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.

My Fellow Maintenance Workers

          Now that we have perhaps one of the most turbulent and game changing decades many of us have ever experiences behind us, it would do well for all of us to contemplate the near future and do whatever we can to become players and not just casual observers of what will be the defining moments for our local and for our St. Paul P&DC.

          As we move closer to our move date to Eagan, it would behoove even the most apathetic of our members to start attending the General Membership meetings.  These meetings are your lifeline in finding out how other members feel about the issues, observe debate and argument over these issues, and ultimately vote on what could be some of the most important memorandums of understanding and constitutional questions our local has ever faced.  Your dues are your ticket to put yourself at the center of these debates.  If you know a fellow employee who is a non-member, tell him or her that these are important times to be a member and we could use their understanding and support as well.

          As maintenance employees, we will have an up close look at new machinery that will shape our future.  We must start fresh and call management on phony route sheets and bogus time allotments for work orders.  We must do the route in its entirety and if that means calling it incomplete because of time constraints, then so be it.  We need to protect the work, not only for ourselves, but for the many who will come after us.  The Eagan plant will let us put to rest much of the counter productive culture that has plagued the relationship of labor and management in St. Paul.  The Postal Service is spending millions on the latest technology and we need to protect these capital assets.  We cannot allow apathetic managers to run everything into the ground again.  Just doing our job, in an orderly fashion, will help the Postal Service be viable and help future postal employees enjoy the rewards of gainful employment.

Dave Geissinger

Maintenance Craft Director

Maintenance Report

          I would like to thank the Wausau Wisconsin APWU for putting on a very successful John Akey seminar this past August.  The Maintenance Round Table discussions were chaired by our National Maintenance Director Steve Raymer and Business Agent Troy Rorman and much insight was gained by all the new maintenance stewards who were in attendance.  It was invaluable for all of us to sit around a table with National Officers and hopefully it will focus our future efforts in the grievance process.

          Our maintenance step 2 grievance caseload has dropped by 27% thanks in part to the tireless efforts of your trustee and step 2 designee Karen Volkman.  We hope to continue this pace and hope that most of the step 2 cases will be resolved or moved forward before we move to the new building.

          Hopefully by the time you are reading this, some of your new building questions will start to be answered.  Naturally staffing is foremost on everyone’s mind and as things become available, I will make certain that you are the first to know.

Your fellow maintenance employee,

Dave Geissinger

My Fellow Maintenance Employees:

          Congratulations to all of you for having the highest percentage of votes cast of the APWU crafts.  It was a close election and I hope all of you will take some time and thank Rod Renner for his hard work and diligence these past two years.  We are united more than ever and we have had numerous excellent candidates step up to the plate desiring to become stewards. In the weeks to come we will be forming an excellent team which we hope will be of service to you for years to come. It may be a little cumbersome in the beginning, but I assure you, all of the stewards that are certified will have YOUR best interests in mind.

          As I see it, the battle lines are being drawn and it’s going to come down to these three focal points: Staffing, subcontracting, and the Eagan move.  I do not intend to reinvent the wheel as we bring the fight to management.  These battles are being fount at numerous locals across the country and I intend to find out the successful strategies others are using.

          Maintenance is the craft that is absorbing other crafts that have too many employees for the future of the Post Office.  Maintenance is the craft that has been told that MPE’s and ET’s are not eligible for VERA retirements.  Maintenance is the craft that has a very high percentage of veterans in its ranks because Veteran’s Preference made openings for custodians.  To be the craft that grows in the face of more complex automation is something we should all be proud of.  We will forever be united with our clerks and MVS members in our American Postal Workers Union and welcome them whenever possible into our ranks, and know the complexion of the APWU is changing.

Thanks to all of you,

Dave Geissinger

Every Three Years

          The Maintenance Selection System (MSS) open season is in March, 2009.  This month long opportunity to update your records occurs only once every three years.

          The APWU’s advice remains the same: Because only current Maintenance Craft Employees can be on the in-craft Promotion Eligibility Register, an employee should take the opportunity of open season to apply for all PERS in an installation.

