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August 2013Volume 23 Number 8
Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage
PAIDFort Myers, FLPermit No. 139
SWFAL APWU Updates On Wide Range OfIssues Of Importance To Postal Employees
THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER FOR ALL MEMBERS OF THE SOUTHWEST FLORIDA AREA LOCAL AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION
SWFAL-APWU WEBSITE UPDATE
As of last month, our Local's websitehas had over 6.3 million hits sinceApril, 2009. I could have never imag-ined the success when I began put-ting the site together. I am very proudof all of the information that our Localsupplies to not only our members, butto all Postal employees around thecountry.
Last month, I created a page forour Postal Support Employees(PSE's). If you have questions thatarise concerning PSE's, it shouldbe available on that web page.There will be continuous updatesto the page as informationbecomes available.
The website address is:www.swfloridaapwu.org
APWU (STATE OF FLORIDA)FALL SEMINAR
The State of Florida APWU FallSeminar will be held here in FortMyers from August 21 - August 24,2013, at the Crown Plaza at theBell Tower Shops.
Union Representatives from allover the state of Florida will be inattendance for this training semi-nar.
On Wednesday, August 21, FloridaLocal Union Presidents will meetto discuss issues from each localand discuss ways to deal withproblems facing our members.This meeting is for localPresidents and/or their designees.
Also on Wednesday, all APWURetirees who are members ingood standing are invited to all ofthe following:
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
10:15 am - NoonBoard Meeting (Optional)
12:15 - 1:45pmComplementary Lunch(You may bring up to one guest).
2:00 - 4:00pmRetirement Seminar
Retirees who plan on attendingthis Seminar should notify Daveor Phyllis Bernstein via phoneat (813) 839-4233 or e-mail [email protected]
Thursday, August 22, 2013
9:00am - NoonGeneral Assembly - Introduction ofState and National Officers
1:30pm - 5:00pmClerk / Maintenance / MotorVehicle Craft Forums
Friday, August 23, 2013
All Day FridayUnion Representative TrainingClasses
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Saturday MorningUnion Representative TrainingClasses
On Saturday morning there will bea Retirement Class taught by BradPate from 10am - 1:00pm. This isa class on "Understanding andMaximizing your FederalBenefits." Anyone wishing toattend this class, please call theUnion Office at (239) 275-1007and reserve a spot for this class.
PSE TRANSFERS
There are no provisions to takeyour seniority with you as a PSE toanother Postal Installation. Itseems as though some PSE'shave been getting the wrong infor-mation concerning transfers. If youare contacted by management orare interested in a transfer, pleasecontact your Union Representativeprior to accepting a transfer. If not,you may find out that you madethe wrong decision.
Also, please do not sign any docu-ments that are not official whenprompted by management to doso. If you are unsure aboutwhether the document is officialor not, ask for your UnionRepresentative prior to signing thedocument. If management givesyou a direct order to sign the
Sam WoodPresident
SWFAL APWU
Southwest Florida Area Local 11000 Metro Parkway, Unit 8 Fort Myers, FL 33966
Alva, Bokeelia, Bonita Springs, Captiva,Chokoloskee, Estero, Fort Myers,
Fort Myers Beach, Immokalee, Labelle,Lehigh Acres, Marco Island, Naples, Placida,
Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Rotunda,St. James City and Sanibel
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
See PRESIDENT’S REPORTContinued on Page 6
IN THIS EDITION OF
THE EAGLE’S EYEPresident’s Report
SWFAL APWU Updates OnWide Range Of Issues Of ImportanceTo Postal Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Secretary-Treasurer’s Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
APWU Stewards Work To Communicate Correct Information In The Workplace . . 3
Bullies In The WorkplaceWhen Will USPS ManagementCare About It?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Management Bullying Of PSE’s Must Stop . . 4
Absences Of Three Days Or Less. . . . . . . . . . 4
Safety Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Working Together Hand In Hand . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Take It Back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Truth About Postal Finances . . . . . . . . . . 7
SWFAL Membership News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
PROUD MEMBER
2 THE EAGLE’S EYE AUGUST 2013
Southwest Florida
Area Local, APWU11000 Metro Parkway, Unit 8
Fort Myers, FL 33966
239-275-1007
Open 9am-3pm, Monday-Friday
WEBSITE ADDRESS
www.swfloridaapwu.org
PRESIDENT
Sam Wood
239-823-APWU
VICE-PRESIDENT
Dan Gray
239-834-2736
SECRETARY-TREASURER
Felicia Gluhareff
CLERK CRAFT DIRECTOR
Paul McAvoy
MAINTENANCE CRAFT
DIRECTOR
Mickey Szymonik
239-834-2900
EDITOR
Kathy Moyer
MOTOR VEHICLE CRAFT
DIRECTOR
Vacant
TRUSTEES
Daniel Carinci
Grace Baer
David Grant
SAFETY & HEALTH
COMMITTEE
David Grant
Wendy Skaff
CONSTITUTION COMMITTEE
Dan Gray, Chairman
Felicia Gluhareff
Paul McAvoy
Kathy Moyer
NATIONAL MAILING ADDRESS
Per Capita Section
APWU, AFL-CIO
1300 L Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
FLORIDA POSTAL WORKER
The Florida Postal Worker
P.O. Box 8363
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33310
www.apwuflorida.org
July, 21, 2013
Secretary - Treasurer’s Report
Felicia Gluhareff
CALL TO ORDER:
Time: 9:30 a.m.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:
The pledge of allegiance was
led by Barbara Carr.
ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS:
Felicia Gluhareff performed the
roll call of officers. Present were
Sam Wood, Dan Gray, Paul
McAvoy, Felicia Gluhareff,
Mickey Szymonik and Kathy
Moyer.
MAP:
Barbara Carr and Robert
Nowall both told a joke in honor
of Charles Glennon.
NEW MEMBERS:
Welcome new members
Meschla Valbrun, James
Dickover, Reiner Moreno,
Carey Lambert, Allen Franklin
and Peter Dojcsan.
EXECUTIVE BOARDMINUTES:
Attendance discipline being
ramped up at the plant. Letter to
PSEs regarding layoff and
transfers. This issue will be
addressed in an article included
in this month’s Eagle’s Eye.
When you have a question for
the executive board and they
do not answer their phone
please leave your question in
their voicemail to avoid playing
phone tag. If that is not possible
please send an email with your
question. Our president, vice
president and clerk craft direc-
tor all work tour 1 hours so they
may not be available at the time
of your call. Sam Wood added a
PSE page to our local’s web-
site, www.swfloridaapwu.org,
we encourage our PSE mem-
bers to check it out. When
PSEs hit 360 days they cannot
roll over their annual leave, you
will receive reimbursement for
you leave in the form of acheck. Bokeelia grievanceswere also discussed.
SECRETARY- TREASURER’SREPORT:Paul McAvoy made a motion toaccept the minutes as reportedin last month’s Eagle’s Eye. Themotion passed. National APWUhas to be contacted to take outthe correct dues for PSEs.
REPORT/ SELECTION OFCOMMITTEES:Grace Baer reported for thehospitality committee for the fallseminar. Danny Carinci hassecured the food for the hospi-tality room through Publix. Wereceived a check for $250 fordrinks and state APWU will alsobe providing some beverages.
REPORT OF CONVENTIONCOMMITTEE:None.
REPORT OF TRUSTEES:None.
COMMUNICATIONS:National APWU sent a letterasking about delayed mail. Bidreversions. August 5th throughSeptember 6th Congress willbe in recess. President Guffyasks that members reach out toCongress during that time.Letter requesting labor/mgmt.meeting July 23rd.
OLD BUSINESS:Marco issues discussed.Carriers still performing clerkwork. We must continue to doc-ument when other crafts ormanagement are performingclerk work. PSEs must be cred-ited to the proper office whenmoved between one or moreoffices. An information requestcan be submitted to manage-ment to confirm that they arecredited to the office in whichthey are working at that time.Some stations are taking out orplanning on taking out POSmachines that are located in theback.
NEWBUSINESS:Retirementseminar willbe held on August 21st. SamWood will send out information.If you do not receive this infor-mation and are interestedplease contact him.
LABOR/ MANAGEMENTMEETING:Management requesting ameeting on July 23rd at 8:30a.m.
GOOD AND WELFARE:The winner of the COPA 50/50drawing was Julio Mayo whowon $32.00. The total nettedwas $64.00. Julio donated $12of his winnings back to COPA.The name drawn for the mem-ber’s incentive award wasVincent Garvis. He would havewon $100.00 had he been pres-ent at the GMM.
