Well, we've had our new routes since Saturday, and boy is it a mess. As I wrote in prior blog entries, management basically just swapped territories on routes, so now mail is everywhere with distribution mail going to the wrong routes. But no one wants to help because the station manager and the limited duty 204 B are such arses. Carriers could, if they wanted to help, take the mail that no longer belongs to their route to the new route. But that would be helping the harassers and intimidators. Many carriers are just putting many feet of mail to the hot case. They're also not helping because the big, bad station manager had a meeting with us "thieving carriers" and said she is proud of her adjustments and that the adjustments were done right. I've been through many route adjustments, and this is the worst one I have ever seen as far as address quality. Many carriers state that their address labels are all messed up, with chunks of addresses here and there that don't belong. For example, one route has the walk sequence all mixed up on one block. But the carrier, who has been told the adjustments were done right, is not saying a word and is carrying it just like on the case.
Now I know some of this sounds like workplace disobedience. But if you've ever had a station manager tell your unit that the carriers are thieves, and then to harass and intimidate them at every turn, when many are actually working very hard (though a few aren't), then you'll understand.
Speaking of harassing, today the limited duty 204B was handing out 3996s (overtime requests) to the carriers. When she got to Route Two she automatically told the carrier he didn't rate any overtime... before giving him a 3996. Well, this carrier is 63 years old and today was Dallas Morning News day. DMN are like Advos, but thicker. And this carrier has about 900 of them to deliver. His route is in the ghetto. Usually his route is real light, but on full coverage days, it's a mother. At 4:00 PM today I was checking in my accountables and this carrier called the supervisor to request additional time. I overheard the supervisor's side of the conversation. "YOU NEED TWO MORE HOURS?! Well, we'll see you in the morning with the union steward." Anyway, it was funny and sad at the same time.
A couple of weeks ago a Route Check team came to my post office to save the entire Postal Service. Armed with clipboards and coffee, they stated that the Postal Service was in dire straits, and that their route checks were part of a major effort to save the day, or else "we'd all be out of jobs." They came to Dallas from as far away as Arizona and northern Arkansas (near Missouri).
Well, the route checkers came and went, and it was up to our Station Manager and a limited duty carrier who cuts paper dolls all day to adjust the routes. (The Station Manager's experience at carrying mail, according to her, was "brief." The limited-duty employee hasn't carried mail in many years.)
The carriers had heard the route checkers found enough undertime to eliminate three routes out of our 34. Good for the route checkers, or so they thought. The Station Manager and LD carrier spent the past week adjusting routes at the CC (Command Center, or was it CiCi's Pizza?) They came back today with the results!
CAUTION: If you were part of the Route Check Team that checked the Lakewood Post Office in Dallas, Texas several weeks ago, read further at your own risk of a stroke or heart attack.
The Station Manager and LD carrier didn't cut three routes, didn't cut two, but cut only one route down from a full route to an auxilliary. Yes, the entire route check process yielded only about three hours worth of savings. And it wouldn't have been even that, except for my route and another route has some apartments torn down that are being rebuilt, and those three-hours worth will be added back sometime later this year or early next year.
But the Station Manager and LD carrier did make some adjustments. In fact, they swapped some territory among routes. In fact, they swapped a lot of territory among routes. Here's how they did it. My route is the northernmost route and it has about two-hours worth of apartments missing for the moment (torn down to be rebuilt.) So they started at the top of the map and added two hours from the route below me. Then that route, which lost two hours from the top, gained two hours from the route below it. This continued down many routes until it got to a route that went no-bid, and this route was made into an auxilliary route. (This was done so that no one would lose a route and cause a partial rebidding of the station.)
So after it has all been said and done, after all the route check expenses, after all the adjustments at the CC, the net result is: 1) Virtually no change in base hours 2) One route was cut by several hours, making it an auxilliary 3) No loss of carriers or staffing.
Here's some of what the Postal Service lost: 1) Clerks will need new scheme training 2) Address databases must be updated 3) Carriers must learn new routes 4) Mail will be coming to the wrong routes for many months because many routes lost two hours and gained another two hours from another route. (Perhaps they could have left the routes the same and saved everyone a lot of time and trouble.)
