Non-Profit Org.U.S. Postage

PAIDFort Myers, FLPermit No. 139

THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER FOR ALL MEMBERS OF THE SOUTHWEST FLORIDA AREA LOCAL AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION

DESIRABLE DUTY ASSIGNMENTS

Due to management initiating theOperational Window Change(OWC), earlier this year, I havereceived numerous questionsand/or complaints concerning theposting or reposting of duty assign-ments. Article 37.3.A.1 states that,"Every effort will be made to createdesirable duty assignments from allavailable work hours for careeremployees to bid."

There are numerous items to lookat and questions to ask in order toproperly review and contractuallyenforce that sentence. 1) What arethe available hours? 2) Whodecides those available hours? 3)Are PSE's working more desirablehours than the career employees?4) What does the term desirablemean in each individual's situa-tion? 5) Who determines what isand isn't desirable?

Some believe that the Uniondecides what is or is not desirable.Some believe that the Union hasfull control on what duty assign-ments are posted. These assump-tions are false. It is management'sjob to decide what duty assign-ments are to be posted from allavailable hours and make anattempt to make those dutyassignments desirable. Most ofthe time, desirable means thatthese duty assignments would bebid on by someone. However, any-one can challenge via the griev-ance procedure if they believe thatmanagement is not posting thebids (using all available hours) asdesirable duty assignments.

What I have found is that with thechange in the OWC, not manyoffices have career employeesthat want these earlier hours. Inthose cases, employees workingin those offices would have todetermine if non career employeeswere working more desirablehours during other times (Note:they would have to have enoughhours worked to justify a bid beingposted). In those cases, employ-ees would file a grievance arguingthe need to post bids in accor-dance with Article 37.3.A.1requesting the undesirable bid tobe reposted.

NON TRADITIONAL FULL TIMEDUTY ASSIGNMENTS (NTFT)

In 2011, locals around the countrywere forced to negotiate NonTraditional Full Time DutyAssignments (NTFT's). The major-ity of reasons that they were nego-

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

September 2015Volume 25 Number 9

tiated in Southwest Florida weredue to the many conversions ofPart Time Flexible's (PTF's) to FullTime status. The main twoInstallations that had NTFT's wereMarco Island and PuntaGorda/Port Charlotte. The PuntaGorda Installation had over 15PTF's that were converted to FullTime. The Postmaster at the time(Kevin Sullivan) wanted mostly all30 hour NTFT's with almost half ofthem being Full Time Flexible jobs(meaning the hours could changeeach week). I fought to keep allduty assignments at or around 40hours and only a few were flexiblepositions. I kept the issue fromgoing to arbitration (where wecould have lost many work hoursand had many more flexible NTFTpositions made for those convert-ed employees). I made the rightchoice at that time.

Last month (August), we have nowvirtually eliminated all NTFTPositions in Southwest Florida.Nearly 100% of all duty assign-ments within our SouthwestFlorida Area Local have nowbecome Traditional Full Time DutyAssignments. This means thatalmost all of our Full Time posi-tions have at least two (2) days offduring each week. Not all localscan brag about that accomplish-ment. I am proud to have beenable to work with manyPostmasters to ensure that almostall of our career positions areTraditional Duty Positions insteadof NTFT's.

POSTAL SUPPORTEMPLOYEES (PSE'S)

Our local has also been successfulin converting some Postal SupportEmployees within the postal instal-lations that we represent. Thereare some locals who have not hadany conversions at all. I am veryconfident that more conversionswill be coming soon. Our local hasbeen negotiating behind the

A Review Of Bid Assignments And HowThe SWFAL APWU Secures Our Work

See: Bid AssignmentsContinued on Page 3

IN THIS EDITION OF

THE EAGLE’S EYEA Review Of Bid Assignments And How

The SWFAL APWU Secures Our Work. . . 1

Secretary-Treasurer’s Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

If You Bid It Or You Sign It You Own It . . . . . . 3

2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Be Aware Of The LimitationsOf Workman’s Comp Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Union Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Management Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Memo To Congress:Is Anyone Listening? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

SWFAL Membership News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Understanding Your Postal Benefits. . . . . . . . 8

PROUD MEMBER

2 THE EAGLE’S EYE SEPTEMBER 2015

Southwest Florida Area Local, APWU

11000 Metro Parkway, Unit 8

Fort Myers, FL 33966

239-275-1007

Open 9am-3pm, Monday-Friday

WEBSITE ADDRESSwww.swfloridaapwu.org

PRESIDENTSam Wood

SWoodFla@aol.com

239-823-APWU

VICE-PRESIDENTDan Gray

VPswfal@aol.com

239-834-2736

SECRETARY-TREASURERFelicia Gluhareff

SecTreaSWFAL@aol.com

CLERK CRAFT DIRECTORPaul McAvoy

ClerkCraftSWFAL@aol.com

MAINTENANCE CRAFTDIRECTOR

Mickey Szymonik

MaintdirSWFAL@aol.com

239-834-2900

MOTOR VEHICLE CRAFTDIRECTOR

Joe Fracek

joefracek@yahoo.com

EDITORKathy Moyer

EdSWFAL@aol.com

TRUSTEESDaniel Carinci

Grace Baer

David Grant

SAFETY & HEALTHCOMMITTEE

David Grant

Wendy Skaff

CONSTITUTION COMMITTEEDan Gray, Chairman

Grace Baer

Daniel Carinci

Felicia Gluhareff

David Grant

Paul McAvoy

Kathy Moyer

NATIONAL MAILING ADDRESSPer Capita Section

APWU, AFL-CIO

1300 L Street NW

Washington, DC 20005

FLORIDA POSTAL WORKERThe Florida Postal Worker

P.O. Box 8363

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33310

www.apwuflorida.org

General Membership MeetingMinutes

August 16, 2015

CALL TO ORDER:9:00 a.m. There were 18 mem-bers in attendance.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:The pledge of allegiance was ledby Eileen DiMase.

ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS:Felicia Gluhareff performed the rollcall of officers. Present were SamWood, Dan Gray, Paul McAvoy,Felicia Gluhareff, MickeySzymonik, Joe Fracek and KathyMoyer.

