FOR YOUR INFORMATION

This is the twenty-first FYI to be released to the membership. As always, I hope this FYI will provide you with relevant information on the Local’s activities. If you have any questions, feel free to convey them to the Local at 455-6400.

Since the last FYI, the Executive Board has met on seven occasions and the Council on one occasion. During these meetings the following issues were discussed:

Arbitration Docket for Local 321

The arbitration docket for Local 321 which consists of cases waiting for an arbitration hearing date, currently consists of 14 cases. We also have recently arbitrated a few cases for which we are awaiting decisions from the arbitrators. There has also been an increase in amount of cases appealed to arbitration. Colorado and Wyoming have both been experiencing problems with the assignment of dates for our pending cases. This is a result of an internal conflict within the Postal Service Area Offices. Our Regional office is currently trying to resolve this problem with the Area offices involved. Our Local has also seen an increase in the percentage of cases being appealed to arbitration. This can be attributed to several factors, ranging from better-prepared cases, to a more aggressive attitude from the members of the Executive Board. This attitude has become necessary because of management’s more aggressive approach toward our craft.

Grievance Process

At Step 3 of the grievance process, the volume of cases for our Local has increased drastically in the last couple of months. Currently, the Local is prepared to meet on about 90 cases per meeting whereas a few months ago, that figure was under 25 cases per meeting. The increase in volume is partially attributed to management catching up on a backlog at the BMC, where they have been behind since the UPS strike.

Another factor, which appears to be contributing to the problem, is coming out of the GMF structure. Management at the GMF has given grievance-handling training to their supervisors. The main objective of the training seems to be how management can deny more grievances. A few months ago the problem was that management at the GMF would hardly ever meet on a grievance, now they meet, they just do not settle.

The one other factor that currently seems to be hindering the process is management has again reassigned their Step 3 Representatives. I am now meeting with Dan Foster, who is the former Denver District Senior Labor Relations Specialist. As of today, we have met on two occasions for a total of more than 16 hours. During these two meetings, we were only able to finalize 29 cases. The reason for the low completion rate is that Mr. Foster is overly meticulous in discussing the grievances (looking for any possible reason the grievance can be denied). Even with this approach, we are still successful in settling over 50% of the grievances that we met on. The larger concern is currently the appeals to step 3 are exceeding the rate at which cases are being met on. In an attempt to resolve the backlog, we have already scheduled our next seven meetings. These meeting are spread out over the next couple of months and hopefully will eliminate our backlog in cases. One benefit that has been seen in meeting with Mr. Foster is that he is willing to type and provide the decisions at the end of each meeting. This is a dramatic improvement over the practices that we were subject to when meeting with MR. Beauchamp. In fact, I have not met with Mr. Beauchamp in more than 45 days yet he still has not provided all of the answers he owes. This problem is currently being resolved through the Labor Relations Manager for the Western Area.

Training Issues

In an attempt to find additional arbitration training resources, we sent two representatives to a Postal specific arbitration-training program, which was put on by Cornell University. Carl Pacilio from the GMF and myself attended this training in the first part of May. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the program did not compare to the one offered by the George Meany Institute, although the focus was directly on the Postal Service arbitrations. During the summer months, we will be sending two additional representatives to the arbitration training that is presented by the George Meany Institute. The individuals who will be attending this training session are Don Gonzales and Curtis Granthum from the BMC. This will offer our Local up to 8 representatives (4 in the Denver GMF and 3 in the BMC as well as myself) who should be qualified or on their way to being qualified to represent our Local in arbitration hearings. Furthermore, this training allows for a better understanding in grievance preparation. With more trained representatives on the floor we are in the position to write better grievances and resolve more problems.

As was previously conveyed to you, four representatives from our Local attended a National training program on the issue of casual usage. These representatives have been tasked with developing a program to be rolled out to all Mail Handler stewards within Colorado. They have held their first meeting in the development of this training. It is intended to begin this training around the end of summer and to have it completed by the end of the year.

After that, the next focus on training will be directed toward Articles 12 and 14 of the National Agreement. The training on Article 14 will deal with grievances/complaints relating to safety matters. The training on Article 12 will deal with grievances/complaints relation the bids and award process. The training on Article 12 will not be developed until after the completion of National Negotiations scheduled for later this year. The reason is that changes may occur as a result of the negotiation process, and the training needs to be as current as possible when given.

