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USPS Assigns Jurisdiction For ‘Enhanced’ AFSM-100 Machines by Dennis Enderson, President Please note the following information from the APWU Web News Article #10-06, Feb. 14, 2006: The USPS has assigned craft jurisdiction for staffing on the Automated Flat Sorting Machine 100 (AFSM-100) with Automated Induction (AI) and Automatic Tray Handling (ATHS) system enhancements, awarding most of the positions to the Mail Handler Craft. The APWU believes that the duties associated with AI and ATHS enhancements on the AFSM 100s are Clerk Craft duties, and has filed a national-level dispute claiming jurisdiction over this work. In a letter dated Feb. 8, 2006, the USPS wrote that of the 534 AFSM-100s currently in operation, it is anticipated that 184 AFSM-100s will remain without either AI or ATHS enhancements; 144 will have ATHS but no AI, and 206 will have AI and ATHS enhancement. For AFSM-100 machines without enhancement, staffing will remain at five Clerk Craft employees. For those with AI and ATHS, management designated primary jurisdiction of the Feed Station to the Clerk Craft. The Mail Handler Craft was identified as the primary craft for employees working at the Load Station, Prep Station, and for operating the ATHS. The Feed Station and Load station will be occupied by a single employee; the Prep Station will be staffed by up to four employees. On non-AI AFSM 100s with ATHS, staffing will be four Clerk Craft employees. Three clerks will manually induct mail and one clerk will operate the ATHS. This will allow for a rotation of clerks on the non-AI AFSM 100s, to accommodate ergonomic relief. The APWU contends that the duties associated with AI and ATHS are mail-processing duties related to distribution of mail, and therefore properly belong to the Clerk Craft. The Denver General Mail Facility is scheduled to receive both ATHS and AI for all or our AFSM 100 machines. To make room for these modifications, one of our current machines will be moved to Colorado Springs, and the remaining machines will probably be reoriented. It is possible, but probably unlikely, that Denver may not receive AI. If this happens, job cuts won’t be as deep. If we do receive both retrofits, then a large part of our current work will be shifted into the Mailhandler craft once implementation is complete. ATHS will begin arriving now and take two or three months to complete. AI, if it comes, should begin arriving in late spring and would take three or four months to complete. Based on management’s jurisdictional decision, the clerk craft should retain between 25 to 30 jobs across all three tours. This represents a significant reduction from current levels. The national APWU has filed a grievance protesting management’s decision, and a local grievance will be filed as well. The union will fight hard to restore this work to the Clerk Craft. However, in the short term we are looking at a substantial amount of excessing and abolishing from FSM 100 sections on all three tours. Local management has not provided an impact statement or a staffing plan, so we have no specific information to share at this time. Our best estimate is that no significant changes should occur for at least four to six months. The Denver Metro Area Local APWU will carefully monitor this situation and pass along information as soon as it becomes available. Regardless of what happens, we will do everything in our power to minimize adverse impacts on affected employees. This promises to be a very difficult and challenging process. Serious Doubts Arise About PARS Implementation and CFS Staffing Impacts by Dennis Enderson, President Contrary to recent assurances by postal management, it is now very unclear whether CFS staffing will remain stable in the near future. Denver Postmaster Selwyn Epperson recently conducted stand-up talks with all CFS employees at which he stated that staffing in this unit would not be reduced by PARS implementation, and might actually increase if Denver received mail from surrounding areas. It now appears that CFS employees and the union were badly misinformed. New information appears to indicate that there may soon be drastic realignments, and perhaps even excessing and abolishing from CFS based upon anticipated impacts from PARS implementation. While nothing is certain, and many previous deployment announcements have proven false, PARS is now scheduled for late May of this year. Despite the postmaster’s assurances to union officials and CFS employees, we are now being told that volume reductions could trigger major staffing realignments, possibly including the elimination of Tour 2 operations. This is a serious situation representing a major breach of good faith between the union and management. Based upon this very frustrating and disappointing experience, we will view all future information from management about CFS with extreme skepticism. We strongly encourage employees desiring job stability to steer clear of CFS for the time being. We will do everything in our power to protect the contractual rights of all affected employees. APWU Voluntary Benefits Program Sponsors Group Legal Plan Open Season by Dennis Enderson, President Please note that the APWU Voluntary Benefits Program Group Legal Plan will have an open enrollment period from March 1 through April 30, 2006. The Group Legal Plan provides comprehensive legal services for a cost of just $7.00 per pay period. This is a full service legal assistance plan covering most personal matters. You should receive a notice of this open enrollment period in the mail, along with the forms you will need to enroll. Please carefully review these materials and give strong consideration to taking advantage of this infrequently offered opportunity to enroll! This benefit is available only to APWU members! APWU Establishes Fund For Shooting Victims’ Families APWU News Bulletin #01-2006, Feb. 7, 2006 The APWU has established a memorial fund to benefit the families of APWU members who were killed Jan. 30 in the shootings at the Santa Barbara P&DC in Goleta, CA. Donations can be made by check or money order and mailed to: APWU Memorial Fund
Human Relations Department
1300 L St. NW