          This action should be taken regardless of whether an employee actually has any plans to try for a promotion (or demotion).  The point is to qualify and keep your options open.  Even if your results come back with an ineligible rating, the update process in Article 38.5.D is always there so that the employee can become qualified in the future without going through the entire process.

          With the new facility coming on line in late 2010/early 2011, it’s very important that all maintenance employees qualify for as many occupation groups as they possibly can.  Management cannot offer an employee a vacant position if the employee is not qualified for that position.  Example: Management cannot offer an employee a vacant position if the employee is not qualified for that position.  Example: management determines that the new facility only requires 18 MPE positions and the St. Paul PEDC has 22 MPEs on the rolls, then 4 MPEs need to find a hew job or new occupational group.  If the staffing for the new facility requires 26 BEMs and the St. Paul P&DC has only 20 BEMs – management needs to find 6 employees that are qualified as BEMs.  If you are not qualified as a BEM (that is, you do not have an eligible rating for the BEM 931 exam) then management can not offer you the vacant BEM positions.

          The reason that exam 916 (Laborer Custodian) has been suspended is that every employee in the USPS is now considered qualified as a laborer custodian.  This allows management to excess any employee into the maintenance craft as a laborer custodian.

          With the new language (bold) in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article 38, Section 3 Seniority, K Excess Employees, it is clear that being “qualified” matters:

                   K. Excess Employees

1. Installation Seniority governs in indentifying excess employees within an occupational group and level.

2. Employees excessed to lower level under Article 12 into or remaining in the Maintenance Craft shall received saved grade.  Employees receiving saved grade are required to request placement on promotion eligibility registers in their former higher level.

3. When applying Article 12.5.C.5.a(5), the first opportunity to return to the Maintenance Craft shall be to the first same or lower level duty assignment which remains vacant after the in-craft process for posting and filling duty assignments and for which the excessed employee is qualified.

4. When applying Article 12.5.C.5.b(6), a Maintenance Craft employee  can exercise their retreat right to any same or lower level duty assignment which remains vacant after the in craft process for posting and filling duty assignments in their former installation and for which the excessed employee is qualified.  Failure to exercise such retreat right results in the employee forfeiting future retreat rights to the occupational group and level for which the retreat was declined.

5. If return to retreat to the craft, under 3 or 4 above, is to a lower level duty assignment, the employee shall receive saved grade.

          So, if you’re an MPE excessed in to a laborer custodian position and there are three vacant BEM positions, management cannot offer you any of the vacant BEM positions unless you are qualified. Or if there are four vacant ET positions, again, management can not offer you any of the vacant ET positions unless you are qualified.  Or if you’re an ET and management has a vacant MPE or BEM position, management can not offer you either position unless you are qualified.  Yes, you are an ET and you can work down and perform the same  work as an MPE or MM, but try to down grade to either position without a qualifying score for the exam 931 (MM) or the exam 933 (MPE).  You can not take a down grade to a lower level position unless you are qualified. GET QUALIFED.

          The following are excerpts from the EL-304, Maintenance Selection System (MSS):

          INCRAFT APPLICATION PROCESS  

          Overview

          Maintenance Craft Career Employees are given first priority in filling vacancies in the maintenance craft.  These employees are referred to as incraft employees in the context of MSS.  Incraft employees are given the opportunity to fill a vacant position based on their standing on Promotion Eligibility Register (PER).  That standing is determined by the results of their completion of the MSS process for the Group that includes that position.  There are four circumstances under which maintenance craft employees can apply to be included in a PER:

1.     When first entering the maintenance craft.

2.     When a facility announces a maintenance position newly authorized in that office.

3.     When an employee transfers to another maintenance facility.

4.     When there is an official MSS Open Season (every three years during the month of March.

Once an incraft applicant has completed the MSS process and received an incraft result, whether eligible or ineligible, he/she may not apply for that group, as an incraft applicant, again under any circumstances. (Incraft ratings are composite ratings and are not based from 0 to 100.  If the applicant has a numerical rating, he/she is eligible.)

          The applicant may, however apply to improve that rating through a process called updating.  Updating is available only to incraft applicants and it applies only to their incraft ratings.  Basically, the update process allows an incraft applicant who has had additional education, training or experience in a subject area(s) measured by MSS, to participate in a subset of MSS that will reevaluate only that subject area(s) and generate a new rating.  The special process and rules for updating are explained in detail in the section entitled “Updating Process”.