ELECTION OF OFFICERSAND DELEGATES:None
LEFTOVERS:Sam Wood thanks KarenD’Angelo for helping him gatherinformation for Labor Charges.Barbara Carr informed us thatpast state president CharlieRedd passed away. Our localsent a card to his family. WIFIpassword for union membershas been changed at plant, seeyour steward for the new pass-word.
ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS:The roll call of officers was per-formed and recorded.
NEXT MEETING:Robert Nowall moved to havethe next meeting on August18th, 2013 at 9:30 a.m. at theunion hall. The motion passed.
ADJOURNMENT:Robert Nowall moved toadjourn at 10:55 a.m. Themotion passed.
Secretary-Treasurer’s ReportFelicia Gluhareff
AUGUST 2013 THE EAGLE’S EYE 3
This is not thefirst time Ihave writtenan article onthe subject ofrumors ori n c o r r e c tin fo rmat ionthat is relayedto you atwork. Wework in awork placewhere rumors swirl around almoston a constant basis. Please, whenyou hear something that doesn'tsound correct or is off the wall, ver-ify the information yourself.
I recently found out that duringtraining for Tour 3 AutomationClerks at the P&DC, employeeswere told that I was on an OSHAcommittee and that the Union hadapproved the new feeding tablesthat were soon to be utilized on theDBCS’s.
Funny thing; I am not on anyOSHA committee and our local didnot help design the feeding tablesor help approve them. The onlyinteraction I have had with OSHAconcerned the charges I filedagainst management for improper-ly disciplining employees for acci-dents and the improper staffing onthe DBCSs.
The APWU at the national levelinstructed all locals in 2009 to fileOSHA charges on the DBCSsrelated to ergonomic safety issueswith these machines. The newfeeding tables that are going to beutilized were one of many recom-mendations that were suggestedto the USPS to correct theergonomic issues with the DBCSs.
It was also suggested that theDBCSs, be slowed down, short-ened in length, limits on the height
(reduce number of tiers), allowmore breaks for employees work-ing on the DBCSs and increasenumber of employees working onthe machine.
The USPS ignored all of these rec-ommendations and many othersand decided to go with the feedingtables instead so they can claimthey did something concerning theergonomic safety issues.
Remember the Postal Service hasnow had over a decade to correctergonomic safety issues with theDBCSs, but have done little if any-thing.
We have many employees whoare a constant source of bad infor-mation; this includes both bargain-ing unit and non-bargaining unitemployees.
One of the other constantly repeat-ed rumors is that Manasota is nolonger going to be consolidatedwith the Fort Myers P&DC. This isalso false; the latest excessingreport from our APWU RegionalCoordinator sent to our local clear-ly shows the excessing informa-tion for Manasota.
The recent and temporary use ofManasota to run DPS mail forother facilities is just that - tempo-rary. Manasota is still slated to beconsolidated into the Fort MyersP&DC in 2014.
The USPS will first have to changeovernight delivery standardsbefore they can consolidateManasota Plant into Fort Myers,P&DC.
Funny thing; it is the same employ-ees who relay the inaccurate infor-mation all the time, yet people stilllisten to them. Remember the oldsaying "kiss me once, shame on
you - kiss me twice, shame onme."
It baffles me on how uninformedmany people are concerning theirown workplace and life in general.With the continuing change in thePostal Service, sometimes on adaily basis, it is nice to stay up todate. It never makes sense to buryyour head and ignore what isgoing on around you, rememberthings do not just go away.
Still my favorite is when a Manageror Supervisor claims that theUnion agreed to something that isa complete lie or totally unbeliev-able. Ask to see it in writing or askto see your Union Steward to veri-fy the information. It would begreat if we could blindly trust man-agement, but the reality is, wecannot. Now not all Managers andSupervisors will lie and misleadyou. However, there are far toomany that do, so it is important tocheck with your Union Steward.
Remember you must ask yoursupervisor to see your UnionSteward so they can file a griev-ance on your behalf. The Unionhas the burden of proof in a con-tractual grievance. Managementhas the burden of proof in disci-pline.
Do not complain about thingswhen you refuse to do anythingabout them. The proper procedurefor Steward Release is when anemployee requests to see aUnion Steward; normally, a stew-ard/employee will be releasedwithin two (2) hours of his/herrequest.