All in all, I must say that I am quite happy with how the training of our representatives has been coming along. It is unfortunate that training cannot be rolled out sooner, but with money and development constraints being an issue, we are doing very well. Training will be offered on an as needed basis to new and developing stewards. Additionally, training will continue to be one of the major objectives of this Local as we always have a lot to learn and consistency is still lacking within our ranks.

Financial Issues

Our financial status as a whole is still looking very good. However, for the second year in a row we have seen a decrease in our Associate membership because of changes to our health plan. During the open season held in late 1997, we lost about 250 Associate Members (almost the same amount last year). Even with the loss of approximately 500 associate members (about a 5% loss) over the last two years, we are still making more money from our Associate Members than we did two years ago. This is because of the increase in Associate Membership Dues, which was voted in during the Mail Handlers 1996 National Convention.

On the other side of the coin, we came into 1998 with a surplus of about $70,000. In March of 1999, we will be making our final payment of $33,500 to the IRS on our back tax liability for the years 1982-1992. This is a major accomplishment for our Local as the original claim of liability from the IRS was well over $600,000. This will also leave our local debt free and open the door to new opportunities for this money.

As always members are, welcome to review the financial reports of our Local upon request and an appointment. The completed audit for 1997 should be available for review by the posting date of this notice.

Local By-Laws

A couple of changes were made to our Local By-Laws during the April Council Meeting. These changes included raising the branch Representatives salaries to $225 per calendar quarter. Steward incentive pay was also raised to $175 per calendar quarter.

The first National Level Jurisdictional case under RI-399, which deals with the spreading of mail being assigned to the carriers, has been decided. The decision was favorable to the Mail Handlers and the Postal Service’s positions and should be implemented shortly. What this means is that in those offices where an active RI-399 dispute exists on the spreading of mail, that work will either remain with or be assigned to the Mail Handlers Union. Additionally, as new offices open around the state, the spreading of mail should be assigned to our craft (if in the offices where Mail Handler staffing does not already exist that 4 hours of continuous Mail Handler work is available). This could possibly mean a lot of jobs to our craft in future years as new stations are opened.

The National Grievance on the Nixon day of mourning has been finalized and we were successful in winning the case. The remedies have been left to the National parties to work out, but in essence, the award says that management had no right to treat its employees different. Meaning that those employees who received no benefit (time off) for this day of mourning should be receiving compensation. What is meant by compensation is up to the National party’s to work out. As this information becomes available, it will be shared with you.

Our national office has developed an FMLA packet for use by Mail Handler representatives. The packet should be mailed to every steward in the very near future. The packet contains everything that has been released by the Postal Service on FMLA as well as the regulations that govern FMLA. Additionally our National has received approval from the Department of Labor for our own FMLA forms. Once these forms are available, every Mail Handler should use these forms when applying for FMLA. The main reason we recommend these forms is they do not pry as deep into your personal affairs as the forms provided by the Postal Service.

This year I was selected and served on the National Field Negotiating Committee. The committee met for 8 days during the month of April to review all of the contract proposals from the field. Additionally, we brainstormed several areas of concern during the upcoming negotiations. We have been asked to not discuss the proposals and issues that our committee turned over to the National Negotiation Committee. The reason for the request is two-fold; first the recommendations put forward by this committee may be modified, added to or subtracted from by the Negotiating Committee, and; during the last negotiations one of the members from the field committee released a report on the findings of the committee and that report made it into management’s hands prior to negotiations. What I can share with you is the priority of our concerns and arguments that will be on the table during negotiations. The first priority will be on wages and benefits the second will be on ways to fight off sub-contracting and third will be workroom floor type of issues. Initial negotiation efforts should begin in August of this year and be completed by November 21. As information begins to become available later this year from the National Office, it will be shared with you.

After 4 years of persistency, National agreed to accept a proposal I made to develop a RI-399 National level task force. The purpose of this task force is to provide arbitration advocates to the field who are well trained and qualified to represent cases on jurisdiction issues. The main reason for the proposal is to ensure that we are represented well in all jurisdictional cases, as these are our jobs and security. The first meeting/training session for this task force is scheduled for the first week of June. I think it is intended to have approximately 8 representatives on this task force. And I am pleased (I think) to inform you that I have been selected as one of the advocates on this task force. This will offer some additional knowledge/experience to our Local as it relates to jurisdictional matters as well as arbitration hearing.