Open Letter to MLS P&DC Acting Plant Manager Larry Belair

Below is a letter that I sent to our Plant Manager Larry Belair. As of this time I have not received any written response to this letter. But, I did try to ask Mr. Belair via his new electronic discussion board which was the best way to contact him for a response either by his electronic discussion board or via a certified letter. When I read his response to my question on the discussion board I felt that he had not answered the question that I had asked him.


9 Sept 2009

Mr. Belair,

Thank you for the town hall style meeting that took place at MLS P&DC just a short time ago. I think that it helped some individuals make up their minds whether they were going to take this early out incentive that USPS is currently offering to the APWU and NPMHU. You also pointed out that the Postal Service is in a crisis and that all of us should be doing our part in maintaining costs.

I would like to bring to you attention that your Maintenance Department was in the process of excessing five Tour 2 ET's to Tour 1. However, due to the agreement between the USPS, APWU, and NPMHU all excessing was supposedly put on hold until at least October 9, 2009 for this early out incentive. Therefore, your Maintenance Department at MLS P&DC is now going to detail these same five employees to Tour 1 at MLS P&DC to be able to go around the agreement between the USPS and APWU. In addition, you spoke of how the Postal Service should be trying to save money. Then I am curious why we would be detailing these five individuals and going to pay them out-of-schedule pay to work on Tour 1. These five ET's are being told that it is due to needs of the service for them to move to Tour 1. Nevertheless, if that was so why has not your Maintenance Department filled the empty ET Level 10 positions on Tour 1. Instead, they have withheld these positions. I admit that I am not privy to what is going on in our Maintenance Department at the higher levels. I am seeing this from my perspective as a MPE Level 9.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,



Marion Williams

New Information concerning Early Outs

I am passing on some information that I received via my email concerning the early outs. Please read and pass it along.

Thanks....

With Sept. 25 Deadline Approaching, Union Advises Employees Interested in Incentive APWU Web News Article #114-09, Sept. 22, 2009


With an important deadline approaching, APWU officials have been in frequent contact with postal management to resolve questions arising from the $15,000 incentive negotiated by the union for employees who retire or separate, President William Burrus has announced.


“Because of delays in receiving the packages that are needed to complete the application process, many employees are concerned that they may miss the opportunity to receive the incentive,” he said. Therefore, the union advises:

* Employees who have expressed interest in the incentive but have not yet received a package should get confirmation that they contacted Human Resources Shared Services (HRSS) by Sept. 25. Confirmation/reference numbers will serve as verification that employees expressed interest before the Sept. 25 deadline.

If you received a confirmation/reference number, keep a record of it. It is
not necessary to contact Shared Services again. If you did not receive or record a confirmation/reference number, contact HRSS before Sept. 25 and obtain a confirmation/reference number.

* Employees who are eligible for Optional Retirement and have received the packages should comply with the instructions. Retirement counseling will be scheduled; the retirement application will be due after counseling (unless counseling is declined).

* Employees who are eligible for Voluntary Early Retirement should have received a package containing an Early Out Incentive Option Offer Letter, an Acknowledgment of Irrevocability of Early Retirement Decision, an Application for Immediate Retirement, and other information. VER applicants must indicate their intent to participate in the incentive program by Sept. 25, 2009.


There are three methods to contact HRSS to indicate interest in the incentive:

* Call Human Resources Shared Services at 877-477-3273, and select Option 5
* Visit LiteBlue via the Internet at https://liteblue.usps.gov/wps/myportal/retirement
* Send a fax to Human Resources Shared Services at 651-994-3547.

YouTube posting about Postal Excessing

I came across this link and would like everyone to go and look at it. Then pass it onto their friends. I enjoyed it and I think you will also.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVxBYY8GyWo

Your Rights: Weingarten, Garrity, Kalkines

What Are Weingarten Rights?

All Bargaining Unit Employees of the United States Postal Service have the right to be accompanied by a Union Representative to all interviews with management officials, in which the employee reasonably believes the interview might result in disciplinary action. (e.g. Investigative, Safety, Accident, Mystery Shopper)

The above right is guaranteed by the National Labor Relations Act, reinforced by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1975 in NLRB v. J. Weingarten, and violation of that right has been found to be an Unfair Labor Practice.

Simply stated, your Weingarten Rights provide that you may request and management must provide a Union Representative to accompany you to all interviews that you believe might result in disciplinary action.

However, that right is not automatic. You must exercise your right by notifying management of your desire to have a Union Representative present during an interview. If the management official advises you that no disciplinary action will be initiated against you as a result of the interview, it is not necessary to provide a Union Representative.

Any questions concerning your Weingarten Rights or your rights during a management initiated interview process should be directed to your Chief Grievance Officer or by calling the Local's office for further details.

Your Rights During an OIG Investigation: Garrity and Kalkines

The Postal Service has been transitioning from Postal Inspector investigations to Special Agents in Charge of the Office of Inspector General investigations for over a year now. While Weingarten and Miranda Rights will still be afforded, Special Agents use Kalkine or Garrity warnings in interrogations that everyone should become familiar with.

