, Author at South Jersey Area Local 0526 - APWU

President’s Report

(This was originally in the SJ Area Local Newsletter of April 2019. Written by: Rob Armentani)

Constitutional Changes
In accordance with the local’s Constitution and By-Laws, resolutions to amend the constitution may be presented by a member at any meeting, after which they will be turned over to the Constitution Committee for their recommendations. The April meeting to be held on Tuesday April 16th at 7 PM is the last meeting to submit any Constitutional Amendments. The resolutions with the committee’s recommendations are then printed in the June newsletter, and voted upon at the June general membership meeting, which is on June 9th at 10 AM. The committee members as appointed by South Jersey Area Local President, Rob Armentani, are Julio Cebollero, Chairperson, John Whartnaby and Jerome Green.

Contract Update
As you are all aware, our 2015 contract expired on September 20, 2018. Our National Union had been engaged in negotiations to reach a new agreement since July of last year. After several months President Dimondstein presented a tentative agreement to the Rank and File Committee for acceptance to send the agreement out for ratification. However, the Rank and File Committee had some concerns and they and did not vote in favor of sending the tentative agreement out for ratification. There were additional attempts to agree to some changes to the tentative agreement, but the negotiating team was unable to get management to agree to any changes. Since we are now at an impasse, an interest arbitration will be the next step. On March 7th the parties exchanged their final economic proposals as we prepare for arbitration. Management’s proposals are very regressive and will have a negative impact on all of us if they are successful. It is times like these that non-members irritate me more than ever. We are in a fight to save not only our jobs but our livelihood and way of living. There will be numerous expenses involved in this process that will be paid for by your Union dues while the non-member just comes along for the free ride. I don’t consider them freeloaders, I consider them thieves! They are stealing services from the Union that are paid for by our members.

For more information on the exchanged proposals check out our National and/or Local websites.

RI-399 National and Local Updates
The APWU and the USPS reach a National Settlement in regards to the RI-339 process. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the RI-399, it is the jurisdictional identification of work between the Clerk and Mail Handler crafts. It basically identifies what work should be done by clerks and what work should be done by mail handlers. This process has led to numerous grievances being filed by both parties over the years. In 2018 an agreement was made to update the RI-399 process and all RI-399 grievances filed before September of 2017 would be administratively closed. As a result of this a new RI-399 Inventory was completed in the three offices under our local that have both Clerks and Mail Handlers in the facility.

An agreement was also made at the National Level between the APWU and the USPS to pay both the APWU and the Mail handlers Unions $14.5 million each. It has been determined by our National Officers equal payments will be made to clerk craft employees that fall into one of the following categories; All career clerk craft employees that were on the rolls as of Sept. 1 2017 and all PSE clerk craft employees who were on the rolls as of Sept. 1 2017 and who are still on the rolls as of March 1, 2019. This applies only to clerk craft employees in facilities that employ both clerks and mail handlers.

For more information on the RI-399 check out our National and/or Local websites

Abusive Supervisors
Unfortunately, this continues to be a constant theme in the South Jersey District. Currently the Mt. Laurel office has risen to the top of the trash heap. Constant calls from employees regarding the hostile work environment that exist in the Mt. Laurel office lead us to doing a Climate Survey in the office. The initial thought was that the results would focus in on one supervisor. However, the results show that several of the supervisors are abusive and fail to treat the employees in Mt. Laurel with dignity and respect. In my experience, when several supervisors are acting this way in an office, the problem comes from above. This has become more obvious as the PM has now begun targeting injured employees. An employee that has been working a rehabilitation job assignment since 2008 is now the target of his bullying and intimidation. Labor has been given a copy of the climate survey and the Union has requested that we do a joint in-depth investigation into this pit of misery. As of this date they have not decided whether or not to agree to my request. A Labor/management meeting was scheduled but canceled at the last minute by the PM.

We must stick together when dealing with this type of management.

“An Injury to One, Is an Injury All”

Message to the Members

(This was originally in the SJ Area Local Newsletter of April 2019. Written by: Tony Rodriguez)

A BIG question coming from everybody is: “Have you heard anything about the contract?” Before I respond with my “personal speculations”, I’ll respond by first questioning: Have you been paying attention to what our contract is up against?

