MANCHESTER AREA LOCAL #230 APWU

Brothers and Sisters,

In accordance with our local constitution February is the month the President must provide the membership with a report detailing our progress last year, the general condition of the local, as well as our plans and goals for 2012.

2011 was the most challenging year I have experienced within the American Postal Workers Union.  Unfortunately, I believe it will only be the start of our continued struggles.  With the assaults to our existence coming from every angle we will have to remain strong, diligent and committed to the fight.  We will fight the Postal Service’s assault to degrade our delivery standards to the Public we serve, with their plans to close Processing Facilities and Post Offices.  We will fight the assault on our Collective Bargaining Agreement that started with blatant contract violations before the ink was even dry on the signature page.  We will fight the Legislative assaults on us, either at the Federal level with Postal Reform that is aimed at harming the workforce and not addressing the true problems of the United States Postal Service or at the State level that is aimed at destroying Labor Unions instead of creating good jobs, restoring our economy and giving the citizens of NH the dignity and respect they deserve.   One of my most memorable events of 2011 was the joint efforts of all our postal unions with the Rally to Save our Service last September.  The energy and the outpouring of support was so exciting, I hope to see that repeated again and again in the future. 

The year started with our focus on DUO’s, (Delivery Unit Optimization Process) and it’s impact to our Associate Offices.  This is another of the Postal Service’s consolidation plans.  A number of our larger AO’s lost their CSBS machines in order to make room for the addition of Carrier’s from smaller Associate Offices.  The PTF’s in the losing installations had a reduction in work hours leading them to try and find work in hub offices as well as excessing.  The Area Business Agents, Vice President and I coordinated visits to the Offices to meet and discuss the issues and options with each impacted member. 

A new National Agreement was reached in early spring.  A very controversial agreement, with many changes, most notably, it rewrote the definition of a FTR, creating Non-Traditional Full Time Regular, converted PTF’s in level 21 and above offices and created a new category of employee, PSE, eliminating Casuals. Our National Officers and the Rank and File Committee sold this Agreement in part as the means by which the Postal Service could have the workforce flexibility it needed to survive.  Many opinions around the country took flight; while this Executive Board made a decision to support the Agreement and recommend approval from our membership.  While some of the new language has proven to be troublesome, and the Postal Service says it needs more workforce flexibility, in the form of lay-offs, we still believe having a contract is better than not having one.  As you know all of the other Postal Unions are at arbitration or heading there so only time will tell what they receive.  From that, one can only guess at whether we would have been better off, although I doubt it. 

With the new National Agreement a window of opportunity to negotiate local agreements took place.  We were well prepared; teams were created for the Manchester facility, the L&DC and the Associate Offices.  We met to review all of the current local agreements.  The teams for both Manchester and the L&DC were comfortable that our current language adequately addressed our needs even with the changes in the National Agreement therefore we waited for Management to open in those offices.  For the second time in my memory Management in the Manchester facility did not meet the deadline to open.  I will give them credit for trying though as I recently received a new notice to open, using some obscure contract language with regard to AMP consolidations.  I didn’t waste any time telling them the language did not apply.  I would suspect they verified that as we have not heard from them on that issue again.  The L&DC did not open and at last weeks Labor Management meeting a dispute arose over local interpretation and I enjoyed letting them know they missed their opportunity to try and negotiate language to fit their interpretation.  After carefully looking at our local agreements in the Associate Offices we chose to open in ten offices while Management opened in another.  This took the months of August and September to accomplish.  I can not thank ABA, Dana Coletti, ABA, Dan Provencher, Secretary Rich Derby and Vice President Chris Howe enough as we divided the eleven AO’s and negotiated agreements that will serve our members well in those offices.   Negotiating with OIC, Nick Kerr, in Concord proved him to be unreasonable regarding employees being able to use their annual leave outside of prime time.  They had no contract language allowing the use of annual leave in eight hour increments outside of prime time.  Although he insisted management readily approved annual leave and it wasn’t a problem, I am only comfortable when contract language supports the concept of “no problems”.  We sent our proposals to impasse and we are anxiously awaiting our day in arbitration as it appears now to be a problem, since seven of our members have been denied annual leave. 

