Philadelphia PDC

Branch News

Bids Effective October 8, 2022

Bid Posting September 6-15, 2022

FSS Status & Other Updates

  August 26, 2022
Sisters and Brothers,
           Your Union met with members of management Wednesday to continue discussions regarding a number of important topics including the future of the FSS operation, the incoming AFSM operation, and the upcoming conversion of Mail Handler Assistants. Attending this meeting for the Union were Branch President Barrie Bowens, Chief Stewards
Ottina Fallz, Robert Garrido, Steve Colfield, and the undersigned. As has been reported the employer intends to remove the FSS operations sometime after the first of the year, but the exact date has not yet been determined. The jobs currently held on the FSS will be abolished and those employees still holding those positions will become unassigned regular mail handlers. Under these circumstances the contract does not require a “re-bidding” of the entire building. We do encourage those currently holding FSS bids to keep an eye on the upcoming bid postings as eventually all FSS bids will be abolished.
The construction of the AFSM operation is slow and local management could not provide any specifics on when it will be fully operational. We did learn however, that it will run on all three tours and about 11 bids on each tour will be created for a total of 33. Of course this number is an estimate and may increase or decrease as we get closer to “ run time”.
In terms of the conversion of the next 22 Mail Handler Assistants, this will occur on September 10 and those affected will be notified by the employer. Currently there are 13 unassigned regular (UAR) Mail Handlers in the facility with another 22 coming with the scheduled conversion. There are currently 24 residual bids and those residual bids will be offered to the 35 UARs. Those junior UARs that do not select a residual job may be placed into one in accordance with Article 12 of the Contract.
It is the Union’s intention to meet regularly with the employer on these changes to ensure contractual compliance and keep you informed of those meetings. If you have any questions about these or any other issues do not hesitate to speak to your Union representative or contact this office directly.
In Solidarity,
John Gibson