Union Investigating April 10th Snow Day Issues
by Dennis Enderson, President
We are investigating issues relative to the snowstorm on Sunday, April 10, 2005. We are aware that there were a large number of call-ins, and we are working to determine whether any contractual violations occurred based upon management’s response to the storm. Denver Senior Plant Manager Roland Fuentes contacted me several times throughout the day to keep me informed about his actions pertaining to the situation. He told me that he instructed managers to contact employees who had called in because of the storm to ask them to make every effort to attempt to report to work
Later, Roland informed me that he intended to reward each employee who actually reported to work with a $75 cash award. He went on to tell me that he instructed the supervisors who were attempting to contact employees at home to offer these individuals the same $75 incentive if they later reported to work. I was surprised to learn about this plan and commended Roland for choosing to offer a positive incentive to employees rather than threatening them with discipline. I have never heard of a similar event in my 23-year postal career, and believe Roland’s action merits our appreciation and gratitude.
It appears the majority of call-ins occurred on Tour 3 and Tour 1 on Sunday night. Tour 2 Denver GMF Steward Mark Kirby has volunteered to do the extensive research and investigation necessary to determine whether a grievance requesting administrative leave would be appropriate. Many thanks to Mark for accepting this difficult assignment, and to Clerk Craft Director Brian Thomason for offering his assistance. At this time we are unaware of any significant impact to employees in Associate Offices and/or Denver Stations and Branches. We have asked stewards in these offices to investigate any issues brought forward on an individual basis.
Our members are cautioned to remember that there is no such thing as an “automatic” grievance. The union carries the burden to prove that the provisions of the ELM, Section 519, pertaining to Administrative Leave have been satisfied before any payment is due to affected employees. The mere fact that a significant number of employees called in is not, by itself, sufficient to prevail in a grievance. There are many other factors that apply. In the meantime, employees who called in should expect to be charged for an incident of emergency annual leave.
Some employees have complained about being called at home by supervisors after calling in because of the storm. While the union does not sanction or approve of such calls (and did not do so in this case), there is no contractual prohibition against them. Arbitrators have consistently ruled to this effect. Any employee who believes a manager behaved inappropriately by using threats or intimidation during such a call should report this to a steward so that we can take appropriate corrective action.
We will keep you informed as our investigation proceeds relative to this issue.
Two PTF Clerks Make Regular in Englewood
by Dennis Enderson, President
Clerk Craft Director Brian Thomason reports that management has agreed to convert the last two PTF clerks in the Englewood office to full time regular status effective May 14, 2005. This outstanding accomplishment was made possible through the excellent efforts of numerous union officials, including Brian, Paul Pearman and especially Englewood steward Prentice Butler. Many thanks and congratulations to Prentice and all others involved. We also congratulate our two new full time regular clerks in the Englewood office. These latest two conversions are a result of our continuing efforts to pursue PTF maximization throughout our local anywhere it is possible.
APPs Machines
Experiencing “Catastrophic Failures”
by Dennis Enderson, President
Safety and Health Coordinator Rick Romero reports that some APPs machines are experiencing “catastrophic failures” caused by a manufacturing defect. This electrical fault causes extensive damage to the machine itself and may represent a possible safety and health hazard to employees who operate the machine. It is unknown whether this defect has contributed to the ongoing delays in APPs deployment. As previously reported, our APPs machine may be delayed until as late as early next year. (However, there are now rumors that we maybe rescheduled for an earlier installation date.) We have communicated with union officials in other offices that have already received APPs machines. We have learned that the staffing impacts may be less severe than earlier reported. We are engaged in discussions with management relative to SPBS staffing. It is quite possible that SPBS vacancies may again be posted in the near future. Clerks who bid for these duty assignments must be aware that such jobs may still be impacted by APPs whenever it does arrive. We will do everything in our power to ensure that such adverse impacts are minimized to the maximum extent possible.
Colorado/Wyoming
Ergonomic Safety and Health Fair
by Rick Romero, DMAL APWU Safety & Health Coordinator
The Ergonomic Risk Reduction Process (ERRP) team, in conjunction with District Safety, Plant Safety, and the Medical Unit, is conducting an Ergonomic-Safety and Health Fair. The USPS Senior Plant Manager (A), Roland Fuentes and Denver Postmaster, Selwyn Epperson are co-sponsoring the fair for Denver employees and their family members. However, all CO/WY employees are welcome to attend. The fair will focus on the ergonomics, safety and health of employees and will include some of the following to name a few:
American Red Cross (offering information about CPR/First Aid and volunteerism)
Denver Fire Department (offering information about fire safety at work and home)
Various Doctors and Professionals (offering free medical health screenings and advice)
A Foot Fair (including several shoe insert manufacturers providing 10 to 30 percent discounts on goods)
Massage and Physical Therapists (Offering massages and physical therapy)
Various Vendors (offering discounts on safety equipment and advice on various safety issues)
Music Entertainment
Automotive and Motorcycle Show
Prizes
Raffles, plus much more!
So “climb to your peak health potential” and please plan to attend the CO/WY Ergonomic-Safety and Health Fair. The event will take place on June 8th from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM on the west side of the Denver P&DC.