UPDATING PROCESS

          Incraft employees who have received a rating or set of ratings for an incraft group and are on the register (or on the separate list of ineligible applicants) have the right to update that rating or set of ratings.

          Management has only 37 calendar days from the date of the applicant’s update request to complete the process and have results back in the office.

Eligibility to update.

To be eligible to update a group, applicants must meet all of the following five criteria:

1.       They must have received an incraft rating or set of ratings for the group(s).

2.       The must be an applicant for at least one position in the group (be on at least one register or list of ineligibles in the group) they are asking to update. This does not include those who abandoned the process.

3.       The must have received new or additional education, training, or experience, and it must have been completed within 30 calendar days of the date of the update request. Note: Eligible employees may request an update on any KSA for which the criteria has been met.

4.       An applicant may qualify to update one or more KSA’s but not enough KSA’s to being the update process.  In that case, the Maintenance MSS Coordinator keeps the records n the employee’s maintenance file until he/she has qualified to update at least the minimum KSA’s required (failed KSAs) for one position.  In each case, the evidence of additional education, training, or experience must have been submitted within 30 days of its completion.

5.       The new or additional education, training, or experience must be relevant to the KSAs that they wish to update.

Update application process.

The employee: The employee must submit a request, in writing, to the Maintenance MSS Coordinator with documentation of new or additional education, training, or experience that they have received.  This request must be submitted within 30 calendar days of the completion of such education, training or experience. The employee must also indicate which group(s) and which KSAs he/she wishes to update.

REGISTERS

Eligibility for Registers

Incraft Promotion Eligibility Registers (PERS) – Only career maintenance employees currently in a maintenance craft position may have their names placed on an incraft maintenance PER. (Note : Applications for a lower level position cannot be placed on a PER. They must apply during open season, upon transfer to another installation, or when a new position is authorized within their installation.  There is no special opportunity for applicants seeking a lower level position.  They will receive a score which can be used later to qualify for a change to a lower level.  This is a separate procedure which does not use the PER.)

QUALIFYING FOR A CHANGE TO A LOWER LEVEL

          A qualified incraft employee may request a change to a lower level incraft position in the installation and will be considered as specified in the Registers section of this handbook.  An incraft employee who has not qualified under MSS for a position may not be afforded any special opportunity to qualify. The Open Season, New-To-Craft, and New Position processes described in this handbook provide the only opportunities for an incraft applicant to qualify for a lower level craft position within the installation.

          I cannot stress enough that an employee must request to update within thirty (30) days of completing any training.  If you are stuck in the update process and need additional training, there is an on-line site that offers technical training for the majority of the KSA’s.  The site is http://onlineecampustraining.com/Costal.  Check with MMO Jon Sivald to ensure that he will approve the training for the update process prior to signing up or paying for any on-line course. Courses are around $25.00 per course.

          If you started the MSS process before and failed to return the CSA booklet or failed to show for an MSS exam, they you are considered to have “abandoned” the MSS process.  March 2009 is your chance to start the process over again, but this time do not abandon the process.  Return the Candidate Supplement Application (CSA) booklet in time and show up for all of the scheduled exam(s) or let management know that you cannot make the exam date and reschedule the exam.  If you would like a copy of the CSA booklet in MS WORD, stop by the APWU Office and we can provide one to you (please provide your own memory stick).

          Every KSA page in the CSA booklet has a “Box” and if you check the box, you are indicating that “I do not have education or experience for this KSA.”  I refer to this “box” as the box of death because if you check this box, then management does not and will not ask you any questions during your review panel and you will not be scored on the KSA.  If that KSA is used to qualify you for an occupational group, then you just failed yourself for that occupational group or position by checking the box of death.

          When management mails you the “Employee Maintenance Position – Selection Form” – my advice is to check every box for every occupational group for exam 931, 932, 933 and any non-MSS positions that you may be interested in.  If in the future you want to downgrade, transfer or are facing “excessing”, you’ll have a qualifying score for that particular occupational group.  Failure to check a box for an occupational group tells the system that you are not interested in that occupational group.