Overall, I hate to see the Postal Service be so inefficient and cost itself so much money. Hopefully, one day, the Postal Service can come up with a way to adjust routes that is both efficient and fair to both carriers and the USPS.
A message from President William H. Young on the nomination of Sen. Barack Obama
Dear Tom,
The most exciting nomination process in recent history has
now come to an end. In a very close contest, the Democrats have
selected Barack Obama as their candidate for president. NALC
offers its congratulations to Sen. Obama for running a superb
campaign and for winning an historic victory.
Our union endorsed Hillary Clinton and she conducted a
magnificent campaign. Her grit, determination and class made us
very proud of that choice. We worked extremely hard and can be
very proud of our effort on her behalf. Sen. Clinton made a lot
of history herself.
Now that we must shift our attention to the general elections
in the fall, many members are wondering where we stand. This
union makes decisions differently than some others. We are not a
top-down union. Instead, we allow our members to make the
decisions that are most important to all of us. A presidential
endorsement is that kind of decision.
A resolution will be introduced in Boston, at our national
convention in July, to support Barack Obama for president. Given
his progressive views and outstanding record fighting for
working people over the years, and given Sen. McCain's poor
record on matters affecting America's workers, I have no doubt
that Sen. Obama will win the enthusiastic support of our
members.
We have extended an invitation to Sen. Obama and hope he will
attend our convention to be there for the endorsement vote. If
our convention approves of the resolution, NALC will do
everything in its power to help make him the next president of
the United States.
Yours in unionism,
William H. Young, President National Association of Letter Carriers
Effective May 28, 2008, US District Court Judge Joel A. Pisano
issued his decision regarding enforcement of the American Postal
Workers Union/United States Postal Service pre-arbitration Settlement
Agreement, dated October 28, 2005, for AFSM staffing at the Trenton
P&DC.
Judge Pisano stated, “The Settlement Agreement provides for the
clerk craft to have primary jurisdiction over the positions on the
AFSM-100 machines and that, in the event work requires less than six
employees to staff the machines, the remaining positions on the
machines will be staffed by clerk craft only.Thereby, if there is a ‘reduction in work [,]’ then clerks only operate the machines.Although
the Settlement Agreement does not define ‘reduction in work [.]’ the
terms of the Agreement do not limit the method by which the reduction
in work may occur.That is, the Agreement sets forth a
staffing procedure invoked by a ‘reduction in work’ irrespective of how
that reduction in work takes place.
In this instance, the modifications to the AFSM-100 resulted in a ‘reduction in work.’The
addition of the AI and ATHS automated features caused ‘a reduction of
the AFSM[-]100 operating crew, [a] decrease[] in operation run times,
and efficiencies in the preparation activities.’(Lewis Aff. II Ex. B).As
a result, the ‘reduction in work’ caused by enhancements to the
AFSM-100 machine trigger the Settlement Agreement’s staffing reduction
procedure.
Thus, pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, the clerks maintain
jurisdiction over the stations in the AFSM-100 machines in the Trenton
facility, irrespective of the
enhancements.Accordingly, the Court holds that there
is no dispute of material fact that the Settlement Agreement covers the
dispute of which Trenton Metro now complains-whether clerks or mail
handlers have jurisdiction to operate the AFSM-100 machines-and is
‘sufficiently specific as to be capable of implementation.’Consolidation Coal, supra, 666 F.2d at 810.The Court further holds that the Settlement Agreement is entitled to enforcement.
Pursuant and in accordance with the Judge’s order, the APWU expects
immediate staffing of the three FSM 100 machines with the clerk craft.
The APWU will monitor USPS compliance with the Judge’s order and
pursue appropriate pay remedies for all work performed by the Mail
Handler craft on the AFSM 100’s commencing today.
Received a report that a manager at the Greenville, S.
Carolina P&DC used four USPS custodians (on the clock) and USPS truck(s) to
relocate the manager’s personal household goods to a storage facility. According
to the report, the local union APWU president requested an official
investigation, but was rebuffed. Also in the report was an allegation that
another manager used a BEM (on the clock) to do maintenance work on some
personal rental properties, and the manager boasted about getting work
done for free at the Postal Service’s expense.
