Tag: things going on throughout the local

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

Join the South Jersey Area Local in boycotting the Postal Pulse Survey!!!
It’s that time again for the USPS to ask for you to help them hurt you by the means of the Postal Pulse Survey formally known as the “Voice of the Employee Survey.” You remember the one PMG Runyon used against us in contract negotiations. Not to mention that there have been Climate Surveys performed in the South Jersey District for Offices, including the P&DC, that are under the jurisdiction of the South Jersey Area Local and when those surveys have come back grossly negative in regards to management’s treatment of employees at those targeted offices what has management done with those surveys? NOTHING!!!

All members in good standing that turn in their unopened Postal Pulse Surveys to the Union will be entered into a drawing at the June 9th General Membership Meeting for a chance to win one of two $50 (Fifty-Dollar) prizes.

You can turn your unopened surveys into your steward, the Union Office or bring them in person to the June 9th GMM. You do not have to be present at the GMM to win.

Contract Update
Since we were unable to negotiate a contract our National Leaders are preparing for interest arbitration. In the interim the parties have entered mediation in an attempt to reach a voluntary agreement. A neutral mediator was appointed by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) and has already began to meet with the principals from the parties. Mediation meetings are also scheduled between the APWU and USPS for each craft. Your craft officers will be meeting with the Postal Service in these sessions. If a voluntary agreement can be reached through mediation, it will be presented to the Rank and File Bargaining Advisory Committee for their vote to send to the membership for ratification. You can visit our National and Local websites at APWU.org and/or apwusjal0526.org for continuing updates.

Proposed 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 resolutions with the committee’s recommendations are then printed in the newsletter, and voted upon at the June General Membership Meeting, which is on June 9, 2019 at 10:00 a.m.

Several resolutions were submitted this year are printed in this newsletter with the recommendations from the committee.

The committee members as appointed by SJAL Local President Rob Armentani are Julio Cebollero, Chairperson, Jerome Green and John Whartnaby.

LMOUs
I again would like to remind everyone to start thinking about the Local Memorandum of Understanding in your office and any changes that you would like us to seek. Once a decision is made regarding our Collective Bargaining Agreement, we will need to determine if we want to open local negotiations in each office. The LMOUs for most of our offices can be accessed on our website apwusjal0526.org If you cannot access the website or your LMOU is not on the website please contact the office for a copy. You can submit any suggestions or questions regarding your LMOU to myself at RArmentaniSJAL@Yahoo.com  or Frank Bollinger at b_frank@comcast.net

National Elections
This year we will vote for our National Officers. It is going to be a highly contested election. So far there are officially three separate tickets running. As I look at each ticket, I see quality individuals on each. However, I see a few individuals that I’m not so sure I would want to see holding a National Office. With this in mind I would encourage each and every member to look at each individual running and make individual selections for each office and “DO NOT” vote for everyone on one ticket unless you believe each individual on that ticket is the best qualified person to represent us in Washington.  When the Executive Board meets in June, we will discuss our endorsements and make it known to the membership who we believe would serve us best in National Office.

Now the hard part. Getting the members to cast their ballots! Election after election, be it National or Local, I plead with all of you to get out the vote. When all is said and done, we have a pathetic turnout. That’s right I said pathetic! I can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to participate in the selection of your Union leadership! Let’s do something different this year, let’s get out the vote and let our National Leaders hear the voices of the South Jersey Area Local membership!

THANK YOU MIKE!
Mike Gallagher, our current Eastern Region Coordinator, has announced his retirement at the end of his current term. Mike has been a National Officer for almost 30 years and has done an amazing job. Prior to becoming a National Officer Mike was the President of the Philadelphia BMC Local. This is where I cut my teeth as a steward and Union representative. As a matter of fact, it was Mike and current NBA Vince Tarducci who trained me as a steward. His advice and guidance through the years have helped to lead me to where I am in the APWU. When I became President of the South Jersey Area Local Mike was there to help me get through the jitters and the doubts that I could actually do a good job in this position. I always could count on Mike to be there for the South Jersey Area Local and will miss him when he goes. I would like to thank him for all he has done for our Local and personally want to thank him for all he has done for me as a mentor and as a friend.  Enjoy your retirement Brother, you and Lynn deserve it!