          Once you have completed the MSS/Open Season process and find yourself on a PER, submit a permit Withdrawal Request for any occupational group that you do not want.  This will keep you in your current occupational group and still leave you qualified on the PER(s).

          These are changing and challenging times that we are facing.  Knowledge is power – get informed!

          Good luck on your exams.

          And remember, if you don’t know your rights, then you don’t have any rights.  You only have the rights that you are willing to fight for.

Roderick Renner

Maintenance Craft Director

Maintenance Issues:

1. Due to the fact that management has determined the only way the can improve efficiency in the USPS is to attack sick leave usage. (Here’s a new idea, if management wants to improve efficiency, then how about managing more efficiently?? It is the twenty first century) Management has been conducting attendance reviews and conducting job discussions with employees.

 First issue – DO NOT sign your PS Form 3972 Attendance Analysis sheet.  The 3972 has a signature line only for the supervisor.  The supervisor reviews your attendance and signs the sheet.  If your supervisor wants to discuss attendance with an employee – that’s fine; just remember your Weingarten Rights and the fact that you have the right to talk to a steward prior to and after any job discussion.  The employee has to invoke their Weingarten Rights.  For any attendance issue to be relevant, management should only go back 90 days – not nine months. 

Second issue – the PS Form 3971 Request for or Notification of Absence is to be filled out by the employee when the employee returns to work.  Management may initiate a PS Form 3971 when an employee calls in for leave.  This is exactly what the eRMS system does when an employee calls the “Unscheduled Leave Request” line (the 1-877-477-3273 number).  The problem with a system generated 3971 is that the request will always be marked unscheduled.  My advice is that when the employee returns to work, the employee destroy the system generated 3971 and complete their own 3971 so that the leave type is correct and the form is not automatically marked unscheduled.  Another problem with the system generated 3971, is that the leave type you requested may not be the leave type on the system generated 3971.  Management can deny the original leave type the employee requested and print a system generated 3971 with a different leave type. For example, an employee may call in for annual leave, and management clicks NO for the requested leave.  Management then enters a different leave type for the day, and prints a different 3971 when the different leave type. 

Third issue – annual leave immediately preceding and/or following non-scheduled day.  If an employee has annual leave prior to or after their SDO’s and they are available for overtime, then it is the employee’s responsibility to put a phone number in the “Employee can be reached at (if needed)” section on the PS Form 3971.  If you are not available for overtime, then the employee marks the “no call” box.  See the LMOU, Q&A, Article 8, Question 3. This applies to scheduled annual leave and sick leave.

2. PS Form 1723, Assignment Order. Management is supposed to manage the bargaining unit, not the bargaining unit managing themselves.  An employee can not place one’s self on higher level. There are bargaining unit employees filling out their own 1723’s.  If management wants an employee to work a higher level, then management completes the assignment order, prior to the higher level work being done.  Management determines who works higher level, when and for how long.  Management completes the 1723 and signs it, thereby authoring the higher level pay. The APWU has management at step 1 of the grievance process stating that management did not place the employee on higher level – the employee completed the 17623 and placed themselves on higher level. And now management should issue a letter of demand for the higher level pay to be repaid.  It’s management’s job to manage the bargaining unit and I wish that they would.  Don’t do management’s work for them.  Demand higher level pay whenever you perform higher level work, and remember, the 1723 is to be completed PRIOR to the work being done, not after the fact.

3. Preventative Maintenance (PM) Completion Rates/Electronic Condition Based Maintenance (eCBM)/Employee Assignment Work Sheets (EAWS) = Staffing.  There are three issues that all affect staffing levels. 

