UNION UPDATE 3/25/00 THE JOEL GARRIOTT MEMORIAL FUND We received a check from GREAT SEATTLE APWU for $150 today for the JOEL GARRIOTT MEMORIAL FUND. I forwarded it on to the V.A. Hospital. Also Curtis Newton reported that BLYTHEVILLE APWU sent $75 to the Memorial Fund last month. Several others have indicated they've sent donations, including MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA (NALC), CALIFORNIA STATE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS (all locals in that state). The Fayetteville Local voted to send $100 to the Memorial Fund. In addition, several individuals have sent in donations. I have asked the hospital to give me an account of all funds sent in for the JOEL MEMORAL so we can publish the "honor roll" in the RAZORBACK SCHEME and on the Local's website. I would like to send out special thank you letters or cards to all locals and individuals who donated in Joel's honor. Joel will also have a place at the Arkansas Postal Workers Convention in June at the Hilton Hotel. OWCP REP Carolyn Kent resigned as OWCP representative, but I am not accepting it. I will attempt to talk her out of it because I believe her services and expertise are desperately needed, especially now. I just received an offer from OWCP Texas Rep help in sending Carolyn to Philadelphia in May to attend OWCP Certification Class (the best in the land) for 3 days. All we would need to pay for is flight ($360) and meals; Carolyn would stay with Texas delegation. I think this is an opportunity we shouldn't pass. Carolyn knows workers' comp like no other and we need to keep her on board regardless. NEW SAFETY STEWARD Gary Devlin has escaped off to Bentonville. Darrell Barnes ("BARNEY") is our new Safety Steward/Rep. Welcome aboard, Barney! TOUR ONE ALTERNATE Jeff Barnes stepped back in as Alternate, Tour One. DEATH Don Wertz' father died a few days ago; we didn't receive notice until this week. Gini, please handle any flower arrangements. Thanks. MANAGEMENT RIPPLES Management is again challenging us in several areas. In the area of STEWARDS, Lee and others are claiming that only Step One stewards may have union time for investigations/processing. The 204B (relaying what Lee said, he says) claimed the local union president, senior steward, and vice-president would not be granted time to process Step 2 grievances in the future. I told him BS of course. It's a never ending battle. I told him, how could management ever think of graduating from college if they can't even get out of kindergarten? (He didn't take that too kindly.) In the area of Requests for Information, all supervisors are now refusing to supply us with supervisor's notes in disciplinary cases, a direct violation of the NLRA. I have copied the law and will fight them on it. Terri Flory got hostile with me tonight over this, especially when I asked her who she worked for when she wrote her supervisor's notes on certain employees and whose paper it was. I told her that according to the law, we have rights to this information to defend our clients. She said Lee disagrees and Labor Relations (LR) disagrees so that makes it gospel. I told her I had copies of the law to refute her and was heading to the office to fetch them, and she said, don't bother, she would only go according to her boss' word, not mine. It wasn't a pretty picture Friday night (though I was in an excellent mood before). In the area of out-of-schedule pay, supervisors-204B approached several of us on the flats sorter Friday night just before 5:00 pm and told us we were "mandatoried" to come in early on Monday afternoon at 3:00 for training for new FSM accelerated feeders. They ordered clerks to fill out changes of schedule. I told them not to on ground it was NOT for their personal convenience, but management's. We discovered from Dennis (and found in ELM, thanks to him) that they can't do this; that they must pay out-of-schedule pay since they didn't notify us by the Wednesday before the Monday training class. But I bet you anything there'll still be a fight over this; always happens with them. BUTTONS I am fixing to start making slogan buttons for workers on the floor. I've asked for suggestions from folk on T-3 and T-1. Management won't like them; if they did, they wouldn't be effective, right? CONVENTION, JUNE 1-3 I've done several mailings already and have prepared envelopes to mail back receipts and Hilton Hotel brochures when registrations start coming in. Gini is handling this. We need to start work on the following: 1. Gift packets 2. COPA drawing 3. Tickets for drawings 4. Music arrangements for banquet (Jim's daughter, please) 5. Confirm speaker, then do programs 6. Banner 7. Beverage committee (this is NOT my expertise, thank you. Stacey & Bill, please help!!) 8. Election details Please help where you will and can. We will meet with Hilton Hotel sales & service reps next week around lunchtime. I will call you. DALLAS-FORT WORTH AIRPORT MEETING MONDAY Terry Stapleton has called for all local union presidents in the Southwest Area to meet with him this coming Monday at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Irving (by the airport). It's about excessing, withholding, Article 12, and how the postal service is doing this on a scale never imposed before and for a length of time yet unspecified. I will take tape recorder to play back for union leaders. There will be a 5 hour session. If you need to get a hold of me, call my cell at 841-6304. no problem. CASUALS IN LIEU OF.... Not a peep about this. It will be discussed in Dallas. PAYSCALE FIASCO This will be brought up in Dallas for sure. LEVEL 4 to LEVEL 5 AUTOMATION Ditto. (Does it seem we're in pergatory sometimes or what?) CLERK CRAFT DIRECTOR We need a Clerk Craft Director desperately. Other locals of any size have them. I have not kept up with job postings, etc., and cannot. People constantly ask me about this job or that, and I'm a blank. We need someone appointed to this position who have the drive and aptitude to accomplish the task. Like the OWCP Rep, people could go to her/him with questions, and she/he would be up-to-date in that area. There would be no salary involved in the position. Would anyone be opposed to my appointing such a person? E-mail or call with your response please. Thank you for your support! Loren Adams