May 2016 Color.qxp - Southwest Florida Area Local
Transcription
May 2016 Color.qxp - Southwest Florida Area Local
Southwest Florida Area Local 11000 Metro Parkway, Unit 8 Fort Myers, FL 33966 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Fort Myers, FL Permit No. 139 Alva, Bokeelia, Bonita Springs, Captiva, Chokoloskee, Estero, Everglades City, Felda, Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach, Goodland, Immokalee, Labelle, Lehigh Acres, Marco Island, Naples, Palmdale, Pineland, Placida, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Rotunda, St. James City and Sanibel May 2016 Volume 26 Number 5 THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER FOR ALL MEMBERS OF THE SOUTHWEST FLORIDA AREA LOCAL AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION We Are Working To Identify Management Bullies E-MAILS - TEXT MESSAGES PHONE CALLS Sam Wood President SWFAL APWU While I understand that many of you have questions or concerns that need to be addressed, there are many e-mails, text messages and phone calls that we receive that could be resolved by simply filing a grievance. Gone are the days when local officials, Presidents or NBA's can simply make a phone call to resolve issues. IN THIS EDITION OF THE EAGLE’S EYE We Are Working To Identify Management Bullies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Secretary-Treasurer’s Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Bait And Switch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Overtime List “Sign Off Sheet” . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Progress At The VMF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 An Overview Of The Principal Assignment Area (PAA) . . . . . . . 4 Thank You From A Former Ft. Myers P&DC Employee. . . . . . 4 24th Biennial State Convention And 2016 Spring Seminar . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Management’s Mail Stream Slow Down . . . . . 5 Union Matters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 SWFAL Membership News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Accessing Your TSP Account Safely . . . . . . . 8 PROUD MEMBER Local representatives are being bombarded with grievances about staffing issues in all crafts, subcontracting, discipline, other crafts performing APWU work, PSE's being converted to career, seniority issues, principal assignment areas, one person on a machine, employee confrontations, etc. We would love to go back to the days of being able to address concerns immediately; however, there is not enough time in the day to address every issue. Our local represents 17 different Postmasters and over 30 offices all over Southwest Florida. If there is a delay in getting back to you on your concerns, please understand the work load that has been placed upon us and reach out to us again. We are here for you and your concerns. MANAGEMENT BULLIES I am currently looking for statements about management bullies. Anyone who can provide me statements concerning supervisors who are harassing individuals in their offices, the SWFAL-APWU would like to have them. I want to begin a filing system tracking all members of management and how they manage (or mismanage) their employees. I will be looking to go after each one, through their superiors, the Department of Labor or via the Federal Court System. If employees do not want to file individual statements, a general statement with employee signatures will be sufficient. Documentation in any form is needed to root out this type of behavior. If you see something, document it immediately and write down the date and time that the incident occurred. As employees, we should not have to tolerate this type of behavior and within the Southwest Florida Area Local, we intend to stop this behavior. FAIR DAYS WORK FOR A FAIR DAYS PAY I laugh when I hear that employees are told that they are working too slow or too fast by other employees, supervisors or postmasters. Many of us have been told this at some point in our career at the USPS. However, I have not heard of one employee in 25 years who has been successfully terminated for working (whether it be too fast or too slow) unless it pertained to a safety violation. As long as you are working and not standing around doing nothing, management will not prevail as long as you are working to the best of your ability. Understand that everyone works differently and at different speeds. Don't be intimidated by management's tactics. FORT MYERS RI-399 UPDATE We have been working diligently, to update the list of those employees who are to be paid for the Fort Myers Installation RI-399 $5.2 million grievance settlement. In this edition of The Eagle’s Eye I have provided the updated list of employees who have been identified to be compensated. If you know of anyone not listed, have them contact the Union Office at (239) 275-1007 by May 31, 2016, so we can add them to our list. PSE'S BEING HARRASSED AND DISCRIMINATED AGAINST We are receiving claims by PSE's of being harassed, belittled