Arbitration Docket
for Local 321
The arbitration docket for
Local 321, which is defined as cases waiting for an
arbitration hearing date, is now at 49 cases. Of these 49
cases, 30 of them are docketed for regular/expedited
arbitration and the remaining 19 cases are
jurisdictional. This is a considerable increase in cases,
considering that 3 months ago our Local only had 14 cases
docketed for regular/expedited arbitration and 8 cases
under the jurisdictional procedures. Three factors have
attributed to this drastic increase. The main reason is
because of the massive operational changes that have been
occurring within the GMF. The second reason is that we
have not had more than a couple of arbitrations in the
last 5 or 6 months due to scheduling problems at the
Regional level. This problem appears to be corrected as
we now have 5 cases currently scheduled for the month of
September alone. The last reason for to the increase in
cases scheduled for arbitration is management’s
aggressive and non-cooperative tactics. Management is
still remaining very aggressive with discipline for
accidents, attendance and horseplay (interpreted by them
to be altercations). While at the same time supervisors
and many of their step 2 designees are becoming more
reluctant (scared) to settle grievances.
Grievance Process
At Step 3 of the grievance
process, the volume of cases for our Local has leveled
off in the last couple of months. This was following a
drastic increase in cases in the early part of this year.
As was conveyed to you previously, I am now meeting with
a new Step 3 Representative for management. We have been
meeting on cases for about 6 months and so far the
meetings have been reasonably productive. In fact we are
seeing an increase in settlements at step 3. However, I
believe a lot of the increase is attributed to our Union
stewards putting together better cases and not
necessarily whom I meet with.
Training Issues
Since the beginning of the
year we have sent 4 representatives to either Cornell
University or George Meany Institute to obtain
arbitration training (week-long classes). This brings our
Local up to 9 individuals who are trained in arbitration
advocacy. It is not necessarily the intention of the
Local to have everybody arbitrating cases. It is more the
intention to have qualified representatives on all tours
to assist the other stewards in developing grievances for
arbitration.
We will begin giving
training on casual related grievance issues in October of
this year. The first training session will be given to
the Local Union Council on October 22, 1998. During the
training, if there are any glitches in the program, they
will be worked out prior to the program being rolled out
to all stewards. It is anticipated to begin the stewards
training in November and to finalize the training by
February.
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 because
changes may occur as a result of the negotiation process,
and the training needs to be as current as possible when
given.
Recently we also rolled
out RI-399 training on jurisdictional matters. This
training was given to the individuals selected to serve
on our Locals RI-399 task force. Additional information
on this task force can be found below.
Scholarship Program
We are currently in the
process of developing a scholarship program. Initially we
will devote $4,000.00 a year to a scholarship fund. The
fund will be distributed in equal parts to the 8 winners
announced each year. The rules for the program are still
in the development stage and will hopefully be ready for
presentation at our Council meeting in October.
Applications will be developed once the program is
finalized and distributed to the offices. We hope to be
able to start the scholarship program out for the
1999-2000 school year.
BMC Casual Issue
Recently management
approached our National office on the issue of increasing
the casual compliment in AP’s 1 & 2. After
discussion, it was determined that they only wanted
excess casuals in 12 BMC’s across the country. At
that point our National office told the Postal Service to
deal directly with the impacted Locals. Accordingly, the
BMC manager contacted our Local.
Prior to the meeting with
management, the Union sought input from the employees on
the workroom floor at the BMC. As a whole the membership
was in favor of allowing additional casuals in for
AP’s 1 & 2, with the understanding that the OTDL
will be maximized (yet not forced to work 7
days) and the non-OTDL would hopefully be minimally
impacted.
The reason for
management’s request is that a large amount of
catalog mailers have indicated a desire to return their
work from UPS to the USPS, provided we can show the
ability to deliver. Beginning in AP 1 of this year, the
Postal Service is anticipating a mail volume increase of
15 to 20 percent for this type of mail. The manager at
the BMC has indicated that he expects a real increase of
about 8 or 9 percent. Management has indicated that if
the mail materializes and stays with us, they would seek
to increase career hiring after the first of the year.
In order to avoid the
additional casuals from affecting other offices in the
state, within the state, we have made additional
stipulations in the tentative agreement on this issue. A
tracking procedure has been developed to allow for proper
tracking of these casuals. Additionally, the BMC must
obtain and maintain their share of the normal casual
compliment of the district (10% = 41-42 casuals). In
exchange we have tentatively agreed to allow the hiring
of 20 additional casuals for use with in the BMC only.
The language within this agreement has been forwarded to
and approved by the National Offices.
QWL
As most of you know, our
Local withdrew from the QWL process over six years ago.
