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The Springfield Rifle Volume XLVI, Issue 5 Sept/Oct 2016

The Springfield Rifle 1

The APWU is urging union members to join a boycott

of Mexican-made Nabisco products launched by the

Bakery, Confectioners, Tobacco Workers and Grain

Millers International Union (BCTGM) and endorsed

by the AFL-CIO.

Affected products include Oreos, Newtons, Chips

Ahoy, Honey Grahams, Animal Crackers, Ritz

Crackers, Premium, Belvita, Lorna Doone, Teddy

Grahams, Honey Maid and Wheat Thins.

BCTGM, which represents nearly 4,000 workers who

make Nabisco snack products, launched the “Check the

Label” campaign to stop Nabisco, which is owned by

Mondelez International, from outsourcing jobs. The

union is urging consumers to boycott Mexican-made

Nabisco products and instead buy snacks that are union-

made in America.

There are two ways to find out of a Nabisco product

was made in Mexico:

Check for the words “Made in Mexico” on the

packaging.

Check the plant identification code. Don’t buy

products labeled “MM” (Monterey, Mexico) or “MS”

(Salinas, Mexico). Buy AE (Chicago), AH (Portland,

OR), AP (Fairlawn, NJ), AX (Atlanta), AZ (Richmond,

VA) or XL (Naperville, IL).

-- Condensed from APWU Web News

Chris Morrison President

Dean Smith Vice President

Stu Kibbe Recording Secretary

Tara Lanzo Treasurer

David Lanzo [email protected]

Russ Evans Clerk Craft Director

Dave Sarnacki Maintenance Craft Director

Charles Morin Motor Vehicle Service Craft

Dir.

Todd Griffen Webmaster

Deb Koscielski Research & Education

Pete Mooradd Executive Board at Large

John Dodge Executive Board at Large

Tony Leroux Trustee

Hector Torres Trustee

Judy Quintin Trustee

Dennis Reyes Sergeant at Arms

Jeff Laing Sergeant at Arms

Rich Peabody Safety & Health Rep

Robert Hyde Legislative Director

Don Brin ABA Representative

Todd Griffen Web Master

Volume XLVI Issue 5 APWUSAL.ORG Sept/Oct 2016


Brothers and Sisters of Springfield Mass

Area Local 497

Hope everyone had a great summer. As you know

we have a new contract. Some of the highlights of

the new agreement include a new pay rate. The

new pay rate began on 8/6/16. There is retroactive

pay involved from 11/14/15 through 8/4/16.

Retroactive pay is expected to be included in the PP

22 – 2016 which will be included in our pay checks

on Nov 4, 2016.

CAREER EMPLOYEES 1.2% EFFECTIVE 11/14/2015

1.3% EFFECTIVE 11/26/2016

1.3% EFFECTIVE 11/27/2017

COLA updated with July 2014 as index base.

FEHB (health care contributions)

2017 – 75% of weighted average bi weekly

premium not to exceed 78.25% for any individual

plan


premium not to exceed 77.25% for any individual

plan


premium not to exceed 76% for any individual plan

PSE

Wage increases of 2.2% effective 11/14/15,

2.3% effective 11/26/16… 2.3% effective 11/27/17

Additional wage increase to

$.09 / hour effective 11/14/2015

$.20 / hour effective 5/17/17 $.21 / hour effective 5/26/18

HOLIDAYS

Six paid holidays (New Year’s Day: Memorial Day;

Independence Day; Labor Day: Thanksgiving; Christmas)

PSE holiday pay:

200-man year office – 8 hours

Post Plan Office – 4 hours

All other offices – 6 hours

PSE’s who work the holiday may elect Annual

Leave credit in lieu of holiday leave pay.

As of Labor Day the new language was

instituted. This includes the Modified work week

clerks on Tour Three (the old NTFT clerks).

There will be pay anomalies until all the bugs are

worked out. Please be patient, and contact your steward if your pay is incorrect.

This contract went to binding arbitration at

the national level. Management at the national

level wanted to do away with COLA’s, wage

increases and much more. Our national officers

fought a good fight to protect your rights. That’s

what your union does for you. We continue to

convert our PSE’s into regular positions as they

become available. We were also able to convert a

PTF into regular position at the Athol Post Office.

Keep in mind that our local has many Associate

offices that we represent. If you need to contact

us with questions or concerns, we will be happy to

assist you.