MAP:Barbara Carr told a joke in honorof Charles Glennon.

NEW MEMBERS:Welcome Valerie Hoover andManuel Aviles.

EXECUTIVE BOARD MINUTES:The refrigerator at the union halldied. We will be checking into get-ting a new/used one. The backdoor at the union hall has the alu-minum around the frame poppingoff. We will be contacting thecondo association to see if theywill fix it or if it is our responsibility.The executive board will be revisit-ing the steward list. Adjustmentswill need to be made to the consti-tution to accommodate some ofthe adjustments. We are alsorevisiting the idea of printing theEagle’s Eye every other monthinstead of every month. JohnCarioscia Sr. is asking for theendorsement of the SWFAL as heruns for Cape Coral city council.Mr. Carioscia has been a longtimesupporter of our local and evenattended the rally we had in frontof Connie Mack’s office severalyears ago. He currently has theendorsement of the Cape Coralfire department and Police unions.Paul McAvoy made a motion ask-ing for the members of theSWFAL-APWU to endorse JohnCarioscia Sr. for Cape Coral citycouncil. The motion passed.(While this was brought up at theexecutive board meeting, the actu-al motion was made and approvedduring the general membershipmeeting) John Carioscia isencouraging voters to submit theirmail in votes asap. The RI-399was discussed. The new nationalcontract was discussed. It is nowin mediation and progress is beingmade.

SECRETARY/TREASURER’SREPORT:Paul McAvoy made a motion toaccept the minutes as reported inlast month’s Eagle’s Eye. Themotion passed. Eileen DiMase

asked about the ownership of ourunion hall. We currently own theunit at 11000 Metro Parkway, Suite8, Fort Myers, Fl. 33966. We pay$500 to our condo association perquarter. There is currently a rumorgoing around that we own a condoon the beach. (This is a blatant lie.I personally label this a lie insteadof misconception since I can con-firm that the rumor spreaders havebeen to our union hall which is inan industrial area a solid 45 min-utes from the closest beach.)

REPORT/SELECTIONOF COMMITTEES:None

REPORT OFCONVENTION COMMITTEES:Danny Carinci and Grace Baerreported on the classes they took.They also reported that nationalwas very complimentary of ourlocal and our local’s website. SamWood and Dan Gray spoke on theFlorida President’s conferencethey attended.

REPORT OF TRUSTEES:None

COMMUNICATIONS:One person got out of the uniondue to going into a managementposition. APWU-ABA benefitswere discussed; there is informa-tion on this on our website if youare interested. Your union duescover the lower tier benefits andan ABA representative will be com-ing down soon to review otherbenefits that can be purchasedseparately. American LifeInsurance also offers accidentallife insurance to all dues payingmembers. There was a letter sentto Sam Wood addressing undesir-able bids. There are contractualprocedures to challenge undesir-able bids BUT specific criteriamust be met. Please ask yourunion steward if you have ques-tions regarding this. Also all clerksneed to be aware that if you arethe high / successful bidder on abid that you are qualified it, it willbe assigned to you.Meaning….you can’t change yourmind after the bid has been award-ed….it’s yours until you bid some-thing else. That being said . . .DON’T BID ON A BID YOU AREQUALIFIED ON AND DON’TWANT. AND . . . IF YOU WANT ABID, BID ON IT. Bids are assignedby the contract. We cannot changethe rules after the fact justbecause you changed your mind.The contract has clear rules thatapply to everyone which allows fora level playing field. It has alsobeen brought to our attention thatcertain clerks are claiming that theunion FORCED them to take a bid.This is total and complete non-sense. The union does not posesthe authority to FORCE anyone to

bid. If askedwe willexplain thec o n s e -quences ifyou choose not to bid, or if youchoose a specific bid. TheNational contract is available onAPWU.org for the convenience ofour members.

UPDATE OF GRIEVANCES:Sam Wood, Dan Gray and PaulMcAvoy met with labor at the plantconcerning the RI-399. Talks areprogressing and Sam will updateus of any further movement. The2:00 a.m. bid at Tice will becomeresidual and be posted on e-reas-sign as per the MOU.

OLD BUSINESS:None

NEW BUSINESS:Sandee Beckler asked for clarifi-cation regarding pool and reliefbids and being short staffed. In theevent of delayed mail, it is OIG thatwould be informed, not the PostalInspectors. When scanning at thestations, make sure you log out ofyour scanner if it is not in your pos-session. Also be aware that if youare falsely scanning mail as deliv-ered when it isn’t it may come backto haunt you in the form of disci-pline. Also be aware that it is thelast scan that counts when work-ing mail. Sandee also brought upthe importance of properly loggingthe reason for late scans on thelog sheet.

LABOR/MANAGEMENTMEETING:Hopefully one coming soon.

GOOD AND WELFARE:The winner of the COPA 50/50drawing was Eileen DiMase whowon $28. The total netted was$56. The name drawn for themember’s incentive award wasRobert Nowall who won $80. Thepot will start over at $50 at the nextgeneral membership meeting.

ELECTION OF OFFICERSAND DELEGATES:None

LEFTOVERS:None

ROLL CALL OF OFFICERSAND DELEGATES:Felicia Gluhareff performed the rollcall of officers. The results wererecorded.

NEXT MEETING:Robert Nowall moved to have thenext meeting on September 20,2015 at 9:30 a.m. at the union hall.The motion passed.

ADJOURNMENT:Robert Nowall moved to adjourn at10:42 a.m. The motion passed.Aloha from our fictitious beachfront union hall!

Secretary-Treasurer’s ReportFelicia Gluhareff

SEPTEMBER 2015 THE EAGLE’S EYE 3

the 3971's is not what the clerkreally wanted.

In discipline cases the controllingdocument or the documents ofrecord are the signed 3971s. If youwant FMLA and the 3971 says notFMLA on it, you must either crossit out or write FMLA requested onthe 3971.

You do not have to use the com-puter generated 3971 that man-agement generates for you. Youcan fill out your own with the infor-mation you want it to say - notwhat management wants.

