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:
National Agreement
The deadline for the
submission of ballots should be approaching as this notice is
posted (1/14/99). As you know by now the A.P.W.U.. has
already completed their ratification process and the proposed
agreement was accepted by their membership. It is anticipated
that the results of our ratification process will become
available to us on the 15th of January. As soon as
the results are released a special notice will be sent to all
offices for posting. If ratified, the agreement will become
effective and if not, our Union will move toward arbitration
to obtain an agreement. Once we have an agreement (through
whichever forum) a summary will be released (possibly in the
next newsletter) which will highlight the rule changes which
we will all need to be familiar with.
Union Dues
The Executive Board recently
discussed the increase in dues, which will take place if the
contract is ratified later this month. Constitutionally the
dues for each member will increase by $.50 a pay period with
each wage increase (not COLA’s). This means that dues
will go up $.50 as soon as we have a contract. Out of the
$.50, half goes to National and half to the Local. The
Executive Board has once again agreed to forgo the $.25 which
is our share, in a continuing attempt to bring our Local back
to the minimum dues provided for under our Constitution. With
this reduction in dues the members of our Local will still be
paying $.25 a pay period more than the minimum required dues
under the Constitution. It is hoped that with the next wage
increase we can eliminate the overpayment amount of $.25 a
pay period and return our membership to the Constitutional
minimum dues requirement. In total it will have taken more
than 6 years to accomplish this task. From a financial
standpoint it seems ludicrous that this Local ever felt the
need to increase dues not specifically required under our
constitution.
Day Jobs Being Threatened
Management is threatening many
of the day jobs which we have worked so hard to obtain. These
threats are not limited in scope. The new BMC manager has
already made an initial indication that she believes day
shift needs to be down sized (not necessarily eliminated).
The reason for this is she believes that a larger maintenance
window is needed and the numbers from the day shift are the
worst in the building. The GMF manager has slowly been
deteriorating the amount of day shift positions over the last
10 months. Now it is our understanding that Mr. Ruden wants
to finish the damage he started and totally eliminate the day
shift at the GMF by May. We will continue to attempt to
resolve this course of action but there is no specific
contractual prohibition against it. If management chooses to
eliminate the day shifts within these facilities the only
reason they would ever return to a day shift operation would
be if their plan fails. Management will probably follow
through with their plan and only when they fail will they
give back our day jobs. If their actions result in failure
then we gain numerous arguments on efficiency of the service.
Unfortunately, the track record on these types of arguments
within arbitration is not the best. It also would seem
reasonable to assume that upper management would not allow
for operational changes, which result in long and sustained
failure levels. Yet Mr. Ruden and his ideas for a better
tomorrow have kept the GMF floundering (for almost 1 year)
and upper management continues to allow him to run rampant
over the entire district.
Arbitration Docket for
Local 321
Once again the arbitration
docket for our Local has grown to more than 29 regular
arbitration cases (not to include our 19, RI-399 cases). And
once again this number has grown because the Postal Service
is not providing arbitration dates. Considerable effort is
being devoted to correct what has become a repetitive problem
with the scheduling of cases for our Local. We are alone in
this delay process, as the backlog is continuing to grow all
around the country. This is however a problem which we have
avoided for the most part here in Colorado until recently. It
is questionable that the infamous Mr. Ruden who has been
given free reign over the entire district is now delaying
hearings which could harm his action plan. On the other hand
maybe the Postal Service is just in another typical
mismanagement phase. Whatever the case, our National Office,
as well as the Postal Service’s Area Office, are now
attempting to address our arbitration docket. We have
requested as many dates as they can produce for arbitration
in order to cleanup the backlog and we hope to begin
receiving dates shortly.
Grievance Process
The grievance process at step
3 continues to be fairly productive in the resolvement of
many cases. Unfortunately the lower steps of the process are
not resolving many cases which should never have made it to
step 3 in the first place. This can be attributed to several
factors: 1) Most of the smaller offices have had their
ability to meet on grievances at step 2 taken away from them;
2) The BMC has assigned a new person to meet on cases at step
2, and; 3) the GMF has trained a special team of labor reps
to meet on step 2 grievances. The bottom line with all of the
above listed issues is management appears to be training reps
on how to deny grievances and not how to settle or resolve
them. When the issues were controlled by the floor there was
more desire to make things work. Now with the process being
controlled more from a Labor Relations stand point there is
no concern for how things work because Labor Relations does
not care how the floor works (or whether it works at all).
Labor Relations is taking over the grievance process
primarily because of mandates from Congress to cleanup the
backlog of more than 100,000 cases. Unfortunately the initial
impact seems to be producing the opposite effected for which
it was intended.
New Employee Orientation
Packet
Local 321 has authored an
orientation handbook for new employees. This book explains
how grievances are filed, benefits, pay issues and other
items new employees may not know much about. It is intended
to handout these booklets when a new hire signs up for the
union, however, if any member is interested, we can
provide a copy to them. Ask your Local representative.
Injury Compensation
Concerns
Based on the complicated
nature of the Injury Compensation Process and
management’s meddling with claims the Local has
assembled a packet for employee usage. The packet contains
all published rules and regulations on the issue of Injury
Compensation. The packet is available through your Union
Representatives on a checkout basis. Meaning you are able to
borrow this packet for your personal use, but the packet
should be returned to the Union Representative once you are
finished with it. Based on the limited supply of these
packets your steward may have to obtain additional copies
from the Local prior to giving you a copy. As time goes on we
should be able to maintain an adequate amount of copies in
each of the offices.
