APWU                                           APWU

Tom Edwards, President      St. Paul, MN Area Local           February 12,  2010

www.stpaulapwu.org                                                         651-778-1637

ATTENTION:

DUES PAYING MEMBERS ONLY

          There are special meetings scheduled for questions and answers you may have about excessing attributed with the move to Eagan.  These meetings will be attended by your Local Officers and National Business Agents; Lyle Krueth and Willie Mellen for the Clerk Craft; and Troy Rorman for the Maintenance Craft.  These meetings will require PRE-REGISTRATION.

          To register you must call the Union Office at 651-778-1637 or 651-778-1642 and speak to Sheila or Jane.  You must provide your name, employee identification number and craft.  A list of dates and times by craft and address are listed below.  These meetings are at no cost to you.

          Wednesday 3/10/10     9:00 a.m.    Clerk Craft

          Monday       3/15/10     4:00 p.m.    Clerk Craft

          Friday         3/19/10      9:00 a.m.    Maintenance

          Tuesday      3/23/10      3:00 p.m.    Maintenance

          Location:

          Labor and Professional Center

          411 Main St

          St. Paul, MN 55102

          (Across from the Excel Energy Center)

*Attention Hearing Impaired Members – if you require an interpreter, you must let us know as soon as possible so that we may schedule one for you.

APWU                                           APWU

Tom Edwards, President      St. Paul, MN Area Local           February 11,  2010

Attention: Maintenance Members

The St. Paul Area Local has received the maintenance staffing package for the new Eagan facility.  The following is management’s projected impact to the rank and file of the maintenance craft.  These numbers are FLUID, as management changes their plans, i.e. machinery, equipment, etc, the numbers too may changes.

        5 level 10 Electronic Technicians

        3 level 9 Maintenance Mechanics (MPE)

        7 level 9 Building Equipment Mechanics

        3 level 4 Elevator Operators

        Management has notified the local that as of 2/4/10, management anticipates excessing 18 maintenance employees from the installation.  The National Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article 38.3.k.5 #1 states: Installation seniority governs in identifying excess employees within an occupational group and level.

        The Local Memorandum of Understanding, Article 38 further defines excessing by tour and section.

        As of now, management has not informed the local of how and when they intend to start excessing.  We will continue to meet regularly with management.  We will keep you informed as details become available.

APWU                                           APWU

Tom Edwards, President      St. Paul, MN Area Local           February 11,  2010

Transfers

          Due to the notification of the excessing of full time regulars outside of the St. Paul installation and/or craft, the APWU would like to provide the MOU on Transfer Opportunities to minimize excessing, dated 9/12/05. A copy of this MOU is included herein.  The following are some excerpts on what this MOU provides:

1.     All APWU employees in the clerk and maintenance craft may voluntarily submit a request for transfer through eReassign and will be placed on a preferred listing by date order.

2.     Minimum qualifications must be met for the position being considered.

3.     Employees work, attendance and safety records will not be considered.

4.     Employees will not be required to have 18 or 12 months of service in their present installation.

5.     Employees may transfer across APWU craft lines and will be processed in accordance with applicable provisions of the collective bargaining agreement and postal regulations.  The first section will come from same craft to same craft prior to cross craft selections.

Reminder that transfers are considered voluntary reassignments and your seniority in the gaining installation is affected.  This MOU basically gives employees in an installation that will be excessing outside of it, priority over other transfer requests.  If you have any questions, please contact a steward or officer.

Dawn Ecker

Vice President

******************************************************

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE AND THE AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION, AFL-CIO

RE: Transfer Opportunities to Minimize Excessing

Pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Transfer Opportunities to Minimize Excessing dated September 12, 2005, the parties held a series of meetings to discuss the methods by which this understanding would be implemented. As a result of these meetings the parties agree to the following:

1. All APWU employees in the installation and affected craft experiencing excessing from the craft or installation may voluntarily submit a request for transfer through eReassign. These employees will be placed on a preferred listing within  eReassign by date order. These volunteers will be allowed to transfer out of their impacted installation in accordance with the MOU on Transfer Opportunities to Minimize Excessing and the procedures described herein.