First issue – Management has used PM completion rates to justify lowering the staffing levels for different occupational groups.  Remember my article on “We are our own worst enemies”?  The bargaining unit can no longer afford the “super maintenance employee”. Do not “pencil whip” or “gun deck” the time that it takes to complete a preventative maintenance route.  If the estimated time is 3.8 hours and it takes you 4.2 hours, then take the 4.2 hours.  The time that it takes to complete a PM is the time that it takes.  If management asks you to help out with the workload and sign-off on a PM route that has an estimated time of 3.8 hours, and you sign-off the PM with only 2.0 hours, you are doing management a big favor (in more ways than you realize).  First, you are helping management lower the staffing level.  A problem that the APWU is having right now is at the TC AMC, management has reverted a vacant BEM position.  The building side staffing package calls for five Building Equipment Maintenance Mechanics (BEMS).  Management is not going to fill the 5^th position because they are stating that their PM completion rate is at 98.9%.  Four BEM’s are doing the work of five employees?  The building equipment inventory justifies five BEMs.  The minimum PM hours in the MS-1 justifies five BEMS.  No overtime is being worked to cover the vacant position.  The corrective maintenance/work orders hours are down.  So who in the bargaining unit is being harmed?  The employee on the BEM PER! The employee who has to fill the shoes of the “super maintenance employee”.  How does the APWU argue this issue?  The staffing package states five employees, yet all of the work is getting done by only 4 employees.

          Second issue – eCBM, as more and more machines come under eCBM and the mail volume continues to drop, so too will the staffing levels for ET. MPE and MM.  Under eCBM the preventative maintenance checklists are detemined by the amount of mail pieces run.  The lower the mail count, the less maintenance required and the less staffing needed to perform the maintenance.  eCBM is on the AFSC’s and soon it will be on the DBCS’s.  if you’re at ET or and MPE and assigned to the preventative maintenance on the AFSC’s don’t cut corners on the checklists or the time that it takes to complete the checks.  Don’t do management any favors by closing out a PM route before it is completed.  The information that is entered into the eCBM system must reflect the reality of the situation.

          Third issue – Employee Assignment Work Sheet.  Your EAWS must justify your job!  The sum of our EAW’s must justify the staffing level at St. Paul!  You’re paid for eight hours of work and your EAWS should justify what you did for those eight hours.  All of your time should not go onto standing work orders.  Standing work orders do nothing for justifying staffing levels.  Some accounting type is sitting in Western Area/Denver, CO looking at the information that is entered into the eMARS system and making the determination that with all of the time going to standing work orders, the St. Paul Maintenance Department is overstaffed.  What are all of those maintenance employees doing all day?  Standing work orders equate to doing nothing.  Have you ever heard of eNMARS? eNMARS provides Area and National level reports based on eMARS data collected at the local level.  Western Area is always watching and has full access to St. Paul’s eMARS information.  The Western Area signs off on the staffing package for the TC AMC authorizing 41 maintenance positions, but only budgets the TC AMC for 38 positions.  Western Area sets management to fail on the Pay for Performance (PFP).  Do you think that management is going to fail? NO – they are going to get the staffing level down to 38 positions or less. Management will get their pay raise and three bargaining unit employees will get laid off.  Management will always chose their PFP pay raise over any bargaining unit issues.

4. Pay For Performance (PFP) pay raise/Program Evaluation Guide (PEG)/PM Completion Rates.  First off – let’s not call it a bonus.  It’s a pay raise.  A pay raise that effects management’s income level over their entire career.  This is why management will always pick their PFP pay raise over your letter of warning.  Secondly, the PM completion rates do affect management’s PFP pay raise.  You will not see PM completion rate listed on the items that are used to determine what level of a contributor they are. (The higher level of contributor a facility achieves – the higher the pay raise).  But you will see PEG listed as a determining factor. PEG is a USPS program that grades management’s compliance with the OSHA regulations/standards.  The higher the PEG score – the higher the pay raise.  One of the items that are scored during a PEG audit is the PM completion rate for Emergency Systems (EMSYS) routes.  Management doesn’t place a high priority on EMSYS routes because they apply to life safety equipment.  Management places a high priority on EMSYS routes because the completion rate affects their pay raise.  The PM completion rate for major mechanization equipment and major building equipment also affects the PEG audit score. The higher the PM completion rate, the higher the PEG audit score, the higher level of contributor equals a higher pay raise.  There are other factors that affect the PFP score, i.e. safety, accident rate and training.  This is why when management has a PEG audit coming up the maintenance employees get 38 safety talks dumped on them and management signs off the PEG requirement for training for the year.  This issue is why every employee in every pay location should be concerned about the PM completion rate.  If you bypassed or partial a PM route last month, the PM completion report should reflect the bypass or partial.  Did the bypass that you wrote on your EWAS somehow get changed to a complete?  What is the goal for your crew’s PM completion rate?  Better yet – what is the goal for your supervisor’s PM completion rate?  And if you want to know how high the PFP pay raise can be, I’ve seen it as high as 7%.  When was the last time the bargaining unit saw a 7% pay raise?  Think about this issue the next time your supervisor wants you to cheat a little time off of your PM routes – you’re cheating yourself right out of a job!