If the condition cannot be met, thesupervisor will notify thesteward/employee of the reasonsfor the delay. Normally, the stew-ard/employee will be released
before the end of the tour.
However, if the steward/employeeis not released within that timeframe, the steward/employee mustbe released immediately upon thebeginning of his/her next tour ofduty. In the event a steward oremployee is delayed until theirnext tour, the steward/employeeshould notify the supervisor of theprior request.
Management does not dictate ifyou have a grievance or not, onlythe Union determines if you have agrievance or not. Also, at StepOne, it is your grievance not man-agements or the Unions.
Now at Step Two, the grievancebelongs to the Union to determinethe remedy or if it is a valid griev-ance. So don't let a supervisorblow you off and tell you that youdon't have a grievance.Remember, management does notdecide whether you have a griev-ance or not.
This year is election year forNational Officers of the APWU.Please become informed andvote. It is really sickening to seethe low turnout of voting members.You have no excuse not to vote.
You are mailed a self-addressedand stamped envelope to mailback your ballot. We all work inoffices with the ability to send let-ters out. What could possibly beyour excuse?
You only have to check the appro-priate boxes and lick the envelopeshut. You are also generating busi-ness for your own livelihood.
Remember if you have any ques-tions or concerns ask to see yourUnion Steward.
APWU Stewards Work To CommunicateCorrect Information In The Workplace
Daniel M. GrayVice PresidentSWFAL APWU
Truth has a way of coming to thesurface for observation. Theamount of time before it happens,or the manner in which it happens,is not very predictable, but sooneror later, it happens.
Once truth comes to the surface,and is laid open for all to see, itneeds to matter to someone. Afterall, wrongdoing by managementneeds quick remedies if its dam-ages are to be limited to the great-est extent.
Bullying in the workplace is agrowing phenomenon. Anyone lis-tening to the pulse of Americanworkplaces is aware of this fact.
Bullying in any organization can-not thrive if front line supervisorsknow their conduct will not be tol-erated. Again, it takes someone inmanagement to care about theproblem of management bullies inthe workplace.
At Bokeelia Post Office, I havewatched the number of grievancesskyrocket over the past few yearsbecause of management’s desireto extinguish the union presencewe have here. Those that havesupported the truth, that haveassisted me in getting the truth outin the open, have themselvesbeen bullied, targeted and hadtheir work efforts sabotaged. What
kind of manager would go to suchextreme measures? Obviously, amanager who did not have anyconcern about wrongful conduct,or being held accountable for it.Additionally, who could ever trustan individual supervisor that wouldreport fiction about an employee’swork, as if it were fact?
The issue of workplace bullying isone that crosses political lines andit needs to. I have heard conserva-tive and liberal comentatorsexpress their concern about bully-ing in the workplace and its dam-aging and costly consequences.The fact that the truth about work-place bullying is starting to come
to the surface is a good sign. Itgives workers hope that employ-ers who ignore this issue are notgoing to be able to do so thatmuch longer.
Over the last few years legislationhas been proposed in severalstates that address workplace bul-lying. Although little of this legisla-tion has been adopted into law asyet, support contines to grow forhelp for bullied employees. Ifemployers continue to sanctionbullying in their workplaces by sim-ply ignoring it, they may ultimatelybe faced with increasing liabilities.
Kathy Moyer, Editor
Bullies In The WorkplaceWhen Will USPS Management Care About It?
4 THE EAGLE’S EYE AUGUST 2013
In the lastmonth aP&DC super-visor hascalled PSEclerks stupid,t h r e a t e n e dthem withtheir job andtotally disre-s p e c t e dthem.
Sam Wood had a talk with Dorindaand mentioned the fact that PSE'swere complaining about the waythey were talked to by an individ-ual supervisor. Dorinda said shewould talk to her about the matterand make sure it was corrected.
That very night when this supervi-sor had her service talk with thePSE's, she told them, "I hear youdon't like the way I speak to you. Ifyou don't like the way I speak toyou, you can just quit. There areplenty of people out there whowould just love to take your place".
This is a classic case of supervisorbullying.