Since our last Newspaper our steward in Athol,

John Dodge has retired after many years of

dedicated service with our local. I think I can speak

for all that know him and say congratulations and

thank you for everything you did and continue to

do.

I still continue to come in on tour three and

tour one too see how things are going and to

check in with your stewards. When you see me

and have any issues or concerns you would like to

have addressed please stop me let me know.

Thanks

Russ Evans (Clerk craft director)



Dear Brothers and Sisters

I just want to take a moment and hopefully clear

up some misinformation and misconceptions on the

Peer Review program. I am hoping this article will

help you all become familiar with the facts about

this program. The idea was presented by union

members, and officers, with your best interest in

mind. So many times in the past we sit back and

react after management has disciplined us, or

violated our contractual rights. Management is

about to resume their own Driver Observation

program.

When they do, wouldn’t you rather be armed

with the proper tools to withstand their scrutiny, or

be aware of the rules, and policies that management

are going to be evaluating you on? So as part of our

ongoing initiative of always looking for better and

more proactive ways’ to fight for you and protect

your rights, we decided in collaboration with our

Safety and Health Officer Rich Peabody, and our

Tour 1 Safety Captain, and alternate steward Dave

Sims, that a few seconds of someone passing on

some useful information could save you from a

week or more of waiting to be "retrained" because

your driving privileges were revoked due to an

accident, or negative supervisor observations.

What some of you might not know is that

management, especially specific supervisors in our

department have recently used “employee review

and observation”, as an excuse to harass and

discipline multiple employees. This has led to

discipline all the way up to a current removal we

are currently fighting. You all know more than just

the basic rules of driving. We are all professional

drivers. Yet despite all that we know we are not

perfect. As evident in some of the recent accidents

in the past 2 years were; stationary objects such as

light poles, curbs, signs, and parked vehicles.

Here are some of the highlights of the program-

The results of a Peer review ARE NOT

shared with management for any reason.

The reviews are only to be done by a

qualified TTO

The point of a review is to identify a habit

that could lead to an accident, or will

certainly be penalized on a driver

observation done by management

Once your review is done, nobody from

the peer review team is going to be

looming over you remember the observer

is one of us

Although the program has been signed

off by MVS management it is not there

Program

The agreement was necessary in order to

allow us the time to carry out the

program, as well as giving us the ability

to ensure you that no discipline would

come from this Peer Observation

program

It is not the "Management sponsored

RAT program” if it was we would not be

involved!!!!

I understand that none of us like criticism. I also

understand that most of us are stuck in our ways.

All we are asking for is for you to have an open

mind and give it chance. Treat each other with the

same respect you all deserve, they are there to help.

I always say we are the best drivers, and when

challenged we will always prove it. We need to

adapt and evolve so that we can survive, and this is

no different. Thank you for your time and

understanding and allowing me to fight for you.

In Solidarity,

Hector Torres



Maintenance Craft Report September 19, 2016

Sisters and Brothers, Arbitrator Jaffe issued a supplemental decision regarding the staffing of BMC’s. He ordered the Service to prepare and provide to the Union a new staffing package no later than August 4th, 2016. The Union was provided a copy of this package late in the evening of the 4th. Springfield fared the best in the country with the addition of 29 maintenance positions. The package still fell short as the Service improperly calculated the operational maintenance hours as found in MMO-022-04 (BMC Gold) staffing guidelines. Had the Service used the proper calculations per BMC Gold, it would have resulted in an additional 7 positions. A grievance has been filed on this issue and a copy forwarded to our National APWU leadership. The Service failed to include the type 1 high bay cleaning as found in BMC Gold. These discrepancies as well as changes made by the Postal Service to several staffing forms may require going back before Arbitrator Jaffe. I had the privilege and honor to be asked by our national assistant director (A) Idowu Balogun to speak on these discrepancies at the BMC convention which took place

prior to the start of our national convention. The Arbitrator further ordered the Service to implement the new staffing package no later than October 1, 2016. Local grievances were settled which resulted in the posting and requirement to fill an additional 5 MPE positions, up to and including hiring. The new staffing package also resulted in the posting and filling of an additional 36 MM-7 positions. The Service opened in-service testing for employees to be placed on the in-service register to fill these positions as outlined in the pecking order found in the JCIM. These positions are filled from the in-service register by offering the positions to maintenance first, followed by other APWU represented crafts and finally other postal employees (carriers, mail handlers, etc.) During the national convention I attended training on our new contract. The new contract contains positive changes for the maintenance craft. Higher level employees such as an ET are now deemed qualified for lower level positions regardless of whether or not that employee has an in-craft rating for that position. Prior to this language if an ET