5. The National Reassessment Program (NRP) and safety.  NRP phase two has started in the Northland District. I’m not going to go into detail on how the NRP works.  Just to say that if you get injured on the job, and your injuries limit your ability to perform the basic functions of your position, the USPS will find you a new job working somewhere else.  Do not let management off the hook when it comes to safety!  Management is always stating that the employee has a responsibility to work safely.  And I reply that it’s management’s responsibility to provide the employee with a safe working environment.  Don’t take short cuts, follow every safety rule.  If the task requires hand protection – wear gloves.  If the task requires a ladder and a hard hat- use a ladder and never leave the workroom floor without a hard hat.  If the task requires energy control or lock out/tag out – perform lock out on the equipment.  Follow the appropriate Maintenance Management Order (MMO) or locally developed lock out procedures.  The safety rules are in place, follow them to the letter.  Don’t take short cuts and don’t let management pressure you into taking short cuts on safety.  If you get hurt on the job and it’s a reportable OSHA injury, you have now affected management’s PEG score and their PFP pay raise.  Next will be your letter of warning for not following safety rules.  After your LOW, there is a limited duty job offer and the reassessment program with a new job working at Sam’s Club making $9.00 an hour.  Don’t be apprehensive about filling out a PS form 1767, Hazard Report, because if your injury affects their PFP pay raise, management will not be apprehensive about issuing you a letter of warning.  Please don’t let management grind you up and spit you out.  If you come to work with ten fingers and ten toes, you should be going home with ten and ten.  Follow all of the safety rules – even the unwritten ones.

916 Exam – The suspension for the Laborer custodian 916 examination has been extended for another two years.  The suspension will expire on September 30, 2010.

          MSS Open Season – March of 2009 is the next Open Season for the Maintenance Selection System.  With the new facility opening up, this is a very important time for all maintenance employees in St. Paul.  Management cannot offer an employee a position if the employee is not qualified for the position.  This is the reason that the 916 exam is suspended.  If you have never taken the 931, 932 or 933 exams, now is the time to reconsider.  Now is the time to start studying for the exams.  The 931 is for the BEM, AMT, MM, ME, PT and BMC, the 932 is for ET’s and the 933 is for the MPE position.  Information on study materials is available in the APWU office on the 5^th floor.

OT tracking – the maintenance stewards have been policing the overtime tracking for all maintenance pay locations.  The APWU is provided with the “overtime alert report” every Tuesday.  Grievances have been filed and we are trying to get management to comply with the LMOU.  Not much progress has been made by management on the issues in keeping the ODL tracking up to date and consulting with the APWU prior to overtime being worked.

Stepping up – becoming a steward – With the new facility coming on line, the issues that need to be addressed are only going to increase. With maintenance management being understaffed there are more contractual violations occurring every day.  The issues discussed in this article have to be policed and that requires stewards.  To do the bargaining unit any justice, to address all of the issues, is going to require more maintenance employees to volunteer to become stewards. There are over 230 maintenance employees that the St. Paul APWU represents.  We have only 5 maintenance stewards that are actively involved in the APWU as stewards.  That equates to 2% of the maintenance employees.  Employees volunteer to become stewards, they are not appointed or elected to be stewards.  Stewards volunteer to defend your Collective Bargaining Agreement rights.  I do not understand how a dues paying member can stand back and ask the union “what have you done for me” when only 2% of the members have volunteered to be involved as stewards.  You are the union.  I understand that your issues are important to you, but the big picture is right in front of us and we, as a bargaining unit, need to open our eyes and confront the issues.  Union solidarity is for everyone – not just the select few.

Roderick Renner

Maintenance Craft Director

Remember: If you don’t know your rights – you don’t have any rights.  You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.