No employee should have to cometo work and listen to those kind ofthreats and work under that pres-sure. This has been addressedfurther by both management andunion and although she is betterthan she was, this supervisor stillhas problems with dealing withpressure and treating people withdignity and respect.
will occur on SEP. 7, 2013. Thereare a minimum of 55 PSE Clerkpositions that will be eliminated.You will start a new period of sen-iority if you should reassign out ofyour bid cluster. There are only afew PSE clerks at the ManasotaP&DC location currently, so youmay end up with a higher standingon register than you currently holdat this time. For example, currentseniority date 8/1/11, rank 9 wouldchange to 8/24/13 rank 4. If a con-version occurs within the installa-tion, you will be the 4th personconverted instead of the 9th per-son converted.
This despicable tactic is pureunadulterated bullstuff. This is apower play move by managementto manipulate PSE's into thinkingthey are better off driving 90 mileswith the chance of being convertedin an office that is still slated to beclosing in March of 2014.
Why would they convert any PSEin Manasota now? We have 30open bids in Fort Myers P&DC cur-rently and they don't want to con-vert any PSE’s.
This is why they wanted no unionstewards present when they gavethe PSE's this form. This is one ofthe sleaziest, distasteful stunts Ihave ever seen management pulloff.
Although they may decide to let afew PSE’s go it would only be fora very short time because busy
season kicks in and they wouldhave to bring them back anyway.The 55 number is district wide, andencompasses well over 100offices. We cannot clear the mail,or do we have sufficient staffing tooperate efficiently now. How canthey justify letting PSE’s go. Wehave clerks working by them-selves on a DBCS every night nowand they want to reduce staffing.
This form had to filled out witheither interested or not interested,signed and returned. Managementwas going through this process sothey could pick and choose whichPSE’s they wanted to send. Thecontract is quite clear on this, thatwhen PSE’s are let go because oflack of work it is done by juniorityand brought back by seniority.
All PSE's in the Fort Myers biddinginstallation are past their proba-tionary period. This means theyhave bargaining unit rights andmust be dealt with according to theCollective Bargaining Agreement.
PSE's do have the right to filegrievances and if you feel you areaggrieved please ask your super-visor to see a steward and give usa statement. It does make a differ-ence on how you may be treated.If management can take advan-tage of you they will. PSE's, if anyof your fellow PSE's are not mem-bers yet, please ask them to join.
We will protect your rights.
When a PSE leaves one facilityand transfers to another facility ina different installation, they go tothe bottom of the seniority list.They do not carry their senioritywith them.
Management has been tellingsome PSE's that when they trans-fer they keep their seniority datefrom the facility from which theyleft. This is not true. Clerk CraftPSE's accrue clerk craft standingon the roll within the category ofPSE from their original date ofemployment within the craft andinstallation, regardless of anybreak in service as a PSE, includ-ing all time spent as a clerk craftPSE within the installation. That isbased on language from the JCIMArticle 37, page 8 (Q&A #35).
Management had a service talkwith the PSE's and handed themall a form titled; PSE REPLYFORM SUNCOAST DISTRICT.They were told they must read thisform, sign it, and give the formback before they left the servicetalk. A PSE asked to have a unionsteward present and this requestwas ignored by the supervisorspeaking to them. This is what thisform said;
Manasota P&DC, Tampa and afew associate offices in customerservice have positions availablefor any PSE clerk wishing to reas-sign. As a result of the AMPEvents, there will be a reduction ofPSE Clerks in your installation that
Management Bullying Of PSE’s Must Stop
Paul McAvoyClerk Craft Director
SWFAL APWU
Through the application of ERMS,local management is improperlyrequiring (deeming desirable)employees to submit medical doc-umentation or other acceptableevidence for absences of 3 days orless.
The Postal Service has an obliga-tion to adhere to Article 10 of theNational Agreement and applica-ble provisions of subchapter 510of the Employee Labor RelationsManual before an employee canbe required to submit medical doc-umentation for absences of 3 daysor less.
Remember, you are required tosubmit valid medical documenta-tion or other acceptable evidence
upon your return to work if man-agement requests it. Failure toprovide the requested documenta-tion could result in the denial ofpaid leave even if the absence isFMLA-protected.
Your health care provider’s notemust state that you were incapaci-tated or unable to workfor theentire duration of your absence. Ifyou have been deemed improper-ly, ask to see a steward to file agrievance for time, mileage, andall out-of-pocket expensesincurred in obtaining acceptabledocumentation.
In solidarity,Grace BaerT2 and T3 Steward
Absences Of ThreeDays Or Less
AUGUST 2013 THE EAGLE’S EYE 5
Okay, so theUSPS is con-cerned aboutall of itsemployees ’safety.