If a 3971 has incorrect info on ityou do not have to sign it. Simplyrefuse to sign. Remember this is

your 3971 not management's.Once you sign it you own it.

As of the writing of this article,management has still not correctlyconverted the PSE's named in thearbitration award and their pay hasbeen a nightmare since the arbi-tration decision. Some of themhave not been paid. Others havebeen paid incorrectly and theirannual and sick leave is all jackedup.

Once again we are seeing SharedServices at its best. Anywhere elsein the business world someone, ora number of someones, would befired. Is HRSSC ever heldaccountable for their incompe-tence and all the mess ups?

until you can bid out. We have hadclerks at stations and at the Plantreceive bids and then not realizewhat kind of work is entailed on itand not want the bid anymore.

Once again, be careful what youbid because once you are award-ed the bid as successful bidderyou own it.

When you are out sick and man-agement brings you a 3971 to signbe sure all the info is correct on itbecause management will use itagainst you in discipline cases.

I have seen way too many times asituation in which an employeegets an investigative interview forattendance and the information on

There hasbeen a lot ofj o c k e y i n garound withbids since theOperat ionalW i n d o wChange wentinto effect inJanuary.

As I havewritten andtold peoplebefore - be careful what you bidbecause there is no guarantee youwill like it or that you will be able tobid back to your old job.

If you receive a bid that you arefully qualified in, that is your bid

If You Bid It Or You Sign It You Own It

Paul McAvoyClerk Craft Director

SWFAL APWU

scenes to make this a reality forother PSE's. I understand thatsome of you may be disappointedor frustrated with the delay. Pleaseunderstand that managementdoes not want to convert employ-ees, we have to either convince offorce these to occur. I believe thatgood news will be coming soon, soplease hang in there.

Those PSE's who were convertedat the Fort Myers P&DC are find-ing out that even when we win inarbitration, justice does take time.Our local will ensure that all pay,annual and sick leave and backpay issues will be awarded properly.

Dan Gray and Paul McAvoy haveworked with me in an attempt toget these issues taken care of asquickly as possible.

COMPLAINTS

I really do not understand why I gete-mails, calls and text messagesfrom individuals who simply wantto complain about what is going onin their office. The reality is, manycalls I get only result in the sameperson contacting me months laterstill complaining about the verysame issue. When I ask them ifthey filed a grievance, the answeris always, "NO".

Employees believe they will be ter-minated, harassed, or threatenedby management if they file a griev-ance, yet they live in fear and arebeing already harassed. Therehave been ZERO upheld removalsin our local on anything other thantheft, or employees that nevercome to work. As I stated in lastmonth's article, if an employeeworks at their own speed, man-agement has the burden of proofin arbitration. Our local has beenextremely successful in arbitra-

BIDASSIGNMENTSContinued from Page 1

tions versus management and wewelcome any discipline challengesagainst them.

If management is harassing orthreatening any employee, youhave the right to file EEO or NLRBcomplaints against them.

FLORIDA STATE SEMINAR ANDPRESIDENT'S CONFERENCE

Dan Gray and I attended theFlorida President's Conferencelast month and noticed the sameissues that we have locally are thesame or worse around the state. Itis my belief that we have a verystrong local compared to othersand what keeps us from beingeven stronger is our member’sinability to file grievances. Youwould be amazed at what will hap-pen if you simply decide to filegrievances when you see viola-tions occur. Our local is only asstrong as our members. Are youinvolved?

Grace Baer and Danny Carinciattended classes at the FloridaState Seminar and will havereports on what they learned. Ibelieve that they represented ourlocal at the high level that we areused to seeing from them. ThanksGrace and Danny!

Much of the contractual languagefor our new contract has beenresolved and signed off on. Whatremains is an agreement onwages and benefits. We are cur-rently in mediation on thoseissues. If these wages and benefitissues are resolved, there will be acontract to be voted on by themembership. If no agreement ismade in mediation, we will beheaded for arbitration.

It is my belief that neither partywants to go to arbitration, but toget to an agreement, somethinghas got to give. I just hope that westay strong and that the USPSgives in. Stay Tuned!

Over a yearaway andonce againelectoral poli-tics rears itsugly head.This timethere are 16Republicansrunning in theprimary. Thisalso includesthe currentleader in thepolls, Mr.Donald Trump, whom has alreadyshown that he is unafraid to takeon the business as usual estab-lishment conservatives. Indeed,Mr. Trump’s take no prisonersapproach and his disdain for politi-cal correctness has captured theattention of not only Republicansbut Democrats and Independents

as well.

On the other side of the aisle wehave the presumptive Democraticnominee and establishment liber-al, Hillary Clinton. She continuesto lead in the polls but her approvalratings continue to slide and heronce insurmountable lead hasdeclined significantly and thattrend continues. The current VicePresident Joe Biden has indicatedan interest in running but as of thiswriting, he has not announced oneway or the other. The biggest sur-prise so far has been the contin-ued success of Senator BernieSanders. His populist message isgaining momentum among themiddle class and he continues todraw record breaking crowds ofanxious people ready to hear apolitician who talks about actualissues that affect American

working families.

Trump’s as well as Sanders’ suc-cesses have been described asflukes and neither have anychance at all to win a nomination.So far the polls say otherwise. Themomentum is theirs either to con-tinue or to fail. We will see.

It may come down to who spendsthe most money on their candida-cy but with that money comes theobligation to those donors. Thosedonors are certainly not contribut-ing out of kindness. They are cer-tainly expecting a return on theirinvestment.

Trump has his own money so he isbeholden to nobody. Sanderscampaign gets its money fromthousands of individual donors.Clinton’s campaign draws money

from liberal super PACs. The othercandidates seek the approval ofthe Koch Brothers, SheldonAdelson and Karl Rove and theconservative Super PACs that theyrepresent.

All of this unlimited money is avail-able for political contributionsbecause of two Supreme Courtrulings. Citizens’ United vs. FECruled that corporations have thesame freedom of speech rights asindividuals. And McCutchen vs.FEC which stated that limitationson campaign contributions violatedthe freedom of speech provisionsof the 1st amendment.

