If the membership of the American Postal Workers Union falls below 50% of the bargaining unit that it represents, then by law, the United States Postal Service cannot recognize the union as the employees bargaining representative. No recognition equals no contract, no wage scales, no benefits, no no-lay-off clause and most of all, no job.

Every single non-member has a reason that they think is valid for not being a member. Most are just sorry excuses. The only reason any of us work here is because of the wages and benefits that the union negotiated in our behalf. In the last contract that was decided by Arbitrator Goldberg, it was revealed that less than 1% of all the employees that are ever hired at the USPS quit. Why do so many of us stay here so long?

Nothing in this world is perfect. Not me, not you, not the American Postal Workers Union. Imagine this place without a union. Imagine if you couldn’t file a grievance over the Letter of Warning, 7 Day Suspension, 14 Day Suspension, or the Notice of Removal. Imagine if they cut your pay in half, annual leave in half and your sick leave in half. Just imagine.

If the members keep jumping ship and join the ranks of the non-members, the union will become a figment of your imagination, by law.

Think about it. Look at the big picture. What do you believe management would prefer?

Join the Union, stay in the Union

Vthick.......AMSOP took away our carts that we used to put our trays, hold our tubs, and use to take our mail to our vehicles. This was done several years ago. We were then forced to use the orange 'pumpkins'.

Greed, /m5383, Buckets or tubs on the floor is a tripping hazard. Write up a 1767(?) and file an Article 14 grievance on it. Article 14 grievances start at step 2. The buckets should be on a rack or table. DO IT NOW before someone gets hurt!

Re 'No Layoff' === the guy is worried because he took it as unpaid leave since he couldn't use s/l. He was out about four months or so and 20/26 means you only need to miss 90 days to miss the cut.

One line of the section says once you hit the 6 you achieve lifetime protection, but later it contradicts itself. He's also scared to start asking around, because who wants a spotlight on themself right now?

http://www.federaltimes.com/index.php?S=4155747

House approves FERS Sick Leave Bill

MH contract says if you were hired before Nov. 20, 2006 you are protected until Nov. 2011. We have a guy in our office that was sweating bullets when the layoff crap was being strewn about. He was hired Jan 2006. Union informed him about the contract. So for MHs less than 6 can keep you for at least another 2 years.

/m5383 ?: there's no conflict. if he ever got some pay in 20 of 26 pp for 6 years in a row, he's protected, and once you get your 6 years in, you're set.

NDC? Yes for about a month now.

Safety hazzard too as we have about a dozen "buckets" strewn about the floor just waiting for someone to kick one.

What irks our office most is that every morning our PM is on the phone with "the big guys" telling us what EACH AND EVERY PIECE was and whether or not EACH AND EVERY PIECE was in the right "bucket".

Carolina Cutie, The law would have to be changed to force people to retire. Used to be there was a mandatory retirement age of 70, but they changed that at least 30 yrs ago. The BOG's do not have the power to change the laws.

Anyone else under NDC yet? We don't get to use bags @ retail anymore except Reg & Exp. All mail is dispatched in uprights/hampers, or in tubs. Everything has a number-coded placard and the PVI tells you what # to dispatch the mailpiece to.

I'm waiting until it's national, and then when we order tubs we'll be told they don't have any so we should just use bags. I'm in a 13 (approx $900/day rev) and we get 4 tubs in each morning and send out about 15 or so each night.

Can anyone offer insight to a problem we're kicking around? With the layoff threats looming, someone at work brought up the 6 year rule. It says that you must work in at least 20 pay periods during each of the six years (article 6). Anyone hired before 1978 have lifetime protection. 6.2 says post-1978 get the same protection as pre-1978ers.

BUT.... it also says in 6-A that failure to meet the 20 pay period req in any given anniversary year means you must start a new six year continuation of service.

Does anyone know which is correct? Is it feasible that someone with 20 years in who took off time using LWoP may have to start over?? We have someone who took a leave of absence to care for a family member last year and he's concerned he's vulnerable now.

That explains why every time I order an item online (and I opt for the cheaper 5-7day delivery window) I almost always receive it in 3 days...
Here I thought the merchandiser was especially speedy getting it out the door, but it turns out that I get "priority" treatment from my employer.

/m5374 A Hotline tip to the Office of Inspector General on this...in clear explanation...might help here.

we have been combining mail into orange priority sacks since 2004. We thought the same thing..pay for the cheapest but it gets worked like you paid for priority.

Was told "you can not downgrade the mail but you can upgrade the mail anytime you want to" - ok so I always buy Parcel Post and get Priotity Service (dumb Managers)


This is in the Plant in Amarillo, TX

/m5374: this is why the people you work for, except at very high levels, have I.Q.'s in the minus numbers. Every station I ever worked at - 13 of them - it all comes in on the same trucks, see? It's all there, here, just separated, as required, by class and category. If mgrs. want to deliver everything the same day, esp. due to low volume, fine. Go for it. But putting PP in an orange bag does not mean SHIT! What does that mean to clerks, m/h, carriers: it's in THAT bag, has to be delivered today? What infinitely stupid people. This is so dumb I can hardly think. You keep it the way it is, has been for a zillion years, then determine at the f...g DELIVERY point if it can be delivered along with Priority and 1st Cl. in the given circumstance. The damned color of the bag means nothing. Matter of fact, in the currently unlikely situation that volume is high and classes have to be given literal priority, as standards dictate, this makes it WORSE! 9 carriers and 3 clerks banged in, volume is unusually heavy, what we gonna' do? Oh, we'll cull all the shit out of the orange sacks, which up until last week was...already done. With less personnel. With less time. Brilliant!