We havesafety talksevery day, orat least weplay catch-upwhen PE6audits areimminent, or there is actually animminent danger forecast for ourarea.
For instance, this past April's tor-nado warnings that had manage-ment at the Fort Myers P&DCshepherding its employees to a"Shelter In Place" in the old CFSarea of our facility.
Wait, let's back up a few dayswhen suddenly, around the Plant,"Shelter In Place" placardsshowed up in various spotsaround our workplace. "What'sthis?" "What does it mean?" Atleast those were the questions I
heard...and had myself. What? Nosafety talk on these cryptic mes-sages suddenly being posted?
Well, we found out, not exactly ina timely manner, but we found out.But only after the aforementionedday of the tornado warnings.
"Shelter In Place" meant that anyarea designated as such was aninterior place, without windows,that would be considered a safehaven, even in the event of a tor-nado.
While being ushered past the"Shelter In Place" signs postedoutside the restroom/lockerrooms, and past the array of doorsand windows in which it would beadvised not to "shelter in place", Iasked my manager if it was wiseto be taking this route in the eventof a tornado. Her response was"Well, that's a good question toask when we get there."
"If we get there", I thought.
Anyway, thanks be to God, wearrived safely in the designated
CFS "Shelter In Place" area. Theemployees questions and con-cerns were heard and notated forfurther study. I have not seen anew SOP on this matter yet.
Now let's move ahead to the"Active Shooter in the Building"mandatory safety presentation.This event was proctored by asafety representative from theDistrict and an EAP counsellor.
The employees were instructed to"shout out, get out, or hide out."Any of these you could do safely,do so. Good advice, but the ques-tions from the peanut gallery(employees) raised some furtherflaws in the Plant's emergencyplans.
For instance, if an employee with-out badge access to the Plantfloor from the administration area,or from the administration area tothe Plant floor was trapped by anactive shooter in the area, youreally didn't have a lot of options.
When this dismal reality wasbroached by employee questions,
the facilitator of this discussionmerely stated that managementhad the right to determine whomhad access to where.
The facilitator also cautioned usnot to pull the fire alarm in an"active shooter" situation becausewe did not want firemen to showup. We needed law enforcementto show up.
Imagine her surprise (and ours) tofind out that the Plant's fire alarmpull stations do not summon thefire department. The alarm onlyalerts the employees to evacuatethe building. The facilitatorseemed nonplussed by this factand stated that this piece of infor-mation may need to be looked intofurther.
Again, I have not been madeaware of any change in the FortMyers P&DC SOP in regards tothis issue.
On a positive note, the EAP guysaid he'd be there for us.
Peace, love, prosperity.
Safety Matters
Mickey SzymonikMaintenance Craft
DirectorSWFAL APWU
Greetings toall of myA m e r i c a nP o s t a lWorker Unionbrothers andsisters. I amhoping toremind - wemust all workt o g e t h e r ,hand in hand.
Part of work-ing togethermeans supporting other workers in
other unions across our coun-try. We can do this
when we look
for theunion label andpurchase productsmade by our unionbrothers and sisters.
American made by union workersis a sign of quality. It is important tothink about. Not only that, unionmade products and services arecomparably priced. You can’t getbetter value than that. A qualitymade product at great pricesmade by American workers.
When we buy union, we supportAmerican workers and Americanjobs. Working hand and hand,together, with our union brothersand sisters, is best for everyone.Union workers are paid a livablewage, have better benefit pack-ages and have better working con-ditions than their non-union coun-terparts. These good union jobsgive workers and their families ahigher standard of living than theywould otherwise be able to attain.We know this first hand from ourown experiences in the USPS.
Upon retirement, our union negoti-ated benefits are still with us,
helping provide
p e n s i o n sand health
benefits to usfrom union negoti-
ated contracts of previ-ous generations of workers. Thesebenefits help protect our manyyears of dedication to our jobs.
So next time we shop for a productor service, let’s remember to lookfor the union label. Let’s all worktogether, hand in hand, supportingour union brothers and sisters.
Working TogetherHand In Hand
Vivianne FinleyAlternateSteward
Tice StationSWFAL APWU
6 THE EAGLE’S EYE AUGUST 2013
4) There are 2705 careeremployees in the SuncoastDistrict (Function 1 - MailProcessing) compared to2900 in October, 2011. Overthe same period, non-careerstaffing went from 119 to 424employees.
