Labor-Management Meeting Highlights

HSTS Belongs to the Mail Handlers

Union officials at a labor-management meeting on Thursday, July 21, learned that between 11 and 15 mail handlers per tour will staff the High-Speed Tray Sorter (HSTS) when it begins operation in September.

Following is a quick digest of what took place at the labor-management meeting. Management is currently preparing the meeting’s minutes and the union will post them as soon as they become available.

High-Speed Tray Sorter

Mail Volume
In response to the union’s question about mail volume, Judy Herrick, senior plant manager, reported that in August the Service was $340 million below revenue plan nationally. First-class and standard mail are both down 5 percent from the same period last year. Carrier delivery is down 15% from what it was a year earlier.

Overtime
Most of the meeting was spent discussing overtime. In July, management gave the mail-handlers union control of the overtime desire list (ODL) for a 90-day trial. Now, more than a month into the trial, the union said that management is often late in calling for overtime. This problem is particularly acute on Tour 2 when management often calls for overtime just as the majority of mail handlers are clocking out.

Herrick and Nick Campagno, lead MDO, explained that they established a new system to make sure all MDO’s know exactly what the overtime needs are at the beginning of each tour, namely at 7 a.m., 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. The only exceptions would be to call overtimers to fill in for people who’ve called out and for unexpected heavy mail volume.

Attendance Review
Management said sick leave in the SJ P&DC is the second-highest in the region, after Philadelphia.

Herrick said management is in the process of conducting an attendance review in each operation. At these reviews, Herrick meets with a pay location’s supervisor to discuss those who have a high-percentage of callouts. A representative from labor relations and FMLA coordinator Dave Harvey also attend these meetings.

According to Herrick, management is not instituting any contractual changes. But, she said, that she considers calling out three times a year acceptable. Anything greater than that is excessive. She also admitted that each case is individual and would be treated accordingly.

Herrick said that more than 50% of all employees in the plant have zero sick leave.

Overtime Redux
Absence from overtime, she said, is another big problem. Some mail handlers put their names on the ODL and hardly ever work overtime. She expects people on the ODL to be available for overtime – or they need to take themselves off of the list. Campagno gave the union a recent example: Management needed eight people on Tour 2 to work their drop day. They were only able to get one person to work overtime.

Nick Campellone, contract administrator, pointed out that’s because management is asking Tour 2 mail handlers to work from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. They’re used to starting at 6 a.m. and think these later hours are a mistake.

Management said drop-day overtime is going to be different than it has been in the past. People who work their drop day should count on getting moved around from one operation to the next. For example, they may start the day in Automation and end the day in the 010 breakup. Campellone said once people realize that’s the way it works they’ll conform.

A Plant in Transition
Tony Branco, branch president, said management has reverted so many jobs that he believes there are not enough people to handle the volume, even at today’s lower levels. He told Herrick that forcing people to stay in the absence of an emergency is unacceptable.

Herrick said the SJ P&DC is in transition. The HSTS, she claims, will cause “a significant realignment of the bids.” The DPCS bullpen will not be a section anymore. Surface & Strapping will not be a section anymore. Those bids will go to the APPS and the AFSM.

Miscellaneous