BILL BURRUS UPDATE May 8, 2000 PAY SCALE There is no additional information to provide concerning the unions effort to modify the pay scale conversion for employees in Steps B and C. Discussions continue on finding a mutually acceptable way to adjust the slotting process.. If the issue is not resolved prior to August, it will be addressed in contract negotiations. MAIL PROCESSOR UPDATE The dispute over the implementation of the Fargo arbitration decision was held before arbitrator Mittenthall on April 28. The union presented its case that the initial decision required that Mail Processors who riffled the mail OR were involved in the dispatch of mail are entitled to be upgraded to Grade 5. The Postal Service representative presented that to be eligible for upgrade, the employees must verify piece by piece AND be held responsible for dispatch. Written briefs are scheduled for June 16 and the decision will follow. I inquired if the arbitrator could render his decision prior to the APWU national convention and he informed us that it would not be possible. Upon receipt of the award, a national memorandum will be executed to apply the decision to all affected Mail Processors. CASUALS The contractual dispute over the proper use of casuals is scheduled for arbitration on June 27 and June 28. The Postal Service has declared as interpretive the issue of whether or not the contract is violated when casuals are used in lieu of career employees but the nationwide and District ceilings have not been exceeded. The contractual dispute over the counting of casuals who are eligible to work in APWU crafts but were hired under the NALC or Mail Handler contracts will be scheduled later this year. The dispute over the use of Kelly Girls under the terms of the national agreement is also scheduled to be heard later this year. PRIORITY MAIL Agreement has been reached on the selection of Phoenix, Az. as the pilot site for Priority Mail processing. The local parties are presently discussing local issues that will govern the pilot operation and the site will begin operations in December of this year for a period of not less than two years. Discussions continue on the conversion of the Priority Mail processing network to postal operations with a final decision within the next two to three weeks. If we are successful in returning the work to postal operations, APWU will recapture thousands of mail processing jobs. TRANSFER MEMORANDUM I am assured that the necessary computer programming will be completed to effectuate the agreement to permit APWU to identify employees who wish to transfer. The delay of more than one year to complete this task is unacceptable and we must complete the necessary programming that employees may avail themselves to this negotiated agreement. BACK PAY FOR EMPLOYEES PLACED IN IMPROPER STEP The union prevailed in the national arbitration case contesting the right of postal management to place employees hired prior to June 12, 1991 in the new Steps created by the 1990 interest arbitration decision. The date for placement of the employees in the proper step is June 24, 2000. Management informed me this past week that the back pay would not be forthcoming until November 2000. After protesting vociferously, I initiated a Step 4 grievance demanding interest from the date of the arbitration award which has led to further discussions and I am informed this date that the back pay may be moved up to late summer of this year. I will announce any change in the date for payment. SUBCONTRACTING A meeting of the national subcontracting committee is scheduled for May 22 of this year. This committee has met but once during the life of the 1998 national agreement. It is expected that postal management will share with the union its plans to subcontract work performed by APWU members at the upcoming meeting. PAY STUBS Effective September 15, PP 20, employees with Direct Deposit will receive their earning statements via the mail. Those employees who continue to receive "hard copy" checks will be unaffected by the change LAWSUIT On March 3, 2000, I had a lawsuit filed in federal District court over postal managements refusal to respond to grievances initiated by my office. I have requested that the court grant summary judgement ordering the Postal Service to grant the grievances listed in the complaint. LWOP After years of agreements and disagreements, the national parties signed a Memorandum in 1999 permitting employees to use LWOP for approved absences. This was a landmark settlement recognizing the absolute right of employees to determine whether or not they wished to use annual leave, sick leave or LWOP for an approved absence. An employee caring for a terminally ill parent was no longer required to exhaust their leave but instead could elect to use LWOP for the period of absence. Management has recently issued changes to the ELM sub chapter 510 and lo and behold the changes include language negating the Memorandum setting forth employee rights to use LWOP. I have discussed the ELM changes with the responsible management labor official and have been assured that the proposed changes will be omitted. I will monitor this issue to insure that the struggles to protect employee rights to make an election for leave when absences are otherwise approved. SEPARATION OF CASUALS WHEN EXCESSING FROM CRAFT OR INSTALLATION In 1992 I initiated a grievance contesting the right of postal management to retain casual employees when excessing career employees from their craft or installation. Postal management raised procedural issues on the opening day of arbitration and the parties briefed the arbitrability issues. The arbitrator ruled that the issue is arbitrable and on the next scheduled hearing date, postal management stated on the record that the Postal Service interpreted the contractual provision that they were obligated to separate casuals if their separation would prevent the excessing of career employees. This admission on the record was for the purpose of avoiding a written award by dismissing the arbitrator as no longer having jurisdiction. The union objected to this trickery and has demanded a written award reflecting the admission by postal management. The union is also requesting that the arbitrator award back pay for career employees who have been excessed while casuals were retained. Upon receipt of the final award, assuming that the arbitrator incorporates the party’s agreement in his award, I will need the names of career employees who have been excessed from the craft or installation while casuals were retained. Do not forward this information to my office but compile it and retain it for future use. The time period will be from the date, Jan 22, 1992 that I initiated the grievance at the national level and if we prevail, any employee excessed from their craft or installation and casuals were retained may be entitled to out of schedule pay for the change of hours or days experienced from the date of excessing to the date returned.