A. Affected employees requesting transfer must meet the minimum qualifications for the position being considered.

B. In accordance with applicable provisions of the EL-312 Handbook, nepotism rules are still in effect.

C. The following sections of the Transfer Memorandum of Understanding (page 305, of the 2000-2006 National Agreement) are modified in order to accommodate transfer opportunities to minimize excessing. Specifically:

1. Section B & C (page 305-306) – Ratios contained in the Transfer MOU are not applicable to affected employees applying for transfer as a result of impending excessing.

2. Section D (page 306) - Affected employees work, attendance and safety records will not be considered when applying for transfer as a result of impending excessing.

3. Section D.1 (page 306-307) – Affected employees will not be required to have 18 or 12 months of service (as applicable) in their present installation prior to requesting a transfer to another installation. Additionally, any craft lock in period will also not apply to affected employees that qualify for priority consideration.

4. Section E (page 307) - A minimum of 30 days notice to the losing installation will be afforded if possible. Neither the gaining nor losing installation can place a hold on the employee. The affected employee will be allowed to transfer prior to the excessing if they desire and choose their effective date of transfer will coincide with the start of a pay period at the gaining installation. The losing installation will coordinate between the employee and the gaining installation.

D. The Postal Service will not provide affected employees copies of vacancies at postal facilities in advance of transfer requests. Installations with hard-to-fill vacancies post them in eReassign as Reassignment Opportunities. Employees can request reassignment to these specific positions. It is the responsibility of the affected employee to check on a regular basis in eReassign for Reassignment Opportunities. Employees may also request transfers to offices that do not have reassignment opportunities listed on eReassign.

2. Selections by installations accepting transfer requests will be on a seniority basis using craft installation seniority from the losing installation.

A. In the event of a seniority tie, the tie breaker method will be as follows: a). total career postal time, and b). entered on duty date.

B. An employee’s seniority in the gaining installation is established by the respective gaining craft article in the collective bargaining agreement based on the employee being a voluntary transfer (not excessed) employee.

3. An employee accepting a transfer under the priority consideration will have their name removed from the priority eReassign pending request list at all locations. Affected employees requesting transfer can change their mind and decline a transfer opportunity. By doing so, the affected employee’s name will be removed from the priority eReassign pending request list at the declined location and the affected employee becomes immediately available for involuntary Article 12 reassignment.

4. Employees may transfer across APWU craft lines. Transfers outside craft lines will be processed in accordance with applicable provisions of the collective bargaining agreements and postal regulations. Affected employees requesting transfer must meet the minimum qualifications for the position being considered. The first selection will come from same craft to same craft prior to making cross craft selections. There is no priority consideration to non- APWU craft positions.

5. Simultaneous (duplicate) requests for transfer by the same employee to the same craft and installation in eReassign are not permitted.

6. Employee may receive a printed confirmation of their request through eReassign.

7. Impacted crafts or occupational groups in installations under Article 12 withholding are not available for transfer requests.

8. As a result of the MOU, there are no changes to the Article 12 time frames for notification to the union.

9. Disputes arising from the application of Transfer Opportunities to Minimize Excessing MOU will be processed at the Area level. If unable to resolve at Area level the dispute will be forwarded to the Headquarters level.

APWU                                           APWU

Tom Edwards, President       St. Paul, MN Area Local                               February 10, 2010

--REMINDER—

CHOICE VACATION FORM 1547 DUE

Note:  If you have not yet received your Form 1547 for selecting choice vacation, please request to see a steward.

          It’s that time of year again.  You all should have received your vacation period selection forms.  The following is information taken from the Local Memorandum of Understanding and a few reminders on completing your Form 1547:

          “Periods for  requesting choice vacation will commence no later than March 1 of each year.  Employees must submit their Form 1547 to management no later than March 21^st.  Normally, management will complete and return Form 1547 to the employee no later than March 31^st of each year.”

          Section 3.B.  “During the months of January, February, March, April, the first 21 days of May, September, October and those dates in November not covered in Section C. 10% of the complement will be scheduled on annual leave in each section or unit.”

          Section 3.C.  “From May 22^nd and including June, July and August, and the 1^st Saturday in November and continuing for a total of 21 calendar days, 14% of the complement will be scheduled on annual leave in each section or unit.”