Garrity Rights:

Protects the employee from having to choose between self incrimination and job forfeiture for failing to cooperate. The individual has the right to not be threatened with discharge in order for the OIG to secure incriminating evidence that would be used against them for arrest and prosecution. Miranda Rights would be applicable here.

Kalkines Rights:

If the individual is given immunity from criminal prosecution, the employee is required to cooperate in the investigation even if the information solicited could be used for discharging the employee.

Special Agents do not have the authority to grant immunity from criminal prosecution. However, if Special Agents provide the form "Administrative Warning: Duty to Cooperate" that means that the OIG has obtained such a waiver of prosecution.

** Your Key Right Is You Always Have The Right for a Union Representative To Be Present During An Interrogation. Even if the OIG / Postal Inspection Service says, "If you Cooperate, You Won't Go to Jail". This is to Scare You, Into Waiving Your Rights. The Union Does Have, The Capability of Helping Employees, While Being Interogated, Before You Get Yourself Into More Serious Trouble.

Off Topic and Off color....

Friend of mine sent this to me... I have also seen it on the Web so I thought I would share it with you. Give me some feedback on this.

"Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater.
If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby.
If you give her a house, she'll give you a home.
If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal.
If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.
She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.
So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit."

San Diego Local 197 Picnic

Good morning, I went to the Local's picnic yesterday and had a very nice time. I saw some individuals that I have not seen in many years. I will say that the food was good and the weather was excellent. I only wish that more Union members and their families could have been there. Enjoyed just being there with my family and friends.

General Excessing Information

I came across some pretty good information that was posted on another locals website that was provided by Mike Gallagher, APWU Eastern Region Coordinator.

This concerns excessing of craft employees. The powerpoint presentation is quite good. I would recommend to all who are or might be getting excessed to watch it. The link to the page is listed below:

http://redbanklocal.com/excessing.html

Many thanks to the Red Bank Local in New Jersey for this information.

MLS Maintenance Tour Re-alignment

This week began the new Maintenance work hours for the majority of maintenance craft employees at MLS P&DC which I list below using standard 24 hour time not postal times:

Tour 1 2200 till 0630
Tour 2 0600 till 1430
Tour 3 1400 till 2230

These times are for the majority of maintenance craft employees that work at MLS P&DC.

So now let us look at the exceptions that are not working these standard hours that the Management in Maintenance have kept:

There are employees that are working a 4/10 work week. This is a work week that has the employee working 10 hours each day for 4 days a week. This gives that employee 3 days off each week. I will list below the hours I believe to be correct for the tours I am aware of:

Tour 1 2200 till 0830
Tour 2 (hours worked are unknown to me can anyone give them to me?)
Tour 3 Noon till 2230 and 1300 till 2330

So looking at the above 4/10 workers I would have to ask why does Tour 3 have two different start times for their workers?

Now then we have some other maintenance craft employees that their hours were not changed. These employees are the MOS clerks in maintenance that are used in Tool and Parts. Why were not these employee's hours not realigned to match their maintenance workers that they support? Management thought that maintenance employees on the floor only needed a 30 minute overlap for any interaction between the tours. So why is it that Management did not do the same with the MOS clerks? Instead, of 30 minute overlap in some instances you are looking at 1 1/2 hours of overlap.Why is this? I could only guess at one of the reasons like not wanting to change any of the level 7 MOS clerks to correspond to the Tour 2 that they are currently on. It might just be inconvenient for some of them. Well this whole realignment for MLS maintenance tour hours has not been convenient for many individuals. So why should they be singled out for not being affected? Any ideas on this?




Now then let us look at what is called

Numbers Speak up

USPS EMPLOYEE STATISTICS FROM 2000 - 2008

2000 2008 -/+ Percentage

USPS Headquarters 2279 2892 +21%

USPS Field Support 5566 4429 -20%

Inspection Service (Field) 4190 2890 -31%

Inspector General 664 1159 +42%

USPS HEADQUARTERS TOTALS 12699 11370 -10.50%

Postmasters (Installation Heads) 26121 25250 -3%

Supervisors / Managers 38797 31787 -18%

USPS SUPERVISORY TOTALS 64918 57037 -12.14%

Tech Personal 9959 8010 -20%

Clerks 281956 194773 -31%

Nurses 191 134 -30%

Mail Handlers 60851 55812 -8%

City Carriers 241079 211661 -12%

Motor Vehicle 9347 8558 -5%

Rural Carriers 57111 68900 +17%

Maintenance 42284 40248 -5%

Vehicle Maintenance 5546 5419 -2%

USPS CAREER CRAFT 708324 593515 -16.21%
EMPLOYEES TOTALS

I am letting the numbers speak for themselves. If the Career Craft employees numbers are down a total of -16.21% then why is not the Headquarters and Supervisory numbers not down at a similar percentage? Is not their numbers based on the number of craft employees?