As always, your Local still
retains the services of Mike Watson and Associates to assist
employees with Injury Compensation Claim issues. Based on the
retainer fees which we pay to this firm members can obtain
representation for $600.00 the first year and $300.00 for
each additional year in which representation is needed. The
initial consultation is free of charge. If you need the
services of Mike Watson and Associates, contact them at
1-503-233-0911 (make sure to inform them of your membership
status with Local 321 in order to obtain the reduced rate
listed above).
Training Issues
Over the next 6 months all
previously issued training programs have been re-scheduled in
order to bring your representatives (who previously did not
receive said training) current on the training itinerary of
this Local prior to Local Elections. Additionally FMLA
training provided by the Department of Labor will be rolled
out in February to the Union Stewards.
It is also expected that Local
Negotiation Training as well as new contract training may
have to be held within the next several months, dependent
upon the ratification process.
As indicated previously,
Safety training is being developed at this time. However do
to a recent set back (the safety rep at the GMF who was to
assist in the development of this program has been given a
safety specialist job by management) the dates for this
training are unknown at this time. As soon as this training
is developed it will be released to the stewards.
Scholarship Program
Local 321 is sponsoring a
scholarship program for the 1999-2000 school year. Eight,
five hundred-dollar scholarships are to be awarded through a
random drawing of eligible individuals. Rules and eligibility
and applications will be available in late January. If you
are interested, pick-up a packet. The entry date for
submission of applications is February 1, 1999 through March
31, 1999.
QWL
It appears that the QWL test
program, which we hoped to initiate at the Denver GMF will
not materialize. In attempting to obtain this test we have
held several meetings with Sam Ruden on the issue. Initially
it appeared that management had a sincere interest in this
test program. Unfortunately (as with everything else which
involves Mr. Ruden) their interest is only with themselves
and what they can personally gain. Mr. Ruden proposed that
the program be called Process Management and insists that the
committees would be limited to dealing with his mail flow
type of problems only. Mr. Ruden made it very clear that the
program would not be for the employee’s benefit, and we
have made it clear that it would not be for his benefit.
Obviously Mr. Ruden has no interest in the quality of work
life for anyone other than himself.
Finances
Our financial status continues
to improve but with the close of open season there is always
the concern of possible losses in the area of Associate Dues.
Associate dues are the dues paid by non-Mail Handlers who
have the Mail Handlers Benefit Plan as their health
insurance. With over 9500 associate members in the state we
gain a fair amount of income from the plan (around 50%). With
the rate increases in premiums our plan (which our Union has
no control over) over the last several years, the fear of
loss is real. Prior to the recent rate increases we were
increasing our Associate member compliment. However with the
increase in premiums we have been experiencing a loss of over
200 members a year for the last couple of years. It is hoped
that the premium increases have leveled off and this is the
last year we will deal with anything other than moderate
decrease.
It is also important to note
that within the next couple of months we will have made our
final payment on the enormous back tax liability which our
Local was subjected in 1993 (for years 1982-92). That
liability prior to settlement with the IRS was originally in
excess of $600,000.00. The elimination of this liability will
free up more than $30,000.00 a year.
Need for a Second Full-time
Officer being Evaluated
As some of you who have been
around within our Local for a more than 6 years know, our
Local used to have two full-time officers. At that time our
Local had less than 875 members and there were serious
concerns about the necessity for the position. Since that
time I have served as our only full-time office and our Local
has grow to approximately 1250 members in size. With the
elimination of our back tax liability this year,
consideration is being given to recreate a second full-time
position. During March and April of this year each of the
members of the Executive Board will offer assistance at the
hall for a 2-week period (each) for a total of 8 weeks.
During this time an evaluation of the necessity for the
position will be made. Along with a substantial increase in
membership our Local has taken on considerably more work
including acquiring the right to meet on our own step
3’s, handling of arbitration without hiring a lawyer to
do it, and developing and giving Local training programs, to
mention a few. My time has become clogged with work which
keeps me at the hall and not on the floor as much as I feel
is needed (I am always told I need to spend more time on the
workroom floors). Once the evaluation process is complete a
final decision will be made on this issue and conveyed to
you. Obviously the appointment (if needed) of someone
permanently will probably wait until the completion of the
Local election process in June.
RI-399 Jurisdictional
Issues
Due to management’s
constant unavailability we have yet to finalize the
introduction of Mail Handlers into the Golden office. Initial
numbers are indicating that we should receive between two and
three positions in this office. Once the specifics are
finalized and discussions on how the staffing will be
obtained, you will be updated.
The GMF structure continues to
introduce changes without notice on a regular basis. No
regard to any of the developed rules is being given. Nor is
consideration being given to the employees and their personal
lives.
The locally developed RI-399
Committee Chairpersons (Ron Lucero and Ricardo Olivares) and
myself are scheduled to meet next week and establish an
itinerary for the evaluation of offices. Shortly after that
meeting, the representatives who are on these two committees
will begin to enter and evaluate offices where there are no
Mail Handlers. If it can be determined that there exists 4 or
more hours of continuous work in a given installation, a
grievance/dispute will be initiated with that office. As a
result of the massive changes within the GMF we fully expect
to find considerable work has been moved out to smaller
offices and is being worked by non-Mail Handler employees.
Retirement Plaque to be
Replaced
For the last several years we
have been awarding a retirement plaque/clock to our retiring
members. Once our current order of plaques are utilized we
have decided to begin to award Mail Handler Jackets with our
logo to retiring members. Much of the decision is based on
the cost of the plaques being similar to the cost of a jacket
and the usability of the plaques themselves. Our current
order of plaques should be exhausted during mid summer this
year.
Local Election
The Local Election process for
Local 321 will begin soon. A notice seeking volunteers for
the 3 Judges and 1 to 2 alternates will be up shortly. Once
the Judges are selected the remainder of the process
including dates and times will be up to them, with the
swearing in to be held on Sunday June 27, 1999 at the Local
Union Hall.