were to be identified for excessing and a lower level vacancy existed in the installation he/she would not be considered qualified unless they possessed an in-craft rating. Further if a lower level vacancy exists the employee is not excessed down with saved grade, rather those duties and responsibilities of the vacancy will be incorporated into the employee’s current position. The Contract does contain new language concerning the posting and filling of vacant ET-11 positions. Previously if an ET-11 retired the position would be filled by utilizing the PER. A vacant ET-11 position is now filled by a national PAR (dream sheet) amongst ET-11s nationwide, then the PER from the installation where the vacancy exists is utilized. Arbitration dates have been solicited for October-December. The grievances concerning the Main Street Station (MSS) custodians and BEMs will be scheduled for arbitration. I am also in the process of getting the cases held in abeyance to the Jaffe BMC staffing award, taken out of abeyance and scheduled. In Solidarity,

Dave Sarnacki Maintenance Craft Director



The Downward Spiral

Approximately twenty years ago I changed

my bid sheet in efforts to leave the Bulk Mail

Center. Consistently ignoring the constant

reminders of “safety in numbers” from my senior

custodians and the “I can’t believe you’re leaving

me” from my partner in crime Mr. Briggs. Because

of this fear of the unknown as a junior employee I

was able to secure a bid on Tour 2 with

Saturday/Friday off at Main Street Station.

The first day I arrived I was met by a big burly man

who met me at the door. He introduced himself as

Corny and then referred to me as “rookie”, a name

that I am still called by many. He gave me a tour

of the building and introduced me to all. He knew

and greeted everyone as if he where the mayor. I

immediately felt like part of the building and soon

decided that I would never voluntarily return to the

plant. I was taught early on that the most important

thing at Main Street was a clean building.

While a clean building is all of management’s goal,

so they say, this was truly different. The

postmaster, station manager, and POOM all had the

same vision. If a trash can was missed one day or

a window not washed it was a HUGE deal. The

managers took pride in their building and we all

knew the consequences. POOM Teddy Goonan

drove around the block every single day and would

be irate if he saw one piece of trash outside. We all

bickered about these individuals because of how

strictly enforced our tasks where but at least we

knew our importance. During this current asbestos

abatement, they would have been fighting with us

to ensure more custodians remained.

Oh how the times have changed. Our station is now

only a stepping stone for postmasters and

managers. They take no pride or effort in our

building because soon they will be moving on. A

few years back I vowed not to introduce myself to

the new postmasters anymore because it just didn’t

matter. They would be gone before they learned

my name. We were no longer assets in their eyes,

only nuisances. To prove this theory please take a

ride by our building and witness for yourselves, if

you dare I also challenge you to enter the customer

lobby and take a peek at the disgusting conditions.

To think that this is still considered a Premier Post

Office held to the highest standards. It actually

saddens me.

Sincerely,

Jeff Laing



Dear Brothers and Sisters

I recently was afforded the opportunity to take a Union

Administration course with Joyce Robinson, Director of

Research and Education in Baltimore. The course was five

days long with a multitude of speakers on many subjects.

Our days started early and ended late and they were jam

packed with lots of information. We were tasked to

complete two group projects each day and one large week

long project due on the last day.

Some of our subjects were Duties of Election Committees;

Filing and Defending a Charge with the National Labor

Relations Board; Getting out the Union’s Message;

Monitoring Dues Check Off (DCO); Understanding

Diversity; Labor History; Parliamentarian Knowledge and

Using Social Media in our Locals. We touched upon Postal

Banking, Safety and Health, Town Hall Meetings, Postal

Legislation, Postal Privatization and Postal Consolidation.

Since the class was held in Baltimore at the Maritime

Institute (which was, by the way a very cool place to walk

around with its very own maritime museum) we were privy

to many of our Officers in Washington.

President Mark Dimondstein came to visit us and praised us

for stepping up and stepping in to fight for the rights of all

of our members. He told us to continue the good fight and to

always thank our Brothers and Sisters for doing the same.

So I say “Thank you.” Thank you for standing up and not

just standing by.