As I said, the ink wasn’t even dry on the signature page of this agreement before blatant contract violations were taking place.  Seven level 21 Associate Offices belong to the Manchester Area Local were the PTF’s were to be converted to FTR.  The Agreement gave local management ninety days to create FTR or NTFT assignments to be posted for bid with any remaining residual vacancies used for retreat rights and conversion purposes.  In reality at the end of the ninety days management converted these PTF’s to unassigned regulars, (contract violation, grievances filed) and gave them unassigned schedules of six days, five hours per day, (contract violation, grievances filed).  At that point in some offices there were junior FTR’s remaining in the office to those who had been excessed out previously (contract violation, grievances filed).  Even though these employees were now FTR’s management consistently treated them as PTF’s working them out of their schedules without paying them out of schedule premium (contract violation, grievances filed).  In December NTFT jobs were posted to the offices for bid.  We continue to receive complaints of working outside of schedules while available FTR’s on the OTDL are not being called in for overtime (contract violations, grievances filed).  There is resolution to most of these issues on the horizon.  As promised, our National Officers have wasted no time in moving these nationwide disputes to the top of the arbitration docket.  The issues of conversion to unassigned, unassigned schedules of less than forty hours per week and the denial of retreat rights were heard on December 13^th with the decision to be applied to our local grievances. 

Currently we have NTFT jobs of four ten hour days posted for bid in our Manchester installation.  We have studied the new contract language with regards to the creation of these positions, the abolishment of traditional positions and what is posted in closed section bidding and open installation bidding.  Working with Clerk Craft Director, Mark Wiggin, we have had success in guiding management through the process, trying to minimize the impact as well as creating desirable days off.  We have learned one of the drawbacks to the four ten hour days is that holiday pay remains at eight hours, therefore employees who own these bids will have to use two hours of LWOP or annual leave on a holiday week.  In function one operations, mail processing, management will have the contractual right to have 50% NTFT assignments.  The contract also provides management the right to force unassigned FTR’s into any residual NTFT assignment of forty to forty-four hours per week although I am confident our members who desire these positions will bid them while those who don’t will continue to hold traditional assignments. 

L&DC Director, Deb Smith is anxious to have the four ten hour day assignments posted there, and we have started the discussions with management, although L&DC management is treading very lightly on this new path.  Our discussions have resulted in all formerly excessed employees to retreat back to the clerk craft with new bid jobs to be created with desirable non-scheduled days. 

We have dusted off our organizing skills with the PSE’s.  Deb Smith who is also the Organizing Director of the NH/APWU and I have attended several orientations with the PSE’s.  Although I do not have the exact statistics, I would say the PSE’s are 50% organized.  Some did want to wait through their probationary period while others have no experience with unions and are reluctant to join.  If the opportunity presents itself, have a conversation with them and if they are not members please invite them to join us and remember be gracious as they are our brothers and sisters and the future career employees of the Postal Service.  We need them to join the fight if in fact there is to be a future Postal Service. 

On a positive note, the first Retiree Chapter of the Manchester Area Local was chartered last March.  The Chapter is growing and currently looking to expand their areas of interest.  Now we can all look forward to joining when we retiree as we find ourselves with ample time to relax and have fun!

In 2011 we also began the work of updating and maintaining our home at 450 Hanover St.  After years of bemoaning the fact a new roof on the building was needed we were able to start with having the largest section done and the smaller sections repaired.  Now when we have a serious rain storm there are no leaks to contend with!  We spruced up the inside with replacing the 20 year old drapes with beautiful vertical blinds, cleaned, and organized our storage.  The outside is well tended to with flowers and a well groomed lawn in the warmer months and prompt snow removal in the winter. 

Our annual COPA campaign and our Toys for Tots campaign were extremely successful in 2011.  We continue to surpass our previous records.  The work involved in bringing these efforts to our membership is large but with Legislative Director, Janice Kelble and Human Relations Director, Kim Beck chairing these events they come off without a hitch.

