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COLORADO MAIL HANDLER NEWS SUMMER 1999 BEWARE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES CONTINUE TO BECOME MORE AND MORE AUTOCRATIC With congress hounding the Postal Service and its Unions about eliminating the bad labor climate, the Postal Service continues to be more and more autocratic in how it deals with its employees and their Unions. Management is stealing the day and weekend off jobs which we have tried so hard to obtain over the years. All of this while at the same time imposing discipline for more and more petty issues, restricting breaks, harassing employees for talking and then eliminating the Union’s ability to get Union time while on the clock. These are just a few of the problems, which are currently plaguing the Postal Workers here in Colorado. Understand these problems are not exclusive to Colorado even though it may seem that way. Most of these problems are stemming from the Postal Service separating Labor Relations from processing and distribution. Processing and distribution has only one agenda, move mail and be damn the rules and regulations. Labor on the other hand is trying to keep congress out of the Postal Service and address some of the Labor Organizations concerns. These two do not go together nor does either have much knowledge about what the other is doing. Since the arrival of Mr. Ruden in the Denver GMF and now Mrs. Dunlap in the BMC, we are seeing no signs of Labor Relations other than mainly blanket denials from the facilities. We are still settling many issues at step 3 and some prior to arbitration, but this does not solve the core of the problem. National assistance has been requested in trying to deal with these problems but to date no relief has been felt. There is a new National Committee being developed which is to intervene when these types of problems arise. Unfortunately the committee is still in the training stages and is not ready to be activated. And even when it is, we are not guaranteed to be the first in what will obviously be a long line of problem areas across the nation. To date this year your Local has spent more money on arbitration cases than in any other single year and we have many more scheduled to be heard by the year’s end. We have be successful in returning employees to work when removed without just cause, we have been able to get more than 400 hours for supervisors doing bargaining unit work. We unfortunately are not doing so well with the lesser forms of discipline like LOW’s and 7-day suspensions. It appears that the arbitrators do not consider these less severe forms of discipline as serious as long suspensions or removals. Obviously they are unable to realize that the LOW’s and 7 day suspensions are just the beginning of an employees removal process. Incorporated into this addition is an FYI Review, which has previously been sent out in a prior edition of our newsletter. The focus of this review is understanding absences and solutions on how to avoid unscheduled absences, which will be used against you later. Management has taken a hard hit from FMLA usage (or so they perceive) and in turn have now decided to take it out on those employees who incur absences which are not protected by FMLA. In recent moths we have seen discipline imposed for less than 20 hours of unscheduled absences. Majority speaking, these disciplines have not been successfully resolved within the facility where they are issued. As indicated earlier we are able to work through many of these at the later steps of the process but this still leaves the employees being attacked at almost every turn. In addition to management’s highly motivated autocratic style of management they now are trying how to interfere with your Union Representation. In one facility or another we are fighting over the denial of union time every day. We have management attempting to determine who the stewards are by determining who is available at a given time. We have even had management instruct an employee to go out on the floor and appoint a steward to represent him while none were in the facility. In one office management has in essence eliminated Labor Management meetings by not allowing the Union to be represented on the clock during these meetings. The bottom line is that management is trying to run those employees, who they perceive as bad employees out of a job while making every effort to avoid providing proper Union representation to them. And even when representation is provided the amount of time is being interfered with. We are filing Labor Board Charges on a very regular basis as well as grieving everything that we determine to be grievable. In fact several of the stewards are now performing work on their own time just to ensure time limits are met. Some stewards are even having to turn over portions of their case loads to either their AVP of myself just to ensure that the grievances are timely and properly filed. Understand we are doing everything within our ability to address these issues as well as dealing with the massive move to eliminate day shift positions and weekend off related jobs. As