NPMHU Local 317 - Alabama
Official Site of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union Local 317. Postal News for NPMHU 317 members. We consist of branches in Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, and Montgomery.
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| Nalcrest, Florida |
"...the Consumers' Checkbook Guide to Federal Health Plans 2014
"...The Unfair Labor Practice regarding the lean mail project has been resolved; see attached letter from the Manager, Contract Administration Department, T. J. Branch for additional details. ..."
Reference: www.npmhu.org
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| Mail Handler Pay Chart - Nov. 2013 |
"...A message to all employees of the United States Postal Service from Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe. ..."
Reference: USPS
"...Mark Dimondstein was elected the new president of the American Postal Workers Union in a hotly-contested race that ended Oct. 7. His “Members First” team won most of the offices they sought, defeating incumbents. ..."
Reference: www.apwu.org
"... Employers should be aware, however, that shift changes or transfers can constitute adverse employment actions if, for example, an employee is transferred to a “dead end” job. It is always prudent to consult with counsel in order to properly determine whether any shift change or transfer may be considered an adverse employment action...."
Reference: www.lexology.com
On September 18, 2013 President Hegarty notified Local Presidents of an unfair labor practice filed by the NPMHU against the United Stated Postal Service. Specifically, the Union asserts that the USPS violated Sections 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(2) of the Act through the unlawful formation and domination of labor organizations in the form of so-called Lean Mail Processing Teams. As of now, the matter is being investigated by Region 5 of the NLRB in Baltimore, MD, with NPMHU witnesses scheduled to be interviewed next week. Additional details will be disseminated to the Locals as appropriate.
Click here for more information and a copy of the charges filed with the NLRB. (PDF)
Reference: www.npmhu.org
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| Tim Costello |
"...A number of post offices have been impacted due to the flooding and road closures in Colorado. The Postal Service has relocated several facilities and addresses...."
Reference: www.9news.com
"...A VER will be offered to all field EAS employees. The VER offer includes all area and district EAS employees. VER-eligible employees will be mailed retirement applications and annuity estimates during the week of September 16-20...."
Reference: www.naps.org
"...The USPS’ inspector general posted the requests on the FedBizOpps, asking for a supplier with “subject matter expertise” to develop a report that compares the Postal Service’s leave and paid holiday program and retirement benefits to those offered by “major private-sector companies.”..."
Reference: www.govexec.com
"...“The differences in deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums under the USPS plan -- on their own, or in combination with lower coverage levels for some services -- could lead to higher total costs for some postal employees and non-Medicare-eligible retirees, including those who would have lower premiums under the USPS plan,” GAO wrote in its report...."
Reference: www.govexec.com
Over the course of the past six months, the National Contract Administration Department, along with our National Shop Steward Trainer, has been working diligently with the Postal Service to flesh-out and resolve many of the issues that arose as a result of the Fishgold Award. As a result, we are pleased to provide the jointly developed Questions and Answers document, which was finalized on August 7, 2013. To assist the parties with implementation of the 2011 Fishgold Arbitration Award, the Q&A memorializes our mutual understanding of the 44 most prevalent issues that could be agreed upon.
Reference: www.npmhu.org
"...A UPS cargo plane crashed Wednesday morning in an open field just outside an airport in Birmingham, Ala...."
Reference: www.tennessean.com
"...Some of the most onerous portions of H.R. 2748, as marked-up: CHANGES LAYOFF LANGUAGE IN NEXT NATIONAL AGREEMENT CONSOLIDATES PROCESSING PLANTS INCREASES HEALTH BENEFIT COSTS FOR EMPLOYEES DOES NOT MAINTAIN SERVICE STANDARDS INTERFERES WITH COLLECTIVE BARGAINING DOES NOT FAIRLY ADDRESS FERS OVERPAYMENTS MAINTAINS ROADBLOCKS TO SEEKING ADDITIONAL REVENUE FOR USPS COFFERS ALLOWS FIVE-DAY DELIVERY AND FORCES USE OF CLUSTER BOXES INSTEAD OF DOOR DELIVERY All mail handlers are urged to write to their Members of Congress, to urge a vote against the Issa legislation...."
