American Postal Workers Union, Afl-Cio s1

AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION, AFL-CIO WESTERN NEW YORK AREA LOCAL #183

REGULAR MEETING MINUTES for October 18, 2008

The meeting was called to order at 7:15 PM by President Tim Northem.

The Pledge of Allegiance to our Flag was given and a moment of silence was observed in respect for the Men and Women who had fallen in service to our Country.

ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES PRESENT

PRESIDENT TIM NORTHEM VICE-PRESIDENT LORI ENNIS TREASURER MICHELLE KWOKA SECRETARY BRIAN LEWIS UNION TRUSTEE KATHY KERN UNION TRUSTEE CINDY ORLANDO UNION TRUSTEE JIM SNYDER

Union Trustee Angelo Otero was absent from the meeting. A motion to excuse Angelo Otero was made by Cindy Orlando, seconded by Jim Snyder, and passed unanimously.

Jim Snyder was appointed as Sergeant-at-arms.

REPORTS

The minutes of the previous meeting were circulated in the binder for inspection by the members present at the meeting. The Treasurer’s Report and the Grievance Report were placed in the same binder for inspection by the membership. A motion to approve the Reports in the binder was made by Doris Sloan, seconded by Sue Pieczynski, and passed unanimously.

The Secretary gave the Membership Report showing a total of 238 active members and 1 retired member, based on the best information available to date. The membership total is down from previous reports because the Secretary finally purged the list of those former Members who had retired, transferred, or otherwise been removed from National’s roster. A motion to accept the Membership Report was made by Kathy Kern, seconded by Michelle Kwoka, and passed unanimously.

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Lori Ennis presented the Stewards Report. There are currently 13 Regular Stewards and 2 Alternate Stewards. A motion to accept the Stewards Report was made by Doris Sloan, seconded by Kathy Kern, and passed unanimously.

Although the Grievance Report was placed in the Binder, Tim and Lori touched on some of the new developments, all of which were included in the Binder and will remain in the Binder until they are resolved.

Lori Ennis presented the Social Committee report. The Committee contacted Carol at McKinley’s attempting to make a firm commitment for January 10, 2009 for the annual Holiday Party. The installation of Officers will take place at this same Party. National Business Agent Pete Coradi has been invited to attend. A motion to approve the report of the Social Committee was made by Cindy Orlando, seconded by Michelle Kwoka, and passed unanimously.

Lori Ennis presented the report of the Election Committee. All current Officers and Trustees were re-elected without opposition. In addition, Nancy Owen and Roger Grissett were nominated for the two open Trustee positions. Nancy Owen accepted her nomination, but Roger Grissett has not yet accepted his nomination.

NEW BUSINESS

It has been reported that Postmaster Jackie Smilinich has returned to duty in Lancaster and POOM Kathy Dunshie has also returned to her duties.

The 2009 premium schedule for the APWU Health Plan was passed around for inspection by the interested Members.

Upper management is considering the elimination of tour two in the large mail processing facilities. Since tour two jobs are day jobs that are usually occupied by the most senior employees, it would be likely that many of those employees would consider retirement rather than reassignment to less desirable night tours. This would enable the Postal Service to reduce the workforce in spite of the lack of interest in the VERA program. It has been suggested that a four-day workweek might be necessary in order to facilitate such a change. It has also been suggested that this elimination of tour two would be direct retaliation for the Union’s opposition to the VERA program.

Tim and Lori are working on a Steward training session in November. Most likely, there would be a one-day class for current Stewards, and a separate one-day class for new Stewards.

The Batavia Article 12 dispute has been appealed to Arbitration. Fredonia is threatening to excess a PTF Clerk. In Lancaster, although an Article 12 settlement had been reached,

2 10/18/2008 management has not yet honored it. In addition, the CSBCS machines are scheduled to be discontinued in October, further complicating the matter.

The Local will be having the annual turkey raffle again at the November meeting with the winners being announced in the November Newsletter. Any turkeys remaining will be raffled off in the same manner as last year.

