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.
As expected, a lot happened during the final days of this year’s regular bargaining period. The Postal Service and NPMHU negotiated right up until the clock struck midnight on Friday, May 20. Despite these efforts, however, an agreement on all of the outstanding terms and conditions of employment could not be reached before the deadline.
Decision Expected in 30 to 60 Days
Contract Arbitration Hearings ConcludeDuring 18 days of hearings that focused primarily on the economic provisions on the new contract, the union and management presented their positions, called witnesses, submitted evidence, and offered rebuttals.
For more information on the negotiations and the fight for a good contract, click here.
"...the kind of raises that could help the 19-country eurozone lift inflation from dangerously low levels. The company said Friday that almost 120,000 workers would get 2.8 percent more on Sept. 1 and then another 2.0 percent on Aug. 1, 2017..."
Reference: www.timesfreepress.com
Employees represented by the NPMHU will be allowed to bid under the new contract, whether or not the parties reach a tentative settlement, extend bargaining, or enter into impasse procedures. Successful bids on or after May 21, 2016 will be counted towards the bid maximums established in the 2016 National Agreement.
Read the Union's memorandum and related USPS document addressing bidding procedures during the ongoing negotiations and/or in the event of an impasse. (pdf)
With the contract expiration date nearing, bargaining has entered its final stage. The parties have launched a series of meetings at a hotel in downtown Washington, D.C. These meetings will occur with increasing regularity as the week progresses.
This past week the Postal Service presented the NPMHU bargaining team with its official, on-the-record Financial Presentation. This did not include a proposed wage or benefit package for the 2016 National Agreement, but rather focused on the Postal Service’s current financial situation.
Bargaining is entering its final phase as the month of May 2016 approaches. With the contract slated to expire at midnight on May 20, 2016, both the NPMHU and the Postal Service have begun to draft tentative agreements.
At the main table session on Tuesday, April 5, the parties reconvened after a brief hiatus to receive and discuss several counterproposals from the Postal Service. Each proposal was presented by a different member of the Postal Service’s bargaining team. At the end of each presentation, the Union had an opportunity to seek clarification and ask questions.
"...continued to write songs while he was employed by the United States Postal Service. He reluctantly left the comfort of a government job for an uncertain career in Nashville in 1981..."
Reference: News-Postal
The NPMHU and the Postal Service have now been engaged in collective bargaining for approximately one month. During the month of March, the Union has been meeting with management representatives an average of three days per week. Some of the meetings were on the record (also known as “main table”) and some have been off the record, in the form of more informal but focused subcommittees. The meetings are expected to occur even more frequently as bargaining moves forward.
Bargaining is underway! Representatives from the Postal Service have now met at least three times with representatives from the NPMHU Negotiations Team for productive rounds of on-the-record meetings.
"...If you’re going away for a while, take advantage of the Postal Service Hold Mail service. The USPS will keep your mail safely at your local Post Office™ until you return. Schedule the service up to 30 days in advance, or by 2AM CST (Mon-Sat) on the start date. Each address can have one Hold Mail scheduled at a time. All mail will be held, rather than an individual's mail. Fill the form out online..."
Reference: holdmail.usps.com
"...Dominic V. Daniels Processing & Distribution Center in Kearny, where a 54-year-old employee was struck and killed in the parking lot on Tuesday, March 22, 2016..."
Reference: www.nj.com
Are you curious if your wages are keeping up with the average hourly wages in America? Well, the Postal Service does not seem to be keeping up with the wage growth that the average worker is experiencing and contract negotiations with postal unions do not bode well for repairing the stagnant wages of postal workers.
Average hourly earnings increased by 0.5% to $25.39, the Labor Department said Friday. From a year earlier, hourly wages are up 2.5%, a slight slowdown from the prior month’s 2.7% annual advance, but again one of the best performances since the recession ended.
