Message From the President

By John A. Ancona, President

As you know by now, 22 PSEs have been converted to Full-Time Regulars effective April 19, 2014.  Since then, there have been so many changes made from management, it is almost impossible to keep track of it all. We need our members who were recently converted to send us copies of any letters that they received. If you received a letter from management giving you a Federal Labor Standard Act (FLSA) schedule, and you were told you cannot bid, that is false information. If you were told you are on probation that is also false information.  I am sending the Questions and Answers to the 22 recently converted PSEs so that you may see exactly what your rights are.  You can only be given an FLSA schedule once in the first 28 days.  These questions and answers are from the National APWU and agreed upon with USPS Headquarters. Your union will review everything that has been done and we will file any and all grievances that violated the contract.        

Update From the President

By John A. Ancona, President

I would like to give you an update regarding the Delegates to our National Convention.  If any one of our General Delegates who won the election can not attend, then this list may change;

Clerk Steward Laviena Vargas, Clerk Steward Sandy Garcia, Maintenance Steward Louis Mahaffey, MVS Steward Jason Evans, MVS Steward Art Tavera and the entire Executive Board will go by virtue of their position.     

Time is Running Out!

By Bobby Rollins, Executive Vice-President

All employees should have received a letter from the USPS in regards to a new self-service password system being implemented for all HR self-service web applications such as PostalEASE, eReassign, eOPF, and LiteBlue (including eJob bidding, eRetire and eCareer).

The letter contains a “Temporary Password” in the upper right hand corner of the page just beneath your name. This temporary password is required to access the “Self-Service Profile Application” (SSP).  The SSP Application will allow you to create your new self-service password, create security questions, change your existing 4-digit PIN (if desired, not a requirement at this time), and provide an email address for the record (also not a requirement).

I can’t emphasize enough that after April 28, 2014, you will no longer be able to access the above applications if you haven’t established a new self-service password.

The SSP application is accessible via ssp.usps.gov or via LiteBlue. I changed mine via LiteBlue and it was a very simple process that took only minutes to complete.  You will be able to use your EID and current 4-digit PIN to do telephone transactions such as Job Bidding, Leave Requests, and any PostalEase transactions.

Congratulations!

By Chris Arellano, Director Clerk Craft

Congratulations to our 22 newly converted unencumbered regulars effective Saturday, April 19, 2014!  Welcome to being a career postal employee!

I just want to give you some information now that you’re a Regular.  You can bid off the white DPM and the unassigned regular blue DPM.  On May 1^st, you will be able to go to E-Reassign and bid on all the residuals that have been sitting there for some time.  Feel free to ask your APWU Clerk Steward if you need assistance if you are interested in signing up on the Overtime Desired List.  Below you will find the local agreement language;

• After the “Overtime Desired List” is posted, no employee will be permitted to add his or her name to the list except as specified in the following provisions below.Employees may be permitted to take their names off the list, but having done so, must remain off the list for the remainder of the current quarter.The employee must notify his or her supervisor in writing of their desire to be removed from the OTDL.The effective date of the removal will be 24 hours after the supervisor is given written notification.

• An employee converting to regular, or an employee bidding into, or permanently assigned to, a new section shall be allowed five (5) working days from the effective date of assignment to place his or her name on the bottom of the current Overtime Desired List, regardless of whether the employee was on the current OTDL in his or her former unit.

Just fill out a buck-slip and give a copy to your supervisor. 

Holidays

• Now you are entitled to ten (10) paid holidays which you can volunteer to work.Those holidays are;

  New Years Day, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

Work Hour Guarantees

• The employee’s normal work week is five (5) service days, each consisting of eight (8) hours, within ten (10) consecutive hours, except as provided in Section 1 of this Article.As far as practicable the five days shall be consecutive days within the service week. (Management must work you eight (8) hours.  Do not sign a 3971 unless you are requesting leave).

With conversion to career comes a lot of confusion as you know.  Your union is on top of this, but we need your help! Management has more than one letter on your status and work hours, so please bring all letters from management to your union steward so we, the APWU, can properly represent you on any lost time such as overtime pay, out of schedule pay and guarantee pay.  So please bring in your copies today.  We need your help!!

MVS Update

By Carey Henricks, Director MVS Craft

Our Western Area NBA Jerome Pittman should be doing arbitration on some of our Step 3 grievances in the near future.  I do not know which cases they are at this point, but I believe they should encompass some of the sub-contracting grievances in MVS.  Once we have answers on these, I will keep you informed of the decisions set forth.