Of course we have spent money to accomplish the above and represent our membership whether with the contract or in the legislative arena.  I am extremely proud our 2011 expenses met our income and we go into 2012 with a treasury of 20,000 plus dollars.  As the 2012 budget is available today you will see that some of our individual line items were overspent.  Those line items are directly related to the cost of representation.  We will spend what we need to spend when it comes to your representation.  You should also note other line items where significantly underspent.  Those are the areas where your representatives made sacrifices and accommodations to benefit the Local. 

As I write this report I cannot help think about the Officers and Stewards in our local and how we work together to do all of the above.  I depend on each individual’s skills and abilities to move us forward.  Thank you does not seem adequate and words do not describe how I appreciate each and every one of them but that is all I have. I also want to thank you the membership for your encouragement and support. 

Yours in Union Solidarity,

Pat Ahern, President

Manchester Area Local, APWU

Dear Members,

As I stated in my last article the summer has been very busy as we are trying to implement the changes in our new national agreement as well as negotiating local agreements.  We did open the local agreements in eleven Associate Offices; Nashua, Derry, Salem, Dover, Hudson, Merrimack, Durham, Concord, Keene, Lebanon and Tilton; which include the four offices that merged with us.  VP Chris Howe and I, with the Area Business Agents and Secretary Rich Derby are meeting in those offices and will continue through September. 

I expected to be negotiating in both Manchester and the L&DC  but we received no notification from management prior to the deadline.  A negotiating team was created for each office which included all of the craft directors and we met several times to review our current language.  The one concern I initially had was including PSE's as they will be a part of our bargaining unit and be able to become union members. After the review we found all of our language refers to “craft employees” and these PSE's will be “craft employees” therefore we did not see any compelling reasons on our side for us to open negotiations.  Having said that current local agreements, excluding those offices above, will remain in full force through May 2015. 

The conversion of PTR's and PTF's in level 21 and above offices to Full Time will be effective by August 27, 2011.  This process did not roll out as it had been explained to us and we will be filing many grievances on the issues.  The reason behind the ninety day time frame for conversion, from May 23^rd to August 23^rd was to give management time to meet with the local union, create bid positions to be posted in the installation for bid by FTR's and PTR's.  What was left not bid would then be given to the PTF's for preference into.  This did not happen.  Across the country, including this district, a mandate was issued to each Postmaster that they convert their PTR's and PTF's on August 27^th to unassigned FTR status and give them a Non Traditional Assignment schedule of 30 hours per week over six days.  The first grievance we will have is as an unassigned FTR any assignment you are given in accordance with Article 37 and Article 8 should be a 40 hour per week schedule, and the remedy will be for these individuals to be paid the difference of 10 hours per week.  Management claims they will be posting these assignments as bid positions to the installations at the end of September, as we maintain these bid assignments should have been posted in August, at the minimum, the next grievance we will have is if the employee who receives this bid is not the employee who has been working it since August 27^th we will file for out of schedule premium.  In addition there is language in our new contract that reads management must make every effort to create desirable duty assignments out of all work hours.  As we have met in each of the impacted offices and reviewed the schedules they are planning I can say for the most part these are not “desirable duty assignments”.  We also have an issue in some of these offices where we have FTR's who have been previously excessed out.  When management converts the PTF's to FTR even as an unassigned we maintain the employee excessed out should have been offered his retreat rights because now in that office there will be regulars junior to the person who is out.  Again this is another grievance.  The excessed employees do have a bid in their prior office therefore when the assignments are posted we maintain they have the right to bid.  If they were previously 40 hour a week employees, they have the right to decline anything less than 40 and still maintain their retreat rights to that office.

 As most of you know by now the actual decision by the Postal Service to close the Portsmouth Plant has been made with the work moving to Manchester and Scarborough.   With that there will be a large number of employees excessed from Portsmouth.  Due to the work being split between the two installations at this point it is unclear how many Portsmouth employees Manchester may receive.  The Area parties will be meeting next week and as soon as the information becomes available I will keep you posted.  In addition we have not received any new information on the closing of our CFS unit.  On May 16^th I received a notice on a study to determine the feasibility of moving the CFS unit.     