Hopefully the next President of theUnited States will be elected onmerit and not because theyreceived the most money from thefewest donors.

2016

Scott J. WiserTour 1 Maintenance

StewardFort Myers P&DC

SWFAL APWU

4 THE EAGLE’S EYE SEPTEMBER 2015

Recently ac u s t o d i a nwho wasinjured in acar accidentd e l i v e r i n gmail to a sta-tion wasdenied by theDepartmentof LaborOWCP for hisw o r k m e n ’ scompensation claim.

Now this new denial was to hisappeal to his original claim thatwas filed and denied byDepartment of Labor OWCP.

The employee was directed todeliver mail by his supervisor andthe employee took a USPS vehicleand delivered the mail, but wasinvolved in a car accident in whichhe was injured. OWCP in theirdenial state that the custodian wasnot doing a function of his job andwas not at his designated job loca-tion and therefore determined thatit was not job related per OWCPrules.

Now management did write a letterfor the employee stating theydirected him to deliver the mail, butthis did not change theDepartment of Labor’s OWCPdenial.

We still have custodians deliveringmail and taking their personalvehicles also. If you do not havebusiness automobile insuranceand you are involved in an acci-dent your personal automobileinsurance will not cover you.

The following from the JCIM cov-ers the use of privately ownedvehicles.

“The parties agree that thefollowing represents the policyof the Postal Service and theAPWU concerning thefurnishing of privately ownedvehicles (POV) by bargainingunit employees, including PostalSupport Employees.

• No craft employee representedby the APWU may be coercedinto furnishing a vehicle orcarrying passengers withoutthe employee's consent. Theuse of a personal vehicle is thedecision of the employee andit is not the intent of the partiesto discourage such use ofpersonal vehicles whentransportation is needed fromone postal facility to another orin the completion of theemployee's assignment.

• When an employee beginshis/her work day at one postalunit and is providedtransportation to another unitto complete his/her tour of

duty, that employee will beprovided transportation back tothe unit where his/her tourbegan if transportation isneeded. If the employee endstour at the new location thereturn trip will not be on theclock but transportation will beprovided promptly bymanagement upon request.”

The following leave covers leaveoptions that a lot of employees areunaware that they are entitled tounder the Collective BargainingAgreement.

Sick Leave for Dependent Careallows you the right to use up toeighty hours of sick leave perleave year to give care or other-wise attend to a family memberhaving an illness, injury or othercondition which, if an employeehad such condition, would justifythe use of sick leave by thatemployee. Family members shallinclude son or daughter, parentand spouse as defined in ELMSection 515.2. Approval of sickleave for dependent care will besubject to normal procedures forleave approval.

An employee's right to Sick Leavefor Dependent Care is separateand different from the right to leaveunder the Family and MedicalLeave Act (FMLA) of 1993. FMLAis a federal law.

Still, there are certain similarities.For instance, the definitions ofson, daughter, spouse and parentused for Sick Leave for DependentCare are the same as the FMLAdefinitions. An employee may taketime off to care for the same per-son under both Sick Leave forDependent Care and FMLA. SickLeave for Dependent Care allowsan employee to use up to eightyhours of sick leave to care for afamily member, while FMLA pro-vides protection for the absence ifit is due to a FMLA covered condi-tion.

Bereavement Leave allowsemployees a total of up to threeworkdays of annual leave, sickleave or leave without pay, tomake arrangements necessitatedby the death of a family member orto attend the funeral of a familymember. Authorization of leavebeyond three workdays is subjectto the conditions and requirementsof Article 10 of the NationalAgreement, Subsection 510 of theEmployee and Labor RelationsManual and the applicable localmemorandum of understandingprovisions.

Definition of a Family Member:

A “family member” is definedas a:

(a) Son or daughter-a biological

Daniel M. GrayVice PresidentSWFAL APWU

machines; yet, that is our onlyrecourse when you complain to asupervisor and manager concern-ing a violation you get ignored orare told “file your grievance”.

Supervisors and managers whoviolate the contract are not heldaccountable, but should be. Sowhat motivation is there for themto follow the contract in the firstplace?

Typically upper management isthe one directing the lower levelsupervisor to violate the contract inthe first place. How many timeshave you heard “I am just doingwhat I am told to do”? Most of thesupervisors get little or no trainingfor their job in the first place muchless the contract.

The positive is that at least wehave this process. Talk to yourfriends and family members thatwork for an employer without aUnion to represent them, mostwould be happy for what we alltake for granted.

Just think if we had no Union at thePostal Service. Instead of progres-sive discipline they would simplyfire you. A supervisor or managerthat didn’t like you would just tellyou not to bother coming back towork.

You would be most likely notreceiving health benefits, life insur-ance, sick leave, annual leave,night shift differential, Sunday pre-mium, penalty overtime, decentpay, job security and work hourguarantees to name a few.

These are all benefits the Unionhas negotiated on your behalf.While the Union is not perfect I amglad it is there for me.

Also as a final note the Union atboth the National and Local levelare still boycotting the “PostalPulse” the new replacement forthe “VOE”. If you turn in your“Postal Pulse Survey” to the Unionwe will donate $5.00 to COPA inyour name.

Even if you do not want a donationto COPA in your name please takethe survey home and throw itaway. The survey is your mail todo with as you wish.

You cannot be forced to completeor return the survey to your super-visor. If your supervisor or manag-er refuses you the right to take thesurvey with you, contact yourUnion Steward or the Union officeso the issue can be corrected.

Remember if you have any ques-tions or concerns please ask tosee your Union Steward.

or adopted child, stepchild,daughter-in-law or son-in-law;

(b) Spouse;(c) Parent; or(d) Sibling-brother; sister;

brother-in-law; sister-in-law;or

(e) Grandparent.

For employees opting to use avail-able sick leave, the leave will becharged to sick leave for depend-ent care, if eligible.

Documentation evidencing thedeath of the employee’s familymember is required only when thesupervisor deems documentationdesirable for the protection of theinterest of the Postal Service.

