Local Issues | APWU - South Jersey Area Local 0526

ATTACK ON JOBS!!

As you all should know, USPS has declared an attack on our jobs. This was first posted on May 21, 2017. It started with reversions. USPS has escalated things with a new notification, as of June 13, 2017 (this past Tuesday), of excessing.

Here’s what our Eastern Region Coordinator, Mike Gallagher had to say:

Sisters and Brothers, as you are already aware the USPS has embarked on a nationwide initiative to reduce duty assignments in an installation to correspond with their earned hours not with their actual hours that they are using.

This is an edict from on high (HQ management) that has required managers at the Area, District and installation level to revert most residual vacancies, give letters of abolishment to employees (whose jobs are not actually abolished), discuss sectional excessing at the local level and begin to bombard the Eastern Region with excessing notices.

These notifications very recently dated have an Area Move Date of September 16, 2017. However as you know our contract requires six month notification whenever possible and it requires that the Regional/Area meetings on these impacts take place 90 day days prior to the area move date. While I have given management every available date to meet with them prior to the 90 day limit, they insist that I make more time available. That is not possible based on the number of hours in a day and the availability of myself or our Article 12 NBAs.

I can assure you that in this latest round of attacks on our bargaining unit, we will insist that management follow every structure of our collective bargaining agreement in discussing and implementing these events, unfortunately, it is clearly apparent that you will be tasked with filing grievances related to their failure to comply with certain elements of our CBA. We will insist on Regional/Area meetings on each event and discuss each contractual requirement in its entirety in these meetings. Anything that is not complied with should be challenged at the local level and if there is a District or Area policy that violates the agreement, I will ensure that the appropriate grievance is filed by my office at that level. I appreciate your understanding and support in this difficult time of Postal insanity.

Solidarity,

Mike

Address To Membership: Nationwide Reversions

As mentioned in this video, you are either watching, listening or have watched the President of NY Metro Area Postal Union. This message is to all members no matter what area local, district or region you belong to.

This fight is real brothers and sisters. Stewards, we have to stay the course and file any/all grievances timely. I know that our area has been having issues with RFIs. If your RFIs are not being fulfilled, that becomes an additional grievance (Article(s) 15, 17, 19, and 31).

It can not be stressed how important it is for members to report to their shop stewards, that management performs bargaining unit work (Article 1.6). These violations can not be left to slip through the cracks. Management is going to come down hard, and we (members and stewards) need to fight back just as hard. This will not be an easy summer, but we can win!!

In solidarity,

Tony Rodriguez
Director of Safety/Webmaster

Nationwide Issue: Reversions/Abolishments By The Postal Service

So it begins. This is being done Nationally so it will be a fight. Just to give you an idea of what is going on when you start getting questioned about abolishment letters.

Just sending this out as there is a National USPS movement to revert/abolish duty assignments so there is a slow down on PSE conversions.

There will be more to come on this issue as there was a telecom from the APWU HQ level with the NBAs and Regional Coordinators.

It is anticipated that another telecom will take place from the APWU HQ level with the local and state leaders.

The subject matter will most likely have the words Dashboard Compliment in it.

We will do our best to get this information out to the locals and state organizations.

The Postal Service is currently using two applications. The first is a Workforce Dashboard application that includes the following:

• On-rolls complement for Mail Processing, City Letter Carriers, and Retail and Customer Service Craft employees

• Actual vs. earned complement

• Recent position activity, such as job postings, conversions, positions reverted, and positions abolished

• Newly vacant craft positions

The second is a Job Bid Management application that includes the following:

• Daily display of vacant craft positions for Mail Processing, City Letter Carriers, and Retail and Customer Service Craft employees

• Earned complement data from the Workforce Dashboard for use when requesting bid postings

• Reversion module to assist in tracking the contractual requirements when reverting a vacant position

Neither of these applications includes any new staffing models or tools. They are simply a mechanism by which the field can access current data regarding staffing and/or complement. The Postal Service has not changed how staffing or earned complement is determined; therefore, usage of the applications has no impact on wages, hours, or working conditions of bargaining-unit employees. These are merely internal management tools aimed at providing readily available data and ensuring compliance with postal regulations and the collective bargaining agreements.

The Postal Service is abolishing duty assignments all across the country under the instruction of higher level management and against the urging of local management.

Local Postmasters and installation heads do not support these unilateral actions.

We have received information where this action is being directed from the national level, down to the area level and ending up at the local level.

Anytime 30 or more jobs are abolished at one installation at one time, when just before the abolishment were announce the Postal Service were using actual work hours is an unfair labor practice. PSEs are working in those same sections with no reduction in hours. Clerks were not on standby time due to lack of work. The actual hours as scheduled by management under Article 3 reflected the duty assignments are needed.

Their is no liberal annual leave and in many cases leave is being denied.

A tool, scheduler, or etc. does not justify these actions. There are no agreed to work standards or work measurements according to the Postal Service.

It is the position of the Union that the Postal Service is unilaterally abolishing/reverting duty assignments in response to Goldberg’s national award where he ruled the Postal Service has an obligation to create new duty assignments when we can show they exist.

The Postal Service is reverting and abolishing duty assignments in an arbitrary and capricious manner.

The Postal Service is attempting to achieve what they were unable to achieve in the 2010 and the 2015 national negotiations.

The Postal Service proposed to have PSE usage for up to 20% of all hours and that proposal was rejected. The end result was that the Postal Service could have a 20% PSE workforce to supplement career employees.

To protect career employees, the parties agreed that ALL available hours could be used to create new duty assignments under Article 37.3.A.1.

This language did not exclude PSE hours.

This issue was the subject of a prior NLRB charge.

The Union reserved the right to renew the charge in the event the Postal Service did what they are now doing. We put that language in the settlement because surely we knew this would reoccur.

Continue the fight at the local level and defend the abolishments/reversions with grievances as suggested earlier in the week.

This is just an additional fight at our level.

This will not be an easy fight. This is a Post Office agenda at the highest level in an attempt to get us to grant them further relief from Article 37.3.A.1 and the conversion of PSEs to career.

They are experiencing buyers remorse.

There will be some instances where an individual reversion/abolishment is legitimate and contractually correct.

Attached to this post are downloadable documents to help support/fight back in your local grievances. We can win!