June 1 Labor-Management Meeting:

Management Pushes Back Date for New Bid Jobs to July 18

Union's Request for Information on New Bid Jobs
The union told management that it is still waiting for information it had requested in March about why management needs to abolish and repost the mail handler bid jobs. Bill Hanna said he could give the union some information now, such as logs on mis-sent and delayed mail, but that he's still working on the final bid jobs package. The union reiterated the importance of having a final bid package - complete with position numbers and duty assignments - so that it could make a side-by-side comparison of each job to determine the extent of management's violation of the contract. It also needs the information to ensure that the open and expedited bidding process is being handled according to the contract.

The union asked Judy Herrick, senior plant manager, to state why she feels the need to make such drastic changes. She said, "Right now, not one operational area is staffed right. The current bids are out of alignment with the mail volume. The volume is down yet we're still scheduling overtime."

Note: Management had said it wanted all mail handlers to be in their new bid jobs by July 4. It has since moved that date back to July 18.

PTR Conversions to PTF's
The PTR's have all requested to become PTF's. Management said it would not convert the PTR's to PTF's because it plans to move them to Tour 1's hot-mail operation. That is a six-hour assignment, which conforms to a PTR's schedule.

QWL
Two months ago management said it was putting QWL on hold. Management said it is prepared to start up QWL once mail handlers are in their new bid jobs.

FMLA Documentation
The union received complaints from some mail handlers that SDO's are being given employees' confidential medical documentation because FMLA Coordinator Dave Harvey has had to assume so many new duties from Central NJ. The union has also heard that SDO's now have the authority to approve or deny FMLA requests. Jerry Golden said that SDO's are not supposed to see an employee's prognosis but they do have to record employees' absences. In the past managers may not have seen that an employee has more than one FMLA-qualified condition and, so, may have denied an absence based on the fact that an employee exceeded the number of days stated on his or her medical documentation. But ERMS has recently been updated so that supervisors can now see if an employee has more than one FMLA-qualified condition.

Holiday Schedule
Herrick said the union must let her know if the MDO's don't allow the union to review the holiday schedules before they are posted.

Labor-Management Meetings
Management rescheduled the June 1 meeting twice. Before that the last meeting was held on March 23. The union said it needs the plant manager to make herself more available to respond to mail-handler issues. Herrick said she has assumed new duties and now she is responsible for Trenton, Monmouth, Delaware and South Jersey. She agreed to have ad-hoc meetings with the branch president if she has to cancel future meetings. She also said she has gotten the authority for a level-24 MDO and that she may delegate the authority to that person to participate in labor-management meetings. Management also agreed to prepare the official minutes within 48 hours of the meeting.

The next labor-management meeting is scheduled for June 15. Management asked if we should reschedule it since we just had one on June 1. But the union said that with so much happening about abolishing and reposting bids that it's appropriate for the union and management to meet again within two weeks.