National just recently published the economic exchange proposals. For you, the reading members, yes… management is being totally disrespectful in their proposal. Let’s take a quick look back in the past. The last contract went into arbitration. Management didn’t fair so well from the decision. They began an all-out attack on our jobs. APWU fought long and hard and was able to minimize that effect in a lot of areas across America. Contract negotiations opened up last year. Things ended up going into arbitration again. In February, Trump suggested that USPS cut retirement and health benefits. On March 12^th, it was reported that Trump’s postal reform proposal wants to get rid of the Unions. Six days later, on the 18^th, Trump proposes a pay and benefits cut.

Now looking at all of that, let’s you see just what we are up against when it comes to a new contract. To further make a constant fight, management is also in the process of evaluating the massive amount of call-outs.

Operational-wise, management has to account for all the hours of work it takes to receive, process and deliver mail and packages; this is business. There are work hours calculated by the number of employees in each facility. There are emergencies, sicknesses and other things that can cause an employee to call-out; life happens. When does calling out begin to jeopardize our jobs? – RIGHT NOW. They are looking into how many call-out hours are accounted for. This is what they will evaluate to start cutting jobs.

From an employee’s perspective – yes – you are:

tired of abusive supervisors and
you just want to come to work, do your job and go home, without being stressed from work.

That is all understandable. Immediately, calling out is the resolve. With all this present evaluation going on, you are also opening up the door for another attack on our jobs. It is already known management wants to get more done with less people. DO NOT HELP THEM.

Q&A
When will the contract be decided upon? We don’t know so we can’t say or give an answer to that.

Will there be any backpay? Backpay for what? There hasn’t been any decision on anything.

Will we get a raise? There hasn’t been a decision on anything.

Will PSEs get converted? There hasn’t been a decision on anything.

Bottom Line: The contract is in arbitration phase. There haven’t been any decisions on anything. Stop fishing for something that isn’t there. As soon as there is news, APWU National will be the first to break the news. Be patient. Show up to work. Stay informed. Let’s keep our jobs!

Business Agent’s Report

(This was originally in the SJ Area Local Newsletter of April 2019. Written by: Frank Bollinger)

Attendance:
I was able to listen in recently to a teleconference District was having with the offices. They go over each and every person that has what they might consider questionable attendance. A lot of it seems like District is pushing local management to discipline. We know this happens, but to hear it is different. Some things to keep in mind:

1) If you have a condition that would fall under FMLA then try to obtain it by having your doctor fill out the appropriate forms. If you need them, the APWU at National had attorneys read the law and create a form that is somewhat shorter than the more intrusive WH-380

2) Fill out your own 3971’s upon your return to work from any unscheduled absences. I am not saying that all management does it, but we have had supervisors try and have members sign 3971 that they printed and sometimes it would be for AWOL. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO FILL OUT THEIR 3971.

3) If management attempts to PDI you tell them you want your Union Rep there for it and do not answer any questions until one of us is there.

4) If management never makes you turn in signed 3971’s and then one day walks up to you with a stack of them that “need to be signed!” Again, you can fill your own out, but on top of that please put the date on the 3971 that you were approached by management to sign them, do not back date them.

It is sad that we have to write about this and see members go through this. USPS gives you sick leave as a benefit but then tries to punish you if you use that benefit. There is an online messaging board mostly for APWU members that has a section with these actions by management labeled correctly as “Postal Attendance Terrorism.”

Giving Management Statements:
Someone has to explain to me why at times it is like pulling teeth to get statements on management violating your contractual rights yet, if management asks an employee to write a statement in which they want an employee to incriminate another there is no hesitation in writing a statement.

Listen, I am not here to tell you that you can or cannot write statements, but seriously try to figure out what a Union truly is at some point. Can we ever stick together again and show Unity? We don’t have to be best friends with our co-workers, but we should all have the same two main goals:

A) to make money to take care of ourselves and our families and
B) to keep the wolves (management) at bay when they try interfere with that.

We don’t throw out sacrificial lambs in hopes that will quell the wolves’ bloodlust, we stand united and make the wolves retreat.

Unity is Strength, Strength is Power, Power is Security…

Never let management make you feel like you have to ever write a statement for them. You, as a postal employee, are required to cooperate with their investigation. You are not required to give a written statement nor are you required to sign any papers where someone wrote down what you said and they want you to certify it by signing it. If you feel uneasy about your rights, ask the supervisor, PM or Inspector to allow you to contact your Union rep before proceeding any further.