Note: As a point of clarification, thein-laws referenced in this MOUapplies to children, includingadopted children, stepchildren andspouses thereof, spouse and par-ents thereof; and brothers and sis-ters and spouses thereof.

We are now seeing an increase ofInvestigative Interviews followedby discipline for attendance soonce again please check your PSForm 3971s before you sign them.

I am seeing far too many PS Form3971s where the employeeclaimed they requested FMLA, butthe 3971 states otherwise.

Now when your supervisor returnsyour PS Form 3971 back to youand you disagree with what infor-mation is noted on the slip, askyou supervisor to correct the 3971.If your supervisor refuses, thenpolitely ask to see your UnionSteward to grieve and have it cor-rected. Waiting to the middle of anInvestigative Interview is some-times too late.

If you call in or believe theabsence could have been protect-ed under the Family MedicalLeave Act inform your supervisorand mark that FMLA was request-ed in the comments section.

Remember even if you did notrequest FMLA at the original dateof absence, upon your return noti-fy your supervisor if you believethe absence may be coveredunder FMLA. You cannot be disci-plined for an approved FMLAabsence. If you have any ques-tions concerning FMLA, pleaseask to see your Union Steward.

There is a lot of frustration with thegrievance process and how long ittakes for a grievance to be final-ized. It can take years for a resolu-tion to a grievance which you orthe local has filed on your behalf.Your stewards and local officers allshare your frustration. We are toldby our National Officers that wemust become more than grievance

Be Aware Of The LimitationsOf Workman’s Comp Rules

SEPTEMBER 2015 THE EAGLE’S EYE 5

So I get thisoffer in themail fromStamps.com.*," P r o u dPartner of theUnited StatesP o s t a lService”.

I can print myfirst ninestamps forfree. I cannow "avoid the time-consumingtrips to the Post Office*." I cansend everything from postcards topackages worldwide right from myhome or office! The mailing did notallude to it, but it might even bemore secure than PostalEmployee Files.

After accepting the 4-week no-risktrial period, I can get my 9 stampsfor free. But wait . . . there's more!By signing up today I will be eligi-ble for a $50 digital USPS scale,and an additional $40 in postage. Ican print postage on labels,envelopes or plain paper, save upto 50% off the Postage Metercosts, and receive discounts I can'tget at the Post Office. Wow!

Well, now I'm curious aboutStamps.com*. I check out theirwebsite and find out that they arecurrently hiring at their state-of-the-art facility in El Segundo,California. Some of the reasonstalented, smart and fun people

Mickey SzymonikMaintenance Craft

DirectorSWFAL APWU

small sampling of the vitriol con-sumers posted regarding theirdealings with Stamps.com*. Alsobear in mind that the mailing Ireceived from this company wasreplete with the USPS Eagle logo,and the tag line "Proud Partner ofthe United States Postal Service."In fact several of the complaintsindicated that they believed theywere dealing with the U.S. PostalService. I don't know what this"partnership" entails or how theService is involved, but this is anegregious smear on our reputa-tion.

When the whole APWU "StopStaples" campaign started, some-one asked me why the Union wasnot focusing on Stamps.com.Good question. We should be.Believe me, I'm all for "growing ourbusiness" using the latest elec-tronic technology, but it should beOUR business, not Stamps.com.

The Union sends our sincere con-dolences to our Brother BernardoSantana, his sons, and all of hisextended family, on the loss ofBernardo's wife. Donations andprepared meals from his Unionbrothers and sisters can help alle-viate the stress and pain. To sendcondolences and assistance ofany kind, please contact the Unionoffice, at 275-1007 for more infor-mation.

Peace, prosperity, solidarity.

should apply include medical, den-tal and vision plans. 401K, dis-counted stock options, pet-careinsurance plans, and 100%employer-paid short term and longterm disability coverage.

The work environment includescomplimentary fresh fruit, snacksand beverages, and a kitchen onevery floor. Take advantage of theCompany Gym with cardio-equip-ment, weights, large-screen TV's,and Netflix, Poker and Pandoraaccess.

Stamps.com* focuses on employ-ee inter-connectedness with sum-mer parties, holiday parties,Halloween parties and otheremployee engagement events.Engage in the Company Spirit ofVolunteering by participating in themonthly in-house sandwich-mak-ing for the homeless, and theannual food and toy drives.

By this time I'm thinking I'm work-ing for the wrong stamp peddlers-until I review the "Top 385Complaints and ReviewsRegarding Stamps.com*, fromConsumerAffairs.com. The follow-ing are excerpts of users' reviews:

"After my account went dormantfor over a year, Stamps.com merri-ly continued charging me an atro-cious monthly fee of $15.99 with-out any notification."

"I got some of the material but

never used the program. When Ifinally canceled, I had alreadybeen charged upwards of $45.00. Iwas told the money would berefunded but that never happened.

I never could get a CustomerService rep. on the line and thereis no on-line way to leave the pro-gram. I finally had to just blockfuture charges on my credit card."

"It was just a big SCAM . . . I calledStamps.com to cancel myaccount...but not before they tookanother $15.99. So, for two 48-cent stamps, I paid $32.00. This isnothing but theft."

" . . . after 500+ complaints to theBetter Business Bureau, if youhaven't fixed your poor documentdesign, it's because you don't wantto be clear. Period! Stay away..."

"It's pretty sad that when you type"mailing labels" into Google, this isone of the first links to come up."

"We were billed for services notprovided. Called to cancel andconsumer sales rep "James" wasextremely aggressive in pushingsales pitch. He was relentless andrude."

"I would rather wait an hour in lineat the Post Office than deal withthis kind of deceit. How this iseven legal is beyond me."

Now bear in mind that this is just a

Union Matters

We have hada manage-ment changeat the Ft.Myers VehicleMaintenanceFacility. Iwould like towish our for-mer Manager,Roger "SKIP"Giovansanti,the best ofluck in hisnew job asManager ofV e h i c l eOperations District 2.