we are able to free these issues up from the facility levels we are beginning to see a little relief to a given case, but the big picture is still becoming more broke by the day. I know this article may not paint the picture we all are looking for, but I felt it necessary to let you know where we stand and that we are continuing to attempt to combat management’s autocratic mentality at every turn. I know numerous article have been published over the years on the subject of much needed help by the Union but I feel it necessary to ask for your assistance once again. We need as many individuals as possible to assist the Union and the representative in our efforts to make our work place a little better. Please come forward and let someone know of your willingness to help, as I am sure we need all of the help we can get. David E. Ross President Local 321
LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS Local 321 membership ballots were counted on June 18, 1999. The following mail handlers are the officers who were elected to the Executive Board of Local 321. DAVID ROSS—PRESIDENT (UNOPPOSED) MICHAEL HORA—VICE PRESIDENT JEFFREY MORGAN—TREASURER (UNOPPOSED) DON GONZALES—RECORDING SECRETARY JOHN MEDING—STATE REPRESENTATIVE Additionally, the following mail handlers were elected as the Administrative Vice President of their respective Branch: RONALD LUCERO-AVP DENVER GMF RICHARD LUJAN-AVP DENVER BMC RICARDO OLIVARES-AVP COLORADO SPRINGS STEVE SKALA-AVP BOULDER (UNOPPOSED) HERMAN SANCHEZ-AVP PUEBLO NO ELIGIBLE CANDIDATE FOR— AVP GRAND JUNCTION The final tabulations for the voting were as follows: Total ballots mailed: 1211 Total ballots received: 610 Total envelopes not opened: 26 Ballots not counted because of constitutional regulations; Officers: 56 AVP-GMF: 7 AVP-BMC: 6 AVP-Pueblo: 1 Vice President: Ronald Lucero —171 Richard Lujan—152 Michael Hora—213
Recording Secretary: Don Gonzales—386 Aaron Maestas—127
State Representative:
Robert Almazon—98 Chris Gallegos —91 John Meding—212 Jerry Barela—63 Herb Whitaker —67
Administrative Vice President– Denver GMF
Audrey Murphy—106 Ronald Lucero—150
Administrative Vice President– Denver BMC
Chris Gallegos—69 Richard Lujan—97
Administrative Vice President - Colorado Springs Ricardo Olivares—39 Rod Bryan—23
Administrative Vice President– Pueblo
Steve Cordova—4 Herman Sanchez—8 I would also like to express my appreciation to the Judges of Election who ran the Local election process. Their dedication to run the election process in a professional manner should be a source of pride for all members of Local 321. Don Gonzales Editor
WHAT ABOUT MORALE? Having been employed as a mail handler for nineteen years now, I have witnessed many Plant Managers come and go at the BMC. When David Medina was the manager, employees thought things could not get worse. But even Medina mellowed a little with time. Enter one Louise Dunlap. With the arrival of our newest Plant Manager, I would have to say the BMC has hit an all-time low. I had heard many things about this lady before she ever entered our facility, most of the rumors were negative. However, I tend to not judge someone based on what I hear. Rather, I prefer to wait until I have had an opportunity to form my own opinion based on first hand experience. It has been about seven months now since Louise became our boss, and I have to say, I should have believed the rumors. In the short time that she has been here, I can see that her management style is that she rules with an iron fist. Her constant belittling of the craft employees has left me with the lasting impression that she is just another manager who is power tripping. When she entered the BMC, she inherited a facility that was number one in the nation amongst BMC’s. Obviously something was working, and based on the fact that the Postal Service’s main function is to move the mail, I would say it was the CRAFT employees who made us number one by moving the mail. Virtually the first words out Louise’s mouth were, "I’d like to eliminate day shift." What a wonderful way to introduce yourself to your new employees. And yes, seven months and fifty rumors later, she is spearheading the elimination of jobs from tour 2. Believe me, if it were possible she would have eliminated tour 2 in its entirety. Why? So she can have a maintenance window. So she sends forty-three mail handler positions from days to other tours. These are positions for which she will now have to pay night differential. She gives the remainder of day shift Saturday and Sunday off, which on the surface may sound good, but the ramifications of this will be felt as we gain experience working under this new schedule. My predictions are that annual leave, other than bid annual, will become a thing of the past. Holiday schedules are going to mandate senior employees who did not volunteer to have to work. Overtime will be prevalent. On Memorial day 1999, I was forced to work the holiday on tour 2. My seniority number is 61 out of approximately 400 mail handlers. So after 19 years with the Service, I cannot get a holiday off. Brace yourself fellow mail handlers because on tour 2, it is going