day or the equivalent
of 6 Clerks. Management's own data supports the excessing of only 6 Clerks and
not 41. This is a difference of
35.
Casuals Hired After the Excessing ...
Management had 12 Clerk casuals prior to the excessing and separated them for less than a month. After the excessing management hired 19 Clerk casuals and the number is now up to 23.
Not only does the use of casuals
offset any savings, but the immediate re-hiring of 19 (now 23) Casuals is more evidence the
excessing of 41 Clerks was
improper. Based on this data, Dave filed an improper excessing grievance for
Palatine. The grievance has been appealed to Step 3, and management has been
unable to rebut and or dispute the Union's grievance at Steps 1 or 2.
While the productivity of the
AFSM declined after the addition of the AI,
management is still
saving money. They save money when they replace a level 5 Clerk with a leve1 4
Mai1 Handler, but they save a lot more money when they staff the AI with Mail Handler casuals. Casual
work schedules obtained from management show 17 Mail Handler Casuals assigned to AI on a weekly basis. AFSM
Clerks have not only been replaced by Mail
Handlers they have been replaced by Mail Handler casuals.
Most of the problems we are
dealing with locally, are national in scope. We filed Our AI disputes and continue
to file grievances but all AI issues are pending the outcome of the national level
dispute. Potter and Company continue to assign automated mail processing work
to level 4 Mail Handlers instead of level 5
Mail Processing Clerks. On 2-16-08 all APWU employees will be upgraded
one level, further increasing this wage differential and making the use of Mail
Handlers for mail processing more attractive to management. Another benefit of
assigning mail processing to Mail Handlers is the ability to increase the use
of casuals. As stated, 17 Mail Handler casuals are now assigned to the AFSM-AI
on tour 1 at Palatine. The APWU was to arbitrate a national RI-399 case on the SPBS on 12-13-07.
The outcome of this case should affect the assignment of other automated mail processing
work like the APPS and AFSM-AI.
We were able to request the
comparative work hours for the Palatine excessing because one Veteran chose to
exercise her right not to be excessed to a lower level job. She opted to go to
another facility as a Clerk rather than remain at Palatine as a level 4 Mail Handler
with saved grade. Comparative work hour reports must be provided to the Union
upon request when employees are excessed outside of an installation. At Carol
Stream no one was excessed out of the installation and we cannot request
comparative work hours. We filed grievances on the improper excessing when it occurred,
and Dave has filed another grievance at Palatine based on the comparative work
hours, which show a reduction of six Clerks, or 35 less than the 41.
Chicago Metro Surface Hub
When I walk around at CMSH I wonder
if this is the plant of the future. In terms of staffing it is primarily a Mail
Handler facility, with approximately 100
Clerks and 60 Maintenance
employees. The rest of the employees are Mail Handlers working on the two APPS
which was assigned to them at the national level. We have filed local disputes
on the APPS at both CMSH and
Palatine, but these disputes are pending the national level dispute. APWU must win
the automated mail processing work hack at the national level and that is why
they went forward with the SPBS case. The last few years have seen the USPS
continue to assign mail processing (Clerk) work to Mail Handlers, and to excess
Clerks to the Mail Handler craft as a result. They have also become adept at
manipulating numbers against us.
Approximately two years ago
management created the ad hoc position of District Complement Coordinator, and
this person is to supervise all complement reductions in the district. Management
calls it "rightsizing" and say they are matching to workforce to the
workload. What we have seen repeatedly in this process is over-cutting which is
based strictly on numbers. When the volume goes down (as it continues to do)
the Associate Office Function 4 Clerk
staffing is automatically cut. When someone retires that job disappears. When
Operations Support's numbers cal1 for a staffing reduction the Postmaster is
told what his complement is. Most of them don't agree with this anymore than we
do. They know what their office better than the number crunchers at the
district but they no longer have control of their staffing. We continue to see
Clerks excessed from office to office based on these numbers, with the losing
office increasing the use of overtime and PTF hours. We also see an increase of
crossing crafts and supervisors performing bargaining unit work.
We recently received notice of a complement
reduction at the Carol Stream Post Office due to a "Mail Handler
Review". (When they want to cut Mail Handler staffing in the AO's they do
a Mail Handler Review and when they want to cut Clerks they do a Function 4.) I was a customer at the Carol
Stream Post Office on 12-12-07 and
was greeted in the lobby by a supervisor directing traffic. Next, I was
approached by a man directing me to the APC, and I asked him if he was a Clerk.
He said "no", he was a Mail Handler. The CS post office is using supervisor and a Mail Handler
casual to replace Clerks in the
lobby.
To the Northern IL
District:
We are aware of the emphasis on pushing
customers away from the window to the Automated Post Center (APC) in the lobby,
but we do not agree that you can use anyone to do this work. If it is
everybody's job then it is no one's job, and there is no such animal. The Lobby
Director is a "knowledgeable Clerk" and you can call it
"Customer Service Host" or whatever you want, but the work is Clerk.
The Northern IL District
continues to cut Clerk staffing in the AO's to the bone, and then use casuals and
supervisors to make up for the reduced Clerk staffing. This complement
manipulation cuts full-time positions and pushes some full-time Clerks to
revert to PTF status to stay in their office and not be excessed miles away.
This same Clerk earned their full-time status by working 40 hours or more a
week for a minimum of six months, and they will no doubt continue to work a
full-time schedule after reverting to part-time status. We know they will be
working 40 or more hours to make up for the latest round of excessing in that office.
When we file to get the PTF converted (again) based on their working a
full-time schedule we are told the office is under 100 man-years and they don't
have to convert. If we try to convert based on a residual vacancy we are told
the office is in withholding based on the impact at one office. AO Clerks are
the front-line of customer service for the USPS but they are being treated like
pawns in a game. We are continuing to fight this game office by office.