In PVS, we are set to get four more PSEs for TTO, but at this point only one has made his way through orientation. Hopefully we can get back to our compliment for PSEs so that we have a little more flexibility when the summer bid annual gets into full swing.

I have several grievances at Step 3 for Article 32 and with a little luck maybe we can re-coup some of our work that has been blatantly given away under the pretence that contractors can perform the work cheaper. That is completely flawed, and the cost comparisons that I have seen are fatally flawed at best. Maybe one day management will wake up and smell the savings of keeping the work in-house and quit wasting postal money to try and make us look like we are failing in order to privatize our jobs and put another half million Americans out of work and on welfare.

In the VMFs, management has unilaterally affected just about every employee that they have by making stupid decisions to contract out the PMIs, which is work that we have been hired to do in order to keep the mail flowing.  They use the Auto Techs to transport the vehicles to contractors to pay a higher hourly rate to do the work. Now who in their right mind would hire a group of employees to have them stand around and get paid while they send the work to another shop and pay more money to accomplish the same task, and think that they can stay in business (ONLY THE POSTAL SERVICE THAT COMPLAINS ABOUT LOSING MONEY AND BEING INSOLVENT), when in fact it is their own fault that they are losing money by blatantly wasting it on a daily basis.

As always, I will continue to ask all MVS employees to join your Union and support the fight to keep your job and your livelihood secure for the future. Management at the national level is and has been after your jobs for years now, and we need to unite and let them and Congress know that we want the Postal Service to be a viable and profitable entity for future generations to come. I continually hear MVS employees asking “what is the Union doing for me?” Well, let me tell you what the Union is doing for all Postal employees regardless of craft; you are still receiving a paycheck and benefits just like you always have, along with annual and sick leave and paid holidays.  So next time you feel that the Union is not up to your standards just remember that YOU STILL HAVE A JOB!

FMLA and Using Sick/Annual Leave

By Director Human Relations Phil Desautels

FMLA, by law, is an unpaid benefit that allows employees to be off work for a serious health condition and be able to return to work in their former position.  The law also protects employees from discipline for unscheduled absences.  With the sick and annual leave benefits we have in our contract, we, as postal employees, are allowed to use sick and annual leave to cover FMLA related absences.

There have been many problems concerning management enforcing the ELM sick and annual leave rules. Management has required additional documentation upon a call-in.  This is improper.  When you file, and are approved for FMLA, you have already given the USPS the required documentation to support your absences(s). Title 29 USC 2615(a)(1) states; Employers cannot interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or, the attempt to exercise such duly certified leave under the guise of enforcing its sick leave policies.

If your supervisor or manager required additional documentation upon a FMLA call-in, please contact your steward immediately.  I will be happy to consult to achieve the proper outcome.  Please be aware that the employer can request re-certification if you go over or under your physician’s recommended absences. This shouldn’t be done simply because you go over or under your recommended absences during a month, because medical science is not an exact science.  But if it continues over a four or six month period, then you could be required to re-certify your FMLA.

For any questions on FMLA, please feel free to contact me at hrdir@denverapwu.com.

Volunteers Needed!

By Lawanda Davis, Administrative Aide

I NEED VOLUNTEERS TO MARCH IN THE MEMORIAL DAY PARADE - THE WALK OF SOLIDARITY!

I have registered the APWU to participate in the Memorial Day parade on May 24, 2014, at 10AM. It will be downtown and the Mail Handlers have agreed to join us and the Letter Carriers have been invited also. 

The APWU sponsored a protest against Staples doing our work on April 24, 2014, but since we do not have any contract Staple stores in the Denver area, I decided to hit the streets for one reason.  We must let our customers know that we are still here for them and giving them the best service that we can, under the current situations of short staffing everywhere. 

Over the last few months all the public has heard is that we are whiney and overpaid, but I believe if they could see our faces and the dedication that we pursue getting their mail to them, they will understand that we are human beings just like they are and that we only want to keep our fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay, to be able to work in a safe environment and to be able to have a decent quality of life. If you’re interested in participating, please give me a call and let me know if you will be bringing anyone with you.  Don’t forget to wear your favorite APWU shirt!  Also, ask your friends and families to join us in our WALK OF SOLIDARITY.  If you should have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me at the union hall at 303-365-1524 ext. 24.

/jd  opeiu #30  afl-cio