to get worse. While discussing the issue of senior employees being mandated to work the holiday, I asked the tour 2 MDO how the heck were holiday schedules going to work when there is less manning on tour 2. His response? "It is possible that every employee on tour 2 would be mandated to work holidays after the tour realignment." The thought of that did not sit well with me. So what else has Louise done for us? Let me think about this...oh yeah, no food or beverage on the workroom floor unless it is water in a clear plastic bottle. Yet manager’s are allowed to suck their coffee and munch their doughnuts in their office. No gym bags on the workroom floor. What was the purpose of this? It is her knee jerk reaction to an employee who was allegedly caught stealing mail. So I guess that in her mind we are all potential thieves. Talk about bad inferences! What she does not understand is that employees have gloves, coats, and other items in their bags which they may need to do their jobs. The physical nature of our jobs requires manual labor. Employees may need to warm up or cool down. It is a recognized fact that people should dress in layers. My advice is that when employees need to add or remove a layer of clothing, find your boss and get permission to walk down to the locker room and acclimate your clothing to suit your needs to work safely. Reality tells me that during the winter, I probably put on and remove my coat ten to twenty times a day while moving mail. And since Louise’s mandate is that I can’t have the coat anywhere near me, she must be mandating I walk to my gym bag ten to twenty times a day. I know this sounds like a game, and I don’t like to play games, but I will follow the rules and this is what the rules say I must do. I know of at least two incidents where employees have been told they cannot have their coats or light shirts hanging by them while they work. What a joke. No pagers or cell phones on the workroom floor. I happened to be present at the Labor/Management meeting when she honed in on this one. The union asked a question regarding why an employee was harassed by another SDO when he was using the phone with his SDO’s permission. The first words out of Louise’s mouth were, "Who was the SDO who allowed his employee to use the phone outside of break time?" (See her mindset? By this reaction, she shows just how controlling and micro-managing she really is.) The union’s response was that the employee had followed protocol and had permission to use the phone. Louise asked "Why would an employee need to use the phone between breaks?" The union AVP replied, "I don’t know, maybe he had an emergency page." Louise replied, "There’s pagers on my workroom floor? At this point the other managers in the room jumped on the bandwagon and someone said, "Cell phones too!" Louise then said, "Oh no, no, no, no." Two weeks later employees received written notification that pagers could not be worn on the workroom floor and must be left in your locker. Cell phones were outlawed too. The first paragraph of this notification said the reason was because of possible safety hazard. Yet, the same paragraph says that if the pager is Postal issued, then you can have it on the workroom floor. So the hearing impaired and the supervisors are allowed to have pagers! I have worn a pager issued by the union for about the last five years. During this time I have many work hours on the floor. I cannot fathom how a pager would be a safety hazard. I also wear my a large key-ring with 15 keys on a clasp everyday. I hook this on my belt loop. It is more cumbersome to me than the pager. Is it a safety hazard? How about employees who wear "biker wallets", a large wallet with a chain attached. Are they safety hazards? How about if I wake up and my kids have raided my wallet and I am forced to raid the loose change cup? Is that $5.00 in loose change in my pocket a safety hazard? How about that comb in my back pocket? (Though heredity and nature seem to be slowly eliminating the need for me to carry it.) Is it a safety hazard? While I guess that I can see management’s need for the elimination of cell phones from the workroom floor, I can’t understand pagers. Fortunately, with a little push from the National, Louise backed off the pager issue, but only after she received pressure. Believe me, even though she says that she reconsidered the issue, that is not the truth. I believe she was forced to reconsider the issue of pagers based on pressure from her superiors. The last item I will address which is being affected is union time. Over the past 10 years that I have been a representative, stewards have been allowed adequate time to investigate, prepare, and file grievances. Sometimes this is a lot of time, other times it is minimal. It depends on the grievance subject. I know a removal is going to take a whole lot longer than an overtime bypass. Now, managers at the BMC are trying to dictate to the stewards how much time they have to conduct their union business. This action is obviously condoned by the plant manager. It is causing a lot of problems for the stewards and their ability to fairly represent employees. We now have stewards who are performing their duties on their own time, even though the contract allows them time on the clock to perform these duties. The issue is being addressed through the labor board. But in reality, it is an issue that is easily resolved within the confines of the plant. But when your manager is autocratic and does not care about the employees, we surely can’t expect to have minor issues resolved. Don Gonzales Recording Secretary