Reference: www.npmhu.org
"...Issa, Cummings called for the Postal Service to be able to lay off employees, though Issa’s bill goes further in nullifying existing and future collective bargaining agreements. Cummings’ bill would also grant USPS the authority to offer buyout incentives through 2016 -- providing voluntarily separated employees with $25,000 or an extra one-to-two years of credited service...."
Reference: www.govexec.com
"...Federal officials say a former Montgomery postal worker has pleaded guilty to shooting at two co-workers in December 2011...."
Reference: timesfreepress.com
"...BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — US Postal Inspectors and agents from the Alabama ABC Drug Task Force swarmed a squalid efficiency..."
Reference: The Postal Briefing
"...links that will take you to the “We The People” web site where you can sign the petition to save the Postal Service. This is in support of Congressman Peter DeFazio’s bill (HR 630), known as the “Postal Service Protection Act” (and the companion Senate bill, S-316, sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders), which will prevent post offices from shutting down, preserve overnight delivery standards, stop the unnecessary pre-funding mandate for the Retiree Health Benefits Fund, return pension overpayments to the Postal Service, and save decent middle-class jobs. Please take a couple of minutes to support this important effort...."
Reference: www.npmhu.org
"...(May 10, 2013) - President John Hegarty responds to Postmaster General Donahoe’s request to reopen contract negotiations. President Hegarty’s letter reads, in part; “While we are always willing to work with the Postal Service to achieve cost savings, and to find new revenue streams, we cannot accommodate your request to reopen contract negotiations. Mail handlers already have contributed to the recent financial restructuring of the Postal Service; it is now up to Congress to authorize additional rate increases, to return the Postal Service’s pension overpayments, and to eliminate the onerous financial obligations imposed by the PAEA.” ..."
Reference: /www.npmhu.org
"...Andres De Los Santos, mail handler with the postal service, works Wednesday on the Advanced Facer Canceller System (AFCS) at the Pasco mail facility. The piece of equipment can read, sort and handle around 30,000 pieces of mail an hour. The U.S. Postal Service's Pasco mail handling center could be closed by Sept. 1, said the president of the Tri-City branch of the postal union...."
Reference: www.tri-cityherald.com
"...ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service is looking to hire new workers to staff a mail processing and distribution center in Albuquerque. The agency says it will be accepting applications for the mail handler positions through Monday via its website..."
Reference: www.abqjournal.com
"...The APWU has won an important arbitration case on subcontracting in the Motor Vehicle Craft (MVS) that has important implications for the entire APWU, Motor Vehicle Craft Director Bob Pritchard announced on March 5. “This is a big achievement for the union,” said APWU President Cliff Guffey...."
Reference: www.apwu.org
Reference: National Postal Mail Handlers Union
(February 19, 2013) Earlier today, the three-member arbitration panel established to determine the terms of the 2011 National Agreement between the National Postal Mail Handlers Union and the U.S. Postal Service released its Award. The Award is dated February 15, 2013, and is effective on that day, but was not released until today, Tuesday, February 19, 2013. The panel awarded a contract which runs for four and one-half years, from November 21, 2011 through May 20, 2016. A copy of the full Award, covering seventy-two pages, is available, below, as a PDF attachment.
The Award fully protects the jobs and careers and living standards of all 42,000 career mail handlers now employed by the Postal Service. After a two-year wage freeze, it restores, starting in November 2013 and continuing through May 2016, the historic pattern of annual general wage increases and semi-annual cost-of-living adjustments for all current mail handlers. In particular, the Award contains three general wage increases for all career employees – 1.0% in November 2013, 1.5% in November 2014, and 1.0% in November 2015 – as well as seven COLAs to be paid from March 2014 through March 2016. These wage and COLA increases follow the pattern previously established by the negotiated contract governing the American Postal Workers Union, and by the arbitrated contracts governing the National Rural Letter Carriers Association and the National Association of Letter Carriers.
