Highlights of the Labor-Management Meeting

The union and management met on Friday, Feb. 6, for the first labor-management meeting of 2009. The union will post the formal minutes of the meeting as soon as it receives them. In the meantime, this poster is meant to let members know now what transpired at the meeting.

The union and management will meet with Gloria Gray, national coordinator of Quality of Work Life (QWL) to restart the QWL program in South Jersey. The union has appointed Tour 2 Mail Handler Ritchie Dockery to serve as its coordinator.
Maintenance will make sure that restrooms are cleaned on a staggered basis. Now custodians have been cleaning restrooms at the start of their tour.
The union will evaluate what equipment is being used on each tour and in each work area. The reason: The union requested that each area be allowed to use the same powered industrial vehicles (PIV) each day. It believes that “ownership” may encourage each area to see that its PIV’s are kept in good repair.
The union asked management for the standard operating procedures (SOP) and joint safety analyses (JSA) of t he APPS, AFSM and HSTS. Management gave the union the APPS SOP. In-plant support will provide it with the SOP for the AFSM. There’s currently none for the HSTS because the SJ P&DC was among the first to get that machine. It also will work with the union to develop JSA’s for each machine.
Management will soon begin evaluating all mail-handler jobs on all tours. It said the evaluation will take approximately three months and that it’s starting with the AFSM. It may have to readjust jobs in some work areas. (Management notes that it evaluated clerk positions in 2008.)
Even though the tour secretary’s office is not being staffed on the weekend, outside telephone calls coming in to that office are being routed to maintenance.
Management denied the union’s request that mail handlers who volunteer to work their holiday be allowed to sign up for 12-hour shifts.
Management said mail handlers will be instructed to sweep out government trucks. This task is written into the standard job description for mail handlers.
The union and management agreed to study becoming a VPP (Voluntary Protection Program) site.
Management will ask supervisors at the HSTS whether or not workers are rotating positions. The union said rotation is spotty on some tours and that some workers are at risk of repetitive-motion injuries.
The union requested that management make relabeling at the HSTS a light-duty position. Management said the position requires standing for eight hours and lifting heavy trays and those requirements exceed what most people on light duty can perform.