GMF LOCAL NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE This year’s local negotiations for the Denver P&DC Facilities have gone about as poorly as the general Labor/Management climate has since the arrival of Manager Sam Ruden. It is no surprise then that Management would approach good faith bargaining with a one-sided attitude and allow the process to go to impasse (possibly arbitration). Local Negotiations began with Management proposing that we:
Needless to say, with an approach like that, there left little room to understand how valued (or devalued) the employees of the Denver P&DC are to Management. One major issue for Management (at least we thought until the next to last day when they suddenly stated it was not a big concern) was the relocation of equipment operators (Fork Lift, Tow-Carts) from the dock sections to individual sections within the building. In order to determine the importance of this issue to us, we conducted a survey of Mailhandlers to determine how the Union should stand on this issue during negotiations. The survey (although not exhaustive by any means) was about 50/50 as to whether the equipment operators should be relocated. Understand, there are arguments for and against a move such as this. Many senior equipment operators would possibly stand a better chance of being off for the holidays and/or incidental leave if junior qualified people were available in the individual sections. As it stands, equipment operators are subject to a blanket call on holidays because the section is understaffed. However, if relocated to individual sections, the equipment operators would possibly stand to lose some rights. One main argument is that they would be subject to a different supervisor who could ask them to quit towing and start working the mail (although the way they ad-hoc out of sections makes it difficult for them to risk missing dispatches). The important thing is that the Union must determine the importance and value of an issue for Local Negotiations to properly weigh any counter proposals and offers which may arise. The Union also must determine how many Mailhandlers each proposal will affect. Prioritizing during this time is very difficult to say the least. You aim to please everyone within the craft but often times this is, not only impossible, but not in the best interests of the majority (unity, strength, and democracy). The worst thing to do is to inflame emotions and minimize honest discussion. A possible compromise would be to maintain the equipment operators in their own distinct section apart from the docks but that would not solve possible blanket mandating on holidays (no ad-hocing of operators allowed). Union proposals (we were left with no choice after seeing Management’s) consisted of,
After much discussion of package proposals and the like, the last day of negotiations was an indication of Management’s attitude (no give and take). Upon the conclusion of our next to last meeting, Management stated that they would like the Union to consider that the months of September through February were high mail volume periods and March through August were low periods for the purpose of annual leave. We considered their concerns and came back on the last day with an offer to increase the leave percentage to 17.5% for those summer months and decrease the leave percentage to 12.5% for those high volume periods they mentioned (we were working towards a little give and take which is a must in any negotiations process). We also added that the option to bid for annual leave during the Accounting Periods that Management chose to employ unlimited casuals (would probably cover the entire months of November and December) under the provision of our National Agreement would be in both parties benefit. They could plan for annual leave in advance of hiring casuals and thereby gain more staffing stability throughout the year because less employees would be bidding for other months. Our Mail Handlers could enjoy the possibility of taking weeks prior to Christmas off. Management’s counter proposal to our offer on the last day of negotiations allowed for us to retain our 15% annual leave percentage for the months of March through August while the high volume winter months (September through February) would reduce to 8.5%. They tried to sweeten the stink with the provision that one person in each section would be allowed off the week prior to Christmas (never mind the 6.5% of employees that would lose their leave between Christmas and New Years and during Thanksgiving). Wow! In effect, Management was offering to take away almost a quarter of our leave entitlements. This is like going to buy a car and the