I would like to welcome MaryBrown as our new manager. Maryreturns to Ft. Myers from manag-ing Sarasota's VMF. I have to say,her presence here at Fort Myershas already been felt in a positiveway, as the mood and productionhave both seemed to improved aswell as employee morale.

Hopefully, the growing pains ofbeing under new management willcontinue to be kept at a minimum."So far so good", as every employ-ee that I have spoken to at theVMF has only had positive feed-

back to the recent changes.

Also, on another good note, Iwould like to welcome two newmembers to the Union: JohnShoemaker and Manny Aviles. Ifyou see these new members,please give them a welcome.

It’s that time of year again . . . backto school season has alreadystarted! This year has really beengoing by fast. That being said, I'dlike to remind everyone, give your-selves some extra time in themorning to get to where you’regoing. The school busses will beout and kids will be everywhere.Please take a little extra time, drivea bit more careful, and watch outfor the children.

Many of bus stops are now veryclose to the roadside curbs and it'shard to see the children in theearly morning hours. I had a verygood friend of mine killed at hisbus stop by a lady who was notpaying attention, and drove ontothe sidewalk. He was 15.

I know it’s just something we hearevery year, to be careful, But itreally can save lives. Let’s have asafe and happy school year!

Joe FracekMotor VehicleCraft Director

Ft. MyersLead Steward

Page FieldSWFAL APWU

Management Changes

6 THE EAGLE’S EYE SEPTEMBER 2015

Time contin-ues to passby and stillCongress hasnot been ableto act onrestoring mailservice stan-dards.

When I gointo postoffices acrossS o u t h w e s tFlorida, I see many people linedup to use postal services - people

of all ages. Yes - a vibrant, efficientworking postal service is a neces-sary function of our society.

How can Congress remain so dis-interested in their constituencies?Maybe they are too removed fromreal life to care anymore?

It shouldn’t take months or yearsfor Congress to fix obvious prob-lems. And yet, these new lowerservice standards have been ineffect since January and eightmonths later all we are hearingfrom Congress is talk about doing

something. We need more thantalk.

The service standard issue isbeing mishandled just like the pre-funding issue is being mishandled.

Prefunding makes no sense froma business standpoint (other busi-nesses are not doing this) and nei-ther does lowering service stan-dards. However, that never stopsthese failing strategies from beingimplemented. And once they areimplemented, one can see howdifficult it can be to get rid of them.

Working men and women arebeing asked to pay huge sums ofmoney in taxes (check out yourpay stub). Meanwhile, our goodpaying jobs are disappearing, onlyto be replaced by low wage, parttime jobs with little or no benefits(insert the USPS - Staples secretdeal here).

The USPS has had numerousobstacles placed in its path and itcontinues to thrive. Congress canremove these barriers to business.Memo to Congress: Is anyone inCongress listening?

Memo To Congress:Is Anyone Listening?

Kathy MoyerEditor

The Eagle’s EyeSWFAL APWU

Stewards ared e s i g n a t e dby sectionand tour toassist you inthe grievancep r o c e s s ,answer ques-tions, anda d d r e s sw o r k p l a c ei s s u e s .Problems justdon’t goalong with the territory; they arethe territory! Here’s how the mem-bership can assist the stewards inrepresenting the workforce as aunited group.

When requesting union represen-tation, a grievant will normallymeet with their assigned stewardor alternate steward. Pleaserefrain from steward shopping.Cross-tour steward assignmentsare infeasible considering thatgrievances must be presented atStep 1 to the aggrieved employ-ee’s immediate supervisor. Thestewards are here for the entirecrew, and any concerns about rep-resentation should be discusseddirectly with them.

Once a statement has been pro-vided to the steward, a grievancewill be composed, documented,and presented timely at Step 1.Understand that the grievanceprocess takes time and the stew-ard may not be able to type agrievance and present it at Step 1on the same day a statement iswritten. This does not mean thatthe grievance will not beaddressed promptly.

Bargaining unit employees havefourteen days from the date of inci-dence to file a grievance. Pleasedo not wait until the fourteenth dayto request to see a steward andwrite a statement as this places anundue burden on the union toproperly compile the grievance.You are entitled to an immediaterelease when requesting to see asteward. If management fails to

grant immediate release, be per-sistent and keep asking (everytwenty minutes if necessary) untilyou and the steward are released.

Attendance terrorism is in fullswing again, and the signing ofunread 3971’s remains a matter ofcontention. Always review the3971 before signing it. If FMLAwas requested and the FMLA boxhas not been checked, refuse tosign the form! Once the 3971 hasbeen signed, it becomes a docu-ment of record and is no longerdisputable.

Confusion also continues over themethod of selecting employees towork on a holiday. The intent ofArticle 11 of the CollectiveBargaining Agreement is to protectfull-time regular employees fromworking their holiday wheneverpossible while permitting thoseemployees who wish to work theopportunity to volunteer.

Management determines the num-ber and categories of employeesneeded to work the holiday inadvance and a schedule is postedby Tuesday of the preceding serv-ice week. The Fort Myers LocalMemorandum of Understandingestablishes the exact “peckingorder” as follows:

ITEM 13 THE METHOD OFSELECTING EMPLOYEES TOWORK ON A HOLIDAY

A. Ten days prior to the postingof the holiday schedule,Management shall post a listseeking volunteers to workany day of the three-day holi-day period. Managementshall provide a copy to thelocal union president.

B. Employees shall be selectedas follows:

1. All full-time employees bytour who possess thenecessary skills and havevolunteered to workon the holiday or their

designated holiday.

2. All PSE employees.

3. All full-time volunteeremployees by tour who pos-sess the necessary skillsand their scheduled nonwork day falls on the holi-day, even though thepayment of overtime isrequired, by seniority.

4. Full-time employees by tourwho possess the necessaryskills who have notvolunteered to work theirholiday, by inverse seniority.

5. Full-time non-volunteeremployees by tour whopossess the necessary skillsand their scheduled non-work day falls on theholiday, even thoughpayment of overtime isrequired, by inverse seniority.