          “Choice vacation period shall begin with the new leave year and end on the last Friday in November.”

          “It is agreed that all employees shall be granted 2 (two) selections as their first choice during the choice vacation periods.  If an eligible employee requests 15 (fifteen) continuous days of annual leave, such request will be counted as 2 (two) selections.”

          “Employees changing their assignments shall have their vacation periods honored in the new assignment, and such annual shall not be part of the quota of the gaining section or losing unit for choice vacation.”

          “No exchange shall be permitted of vacation choices.”

          When filling out your 1547, make sure you enter under “First Choice” all weeks that you want annual leave.  “Second” and “Third” choice areas are for designating an alternate choice if you are not able to receive the leave requested under “first” choice. These forms also ask for “inclusive dates”.  This means to include all days that you want, including days off and holidays.

          “The vacation period shall start on the first day of the employee’s basic work week”, unless otherwise agreed upon and in 40 hour increments.  After this basic requirement is met and management has reviewed all 1547’s they can go back and review 1547’s for dates that are in conjunction with the choice week but beyond the service week and less than 40 hours (e.g. 40 hours plus 8 hours).  This leave can be approved as long as it does not prevent anyone from receiving their 40 hour choice vacation period.

      Note – The above choice vacation process doesn’t apply to the associate office.  Each associate office has their own local memo which addresses choice vacation.

APWU                                                                        APWU

Thomas Edwards, President           St. Paul, MN Area Local  January 29,   2010

www.stpaulapwu.org                                                        651-778-1637

The St. Paul Area Local has received the new Eagan facility staffing package.  The following are the numbers as we know them today.  Keep in mind that these numbers are FLUID, as management changes their plans i.e.: machinery, sections etc., the numbers too will change.

Management has notified the local that as of 12/24/09, 106 level 6 and 22 level 7 Clerk employees will be excessed from the installation. Junior employees to be excessed will be excessed by craft, salary level and status. Best Qualified, and part time regulars are a separate status.  When excessing occurs the sole criteria for selecting employees to be excessed is craft seniority.  Whether you are recovering from either on or off the job injury would have no bearing on being excessed.  Employees in a light or limited duty status will be excessed in the same way that employees in a full duty status are excessed, based on the pay level of the duty assignment that they hold and their seniority.

          So far, it has not been determined how the move from the old (St. Paul) installation to the new (Eagan) installation will be completed.  Management has notified the union that their plan is to move operations to the new facility in stages, over a 1 to 3 month period beginning possibly in June or July of this year.

          As far as bidding in the new facility, it will depend on how and when management abolishes, reverts, excesses and posts bid duty assignments.  As of now, it is impossible to determine what jobs will be posted installation wide or posted for in-section bidding. 

The Local still has not received the maintenance staffing package.

We will continue to meet regularly with management.  We will keep you informed as details become available.

APWU                                                 APWU

Tom Edwards, President         St. Paul, MN Area Local                     January 26, 2010

www.stpaulapwu.org                                                                              651-778-1637       

ATTENTION MEMBERS –

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS

ST. PAUL, MN AREA LOCAL APWU

HARRY WILLIAMS MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

            Three $1000.00 scholarships to be awarded to son or daughter of an active, retired or deceased member of the St. Paul, MN Area Local American Postal Workers Union.  Rules and applications are available in the stewards office, on bulletin boards and will be printed in the February issue of the ‘Postmark’ or call the Union Office (651) 778-1637.  Application must be postmarked by February 28, 2010.

MN AFL-CIO SCHOLARSHIPS

            Information and forms for these scholarships can be obtained at the Union Office (651)778-1637, the fifth floor office, or at the MN AFL-CIO web site (www.mnaflcio.org).    The Minnesota AFL-CIO Scholarship is awarded to five (5) recipients in 2010 to graduating high school seniors who are union members or the dependents of union members.  Applicants must have a straight “B” average or better and attend a post-secondary institution within the State of Minnesota.   Deadline is April 30, 2010.  For more information contact 651-227-7647 or 1-800-652-9004 or www.mnaflcio.org.