dealer makes an offer to raise the cost! It’s incredible that they even made this offer. In fact, it’s just another sad indication of how Mr. Ruden and Co. feels about you the employee. Sorry Sam, we’re not that stupid and/or we’re further insulted as to how this Management has dealt with us. Let’s go to impasse arbitration! While we’re there it will be interesting to hear explained how one of our proposals was declared to be "in conflict/inconsistent" with our National contract yet was agreed to verbatim by our National office and USPS Management in a step four settlement! Such a gaffe is an indication of a Management style which takes an automatic antagonistic and autocratic stance towards the Union without caring to research whether the proposal is valid, reasonable, and fair. During the negotiations I referred to Mr. Ruden as like Milosovich in Kosovo. He’s just as autocratic and sinister and, although he hasn’t killed innocent people (at least not that I know of), I wouldn’t put it past him if he had thought that he had the chance and it would be to his advantage. Sadly, the process has convinced me that he’s just that type of guy. To conclude, I would like to thank those (on behalf of the membership) who were alternates on the local negotiating committee for giving their efforts. Bob Almazan (Technical Assistant), Audrey Murphy, and Mike Hora were invaluable in their ideas and opinions. They were behind the scenes but just as important players in the process. The membership should be proud that such dedicated people give a damn about the Mail Handler’s Union future. Jeffrey Morgan Treasurer
Clothing allowances under attack! So, attack! Recently many of the General Mail Facility employees may have received letters from Pamela McGowan (bids and awards "specialist") which state that your clothing allowances are being taken away because your clothing allowances are being taken away. Other than being an insult to intelligence (common under the Saddam Ruden regime), it is a unilateral attack on contract entitlements. Rest assured, we have filed a class action grievance on this matter to retain our entitlements. In the meantime, it is important to remember that because we will not be receiving clothing allowances, any damage to personal clothing at work should be processed using a claim form. Please do not allow a Supervisor to put you off on any request for this form as you only have 14 days from the date of damage to file (my own recent misfortune disallowed me any entitlement due to Supervisor neglect). When your clothing is torn, snagged, stained, or whatever other infinite reasons to damage it, please fill out the Form IMMEDIATELY and submit to a Union representative for recommendation. We will even file grievances for any damage which is not properly compensated and that includes materials AND labor if repairable. Mr. Melvin Stencil’s office (Human Resources) is probably proud that they have contributed towards the anti-worker environment within the Denver P&DC. Undoubtedly they will incur costs of damage because of it. With every challenge, there is opportunity. Jeff Morgan Treasurer
THANKS Recently I had to go through the grievance process to challenge some discipline management wanted to give me. I never realized how much work is involved. I had never gone through a due process procedure, nor had I witnessed the investigations, written grievances and negotiations the union did for me. I know realize how much time stewards and officers need to handle all the grievances which they are expected to try and resolve. Management does not make their jobs any easier by trying to settle at the lowest level and by not wanting to grant union time for the stewards. Because of all their work, my Letter of Warning was completely dropped and removed from my records. I want to thank all of the union officials that were involved in resolving this problem. So the next time you want to complain about stewards spending too much time in the union office, think about how you would want your grievances to be handled. Don Mondragon Mail Handler BMC
KISS MY ATTITUDE! I'm sure by now everybody has seen the sign on the front fence of the BMC "Attitude is everything". Although I rarely agree with upper management on anything, and especially disagree with Ms. Dunlaps' agenda, on this issue I could not agree more. Attitude is everything. Attitude effects morale, work performance, and even safety. A good attitude is highly important to being productive and working safely. However, there should be another part to this advice." Lead by example." We have gotten a ton of attitude from the second floor. In fact, the mandatory meetings which were supposedly held to inform people about the shift changes were a waste of time and a joke. Ms. Dunlap made abundantly clear that it's her attitude that the people under her management are about as important to her as the dirt on the bottom of an OTR. Further, she has the attitude that anyone who doesn't like her plan can quit and find another job. On another occasion, Ms. Dunlap was heard to state that she was changing policy "just because I can." This is the