Vice President Debby Szeredy came to speak to us about

the Parliamentarian aspect of our Union. She was insightful

and very well versed in our daily operational duties. She

stayed the week with us and was available to all of us for the

many questions that arose. I was able to get one on one time

with her and had some questions answered. A diversity

workshop, taught by Fred Mason, President of Maryland

AFL-CIO was also included in the schedule. A team of

attorneys came and spoke on the very dry subject of filing

labor charges. The information was purposeful and exact.

A local professor in Labor History had us take our country

decade by decade, and see the ‘Labor Fight’ in detail

throughout the last 100 years. Broken into groups we were

given decades to research. Fortunately for me, my group

was given the 80’s–90’s. These were the years that I was

beginning to understand the struggle as my father was a

Union man, and taught us children to always work hard but

more importantly, work smart. I was pleasantly surprised

how much I enjoyed this particular session.

Josh Goldman from National’s Communications

Department spoke to us about getting the word out to our

members, and to the public via social media, television and

radio. We role played television and radio interviews, we

heard reasons why Facebook is becoming a fast and furious

route to reach out to our members and even learned the fine

art of Tweeting -#Getinthenowforthefuturessake

#StopPostalPrivatizationNOW

We ended our week with the unveiling of our week long

assignments. Each group made a presentation on a

particular subject assigned at the beginning of the week. We

had late nights, even a shopping trip for supplies and lots of

laughter preparing. My group in particular was assigned the

topic “Stop Postal Privatization.” We created posters, flyers

and picketing signs. We created a hashtag and hosted a

town meeting. We spoke passionately about how Postal

Privatization will affect negatively on our lives as well as

our neighbors and our country as a whole.

Again, I am so very thankful that I had the opportunity to

join this wonderful group of union leaders. I was amazed at

the friendships I made while in Baltimore. I look forward to

taking this knowledge with me into the future to continue

making Local 497 a success for our members. As a final

word and dedication to my team in Baltimore I ask: Will

you stand with me? Will you stand with me? Stand up for

us! Stand up for you!

In solidarity,

Tara Lanzo

The graduating class of the 2016 Union Administration Course



From the Desk of the Editor

August was a busy month with local officers

attending the Pre-workshops’ on the 19th -21st in

preparation for the National Convention on August 22nd.

I attended several pre-conferences workshops on that

Friday. One such workshop was “Libel & Copyright

laws” with the focus of getting permission to reprint

non-union articles, and properly crediting the writer,

and how APWU articles can be reprinted without the

need for permissions. The second part of that course

focused on “Legal issues, and Communications”, with

Internal Local Elections. One such legal issue unware to

me before hand, was that submissions to the local paper

cannot be accepted by any non-regular contributors 6

months prior to local elections. The other workshop

later in the day was called “Reaching the Membership”

where we discussed “The Power of Words” for better

writing, editorial outlines, advertising policies for union

publications, and reaching the membership

“Communications at the local level” a lot to take in, and

I’m sure my High School English teacher would be

rolling in her grave if she knew I was attempting to do

any of this LOL.

At the four-day “Fight for Justice” conference

August 22nd Thru the 25th we had several guest

speakers all of them talked about the importance of

Union's and their roles at the national and local levels.

One such speaker who has made recent headlines

nationally, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha who is at the center

of the Flint Michigan Lead Water Crisis. She talked

about the effects of lead in water and the need to fix the

public water infrastructure in Flint. Dr. Hanna-Attisha

related to the importance of how this should be done

with union labors, getting paid a living wage. She shared

her personal background growing up in a union family

and the opportunities she’s been afforded because of her

father working a union job. The American Postal

Workers Union, and the convention attendees’ raised

$50,000 for Dr. Hanna-Attisha Charity “Flint Child

Heath & Development Fund” you can and should check

out her speech at the APWU National Convention on

YouTube # DR MONA HANNA ATTISH 8 23 2016 #,

watch closely at the end and you’ll see the MVS Craft

Director Charlie Morin as the camera scans the room.

Mehrsa Baradaran came to us and talk to us

about Postal Banking and how the effects would greatly

improve the lives of the low-income workers of

America who have to pay in order to cash their

paychecks. Her theme, and opening remarks are “Its

expensive to be poor in this country”, those of us that

started later in life at a good job understand this all too

well. A postal banking system could alleviate their

burden, and expand the role of the Post Office for all

low income earners across America. Her APWU video

can be seen on YouTube # MEHRSA BARADARAN 8

23 2016 #.