• David K. Roe Scholarship

(Two $1000.00 scholarships awarded for a post-secondary institution (within the State of Minnesota).

• Hubert H. Humphrey Memorial Award

(Two $1000.00 scholarships awarded for post-secondary institution (within the State of  Minnesota).

• Donald Pilla Memorial Award

(One $1000.00 scholarship awarded for vocational/technical school (within the State of Minnesota).

MARTIN DUFFY ADULT LEARNER SCHOLARSHIP

            Two $500.00 scholarships.  Winners to be selected by lot.  Scholarships awarded to union members affiliated with the MN AFL-CIO not high school graduating dependents.)  Deadline April 30, 2010.  For more information contact 651-227-7647 or toll free at 1-800-652-9004 or www.mnafl-cio.org.

APWU SCHOLARSHIPS

• E.C. Hallbeck Memorial Scholarship
• Vocational Scholarship

Awarded to high school seniors of APWU members.  Applications must be received by March 15, 2010.   Applications and further information may also be obtained at the National APWU website at www.apwu.org.

NELLIE STONE JOHNSON SCHOLARSHIP

            Scholarships available for racial minority union member or child, grandchild or spouse of a union member for post secondary education at one of Minnesota’s State Universities or at one of the two year community and technical colleges that are part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU).  (Those attending the University of Minnesota or a private school are not eligible for this scholarship.  For further information contact 651-738-1404 or 1-866-738-5238.  Deadline is May 1, 2010.   

APWU ACCIDENT BENEFIT ASSOCIATION SCHOLARSHIP

One $1,000.00 scholarship.  Entrants must be a graduating high school senior of an APWU member.  Winner is selected by luck of the draw.  Deadline is May 15, 2010. 

FEEA  2010-2011 SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

(Federal Employee Education Assistance Program)                               

APWU                                                                       APWU

Thomas Edwards, President           St. Paul, MN Area Local  January 13,   2010

www.stpaulapwu.org                                                        651-778-1637

            MVS Members               

          It has recently been brought to my attention that PVS management has been discouraging employees from using annual leave.  Furthermore, I have been made aware that members think this practice has been condoned by the union.  I would like to make it very clear your officers and stewards have not made any such agreements with PVS management. 

          As you all know, our operation is running 5 TTO’s short due to retirements.  I have taken measures to try to force management to fill these positions soon.  This understaffing has forced management to take creative measures to staff those vacant runs.  This understaffing is not the bargaining unit employees’ problem.  All MVS employees can earn leave and may use it within the limits of the Local Memorandum of Understanding.  The shortage of TTO’s has not changed the quota and management can’t deny you leave if the quota is open.  I would also like to remind you that sick leave does not count towards the annual leave quota. 

          If you have any questions or concerns regarding leave, please see one of the MVS stewards or me immediately.

***********************************

Members!

          It has recently been brought to my attention that Postmaster Mike Larson has implemented a Letter of Instruction (some time in November) at St. Paul Stations and Branches.  These instructions have resulted in city carriers being assigned to perform job duties of the St. Paul MVS bargaining unit employees. This is a clear violation of Article 7 of the NCBA.  Station and Branch Supervisors have been instructed to use carriers to transport mail (from their station) that has missed the evening dispatch to the St. Paul P&DC. Carriers are even getting paid overtime, penalty overtime and working over 12 hours in a day to get this mail to the plant.  This is an attempt by management to address the many grievances that have been filed for supervisors performing those same bargaining unit job duties.

          Fellow members, your brothers and sisters in the MVS craft need your help.  Management is taking several measures to try and hide this mail as it is brought into the building. This mail is being brought into the plant at the K-dock and the B-dock (postal and personal vehicles) between the hours of 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. MVS Tractor Trailer Operators should be performing this work.  Please keep a look out for postal employees (EAS, carriers, other bargaining unit employees) who are bringing any mail into and out of the building.  If you witness any of this, please ask for a steward immediately.  If you do not want to ask for a steward, please jot down a brief statement (what type of vehicle, date and time, who the person is, what station the mail is coming from, etc.) and bring it to the Union office.  Any help would be greatly appreciated and would help preserve the work performed by MVS.

In solidarity,

Dave Cook, MVS Director