Management is prohibited fromcrossing crafts or occupationalgroups when staffing for a holiday.All employees on a craft seniorityroster who are permitted to auto-graph the holiday volunteer list aresubject to holiday schedulingrules; there are no exceptions.

Dissatisfaction with job duties isalso causing undue strife on theworkroom floor. Article 3 of theCBA grants management certainrights and staffing is one of them.Seniority only comes into playwhen employees are moved in orout of their principal assignmentarea (PAA). Clerks can beassigned to any or all of the jobduties within their PAA regardlessof seniority, but when manage-ment moves them out of section itis done by juniority in accordancewith the provisions of the MailProcessing Memorandum ofUnderstanding. Conversely, whenthey are moved back into section,it is done by seniority.

Misunderstanding over relief andpool bids at stations and branches

is also creating perturbation. Reliefand pool duty assignments permitmanagement to cover absences offull time regulars holding bids.Once a relief and pool assignmenthas been properly awarded to asenior qualified clerk, the only wayto relinquish the duty assignmentis to bid another job posting. Theunion cannot award a residualvacancy simply because a reliefbid does not meet an individual’sexpectations. The time to with-draw a bid is prior to the close ofposting. A bid that remains vacantafter the completion of the biddingprocess is filled in accordance withthe negotiated pecking order. Anyquestions about the biddingprocess should be directed to asteward.

Clock ring error intimidation hasreared its ugly head again. Thepurpose of the Clock Ring ErrorReport is to permit management tocorrect known errors in a timelymanner. Do not allow manage-ment to harass or otherwise intim-idate you and then refuse to cor-rect easily remedied mistakes. If asupervisor incorrectly informs youthat your short lunch resulted inunauthorized creep overtime andthen refuses to correct the error,ask to see a steward. A shortlunch does not constitute unautho-rized creep overtime! Evidently,some of our floor supervisorssnored their way through TACStraining.

I close with a brief reminder aboutyour participation in the grievanceprocess. A well written statementprovides all the information essen-tial to investigating and document-ing the grievance file. Your state-ment should be penned by you,not the steward. After a thoroughexamination of the facts and con-tentions of the case, your stewardwill also write a statement for thecase file. Thank you for being anactive and involved member in ourunion.

In solidarity, Grace

Issues . . .

Grace BaerT2 & T3 StewardFt. Myers P&DCSWFAL APWU

SEPTEMBER 2015 THE EAGLE’S EYE 7

Last month Istarted myarticle. I tried.I found that Iwas so downon the entiresituation that Ijust could notgo on. All Icould seewas a messg e t t i n gmessier, withno centralpurpose, no real goal, long range,or short range (beyond, let’s getthe mail out by a posted time). Iwas racked by the question, whatis going on?

Is our little corner of paradise, theonly section that is as screwed upas a soup sandwich? Is the entirePostal Service management run-ning around willy-nilly, taking whathas worked for years and throwingthat out, in favor of a line of 'whatif's.'

Is this mess from that grand ideaof Six Sigma? The Big BRAINSthat will lead us from darkness intothe true light of knowledge.

As to the big brains who know allthe answers, and how they work, Igo back to WW I, and Will Rogers;the German U-Boats were drivingthe Allied Navies crazy trying tofind a way to counter them. WillRogers had an answer, that wouldcure the problem, forever; boil theoceans! The Navies of the worldsaid, "how could we do that?”

Rogers, as a Big Brain replied, "Igive you the idea, you work out thedetails." Rogers, was not a bigbrain, but he knew satire. Howmany Big Brain ideas are outthere, with little brains stumblingtheir way forward, mess, by mess.As to our current mess, whoknows what is going on day-to-day?

Have you noticed the number of

Isaac YostMail Processing

ClerkFort Myers P&DC

And where in the world do we getour supervisors? And what quali-fies them?

We have recently secured a copyof the NEW, IMPROVED, andENHANCED, Supervisors suitabil-ity and adaptability test.

Question only: Which number (notconsidering GOLF scoring) isBETTER, 1 or 9?

(a) None of the above.(b) 1(c) 9(d) All of the above.

The correct answer is C. However,those who said B, and pleadedthat they did not golf, will be giventhe opportunity to sign up for a twoweek course; at full per diem,given at a resort hotel to be namedlater.

Any questions?

The Milinda Twotrees Award goesto the leadership in our little oasisof happiness who has no idea howto deal with a WET piece of mail.They keep ignoring the laws ofphysics, and lay wet mail on steelplates. News alert, from the dawnof the IRON AGE, steel is in a con-stant state of cooling, ipso facto,anything in contact with the steelsurface will also be cooled.Warmth and surface exposure tothe air are what dries, in our case,paper. We once had a system thatworked; an ATMOSPHERIC,SOLAR ASSISTER, a green ener-gy wonder; a clothes line, and twopacks of clothes pins. But sadly,the cool kids, those who think theyrun this campus, thought it wouldbe fun to use them to exhibit for-eign express bags in the old prior-ity room.

But, as hope springs eternal, askme and I'll give you another one.

THAT WORKS.

question marks so far? That isbecause all I can say is . . . “Whatthe hell is going on”???

Are we facing a Service wide planto destroy the Postal Service tomake it a private enterprise (whereperhaps a certain core group cansee themselves in exalted posi-tions, with astronomical salaries)?

There is no imagination, no for-ward motion (the fall back positionis; "We have always done it thisway!!!" And as we stumble throughour own little stone age, the otherswho are in the delivery business(remember, we are here to deliverthat mail, not just use it for a num-bers count to satisfy a desire fornumbers) are in an age of drones.

Leave on your N/S days, beforeyou go look around at your area,file the image away. Now whenyou come back, call up that image. . . now how does it compare towhat is before you now?

We have a house that makesJasper Jones Auto Salvage Yard(read junk yard) in JeffersonCounty TN, look like a model oforder and efficiency. They don'teven know the difference betweenapples and oranges, let alone theway to divide them.

And as to our management, ourPlant Manager, just what does shedo? The plant, as noted here andoften, is a mess; yet nothing isdone. Morale is in the dumper.Problems brought to her attentionare ignored, or passed on tosomeone else to ignore them.

