PostalMag.com has received the following exchanges between APWU offices/officials fighting proposed post office closings:

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Friday, October 23, 2009

Brothers and Sisters:

I have more great news from California. President XXX XXX and members of the California Area Local 4635 are proud to announce that in addition to backing the USPS off on closing two La Puente stations (Barrett and City of Industry), they just got notification that three other stations in Torrence (Walteria, Marcelina and Del Amo) have also been removed from the list.  They got great support from their member of Congress, Jane Harmon.  They are still fighting on the closing of Hermosa and Redondo Beach stations.  Special thanks and recognition to XXX XXX, who is leading the fight in that local.  YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please see the link below for the excellent advice given to XXX XXX, President of the Schenectady, NY Area Local, who is waging the battle in Schenectady,  from XXX XXX.  Often it appears the USPS is just putting notices in the box holders PO boxes and calling that "public input".  XXX's advice to XXX is right on point.  Check out what the Greater CT Area Local is doing on this matter, you might get some great ideas for your own local’s fight.  XXX and XXX are keeping up the fight, way to go!

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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

XXX sent me a copy of this letter. It’s the first one I've seen. There are public meetings in CT scheduled for the following week. It appears that management "public" input component to this process is to only contact the box holders and not the community at large. Our task is to organize the community together with all the other postal labor unions as well as any AFL-CIO unions and fill the meeting. It appears that you are on your way to doing that. Our local is planning to send a letter to every member that lives in that community asking them to attend, to get a flyer out to the community, handbill in front of the Stations, work with our coalition community groups to get the word out, contact all of our public elected officials, and to ask the State AFL-CIO to send out the meeting notice as well. I would hope that management would sincerely take the input from the community into consideration prior to making any final decisions...but it seems to me that they appear to be hell bent on closing some stations. Good luck and please keep me posted. Thanks

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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

LETTER TO BOXHOLDER OVER CONSOLIDATION


THIS IS LETTER TO BOXHOLDERS. THERE IS A PUBLIC HEARING ON 11/5/09 AT 600PM AT THE SCOTIA GLENVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL ON PRESTIGE PARKWAY. ALL SHOULD ATTEND AND PASS WORD AROUND BECAUSE IF NOBODY SHOWS THEY WILL CLOSE SCOTIA AND ANYBODY COULD BE NEXT. IF ANYONE KNOWS ANY BUSINESSES IN SCOTIA LET THEM KNOW. I HAVE MADE A FEW CALLS ALREADY

I've heard that FOX News' FOX and Friends morning television show is trying to do a segment about the USPS idling clerks in "standby rooms." (See: www.federaltimes.com/index.php?S=4265826) From what I understand, FOX isn't exactly happy with the program, but I'm not sure if they're not happy because of all the sitting around or about how the workers are being treated (some are forced to read postal regulations while in the rooms, and nothing else). Here in Dallas I've heard that employees in the standby rooms at least get to play games. Last I heard, FOX was planning to air the segment on Thursday, September 17th.

Our delivery supervisor said on Saturday that Dallas post offices will soon be flooded with 85 RLCs (Relief Letter Carriers). For the past several months, former clerks and mail handlers turned letter carriers have been trickling in to area post offices, taking the last positions available (the routes no one wanted). But with vacant positions just about filled, it looks like the USPS has no choice but to make RLCs out of the new carriers.

My post office is in the middle of the interim route adjustment process. We just found out that we will be losing two routes from our current 34 or so routes. As always, the carriers who are most diligent had the most added to their routes. At some point, this flaw in the system that rewards slower carriers must be fixed for the union to stay relevant in the eyes of its more efficient workers. (By the way, there were a few efficient workers who saw their routes cuts or stayed the same.)

By the middle of August when the new routes take effect, we'll have two more extra carriers plus the new RCAs. I guess now that many of the routes will have more daily overtime (because the numbers don't look to be adding up in the carriers' favor), the extra carriers will be tasked with eliminating overtime.

There are a couple of problems with this for postal finances. First, many of these former clerks and mail handlers aren't exactly built for carrying mail. We have one poor lady, bless her heart, who has trouble even walking from the parking lot into the building in the morning. It takes her two or three times as long to carry pieces of routes than it does the regular carriers. Second, and this is the part that makes me wonder about the whole union helping the USPS route adjustment process, is that if there are the same number of carriers on the payroll as before the route adjustment process, then where are the savings for the USPS? Same number of employees, same payroll! There may be less routes, but same number of delivery points and same number of employees.

So I'm thinking it's high time for an incentivized early out so the USPS can match workload to staffing. Without one, I don't see how the USPS and union will realize meaningful savings from the onerous interim route adjustment process.

Received the following unverified information at PostalMag.com:

"Subject: Donahoe telecom
Importance: HIGH

Sr. Staff attended a telecom this morning given by Pat Donahoe DPMG, the following information was shared with us /(cut off page) ...
wanted to share it with you to share with your employees.

We will go to five day delivery in FY 11.
No Saturday delivery, no processing operations,retail will stay open if open now.
By going to give day delivery plants will lose 8000 positions, EAS 1000 nation wide, CS numbers are unknown at this / (page cut off)...
If you aren't using stand by time you need to start.
Make sure you are up to date in Art. 7 & 12.
WebCCM will go from 11 months to 90 days.
The whole telecom will be posted Monday on the Blue page.

Julio Garcia III
Manager, Post Office Operations
Portland District Area III"

A postal employee in Little Rock, Arkansas reports that a station manager has developed an alternative program to DOIS, and is using that program instead of DOIS to manage letter carrier times. The employee states the program cuts carrier times even shorter than DOIS. According to the employee, the program has gained the notice of the Southwest Area, who are singing the station manager's praises.