The Award also continues the pattern, starting next year, of increasing employee contributions toward health insurance by 1% per year; and it includes, effective immediately, a small upward adjustment in night shift differential (of 7 cents per hour) and of clothing allowance. The Award also provides full no-layoff protection, consistent with prior practice, for any and all career mail handlers hired on or before November 20, 2011.
At the same time, the Award substantially changes the workforce that will be allowed to perform mail handler work in the future. In the larger facilities, all part-time flexible employees will be converted to full-time regular, the number of casuals will be reduced to 5.0%, and a new category of bargaining unit employee will be created. More specifically, these changes include the following:
Within 180 days of the Award (by August 14, 2013), all current part-time flexible employees working in the larger postal installations (those with 200 or more workyears of employment) will be converted into full-time regular employees. Those few part-time flexible mail handlers still working in smaller facilities then should be able to transfer to a larger installation and be converted automatically to full-time regular status, if they so desire, although the part-time flexible status will remain for mail handlers in the smaller installations.
Rather than the current 12.5% casual employees who are outside the NPMHU bargaining unit, the Award establishes a workforce that is no more than 5.0% casual employees, measured and counted by installation. This reduced number of casuals will now be authorized to work without being restricted by the “in lieu of” clause under Article 7.1B of the National Agreement, with each individual casual allowed to work up to 360 days per year.
The Award creates a new category of noncareer mail handler employee called the Mail Handler Assistant, or MHA. The MHA category will serve as the entry point for all future career mail handlers to be hired by the Postal Service. A maximum of 15% of mail handlers in any district may be MHAs, with a cap of 20% in any particular installation. Unlike casuals, MHAs will be members of the NPMHU bargaining unit, will be hired based on the postal exam and other routine hiring criteria, and will be eligible for conversion to career status based on their relative standing. Although MHAs will work flexible hours and may be separated for lack of work, many other provisions of the National Agreement will apply to their employment, and the Union will be able to represent them in the grievance and arbitration process. Starting pay for new MHAs has been set at $13.75 per hour at Level 4 and $14.50 per hour at Level 5, but those amounts will be increased by a total of 7% during the remaining years of this Agreement. MHAs also will have limited access to subsidized health insurance in accordance with the Affordable Care Act.
Significantly, future career employees (those hired after February 15, 2013) will be placed on a revised pay scale that reduces entry pay, but contains seventeen step increases of more than $1,300, providing guaranteed increases in pay every 52 weeks, with top pay at Step P being precisely the same of current career mail handlers. The wage scale governing future career employees will continue to be adjusted upward by general wage increases and COLA increases, although the COLA before top Step P will be proportional to Step P. The USPS demand for a permanent two-tier pay scale was rejected.
Also rejected by the arbitration panel were a series of draconian proposals from the Postal Service, including absolutely no general wage increases for career employees, no cost-of-living adjustments, and a drastic increase in employee contributions for health insurance to the current rate paid by federal employees. Another proposal from the Postal Service sought to modify, and effectively eliminate, the current no lay-off clause. In addition, the Postal Service sought the authority to hire and to utilize, without any contractual restrictions whatsoever, a total of 25% casual employees. Finally, for new career mail handlers hired in the future, the Postal Service proposed that their pay rates be 20% lower at the entry level and 20% lower at the maximum level.
The arbitration panel was chaired by Herbert Fishgold, a longstanding arbitrator and mediator with decades of experience. The NPMHU-appointed member of the arbitration panel was Robert Weinberg, from the law firm of Bredhoff & Kaiser, PLLC, which also is the home of NPMHU General Counsel Bruce Lerner. USPS counsel Robert Dufek was the Postal Service’s appointed arbitrator.
The Award follows fifteen months of work by the NPMHU, including its National Officers, the National CAD, its legal staff, and a series of expert witnesses and consultants who diligently prepared the union’s case for the interest arbitration proceeding.
A complete copy of the Fishgold Award is attached, including new wage and night differential schedules, new and updated contract language, and new and amended Memoranda of Understanding and Letters of Intent. A fuller description of the Award will be provided in publications to be circulated by the National Office, and during the Semi-Annual Meeting of the Local Unions already scheduled for the first week of April 2013.
We thank our NPMHU membership for its continuous patience and support during this lengthy and sometimes frustrating 2011 round of negotiations.