And yet the USPS keeps sendingher on details, to do what? To digthe postal hole even deeper? Ifshe does nothing here, what is shegoing to do at a detailed position?And as to what an Acting PlantManager will do to alleviate ourproblems, I have very little hopefor any change, no good bureau-crat is going to make any changes

that may reflect adversely on hissuperior bureaucrat.

All that seems to matter in ourworld is numbers. The numbersstand alone; no idea is given toreality. The AFSM-100 is amachine that when running 'zones'will place flats mail into tubs for aspecific carrier. There are a num-ber of problems that wouldimprove overall efficiency in thesystem, a number of which were infact shown to, and ignored by ourplant manager. But I am just goingto point out the number items thatcome up, and which no effort ismade to correct them.

You run nice clean, even mail andyou get in the 'green', and theentire world (postal that is) ishappy. But, you get bad mail, over-sized for the machine, and othermail that needs a little coaxing;hey that is not worth the trouble,and it hurts the numbers, so pull itout.

Now we have a machine with highnumbers, and six tubs of pulledmail, and the other machine haslower numbers, but only eightpieces of mail; that's 8. Whichmachine is the favorite of manage-ment? The machine which showedthe high green.

Now comes fact; both machinesare sending their mail to their car-riers; but the pulled mail, well thatgoes to manual to be worked, byhand, to scheme, then sent to thestation to be worked, by hand, andsent to the carrier. Time lost, andas Nortbert used to preach, eachtime the human hand touches apiece of mail we lose money.

You can point this out to manage-ment, but you lose before youbegin, the numbers are on paper,and can be proven, and there is noway to add the cost to nice num-bers. If ever you bring facts to abureaucrat, you have lost becauseof your insolence.

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up!

8 THE EAGLE’S EYE SEPTEMBER 2015

Your ElectedOfficials

President Barack ObamaWeb Site:

www.whitehouse.govE-mail:

president@whitehouse.govPhone: 202-456-1414

Fax: 202-456-2461Capital Address:

1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NWWashington, DC 20500

Senator Bill NelsonWeb Site:

www.billnelson.senate.govE-mail:

senator@billnelson.senate.govPhone: 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 severaldifferent districts. For yourrepresentative’s information, goto www.congress.org. Enteryour zip code and the web sitedoes the rest. You can e-mailmost of your representatives atonce with a click of your mouseat this 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 at the United States PostalService by inviting you to our nextSWFAL APWU meeting at theUnion Hall located at 11000 MetroParkway, Unit 8, in Fort Myers.

Meetings are held once a monthon Sunday at 9:30am. Standstrong and be united, protect yourjob and discover the many benefitsof becoming a member of theSWFAL APWU.

Join us at our next local meeting -united we can make a positive dif-ference in our workplaces. Welook forward to seeing you there!

For those of you that haverecently retired who wish tocontinue receiving The Eagle’sEye newspaper, please email theEditor at Edswfal@aol.com or callKaren at our SWFAL APWU officeat 239-275-1007.

We encourage members to email

information to the editor regardingmarriages, graduations, specialevents or achievements of ouremployees, or their families.Please email information to TheEagle’s Eye at Edswfal@aol.com.We will be pleased to include asmany member announcements aspossible.

Danielle E Santana, wife of Bernardo Santana passed away recently. She left behind 3 sons, Thomas, Jason andNicholas, and her loving husband of 10 years, Nicholas Bernardo Santana. Send your condolences to: BernardoSantana and sons, 4622 Elaine Avenue North, Lehigh Acres FL 33971. The SWFAL APWU wishes to extend ourdeepest sympathy to Bernardo and his family and friends.

Mr. Brad Pate has offered to helpour members better understandour Postal benefits.

Brad Pate, from FederalEmployees Benefits Agency, (notaffiliated with the USPS) has givenover 50 seminars, hosted a dailyfinancial planning radio show for 3years and has worked withPostal/Federal employees for over15 years.

Mr. Pate has previously conducteda number of seminars regardingUnderstanding and MaximizingYour Postal/Federal Benefits. Atthose seminars Brad addressedour member’s questions concern-ing their Postal Service benefits.

Many of our members haveattended these informational sem-inars and have learned muchabout financial topics of interest toPostal employees.

Our SWFAL APWU recently spon-sored a seminar in July, which waspresented by Brad Pate.

“I want to first thank everyone thatattended the seminar I presentedJuly 19 at the Crowne Plaza at BellTowers”, Mr. Pate said.

The turnout was great; there wereabout 80 members at the 11amseminar and 45 at the 4pm event.

“We had a lot of questions on alldifferent types of subjects fromyour TSP, CSRS/FERS benefits,surviving spouse benefit, FEGLI,along with questions of interest toveterans such as, ‘does buying

military time help with the FERSspecial supplement’ and a wholelot more”, added Mr. Pate.

Seminar highlights included:

Information on the ThriftSavings Plan (TSP)

• Did you know there are twoportfolios inside your TSP?

• The new Roth Account, tax freegrowth.

• What it takes to double yourmoney and how the Rule of 72applies to your TSP.

• Your three payment options youhave at retirement.

• Income layering with IRAs afterretirement.

• The 59 1/2 non-hardshipTSP rollover.

Special FERS SupplementalBenefit

• Retire early, maybe? We willshow you how to calculate yourmonthly amount.

FERS/CSRS Retirement

• What is this and how it works.

• We can calculate yourFERS/CSRS monthly pensionamounts.

• Spousal options for maintaininghealth insurance coverage inretirement.

FEGLI: Your Federal LifeInsurance

• Learn how much you can saveon premiums

• Did you know your premiumsincrease 2,000% as you getolder?

We appreciate Mr. Pate’s willing-ness to help our members betterunderstand our Postal benefits.

If you have a topic you would likefor Mr. Pate to address, pleaseemail your questions to TheEagle’s Eye at edswfal@aol.com.

We will be pleased to include asmany responses as possible inupcoming editions of The Eagle’sEye.

Understanding YourPostal Benefits

Brad PateFederal Employee Benefits

Agency

In Remembrance