Branch News
October 8, 2019
Fellow Members- This month marks the end of the Postal road for Tour 1 Mail Handler Jeff Ostrich, who will be bidding the LVP&DC adieu at the conclusion of October. Jeff had served as a Union steward years ago before I arrived and has written many witness statements over the years. Over the past few years, he has written many statements and stopped in to make me aware of situations going on. When you see Jeff over the next couple of weeks, be sure to congratulate him and to wish him good luck on the road ahead. On September 14th, we held our annual picnic and I would say that, even despite a brief rain shower, it was a rousing success. There were almost 100 people in attendance and they enjoyed the variety of activities and food, as well as just visiting with some old and new faces. There were many retirees in attendance this year, as well, which I think is great that people want to still be involved even after leaving here. And now for the prize drawing winners: TV: Adriana Nieves $25 Amazon GC: Brian Odums $15 AMC GC: Wolet LaPorte $15 Dunkin’ GC: Kevin King $15 Dunkin’ GC for retirees: Tom Kase Pink Local 308 t-shirts: Sheri Matchette, Lisa Woykowski, Dave Ramsay Now it’s time to start planning the winter event…what shall we do? Contact me with your suggestions. The “accelerated bid process” has begun. I will be appearing on all three tours over the coming week to hand out the packets, to explain the process, and to answer any questions. It is basically a job wish list for a blind bidding process. Packets should be handed back to a steward by October 18th. The jobs will take effect November 9th. These will be the last bids for 2019. Eligible Mail Handlers received the grievance payout for old jurisdictional grievances as a result of the National settlement in their pay on October 4th. If you feel that you did not receive the correct amount or that you should have received a payment, be sure to see a shop steward. There are issues nationally with Mail Handlers who transferred and with people who were PTRs prior to conversion. You will need copies of your October 4th paystub and your Form 50s that document your service time. We have appeal forms in the Union office and I will be sending them into the National HQ for processing. I will mail the envelope on October 18th so please see a shop steward and prepare your evidence. Management has started occasionally calling people in for overtime opportunities. Make sure that if you wish to be on the call-in list, you supply your phone number to the Union and management. Call-in OT does not count against the rotation for the ODL. Discussions about the Christmas Annex are still ongoing, but the plan right now is for three shifts in a building that is located right off of Brodhead Rd. in the direction of Route 191. It is tentatively scheduled to open the weekend after Thanksgiving. I will post a notice with more information when we will be accepting bids to work the annex as a detail. In case you haven’t noticed, management is indeed cracking down on attendance. Reviews, discussions, PDIs, and discipline have been commonplace over the past few weeks. Remember to ask to have a steward present for any PDI that is conducted. You are not entitled to a steward for a discussion, a review, or during the issuance of a letter of discipline. Make sure that you do make a note of the date & time of any discussion or review, though, and the dates that it encompasses. Also, be sure to get a copy of any discipline that is issued to you and see a shop steward about grieving it. This includes if the discipline is mailed to your home address. If we do not grieve it within 14 days of its issuance, then it is on your record for 2 years and it can be cited as a step in progressive discipline. Management has no obligation to inform the Union that they issued you discipline…zero. That means that it is solely your responsibility to make sure that we get a copy of your discipline and grieve it for you. The last big part of this rant is that you should help us make your attendance discipline easier to defend by actually showing up for work. As I’ve preached for years, there is no gray area. You are either here or you aren’t. After all of these years, management is catching on how to do this correctly and someone will wind up losing their job and being made an example of; don’t be that person. If you have any questions or concerns about anything, be sure to contact a Union rep. Exercise your rights! Stay United, Stay Strong- Sean |
Branch President
Sean Craig 
Your Union RepresentativesLocal Memorandum of Understanding |