However, with the extremely autocratic management style
being put out by the plant manager of the GMF the
Executive Board has reconsidered our withdrawal from the
program. In an attempt to get management to begin to
communicate openly and a little bit more honestly with
the Union and its members, we have requested to run a
test QWL period within the GMF. In the near future we
will be meeting with management again to further discuss
the issue of testing QWL within the GMF. It is possible
that once we know management’s agenda and they know
ours this test will not take place. However, if it can be
agreed to run a test to determine the feasibility of
returning QWL to the state, that test must be conducted
within the GMF. The reason is because QWL can bring
outside intervention in order to get the parties on some
reasonable communication level. Additionally, it offers
the employee some possible feedback into the way things
are being done. If a test is conducted members are
encouraged to participate. Please keep in mind that this
is a test and with the currently mentality of management
our hopes of it being successful are not very good, but
it can’t hurt to try.
RI-399
Jurisdictional Issues
Spreading of Mail
We have met with
management on several occasions in order to allow for
implementation of the National Spreading of Mail
Decision. Unfortunately, management has not made any
movement to comply with the arbitrator’s award.
Their excuse is that they have not received any guidance
from their National on the issue of implementing the
award. Based on management’s delay tactics we have
initiated two separate grievances on non-compliance with
the award. One of these cases is currently at step 3 and
the other at step 2. We will continue to pursue these
grievances up to and including arbitration if necessary
to resolve this matter. In the meantime we will continue
to attempt to resolve the issue with the District and
Area offices. Additionally we have included a request for
support on this issue in our agenda for the Semi-Annual
meeting of the Local Unions, which is scheduled for the
first part of September.
Primary Purpose
The decision in this
National case should be released in the near future.
Basically the case is to determine whether the primary
purpose of a given operation is grounds for determining
staffing for an entire operation. In simpler terms if a
given operation were primarily designed to separate and
cull mail then the entire operation would be assigned to
the Mail Handler craft. This case will only effect
operations 100-129 & 180-189 under RI-399.
GMF Operational Changes
It would appear that the
manager at the GMF has slowed slightly in his attack on
our jobs. To date more than a dozen operations have been
modified or eliminated within the GMF installation. In
these modifications/elimination’s, a lot of Mail
Handler work has been re-assigned to the clerk craft
without compliance with any of the required regulations.
By the rules, management must notify the Local Dispute
Resolution Committee 30 days prior to the actual change
and this was never done. Accordingly our Union filed 11
disputes under the RI-399 Dispute Resolution Procedures
for no notification, as well as the changes themselves.
The Local committee was to attempt to resolve these
disputes within 30 days and again this never happened. In
fact management did not schedule any meeting of the
committee within the 30-day period and we have since
appealed all of the disputes to arbitration. As changes
continue to occur we will continue to address the issues
with or without the cooperation of management and the
clerks.
Development of Local
399 Task Force
In an attempt to find Mail
Handler work within the state which has previously not
been determined to be Mail Handler work we have developed
two separate committees. It is hoped that these
committees can find Mail Handler work that is improperly
placed with the clerk craft throughout the state. These
committees will probably take considerable time to
completely review the offices within our state and file
the necessary grievances/disputes. This will be the first
extensive review of this kind by our Local Union. It is
also possible that this will become an expensive venture,
but efforts are being made to put the onus on management
for the time involved as allowed under the rules.
The first committee is a
statewide committee consisting of three members, Ricardo
Olivares, Don Gonzales, and John Meding. This committee
has been tasked with going into offices not previously
staffed with Mail Handlers to determine if 4 hours of
continuous work exists. Under the procedures of RI-399 we
must establish that 4 hours of continuous Mail Handler
work is present within an office in order to show the
need for Mail Handler staffing.
The second committee is
comprised of stewards within the GMF. The members to this
committee are Ron Lucero, Audrey Murphy, Pat Norris, Andy
Jiminez, Carl Pacilio, Bob Almazon, and Mike Hora. This
committee has been given two separate tasks, both
relating to mail which has been moved out of the GMF into
the smaller offices for processing. The primary task is
to determine which offices are gaining work as a result
of the operational changes at the GMF and file if it can
be determined that 4 hours of continuous work is now
present within these offices. Their second task is to
gather information, which will help support our arguments
that the operational changes at the GMF were not
efficient changes. Under RI-399 management must make
changes based on efficiency and not inefficiencies.
These committees will
begin to observe operations within the offices once we
can resolve our access problems. Management is currently
taking the position that we have no right to enter these
offices. Management obviously believes that we are going
to find more than a few jobs or they would not be
concerned with our request to enter offices. Since their
was no one in Denver willing to recognize our right to
enter facilities we are now seek National’s
assistance with this issue. It is hoped that this issue
will be resolved shortly and our committees can begin
their tasks.
Beginning this month the
National parties will begin their negotiation process for
the 1998 National Agreement. These discussions will
continue through November 20 of this year. If talks go as
they usually do, the money issues will not be placed on
the table by the Postal Service until just weeks before
the November 20 deadline. This almost seems
counter-productive, as money is usually the main issue on
the table and can cause discussion to breakdown
immediately. By all indicators the Postal Service may be
willing to get off of the buck during these negotiations
but not for free. It would appear that one of their main
focuses would be to increase flexibility. Examples of
this would be, increase in PTF percentages, increase in
casual percentages, 10 year no layoff clause for new
hires, new wage level for new hires. Anyway it is too
early to tell what will take place but as information is
obtained it will be conveyed to you on this issue.