Branch News January 7, 2023
Happy New Year, Fellow Members! Somehow another year has passed and we are into 2023 now; where does the time go? With the changing of the calendar came some changes in seniority too. The end of December and 2022 brought the end of the careers of George Loerch and Joe Spinosa. George quietly did his job during his career and bowed out in the same manner. He went about his day and then silently slipped out without any fanfare after bidding his former coworkers adieu. George was a good worker and will be missed. Joe also went out without much revelry. Joe was a conscientious producer on the work floor over the years on several different jobs. We wish both men good luck and good health for the duration of their post-USPS lives! I usually don’t like to comment positively on supervisors, except the original #1 MHA whom I won’t mention by name, but I am going to make an exception here to congratulate (I guess) Mail Handler Kayla Fillebrown for joining the Dark Side, I mean becoming an actual Form 50 supervisor instead of a 204B. She will be eagerly greeted with grievances for doing Mail Handler work. I’d also like to wish former Mail Handler Pablo Padin-Gonzalez good riddance as he transfers to Georgia. I am joking; Pablo was an excellent Mail Handler for the short time that he worked with us before jumping ship onto the frigate of fools. I know that he rubbed a lot of people the wrong way because of his somewhat militaristic style, but I was always able to negotiate in good faith with him, which is more than I can say for some of the rest of the supervisory staff. I’d also like to welcome transfer Trevor Pyne to the Lehigh Valley and to the Mail Handler craft. Trevor came from being a clerk in Mid-Island New York and is currently an unassigned Mail Handler on Tour 3. Please do your best to welcome him and make him feel at home in the plant and the craft. Now to business: Ballots will be mailed out shortly for the elections for officers of Local 308. I was nominated and unopposed for my current position, so thank you for that, but there is one position that we have to vote on and that is PA State Representative. If you have questions when you get your ballot, please see me before sending it in to make sure it is correct. See the postings on the bulletin board for more information. Don’t miss your chance to exercise your right to vote. There has been a tentative agreement reached on our next Contract. Ballots for ratifying the Agreement will be mailed to your house along with copies of the updated articles of the CBA. Again, please don’t forfeit your right to have your voice heard when it comes to our next labor agreement. If you want my thoughts on it, just ask and I’ll be happy to share them with you as some of you already have. We organized a group outing night for Local 308 at the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Penguins hockey game on February 25th. See the poster for details and call Barb at Local 308 HQ to reserve your ticket; spots are limited. As you may have noticed, Union dues are now $29/pay. Local 308 is still the lowest Mail Handler dues in the country and dollar for dollar is still a bargain. Supposedly, job bids are going to go back to being automated this month and there should be six (6) jobs going up on January 20th. I’m not going to hold my breath about the process being automated, but I’m sure that local management and I will find a resolution if HR and Philadelphia manage to drop the ball (unimaginable as that may seem…NOT). The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is coming up and we will be meeting with management about the staffing for that weekend on Monday with the list to be posted Tuesday 1/10 by noon. Prime vacation bidding will begin for the first round of employees with seniority 1-78 on 1/18 and run through 2/1. Vacation bid forms will be available in the Union office starting on 1/13. Vacation bid forms get deposited in the GREEN box by the time clocks by the due date indicated for your group. We are hopeful that there will be the conversion of multiple MHA’s this month. Contractually, we are due conversions because of the residual vacancies from the November/December accelerated bid packets. I will try and keep the affected MHA’s apprised of the situation. And now the big problem, the seniority list that was posted yesterday is not correct. It is an unofficial list from the officials. I have beaten this deceased horse so many times that my arms are sore, but here we go again. Philadelphia HR has screwed up both the seniority list and the relative standing roster. I am still in the process of trying to get them fixed and have even enlisted our national representatives to assist in the process. Numbers 128 to 161 are wrong. My version of how the seniority list should look will be posted on the Union board. The relative standing list is also in dispute because Philadelphia HR has not been applying the Contractual provisions that they should be when on-boarding employees. It is unfathomable to me how some of these people keep their jobs without any repercussions when they are so absolutely incompetent and ignorant. They continue to prove themselves to be delinquent and derelict in their duties and even in having any knowledge of their jobs or how to perform them. They cost the Post Office exorbitant amounts of money in grievances and pay adjustments, yet remain oblivious and arrogant in the perches. It’s pretty disgusting and no way to run a business, or service as it may be, but it holds true to the saying “Screw up, move up” which is definitely one of the Postal credos. Stay United, Stay Strong- Sean Lehigh Valley-Scranton 2022 Picnic
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Branch President Sean Craig THE LAST SWIPE!
Congratulations to Lori Goldman & Kim Yoo on their well-deserved retirement!
Your Union RepresentativesLocal Memorandum of Understanding |