Read the PDF of NPMHU/USPS Interest Arbitration Award
"...During the 1980s, Brockhoeft was a mail handler who lived in Hebron, Ky. Raised a Methodist, he later became a self-described fundamentalist Christian. He credits a column written by conservative Pat Buchanan in 1984 for inspiring his attacks on clinics...."
Reference: www.kypost.com
Hearings in the ongoing interest arbitration proceedings to determine the terms of the 2011 National Agreement between the NPMHU and the Postal Service are now complete, with the final hearing held on Friday, February 1, 2013. Although the record officially remains open for additional submissions that might be needed by the three-member arbitration panel, the formal hearing process is over, and a final award should be issued soon. On the last day of testimony, National President John Hegarty concluded the Union’s case, emphasizing issues that have been front and center during this arbitration. First, he argued that the actual evidence of the Postal Service’s financial condition was contrary to USPS claims: “Its prehearing brief in this proceeding claimed that the loss was $36 billion during the past six years. Most recently, the agency has been telling the public that it is losing $25 million per day, which is more than $9 billion per year. And for Fiscal Year 2012, which ended a few months ago, the claim is a deficit of $15.9 billion. These assertions are essentially political statements, aimed at emphasizing the need for legislative action. . . . [F]or the Postal Service to constantly repeat these statements in this forum is disrespectful to the intelligence of this panel. USPS operations for the four years ending with Fiscal Year 2010 showed a net income of $700 million, including a $3.3 billion surplus in 2007 and a $2.8 billion surplus in 2008. Even in the years since then, the operational deficit was only $2.7 billion in 2011; it then went down to $2.4 billion in 2012; and it has been projected to be significantly lower in the current fiscal year (projected at $2 billion, but running ahead of plan). So when the Postal Service claims that it lost $15.9 billion last year, that so-called loss was comprised of $11.9 billion in retiree health payments that were not made; another $2.5 billion in non-cash expenses related to fluctuations in interest rates and their temporary effect on the long-term portion of workers compensation; and an actual operational net loss of $2.4 billion.” After describing the ways in which mail handlers already have contributed to savings for the Postal Service – noting, for example, a decline of 27% in the mail handler bargaining unit during the past six years and reductions in the number of mail processing facilities – Hegarty turned to the issue of workforce flexibility, which has been the mantra of USPS management throughout these proceedings: “[T]he USPS has consistently failed to take advantage of the flexibility it has been provided,” not utilizing its complement of 10% PTFs and 6% PTRs. “Of particular importance to these proceedings, the Postal Service has failed to utilize its entire complement of authorized casual employees. . . . Frankly, it is only because the Postal Service has been unable to manage its own contractual commitments that it has made such a ruckus about elimination of the in lieu of clause under Article 7.” Hegarty noted that the use of casuals is always limited because Congress has mandated that employees of the Postal Service “shall be in the postal career service,” and that the USPS shall, as an employer, “place particular emphasis upon . . . the achievement of worthwhile and satisfying careers in the service of the United States.” Moreover, the parties have recognized, for more than forty years, that casual employees may only be hired for limited durations and may not be hired in lieu of, instead of, or in place of career employees. The Postal Service’s demand to eliminate this “in lieu of” clause, if granted, would be a fundamental shift in the parties’ long contract history. Such a change should not be made lightly, without full consideration of the impact that such a deviation from the norm means to the career mandate adopted by Congress or to future employees of the Postal Service. Finally, Hegarty noted that if the “in lieu of” clause that traditionally has governed the hiring of casuals were eliminated, then the panel also should adopt the Union’s key proposals for preserving and protecting mail handler work for the career bargaining unit: full protection against layoffs for all career employees and the establishment of a Task Force that will return previously subcontracted mail handler work. “It would be intolerable,” Hegarty concluded, “for the Postal Service to insist on the creation of a full-time non-career workforce, while continuing to claim the right to lay off career mail handlers or subcontract out mail handler work to the private sector.” When a final decision from the arbitration panel is issued, it will be distributed.
Reference: National Postal Mail Handlers Union