Vice-President Lori Ennis presented an update to COPA. Our Local has tripled its COPA contributions compared to last year. COPA funds are being used to support candidates who support health care and the Employee Free Choice Act. Two examples in the local area are Alice Kryzan and Eric Massa, both running for Congress on the Democratic ticket. This support is based on the Union’s perception that they would support us as Postal Workers on economic and Postal issues. President Northem reminded us that Members will be recognized for their COPA contributions.

Vice-President Lori Ennis reported that the Local had received a request from the Union’s Human Relations Department to provide backpacks to homeless Veterans at the Veterans Administration annual Stand Down. The backpacks will be filled with items to help these veterans get through their long days and cold winter nights. Each large Local is being asked to contribute at least one backpack for each 300 members. A motion to contribute one backpack has already been passed by the Executive Board. The estimated cost is between $75.00 and $100.00. A motion to contribute one backpack was made by Doris Sloan, seconded by Sue Pieczynski, and passed unanimously.

Lori and Tim stated that the plans by the Postal Service to discontinue tour two in the plants is direct retaliation for the Union’s recommendation for members not to accept the VERA retirement offer. The USPS is crying “poormouth” over its current financial situation even though most of the loss is a result of the one-time $5 billion payment for military retirement. The plan for tour two is to “encourage” the senior employees to retire rather than be reassigned to less desirable tours. A better plan to encourage retirement would be to offer a substantial monetary payment for early retirement. In addition to the national retaliation, the Postal Service seems to be retaliating locally for the Union’s efforts to enforce the Collective Bargaining Agreement at the local level. One example of the Postal Service’s approach is its current policy of ignoring the long respected principle that an employee being excessed would not excessed to a place that was also soon to be experiencing excessing. This shows how little the Postal Service management cares for and respects the employees at the local level.

We expressed our condolences to former President John McCune for the loss of both of his parents.

10/18/2008

3 PRIZES

The Door Prize of a $50.00 Applebee’s Card was won by Brian Lewis. The 50-50 Club Prize was won by Sue Pieczynski with $14.00 going to COPA.

ROUNDTABLE

LANCASTER An agreement was reached on Article 12 with retreat rights agreed to although another Article 12 is possible. 5-day workweeks for PTRs and improved bids were also agreed to, but then, Kathy Dunshie wiped out the whole agreement. Management would not meet on this. Then management asked to go back to the original agreement and made their adjustments to the bids. The CSBCS machines will be stopped, although it is uncertain whether they will actually be removed. It has been proposed to excess two PTRs, one at level 6, and one at level 7. The office is still a “mess”, but there is now unity among the members. Tim stressed the need to “do our work” but not to go “above and beyond”. Union time is still being denied.

LOCKPORT A seniority issue came up. With the changes in carrier routes there will be a new scheme. The rehab Clerk has some new restrictions.

EAST AURORA The PTR maintenance vacancy is still in the Step III. A rehab Clerk is cutting into PTF Clerk hours.

HAMBURG There is a great deal of discipline being issued. Some of this has been the result of taking short cuts that lead to errors such as missing scans. Carriers are performing multiple pulls and management has been telling Clerks not to record it. The Union has a right to collect data for grievance purposes.

FALCONER There have been mystery shopper failures because of the new questions. There was a discussion about the number of hours that the Postmaster can perform Clerk work and which duties can be so performed.

DEPEW Questions were asked about the new mystery shopper questions. It was pointed out that there are now 25 questions to be asked.

ELMA The question came up about whether a Clerk can properly be asked to attend a “dressing down” session intended for the manager. The issue of being asked to falsify information was also presented. A PTF Clerk was not paid for time that had been improperly charge to lunch.

10/18/2008

4 ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to be conducted, the meeting was adjourned at 9:35 PM. The motion to adjourn was made by Jim Snyder, seconded by Michelle Kwoka, and passed unanimously

Respectfully submitted,

Brian Lewis, Secretary