5) There are 1625 careeremployees in the SuncoastDistrict (Function 4 -Customer Service) comparedto 2047 in October, 2011.Over the same period, noncareer staffing went from 67to 302 employees.
6) There are 4385 career NALCemployees in the SuncoastDistrict compared to 4680 inOctober, 2011. Over thesame period, non-careerstaffing went from 296 to 658employees.
7) The Suncoast District ranksas #33 out of 67 districtoffices in performance.
NEW USPS INITIATIVES ANDMACHINERY
Please try not to laugh. It is amaz-ing to me what these USPS man-agers come up with. Some seemlegitimate, but then again whenyou have idiots who implementthese plans, it never quite worksout correctly.
1) CommunicationsAmbassador Programis intended to provide bettercommunication in the work
place. The plan is to haveone (1) Ambassador in eachfacility who will be a craftemployee who will work withan EAS Senior Ambassador.Let’s see how this one worksout. Too Funny!
2) PASS Machinesthere are already 40 of thesedeployed in the SuncoastDistrict and are about 30%accurate. I am sure the USPS isproud of this investment so far.
3) PASS Lite Machinesthese are scan machines notyet deployed.
4) DSS Machinesthese are ring scanners thatscan parcels and audibly callour route numbers and mayhave the ability to come witha headset.
5) Express Mail name changedto "Priority Express Mail",of course there will be someminor changes in thehandling, processing andinsurance claims. With theway that the USPS is going,maybe the name should havebeen changed to "PonyExpress Mail."
6) Day Certain Deliverythis allows competition withFed Ex and UPS. This is agood move as we shouldbe competing with ourcompetition.
7) Lean Mail Processing (LMP)
the intent is to reduce cycletime, reduce waste, improveefficiency, improve serviceperformance and increaseemployee satisfaction. Thisprogram will see MailProcessors receiving refresherclasses and instructions onhow to reduce injuries and tobe ergonomically compliant.Tampa will be the test site forthe Southern Area.
I really hate to sound negativeabout new initiatives, but let’s faceit, the managers that control theUSPS are not about improving thePostal Service. Whenever man-agers need to come up with pro-gram after program to somehowshow that they are doing some-thing rather than to just do it, that'sa problem.
Coming up with programs like"Premier Post Offices" where theUSPS cleans up only certain PostOffices is way out of touch.Shouldn't all Post Offices alreadybe up to standards? Employeeswho have gone through training forthe "Premier" program have toldme that it is a joke. I say it is onemore way to waste time andmoney.
I can only hope that someday theywill find a good PostmasterGeneral that will return the USPSback to a great institution so that itwill prosper for many years tocome.
My thanks to Joe Paul for his helpin providing the information above.
document, simply write by yourname "Management forced me tosign this document."
JOINT LABOR / MANAGEMENTMEETING - JULY 2013
Management admitted that 2006was the year that the USPS begantheir financial decline. Ironically,that is when Congress passed thebill to force the USPS to pre-fundretiree health benefits for 75 yearsinto the future.
Some statements made bySuncoast District Managers:
1) The USPS showed a $3.1million dollar loss so far in2013 but would have actuallybroke even without thepre-funding mandate.
2) Mail volume continues todecline.
3) There are over 121,000non-career USPS employees(the most ever). The non-career employees are madeup from Postal SupportEmployees (PSE's)represented by the AmericanPostal Workers Union(APWU), City CarrierAssistants (CCA's) represent-ed by the NALC, and MailHandler Assistants (MHA's)represented by the NPMHU.
PRESIDENT’S REPORTContinued from Page 1
About twoyears ago theE.T.s at theFort MyersP&DC (aswell as otherp r o c e s s i n gf a c i l i t i e saround thecountry) wereissued laptopcomputers.
These lap-tops were tobe used as a troubleshooting toolfor servicing mail processingequipment. The purpose was toimprove overall efficiency andreduce down time.
A few months ago, and for reasonsunknown, this program was aban-doned by Suncoast District main-tenance management and the
E.T.s were given the choicewhether or not to return theirassigned laptops. If you chose tokeep your laptop (as I did) thenyou were required to log-in (to aUSPS secured Website) once aweek.