All of the above will be a irrelevant if the Postal Service gets what it wants from Congress.  I implore you to pay attention to the political battles we face and speak to your elected representatives.  We recently held emergency legislative meetings at the Union Hall with several speakers to update us on the issues.  Please speak to any of your union officials and ask what you can do to save your job. 

Yours in Union Solidarity

Pat Ahern, President

VOTE YES

ON THE

TENTATIVE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT

April 13, 2011

Dear Union Members,

As you know the mailing of ballots for the ratification of the tentative Collective Bargaining Agreement began last Friday. Those ballots are due by Tues., May 10^th.

The Executive Board of the Manchester Area Local voted unanimously in favor of ratification at their meeting on Sunday, April 3^rd for the following reasons:

• Retains protection against layoffs for all career employees who were on the rolls as of November 20, 2010.

• Pay increases of 3.5% and maintains Cost-of-Living Adjustments

• Returns a significant amount of work to the bargaining unit that has been outsourced or assigned to management while creating new level 7 Lead Clerk positions.

• Limitations of excessing of employees to no more than 50 miles from their installation.

• The creation of non-traditional full-time assignments in the Clerk Craft and the Motor Vehicle Craft of more or less than 5 days, between 30 and 48 hour weeks with Out of Schedule Premium if worked outside of bid schedule. Overtime for hours in a bid assignment over 40 in the week. The Local will provide input to the creation of these positions with a separate dispute process.

• Current Part-time Regular positions will be converted to non-traditional full-time assignments, which eliminates current bidding restrictions for PTR's.

• PTF's in Level 21 and above offices will be converted to full time or to a newly created non-traditional full-time assignment. The Manchester Area Local represents 7 Level 21 AO's where our PTF's will be converted. They will go from a 2 hour per pay period work hour guarantee to at the minimum a 60 hour work hour guarantee.

• A formula for the amount of bargaining unit work that may be performed by management in small offices by the level of the office. The level of the office to be determined by the November 21, 2010 date will remain in place for the duration of the new agreement.

Make no mistake this is an unprecedented agreement with many changes and thinking outside of the box but we are in an unprecedented time. You just have to read a newspaper or watch the news to learn of the fight organized labor is in today. With the economy and a majority of our politicians who are using this timing to pursue a particular agenda we believe we are fortunate to reach an agreement. The debate and opinions on this agreement are widespread. Several Locals have their opinion articles circulated therefore please be careful to understand which Local you are reading from.

Also we understand the alternative to a negotiated agreement, binding arbitration. We do not believe the APWU will maintain the no lay-off clause, continue with our COLA's and any pay raises. In addition a case could be made to have us pay the same premium share to our health plans as other federal workers. We more than likely would not see changes to the definition of a full-time regular with an arbitrated agreement, but excessing will run rampant with PTR's and PTF's remaining the same.

With this new agreement current full-time regulars will not be involuntarily reassigned to any position of less than 40 hours per week. In Function 1 (Mail Processing Operations) no more than 50% of the bid assignments will be non-traditional although in Function 4 (Customer Service) management may create as many as operational necessary. Excessing from an installation will be limited to 40 miles and in no case over 50 miles. If a position is not found within the 50 mile radius the parties at the national level will meet to determine what steps will be taken to create a position or to possibly offer an early out.

There are many changes to the Agreement. All of your Executive Board has had the opportunity to attend a briefing either in person or by a webinar. Please be sure to review the copy you receive in the mail and seek out any of us if you have any questions before you vote.

In Solidarity,

Pat Ahern, President Chris Howe, Executive Vice President

David Webster, Secretary/Treasurer Mark Wiggin, Clerk Craft Director

Paul Desfosses, Maintenance Craft Director Randy Turgeon, Motor Vehicle Director

Deborah Smith, L&DC Director Dana Coletti, Area Business Agent B

Dan Provencher, Area Business Agent A