attitude we see from our plant manager. We are also presumably supposed to not let the upcoming changes effect our attitudes in a negative way. Everyone who has been here for awhile can remember that management has tried tour realignments before. They did not work then and will not work now. All these changes will inconvenience as many lives as possible and will accomplish nothing. This will negatively impact many workers, as well as their families. The BMC has been running full steam 24 hours a day for years to keep up, but now we can magically get by with two tours per day plus a mini tour. The reason given for this change is that the USPS is over budget with expenses. So the answer would be to move as many people as possible to the tour that pays the most; counting night differential and two Sunday premiums it is nearly 20 percent more for nights. But this is because we are over budget and need to cut expenses? My two year old son can do math better than that. He has a better attitude I guess. Some of the other changes which will surely improve everyone's' attitude are the cracking down on incidental leave (which is becoming an oxymoron), drinks on the workroom floor, habitual breaking and ignoring the national contracts, trying to ban pagers, etc., etc. etc. ad nauseum. It goes on and on and on. Funny how this facility managed to be number 1 for three consecutive years without these sweatshop rules, and now in less than seven months of the new warden, er, manager our ranking is dropping rapidly. Attitude is everything, and it gets reflected back into Ms. Dunlaps' face. Just as sewage flows downhill so it is with attitude. Nothing travels faster or effects production more. So yes, this time I agree with management and Ms. Dunlap, "Attitude is Everything." And I quickly picked up and reflected back the mood of the current regime--- KISS MY ATTITUDE! Brian Eberhard NPMHU Steward and mail handler
FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT As you may know Local 321 recently completed our election process. The election was conducted in a respectable and professional manner by all involved. My thanks go out to the judges, candidates and members for your participation. As the newest member of your Executive Board I eagerly look forward to the challenges that lie ahead. As changes occur we must adapt train and fight accordingly. The USPS continues the push to automation and robotics. With this desire to eliminate labor comes the cost of this machinery and technology. We have all heard about the current USPS budget crunch. The Federal Times has reported the postal service has suspended all work on the (TMS) Tray Management System acknowledging only marginal returns on this endeavor. The TMS was to be installed into 250 facilities after the initial two year delay. Management allocated 2.2 billion dollars for this TMS with a goal of reducing labor costs. USPS Engineering Manager William Dowling recently told the Federal Times it is not even clear if the TMS system can reduce the cost of processing mail. It is this upper management mentality that landed commodity trucks in the Denver P&DC. The TMS failures go to prove all automation is not blindly successful. I guess if you throw enough money at something it should eventually work. The question becomes; What will the impact be on our craft as a result of reckless automation expenditures? Will management politely except PMG Henderson's news that bonuses for 80,000 postal managers will plummet this year? We must be prepared for management's reaction to the virtual elimination of the destructive incentive payment policy. Incentive payments will drop to an insignificant amount in comparison to the bed of roses managers have become accustomed to sleeping in. After years of enjoying impressive annual bonuses as a result of craft labor, now the postal supervisors union wants to cry foul demanding better merit raises. The performance based incentive bonus program is destructive and counter-productive. The current "do whatever it takes to get the bonus mentality" is destroying labor relation across the country. The first thing management will throw at you when discussing the cost of doing business it the claim that eighty cents of ever dollar goes to pay labor. Why then does management continue to treat this majority expenditure so poorly by insisting on the annual incentive bonuses. Now that the incentive program has begun to sour, even the postal supervisors union is complaining. This does not mean they will refrain from the autocratic style your managers are so accustomed to. The trend to automation will continue. It's success or failure is yet to be determined. One step in the right direction would be to do away with management's annual incentive bonuses. Now the USPS needs another year delay to evaluate the TMS numbers. Wouldn't it have made more sense to evaluate the systems possibilities prior to spending $2,200,000,000.00? I wonder who got the bonus for this expenditure? Michael J. Hora Vice President
THIS PERIODICAL CONTAINS EDITORIAL COMMENT WHICH MAY NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWPOINT OF LOCAL 321. |