As you can see, the Postal Service wage is not keeping up by far, for example, a starting Level 4 Career Mail Handler is only $17.07/hour. Even sadder, a Mail Handler that is topped out at the level 4 rate earns only $27.03/hour ...not so much for a laborious job with odd hours and off days. All of this while the Postal Service continues to profit, yet argues against unions for even average pay raises. All of this while doing more with less. Can you expect the 2.5% average U.S. worker annual advance being garnered by others? If contract negotiations with other unions are any indication, you can rest assured you will not see it from the USPS. That is not to say the USPS will not do the right thing and provide a 2.5% increase, but it does not look likely. An arbitration agreement may provide some relief should negotiations fail to provide adequate wage increases and it comes to that.
However, in spite of being well below average in wages, the average Mail Handler continues to provide excellent service to the employer and this great country. Sometimes the only reward we get as a postal worker is the pride we feel in providing the best service available in the mailing industry for the best price and with the best attitude toward our loyal customers. All of this from a group of workers that have largely already served our country as military service men and women. We all know that serving our country is in our blood and we continue to do so with pride and quality.
The National Postal Mail Handlers Union Local 317 - Huntsville, will host a union meeting at the China Buffet on Highway 20 in Madison. The meeting is scheduled for noon on Saturday, March 19, 2016. The State President, James Morris, will be in attendance as well as the Huntsville Local Branch President, Alex.
Reference: npmhu317.blogspot.com
For the most current information available, please read the first of many Contract Updates produced and distributed by the NPMHU during the course of 2016 negotiations. These updates, along with the Union’s magazine and monthly bulletins, will keep mail handlers throughout the country informed and involved in the issues raised during this round of bargaining.
"... This site is considered a brownfield. Brownfields are former industrial or commercial sites where future use is affected by environmental contamination. Brownfield sites are converted into usable space under the supervision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)..."
Reference: www.clickondetroit.com
"...“The Postal Service terminated this employee for working unsafely, despite statements from co-workers and witnesses contradicting that story,” said Nick Walters, regional administrator or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Chicago. “No worker should be subject to such treatment. The department will do everything to prevent this type of unlawful retaliation.” The department’s lawsuit alleges..."
Reference: www.norwalkreflector.com
March 01, 2016 - The National Postal Mail Handlers Union and United States Postal Service bargaining teams met for the first of many main-table negotiations. President Hogrogian presented the Union's first packet of non-economic proposals to the Service.
"...The return of normal growth in the American economy and operational surpluses for the Postal Service should mean a return to more normalized collective bargaining. ...to integrate the postal health care system into Medicare; to expand the mailing and other services that the Postal Service offers to the American public; and to stop the unwise closings and consolidations of mail processing facilities ..."
Reference: www.npmhu.org
February 9, 2016- In a memorandum to all Local Presidents, President Hogrogian and CAD Manager T.J. Branch report that the NPMHU and the Postal Service have signed another MOU about the filling of residual vacancies, this one supplementing the earlier August 2015 MOU on this subject.
"...Madison Police arrested a Huntsville woman Thursday in connection with recent mail thefts and destruction of mail from residential mailboxes, according to a press release..."
Reference: www.enewscourier.com
"...LEIGHTON Post Office — Working with the U.S. postal inspector’s office, state agencies and local law enforcement helped the Colbert County Drug Task Force arrest what they describe as a “major” drug dealer..."
Reference: www.timesdaily.com
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| NPMHU 2015 Year in Review |
"...According to AL.com, demographers project Huntsville – with a population that has been trending up for years and some recent huge wins on the economic development trail – will eclipse Mobile in two years, Montgomery in four years and Birmingham by 2022..."
Reference: www.bizjournals.com
"...'Alabama is a hot spot for us right now, as we near the end of 2015 and gear up for aggressive expansion in the coming months,' said Greg Courchane, Valpak's director of franchise sales..."
Reference: www.al.com
The Huntsville Branch Union Meeting is Saturday, December 5, 2015 at the Madison China Buffet on Highway 20 at 11:00 AM. The State President and Local Branch President will be in attendance.
"...Arbitrator Shyam Das ruled on Dec. 3, 2015, that the American Postal Workers Union and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union may now go forward with their Step 4 grievances challenging the Postal Service’s decision to close or consolidate approximately 82 mail processing facilities starting January of 2015. The grievances had contended that the consolidations violated the PO-408 Handbook, Closures and Consolidations Area Mail Processing (AMP) Guidelines..."
Reference: www.apwu.org