Washington, DC 20005 One hundred percent of the donations will be distributed to the immediate families of the slain APWU members. Senate Passes Postal Reform – Bills Go To Conference Committee by Dennis Enderson, President Now both the United States Senate and the House of Representatives have adopted postal reform bills. Differences between the bills must now be worked out in a joint “conference committee” comprised of members from both houses of Congress. While the Senate has appointed its committee members, the House has not. Another factor to consider is a looming veto threat from the White House if the final bill does not meet its requirements. President Bush wants the Postal Service to continue paying pension obligations from military retirees not borne by any other federal agency. This represents a $27 billion burden that the Postal Service cannot bear without drastic postage rate increases. The APWU favors the House version of the bill because it does not contain cuts to OWCP benefits included in the Senate bill. It is unclear when the conference committee will be formed and begin meeting. The APWU continues to support postal reform legislation that improves the Postal Service’s financial situation without unfairly damaging the rights of bargaining unit employees. We will closely monitor this process and may need to call upon you for assistance in the near future. Union Meeting Reminder by Dennis Enderson, President Our next regular Membership Meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:00 PM on Wednesday, February 22, 2006 at the union office. This meeting will feature the election of delegates to attend the 2006 APWU National Convention. Please plan to attend and exercise your right to VOTE! Denver Metro APWU Picnic By Miguel Salazar, Director Maintenance Craft Mark your calendars for this year’s Union Picnic. The date of the picnic is Sunday, June 25th from 11:00AM to 6:00 PM. The location of this year’s picnic is at Lowry Park located at 10th and Dayton, near the former Lowry Air Force Base. So bring your family and join us for an old fashioned “Union Family” get together”. There will be fun and games for all ages, jumpers, and entertainment to include a Magic Show by Shane Allen, live band and DJ. The menu will be a traditional All American BBQ. We are asking for volunteers to assist us in a variety of areas such as set-up, tear-down, cooking, running games, or even if you have a talent that you would like to show off. If you would like to volunteer please contact the GMF steward’s office at 303-853-6488 or call 303-365-1524 ext. 20. We hope to see you all there to see old friends and make new friends. USPS Briefs APWU on Plan to Realign Postal Network APWU News Bulletin #03-2006, Feb. 15, 2006 The Postal Service provided a long-awaited outline of the Evolutionary Network Development (END) program in a meeting with APWU officers Feb. 14, 2006 — the same day it submitted the plan to the Postal Rate Commission (PRC) for evaluation. The Postal Service is required by law to seek an advisory opinion from the commission when it proposes to make changes in service that are national in scope. Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Postal Service is also required to notify the union when a major relocation of employees is planned “due to the implementation of national postal mail networks.” The APWU filed a Notice of Intervention with the PRC Feb. 15, advising the agency of the union’s intent to participate in any proceedings that occur as a result of the USPS submission. The USPS plans to replace the nine existing facility-types with the following five processing facility-types: Regional Distribution Centers (RDCs), which will process all classes of parcels and bundles and serve as Surface Transfer Centers; Local Processing Centers (LPCs), which will process single-piece letters and flats and will cancel mail; Destination Processing Centers (DPC), which will process single-piece letters and flats; Airport Transfer Centers (ATCs), which will serve as transfer points only; and Remote Encoding Centers (RECs) Over a period of years, these facilities are expected to replace Processing & Distribution Centers, Customer Service Facilities, Bulk Mail Centers, Logistic and Distribution Centers, annexes, the Hub and Spoke Program, Air Mail Centers, Remote Encoding Centers, and International Service Centers. The network must change, according to USPS representatives, due to declining volumes of single-piece first-class mail, population shifts, the increase in drop shipments by advertising mailers at destinating postal facilities, advancements in equipment and technology, redundancies in the existing network, and the need for operational flexibility. While we do not anticipate any near term changes to offices within our local’s jurisdiction, we will carefully monitor this process and take action as necessary to protect the rights of our members. It does not appear that things in the Postal Service will calm down any time soon! Local Schedules COPA Golf Tournament by Dennis Enderson, President In conjunction with our plans to host the 2006 Denver Regional Conference, we have scheduled a local COPA Golf Tournament on Thursday, June 8, 2006. The tournament will begin at 1:30 PM at Applewood Golf Course in Golden. The $55 entry fee includes a $5 donation to the APWU Committee on Political Action (COPA) fund. Please contact Paul Pearman at 303-365-1524 ext. 13 for more information. Please plan to enter this tournament so you can win prizes while you help us to raise more COPA funds to help labor friendly candidates! Board of Governors Approves Development of New Sorting Technology from www.usps.com The Postal Service took another step toward completely automating the mail sorting process with the approval by the agency's Board of Governors today of a new technology. The Board approved the redirection of funds toward the development and testing of a Flats Sequencing System (FSS), which will allow the sequencing of larger mail pieces in delivery point order. Flat mail - which includes large envelopes, catalogs, magazines, and newspapers - is one of the most labor-intensive categories of mail to process, sort and deliver due to variations in size, thickness and address label placement. Similar to the Delivery Bar Code Sorters that were developed and implemented under the successful Corporate Automation Plan for letter mail, the Flats Sequencing System will arrange flats in the order of delivery. This will reduce the time letter carriers need to prepare mail for delivery. This April, a prototype FSS - one-half the size of the production machine - will be installed in the Mail Processing Annex in Indianapolis, IN, with field tests scheduled to continue through June. Following that, a full-size pre-production machine will be built and tested through June 2007. Upon successful completion of those tests, deployment of FSS equipment is targeted to begin in the spring of 2008. /rb opeiu #5 afl-cio
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