We have received notice that Roland Fuentes has been formally appointed as the new Denver Senior Plant Manager. Congratulations to Roland Fuentes for this well deserved promotion. The Denver Metro Area Local APWU has long enjoyed an excellent working relationship with Mr. Fuentes, and we expect to do so in the future. While we may not agree on every issue, we have always found Roland Fuentes to be an honest man of integrity who strives to work with the union in good faith. We look forward to working with Roland as we deal with the difficult and challenging issues that lie ahead. 

National APWU Assistant Motor Vehicle Craft Director Michael Foster visited our local on Monday, May 2, 2005 and May 5, 2005 to assist our local officers with efforts to address critical staffing issues in transportation. Mr. Foster, along with APWU National Business Agent Bruce Bailey, met with Motor Vehicle Craft Director Fred Morin, President Dennis Enderson, Director of Industrial Relations Paul Pearman, Executive Vice-President Gary Scott and MVS Steward Robert Helmig to help brainstorm strategies to facilitate the hiring of Tractor Trailer Operators in the Denver office. (Monday’s meeting also included MVS Craft Stewards Frankie Gonzales and Bill Toy.) 

At last count, nearly 50 new members have joined our local this year. This represents an outstanding rate of over 10 new members signed up each month. Many thanks to our superb team of organizers who are persuading these individuals to join the union. Please remember that our $100 new member sign-up bonus remains in effect for each person recruited off the current non-member list. Please help to protect our future (and put a little extra cash in your own pocket) by signing up a non-member today! You can get a list of non-members in your office and blank Forms 1187 by contacting the union office at 303-365-1524. Thank you for your help!

Please remember to submit your scholarship application to the union office by no later than May 31, 2005! The Denver Metro APWU awards five $500 Moe Biller scholarships each year to union members and/or their immediate family members. Please contact the union office at 303-365-1524 to request a packet with the necessary forms and the rules pertaining to these scholarship awards. Hurry up! The deadline is just around the corner!

It appears that the official deployment date for APPs in the Denver office will now be August 2005. The machine will begin arriving in August and will apparently be placed into service in October 2005. If this date holds, it represents a much earlier implementation date than previously reported. We believe this new schedule is being driven by events connected with management’s plan to vacate the Air Mail Center to allow this building to be occupied by a subcontractor. Therefore, it appears likely that the new APPs deployment schedule will remain firm. 

GMF Tour 2 Steward Mark Kirby is working on gathering information for the snowstorm on April 10, 2005. He has requested from those employees who called in due to the weather, regardless of their tour and work at the plants (GMF, AMC and the MPA), to please submit to him a statement and/or pictures for this grievance. This information is needed in a timely fashion. Please note that the pictures will be a permanent part of the grievance file. If you have a copy of your 3971 for this day, please forward a copy of that too. Any and all other relevant information that you may have pertaining to this particular snowstorm, you are asked to forward to the APWU stewards room at the GMF, attention Mark Kirby.

Tour 2 Stewards Bobby Rollins and Mark Kirby would like to thank MDO Jerome Warner and SDO Gary Roelle, as well as all of the clerks at the MPA, for putting an end to the double stacking of the Flats Mail into the Banana Boats. The 336 mail coming from Priority to the GMF was always double stacked (2 rows of flats per each tub) whenever possible. Recently however, APWU Stewards Bobby Rollins and Mark Kirby visited the MPA and expressed to Jerome Warner and Gary Roelle the potential this caused for injury to the FSM clerks who had to handle this mail on the other end at the GMF. Jerome and Gary agreed that the change to single stacking would only create a need for extra equipment and that the impact on their end would be very minimal. The change took place approximately three weeks ago and the FSM Clerks at the GMF have been happier ever since!

Please note that the next regular membership meeting is scheduled to begin at 9:00 AM on Saturday, May 28, 2005. This is your chance to have your voice heard and your vote count. Please mark your calendar and plan to be there!

Maintenance Craft Director Miguel Salazar and Executive Vice-President Gary Scott are meeting with local management officials to discuss issues relative to the construction of the new Registry cage at the Denver General Mail Facility. We are insisting that as much of this work as possible be performed by career Maintenance Craft employees rather than subcontractors. Management has a tendency to employ subcontractors for these types of special projects. We will carefully monitor this situation to ensure that our contractual rights are protected to the maximum possible extent.

On Monday, May 2, 2005, we celebrated the graduation of our latest class of participants in the Maintenance Skills Development Program (MSDP). The successful graduates were: Carlos Granados, Richard Tabuchi, Michael Richardson, Jeffery Polk, Charlene Fatherree, Ronald Moquin, Daniel Kraft, Muriel Ponder, Wayne Ryan, Dannie McKenna, Ronald Martinez, Patrick Cussans, Christina Gustason and Ellis Davis.

I continue to receive favorable reports from our members about the efforts of Denver Metro APWU Safety and Health Coordinator Rick Romero. Rick serves a key role as a liaison to postal management on safety and health issues. I regard Rick as a “one call does it all” union official because of his responsiveness and effectiveness on behalf of our members. Rick spearheads our joint safety and health programs in Denver Processing and Distribution, and has a unique capacity to facilitate necessary corrections to workplace hazards. Please contact your union representative any time you believe you are facing unnecessary safety and health issues at work.

Contractors working to demolish the old Denver Terminal Annex discovered a time capsule placed into the building during its construction in 1959. The capsule contained a number of fascinating items such as a 49 star American flag, a roster of Denver postal employees who came to work at the Terminal Annex when it first opened, old stamps, newspapers and much more. Many of these items will be placed on permanent display at the Denver General Mail Facility in the near future. Current employees will have the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate a piece of Denver USPS history.

We have received notification that the Colorado National Postal Mail Handlers Union has decided not to pursue an appeal relative to the jurisdiction over spreading mail at Denver Stations and Branches. This decision was based upon a thorough investigation conducted by Mail Handler union officials and a determination that there was insufficient work to justify full time duty assignments. We acknowledge and express our appreciation for the professionalism and integrity shown by our brothers and sisters in the Colorado NPMHU throughout the process of dealing with this issue.