A few days ago I received noticethat my laptop was to be confiscat-ed or I would be disciplinedbecause I had not logged in for thepast five weeks.
Of course this is a bunch of crapbecause I do log in every week. Ifa user is able to log on to asecured site, utilize the functionswithin that site, but not be recog-nized at having been at that site,indicates a problem, but not at theuser end.
But the powers-that-be say other-wise and I must turn in my
assigned laptop or be disciplined. Iwould think that they would beinterested in knowing why thisbreech in security occurredinstead of issuing discipline forsomething that never happened.
Oh well, what do I know? I justaccept the situation for what it isand decided to access myassigned laptop one last time. Iwanted to copy all my collectednotes and info as well as to deletemy personal information. Imaginemy surprise when lo and behold, Iwas locked out of my assignedcomputer.
The question now is what authori-ty does the USPS have over anemployee’s right to protect theirpersonal and private information?
Evidently the USPS does not wantto go down that road (in this situa-
tion anyway) and reason pre-vailed. I did what I had to do andnow a perfectly good laptop (thatwas being used weekly) will endup somewhere unused and wast-ed along with all the hundreds ofothers that were turned in .
The USPS does come up with agood idea sometimes and in myopinion, this laptop program wasone of them. If Management hadfollowed up with the implementa-tion then this could have worked.Unfortunately some bureaucratictalking head decided somethingdifferent for the wrong reasons.
Be careful with what the USPSgives you. They just might take itback.
Take It Back
Scott J. WiserTour 1 Maintenance
StewardFort Myers P&DC
SWFAL APWU
AUGUST 2013 THE EAGLE’S EYE 7
8 THE EAGLE’S EYE AUGUST 2013
Your ElectedOfficials
President Barack ObamaWeb Site:
www.whitehouse.govE-mail:
[email protected]: 202-456-1414
Fax: 202-456-2461Capital Address:
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NWWashington, DC 20500
Senator Bill NelsonWeb Site:
www.billnelson.senate.govE-mail:
[email protected]: 202-224-5274
Fax: 202-228-2183Capital Address:
716 Hart Senate OfficeBuilding
Washington, DC 20510-0905District Office:
Tallahassee, FLDistrict Phone: 850-942-8415
Senator Marco RubioPhone: 202-224-3041
Fax: 202-228-5171Capital Address:
524 Hart Senate OfficeBuilding
Washington, DC 20510-0903District Office:
Tallahassee, FLDistrict Phone: 813-207-0509
Our members live in several dif-ferent districts. For your repre-sentative’s information, go towww.congress.org. Enter yourzip code and the web site doesthe rest. You can e-mail most ofyour representatives at oncewith a click of your mouse atthis web site. Their votingrecords are also available here.Check it out! Let them knowhow you feel, it’s your DUTY!
THE EAGLE’S EYE
EDITORIAL POLICY
The Eagle’s Eye is the official pub-lication of the Southwest FloridaArea Local, APWU, AFL-CIO. Theeditor has the right to determinewhether the material submittedshall be printed, and has the rightto edit as needed. It is the policy ofthis newsletter to disallow anyattacks on individuals. Opinionsexpressed are those of the writers,and not necessarily those of theExecutive Board. The deadline forsubmission of all articles is the dayof the monthly membership meet-ing. You must be an APWU mem-ber to submit an article. Name maybe withheld upon request. All arti-cles may be reprinted with propercredit given. Captions/cartoonsmay only be reprinted upon writtenpermission of the editor.
Southwest Florida Area LocalMembership News
We wish to extend our welcome toall new employees coming onboard by inviting you to our nextSWFAL APWU meeting on August18, 2013, at the Union Hall locatedat 11000 Metro Parkway, Unit 8, inFort Myers. Meetings are heldonce a month on Sunday at9:30am. Be united, protect yourjob and discover the many benefitsof becoming a member of theSWFAL APWU. Join us at our nextmeeting - united we can make a
positive difference in our work-places.
For those of you that haverecently retired who wish tocontinue receiving The Eagle’sEye newspaper, please email theEditor at [email protected] or callKaren at our local APWU office at239-275-1007.
We want to encourage our mem-bers to email information to the
editor regarding marriages, gradu-ations, special events or achieve-ments of our employees, or theirfamilies, at [email protected]. Wewill be pleased to include as manymember announcements as possi-ble.