Back in April 2004, the Postal Service decided to solicit bids from vendors to create a new software program to replace the existing multiple point of sale (POS) applications used on terminals at postal retail counters. In April 2006, the Postal Service began the process of transitioning all POS systems (both NCR and IBM) to the new NCR software package. During headquarters level discussions, the APWU objected to management’s plan to allow only three hours of familiarization training for the conversion. APWU officials argued that three hours of training was inadequate to learn the new system and “unlearn” the old system. While these headquarters level discussions continue, management has pressed forward with the transition. Needless to say, many problems have arisen.

According to OSHA, older workers, obese workers and personnel on some types of medication are at greater risk to heat-related health problems. Harvard Health Letter offers steps older people can take to beat the summer’s heat. In addition to heading for the air conditioning, staying out of the sun, and wearing loose, light clothes.

APWU President William Burrus has denounced Postal Service plans to subcontract work currently performed by bargaining unit employees at more than half of the nation’s Air Mail Centers. “This ill-advised adventure would privatize an important and sensitive sector of the United States Postal Service, slashing the postal workforce and jeopardizing security and service to ordinary citizens,” he said. “Once again, management is succumbing to the demands of the big advertising mailers.” The USPS notified the union in a July 3 letter that it is “considering subcontracting the tender and receipt of mail” at 43 AMCs. The letter noted that a determination on the impact on bargaining unit employees has not yet been made.

The Denver Metro Area Local APWU Scholarship Selection Committee has announced the recipients of the 2006 Moe Biller Scholarship Awards. This year, five applications were received, and the committee decided to apportion the awards based upon various factors as follows:

Accepting company buyout offers negotiated with the Auto Workers, approximately 47,600 union workers, UAW members, will leave General Motors and Delphi Auto Parts by the end of this year. The departures, with 35,000 at GM and 12,600 – half of UAW’s members there – at Delphi, will help the two firms financially. GM lost $10.6 billion on U. S. operations last year, but turned a profit in the first quarter of this year. Delphi is in bankruptcy, and bargaining with a 6-union coalition – led by UAW and the Communication Workers/IUE – over its future. Its buyout includes return of 5,000 workers to its former parent, GM. Combined with early retirements at Ford, the GM and Delphi buyouts will cut UAW’s auto and parts members by 50,000 by the end of 2006, new reports said. The buyouts will wipe out entire shifts at some GM plants. The UAW local at a sport utility vehicle plant in Oklahoma City said 60 percent of its 2,400 members are leaving and another 377 will be shifted to other GM plants. The Oklahoma City plant is already scheduled to close.

Reports continue to pour in about significant postal hiring all around the country – everywhere except in Denver, where management continues to whistle past the graveyard and pretend all is well. The latest hiring news comes from Phoenix, where 140 new PTFS Clerks have come on board this year. Adding insult to injury, Phoenix is going through precisely the same operational changes that we are in Denver including APPS, PARS, ATHS and AI. Why does Denver’s management continue to deny the obvious reality that we are woefully understaffed, and losing almost a hundred additional clerks every year? When did double-digit overtime become the acceptable norm? Someone must regard Denver’s six year hiring freeze as a huge feather in management’s cap. This is simply not good management.

As a result of a recent deployment of automated equipment, many Clerk Craft employees have received notices of reassignment to new positions in the Mail Handler Craft. The APWU opposes the replacement of longstanding clerk duty assignments with these new positions, and has initiated national disputes that will be resolved in arbitration. In those instances where the assignments across craft lines are not consistent with the contract and the interpretations that have been developed over the years, APWU is committed to returning those employees to the Clerk Craft, with appropriate back-pay for hours and days outside their former schedules.

By a letter dated May 22, 2006, the APWU was notified that the Postal Service has reassigned jurisdiction for the task of replacing the label roll on the AFSM 100 tray labeling device from the Mailhandler Craft to the Maintenance Craft. This somewhat small but significant victory is good news for the APWU. We will continue to fight for full jurisdiction over all tasks performed on the AFSM 100’s.

After several years of fighting a humane but losing battle against the accumulation of pigeon droppings at the Denver MPA, management has given notice of its intent to hire an exterminator to remove all of these birds in the near future. While we are sad that it has come to this, the Denver Metro APWU fully supports managements’ actions in light of the obvious health hazards presented by the current situation. In addition, OSHA has ruled that the Postal Service must proceed with permanent removal of the birds and the elimination of their droppings.

As we all know, excessing and abolishing is a never ending reality in the Postal Service. It would seem that management has an endless list of reasons for changing jobs around and eliminating duty assignments. Many years ago, the union and management addressed the critically important issue of protecting union representation by agreeing to preclude the possibility that a supervisor could eliminate an aggressive steward by manipulating the process of abolishing and excessing. The solution was the creation of so-called steward “super seniority”. Essentially, whenever excessing occurs in a given section, a steward cannot be involuntarily removed from that section if there is any duty assignment available for which the steward meets the minimum qualifications. The Denver Metro APWU cannot allow management to adversely impact representation through excessing and abolishing. We fully support the concept of steward “super seniority”. While some may find it unfair that this could result in the excessing of a more senior employee from an impacted section, it is important that we remember the underlying principles behind this critically important contractual protection.

In a few weeks, 15 elected delegates from the Denver Metro Area Local APWU will attend the APWU National Convention scheduled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from Monday, August 14 through August 18, 2006. In addition, our Craft Directors will attend their respective Craft Conferences on Saturday, August 12^th and Sunday, August 13^th.