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

New Executive Board
I would like to start by thanking the membership for having enough faith to allow me to lead our Local Union for another three years. The majority of the Executive Board from the previous term will continue to serve through this 2018-2020 term. The results of the elections in November 2018 were as follows, Frank Forte was elected as Secretary-Treasurer, John Peiffer as MVS Director, Malcolm Hargrove and John Santora were voted in as Trustees. Since no one ran for the position of Maintenance Craft Director, Chris Dluoik was appointed to the position by the President and Executive Board. Chris filled the position for the last four months of the 2016-2018 term after it was vacated. After winning the election for Trustee, John Santora resigned from the position. This was a personal decision that John made and we will miss him on the Executive Board. I would like to thank him for all of his hard work while he served as both a member of the Executive Board and as a steward. Michelle Maimone was appointed to the Trustee position vacated by John. The new Executive Board will be sworn in at the February General Membership Meeting by National Business Agent Vince Tarducci.

Contract Update
The 2015-2018 National Agreement expired on September 20^th, 2018. Negotiations began in July and were extended on three separate occasions in an attempt to reach a new agreement. In December there was a tentative agreement that was brought to the Rank and File Committee to determine if the agreement would be sent out to the members for a ratification vote. The committee had several concerns with the tentative agreement and it was sent back to our National Leaders who attempted to work out these concerns with management but were unable to reach an agreement to make acceptable changes. We are now at Impasse and the next step is interest arbitration. While we wait for this process to play out, our current contract remains in full force. Be sure to check our National website APWU.org and Local website apwusjal0526.org for updates.

Rosenhayn Merger
In August of last year, we received a letter from the clerks working in the Rosenhayn Post Office requesting to merge with our Local. At the time they were considered Members at Large. A vote was taken at the November GMM and it was decided unanimously to approve the merger request submitted. The appropriate paperwork was completed and submitted to the APWU National Union for approval. The merger was approved and the Rosenhayn office is now part of the South Jersey Area Local and I would like to welcome them aboard. Former members from our Local that have taken positions in other offices that are members at large have been inquiring how to merge with us. We have had additional merger requests from Rancocas and Woodstown. These requests will be addressed at the next GMM.

The Reversion Train Keeps Rolling!
Management continues to attack our jobs based on earned work hours. I continue to receive reversion notices for jobs that are vacated by attrition or transfer. Camden has sent three clerk craft reversion notices and one custodial craft notice. We have resolved one clerk craft reversion and a settlement is pending on the custodial craft reversion. The other two clerk reversions are currently in the grievance procedure. We also have recent reversion grievances in the system for the Bulk Mail Acceptance Unit at the Plant, Browns Mills and Medford. We also recently received Notices of Intent to Revert from Sewell and Clementon. Not to mention the grievances that have been sitting in the system for a while from Voorhees, Blackwood and Cherry Hill.

SJ P&DC LMOU Arb Award
There was a recent arbitration hearing held concerning how leave percentages are to be calculated in the SJ P&DC. Management took the position that only career employees and not PSEs would be counted when determining the leave percentages. They took this position but were still placing the names of PSEs into the leave slots. Arbitrator Strongin only took four days to issue his decision and supported the Union’s position that PSEs are clerk craft employees and that the percentages were determined based on the number employees in the clerk craft. Therefore, they will be counted. This is the second important clarification on a leave issue from our LMOU. We recently signed an agreement in June that clarified that there is no provision in our LMOU that allows management to close the leave book four days prior to the date. If you have any questions regarding either of these issues, ask your steward.

Problem Offices
Grievance activity through the jurisdiction of our Local has been on the upward swing of late. Activity in some offices such as Blackwood and Voorhees have gone down. This can probably be attributed to a change in PM/OIC in each office. However, grievance activity has gone up drastically in both Mt. Laurel and Camden.

A climate survey was recently conducted by the Union in Mt. Laurel due to several complaints of harassment and bullying by management in that office. The results of the survey were actually surprising. Based on the phone calls we received we expected the majority of the problems to center around one particular supervisor. However, we found that three out of the four supervisors that deal with APWU craft employees in Mt. Laurel engage in behavior considered to be hostile towards employees. There are obvious issues in this facility that need to be addressed. Copies of the survey are being turned over to the Labor Department. Hopefully they won’t just brush it under the rug by promoting the perpetrators to a new position, like they did in Blackwood, and some action is taken to prevent this from continuing in not only that office but other offices as well.

Ever since the PM change in Camden there have been numerous grievances filed. The new PM has stated that changes need to be made in Camden and she is going to make those changes. I’m in agreement that some changes need to be made but they need to be made within the guidelines of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Unfortunately, it appears that the CBA may be getting thrown out the window. This is bothersome to me because the PM and I have always had a good rapport and she is a former steward that may have forgotten where she came from. Additionally, it appears that when our stewards in the facility file grievances they become the target of retaliation. One steward’s supervisor actually implied that he was told to retaliate against the steward by the PM. We will not tolerate any attempt by management to intimidate our stewards and prevent them from doing their jobs as representatives of our Union. Unfair Labor Practice charges will be filed if necessary.