Dave Ward, General Secretary of the

Communication Workers Union came to speak us from

the UK, and was probably the most relevant speaker at

the convention, on the privatizing issues facing the Post

Office. See Mr. Ward is very familiar with our struggle

to keep the post office out of the hands of privateers’, as

this is what happened to the UK postal system. He

describes the challenges and struggles that they faced,

and relayed it to the challenges and struggles we here

face with the United States Postal Service. He talks

about the political challenges, as well as the unions

struggle to keep the mail from being outsourced to

facilities like staples, were minimum wage workers,

most of whom show little or no loyalty to their job

(definition of JOB= just over broke) none of whom

swore an oath to up-hold the sanctity of the mail, and

service we provide, and why union participation is vital

to you and our families living wage. I strongly urge you

to check-out his video from the conference on YouTube

# DAVID WARD 8 22 2016 #. There are many more

great speakers and videos however these were just few

I felt I had to get you to see. Check them out as well at

our national site APWU.org

Last but certainly not least, as this paper arrives

to you it will be time to vote, please vote!! Even if you

feel both candidates are irrelevant, or you think your

vote doesn’t matter, somebody’s child died to ensure

you have that right, pay them that respect, voting your

conscience that is the greatest respect you can give a

veteran. We owe the fallen and those who served that!

Again Please VOTE.

Fight for Justice, everyday

Dave Lanzo



CLERK CRAFT

Chris Morrison Steward T2 S/S Athol, Barre, Brimfield, Chester, Chicopee,

East Longmeadow, Hampden, Warren, Agawam, Ludlow, Monson,

Palmer, Orange, [email protected]

Russ Evans Steward T2 S/S AO’s, Agawam, Ludlow, Monson, Palmer, Orange

John Dodge Steward T2 S/S Athol [email protected]

Deb Koscielski Steward T1 S/M PSM, FSM, Manual Flats, Pouches

Jim Long Alternate T1 T/F AFSM

Emma Lucas Alternate T1 S/M Expeditors, all other areas

Lee Crenshaw Alternate T1 S/T

Anthony Leroux Steward T2 M/T FSS, Flat Sorter, all other areas

Tim Kuzdal Steward T2 S/S PSM, Expeditors

Tara Lanzo Alternate T2 T/W

Mark Kenyon Alternate T2 S/S

Shawn D Kirkland Alternate T2

Joe Pluta Steward T2 W/T

Nancy Kenyon Steward T3 W/T/F PSM, Inquiry, IPP, Office Clerks

Don Brin Steward T3 F/S/S

Deb Robert Alternate T3 M/T/W

Tammy DeMars Alternate T3 S/M/T Expeditors, FSS, Walmart/Exceptions

Cathy Ulloa Alternate T3 S/S

Etta Hapgood Steward T2 MSS, All Sections

Anne Provost Steward Wilbraham

Evelyn Scyocurka Alternate T-2 S/S Chicopee

Anthony Leroux Alternate T2 M/T Agawam, Ludlow, Monson, Palmer, Orange

MAINTENANCE CRAFT Dave Sarnacki Steward T2 W/T NDC / P&DC & AO's [email protected]

Andy Mayo Steward T-2 S/S AGAWAM

Shaun Heady Alternate T1 S/S NDC / P&DC

Doyle Maloni Alternate T1&2 T/W NDC/ P&DC

Gina Jones Alternate T2 S/F NDC / P&DC

Dean Smith Steward T3 T/W NDC/ P&DC

Stu Kibbe Steward T3 F/S NDC / P&DC

Enid Rivera Alternate T3 S/F NDC/ P&DC

Steve Trembley Alternate T3 S/S NDC / P&DC

Jeffrey Laing Steward All S/S MSS

James Waltein Alternate All S/S MSS

MVS CRAFT Charlie Morin Steward T2 S/S MVS all areas [email protected] Ed Rowell Steward T1 M/T MVS

David Sims Alternate T1 S/S MVS

Dennis Reyes Alternate T1 S/S MVS

Tom Brown Alternate T1 S/M MVS

George Scott Steward T2 S/S VMF, Alternate TTO

George Scott Alternate T3 S/S MVS

Hector Torres Alternate T2 S/M MVS

mailto:[email protected]





NEXT MEETING: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17th AT 6:30PM

APWU Springfield MA Area Local 497 1124 Berkshire Ave. Springfield MA 01151-1368

NON - PROFIT U.S. POSTAGE

P A I D Springfield MA

01151 Permit No 215

If you are about to move, clip out your address and return it to us with the correction - - - - save your local money

Address Label

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