APC is “DPS”
by Greg Hanson, Broomfield Clerk Craft Steward
I have been an employee with the USPS for over 21 years. During this time I have become very fluent in the Acronymic language we all know as Postalese. We use words like GMF, OTR, GPC, MPA, BMC, AMF, APPS, PARS, DDU, BMEU, SCF, AO, ECRWSS, CFS, TA and of course APWU (always think union). The new word that the Postal Service is spreading is called APC (Automated Postal Center). These new self serve vending machines are the latest and greatest thing that the Postal Service mismanagement has come up with to save us. These machines are so customer oriented that that CSS (Customer Service Supervisor – oxymoron) at the Broomfield MPO will instruct a SSA to close their window during busy hours to go into the lobby and direct customers to use the APC. This absurd decision by postal mismanagement to take a trained dedicated postal employee to direct our customers to a machine in DPS (Deliberately Poor Service). Where is the GIST in that?
OWCP – Know Your Rights
by Dave Coker, Denver GMF Tour 3 Clerk Craft Steward
If you get injured on the job, or develop an occupational illness on the job, you have the right to see your own doctor and receive ongoing treatment from him or her. You do not have to go to Concentra or any other management-selected clinic or doctor if you are not in danger of losing life or limb. There have been reports that certain clinics and/or doctor’s offices are telling employees that they MUST come to their offices or their claim with OWCP will be denied or closed. This is not true.
When you see a doctor twice for an on the job claim, then you are stuck with that doctor unless you can convince OWCP to change your doctor later. You have the right to go to the hospital or doctor that you choose right from the start, as long as it is not a “serious emergency”. You can go to the medical facility management wants to take you to for the first visit, and then go to your doctor of choice from then on. If the nurse, doctor or secretary at the management provided clinic tries to tell you that your claim will be closed or denied because you won’t see them anymore, don’t believe it. Ask for their full name, write down the date and time of your call or discussion, and then politely decline. Please share this information with your union representative and ask that it be sent to the attention of the local president. For more information about your rights under FECA Law, please contact Human Relations Committee Chairman Phil Desautels at 303-365-1524 ext. 339.
Brother Robert Bueno-Dominguez Returns From Sri Lanka
by Robert Bueno-Dominguez
Brother Robert Bueno-Dominguez has returned from his journey to provide relief to tsunami victims in Sri Lanka. Here are excerpts from a report he delivered upon his return:
I would firstly like to thank you for being so supportive of the work I was doing in Galle, Sri Lanka. It is amazing at the speed things get done when you have people working toward a common goal. During the two weeks, I worked on six different houses. Four of the houses were on a site called Bataduwa, Galle. That would be the name of the neighborhood in the city of Galle. There was another house that was being rebuilt on a home that was taken by the tsunami. This was in the city. I do not recall a name for this area. The final site I worked at was called Piyadagama. This home rested on a hilltop. The site inside of the city was an experience I will never forget. Inscribed on a wall, it said “Tsumani 9 AM”; that was when the first of three waves crashed into Galle.
On this home, we dug trenches where the walls would be later formed. There was plenty of trash to dig through, and sometimes, breaking through existing foundations. After that was finished, we had a trench about one foot deep, two feet wide. We then would take granite stones and place them inside of the trench one by one. These stones would weigh often over 70 pounds. After that we would mix cement by shoveling a prescribed number of pans full of sand, to one bag of cement. We mixed that mixture with water, until this mix was wet. This job became an ongoing process throughout the two weeks.
I was given a journal to write in by a young Muslim lady. She has asked all of the other workers to say something. It helps her learn English. It was difficult to get to know the language, mainly because the locals want to talk to you in English. They want to practice English. That is one of many stories. I will make it to the May’s meeting.
Union Pursues Posting Duty Assignments in Lieu of Details
by Dennis Enderson, President
Clerk Craft Director Brian Thomason is engaging in discussions with management relative to the posting of duty assignments in lieu of continuing a long standing practice of detailing employees into preferred schedules and duties for extended time periods. The union has long maintained that extended details to bargaining unit duties infringe upon the seniority bidding rights of all employees. We are hopeful of resolving most of these issues through Brian’s discussions. Appropriate grievances will be filed and pursued as necessary to protect our rights under the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
MVS Update – We Will
Continue to Push for Hiring
by Dennis Enderson, President
We have learned that our sister office in Phoenix, Arizona is in the process of hiring twenty Tractor Trailer Operators. Other large offices around the country are also hiring drivers. It is clear something rotten is going on in the Western Area, particularly with regard to the Denver office. We now believe Denver’s lack of driver hiring may be part of an experimental plan to erode union membership as our work is handed to subcontractors. We are formulating plans to file a formal Unfair Labor Practice complaint with the Department of Labor to protest this egregious effort to weaken the union. We will pursue hiring and resist efforts to subcontract our work by any and all means at our disposal. Please stand with us as we engage in this potentially long and difficult struggle to defend our rights!
Custodial Staffing Improves – Issues Remain
by Dennis Enderson, President
Through ongoing discussions with the union, management has moved forward to fill custodial vacancies through transfers and new hiring. While we are grateful for this progress, issues remain. There are still a number of custodial vacancies, and questions about the filling of future vacancies caused by normal attrition. It appears we have resolved most of our concerns about excessive usage of casual custodians and the failure to fill existing vacancies. We will continue to push for hiring to ensure that all custodial duty assignments are properly filled with career employees. We will also work to ensure that casual custodial staffing is minimized as much as possible.
Start Times to Change on AFSM 100s
By Dennis Enderson, President
The union has been informed that management will change the start times for Denver AFSM 100 Clerks as follows: Tour 2 – 0700; Tour 3 – 1500; Tour 1 – 2300. These new begin tour times represent a schedule change of one half hour, which does not require the reposting of such duty assignments. The incumbents will receive notification letters very soon and these changes will take effect on May 28, 2005.
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