or discriminated against by management. It should not be tolerated. If you or someone you know is being treated in this manner, please send me an e-mail about the situation and I will forward it to the proper authority. This does not mean that management can't See: List Of Employees Continued on Page 6 THE EAGLE’S EYE 2 Secretary-Treasurer’s Report Felicia Gluhareff Southwest Florida Area Local, APWU 11000 Metro Parkway, Unit 8 Fort Myers, FL 33966 239-275-1007 Open 9am-3pm, Monday-Friday WEBSITE ADDRESS www.swfloridaapwu.org PRESIDENT Sam Wood SWoodFla@aol.com 239-823-APWU VICE-PRESIDENT Dan Gray VPswfal@aol.com 239-834-2736 SECRETARY-TREASURER Felicia Gluhareff SecTreaSWFAL@aol.com CLERK CRAFT DIRECTOR Paul McAvoy ClerkCraftSWFAL@aol.com MAINTENANCE CRAFT DIRECTOR Mickey Szymonik MaintdirSWFAL@aol.com 239-834-2900 MOTOR VEHICLE CRAFT DIRECTOR Joe Fracek joefracek@yahoo.com EDITOR Kathy Moyer EdSWFAL@aol.com TRUSTEES Daniel Carinci Grace Baer David Grant SAFETY & HEALTH COMMITTEE David Grant Wendy Skaff CONSTITUTION COMMITTEE Dan Gray, Chairman Grace Baer Daniel Carinci Felicia Gluhareff David Grant Paul McAvoy Kathy Moyer NATIONAL MAILING ADDRESS Per Capita Section APWU, AFL-CIO 1300 L Street NW Washington, DC 20005 FLORIDA POSTAL WORKER The Florida Postal Worker P.O. Box 8363 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33310 www.apwuflorida.org MAY 2016 General Membership Meeting Minutes April 24, 2016 CALL TO ORDER: 9:30 a.m. There were 14 members in attendance. THE PLEDGE: The pledge of allegiance was led by Annette Vivona. ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS: Felicia Gluhareff performed the roll call of officers. Present were Sam Wood, Dan Gray, Paul McAvoy, Mickey Szymonik, Joe Fracek, Kathy Moyer and Felicia Gluhareff. MAP: Barbara Carr told a couple jokes in honor of Charles Glennon. Barbara also reported on Charles’ wife, Rose. Rose fell recently and hurt her hip, she is currently in rehab and still pretty sore. Barbara said that she hopes there is better news to report at the next meeing. Rose will be 97 on July 29th. NEW MEMBERS: Welcome Nick Zengel. EXECUTIVE BOARD MINUTES: We discussed ongoing grievances at the plant and stations. We also talked about stewards at the VMF. The RI-399 and the APWU national elections as well as the state convention were touched on. Jamie Robertson was elected as a state sponsored delegate to the national convention. Sam said that we should have a signed contract in June or July. Everyone needs to remember that management cannot instruct you to do anything unsafe or illegal. SECRETARY/TREASURER’S REPORT: Paul McAvoy made a motion to accept the minutes as reported in last month’s Eagle’s Eye. The motion passed. Our LM-3 and 990 reports have been completed and filed. REPORT/SELECTION OF COMMITTEES: None REPORT OF CONVENTION COMMITTEES: Dan Gray, Sam Wood and Danny Carinci all reported on the state convention. Jamie Robertson will be the District 8 Business Agent for the next two years. Jamie and Danny Carinci also served on boards at the convention. Sam talked about some contract updates that he learned at the convention. Sam thanked our delegates for the work they did at the convention. Our RI-399 lawyer, Richard Lara of Mase Lara, P.A. spoke to the Florida State Convention body and received a standing ovation. The president of Broward local #1201, Jeff Riddell, recognized our local and our success with the RI-399. Sam Wood wants to thank the membership and the board members for being brave enough to hire a lawyer. REPORT OF TRUSTEES: Possible audit on May 20th if all parties are available. Danny Carinci arranged a few estimates to fix the back door and surrounding area at the hall. The repair will cost around $2,000. The trustees will get together with the Treasurer and choose a company that we would like to do the work. COMMUNICATIONS: There was a union leadership meeting invitation. A clerk submitted a request to become a steward. Mark Dimondstein and Sue Carney asked us to support the carriers in their “Stamp Out Hunger” drive. Sam would also like for our local to get involved with a local charity. Possibly a food bank such as Harry Chapin. There are a couple consideration for conversions sent by management. Sam offered the sign off agreement for the 5.2 million dollar settlement to those who would like to read it. UPDATE OF GRIEVNCES: Former employees have until May 31, 2016 to call the union office or contact a steward at the plant to have their names added to the RI-399 settlement. Sam is still trying to contact 160 folks or their families who may be entitled to part of the settlement. He thanked Dan Gray, Paul McAvoy, Grace Baer and Danny Carinci for helping him work on the list of those to be included. OLD BUSINESS: None NEW BUSINESS: When the RI-399 settlement appears in our paycheck or mail we need to offer all non-members a sign-up form for our union. If you know a non-member, offer to sign them up to be part of our family. Annette Vivona spoke about custodial issues in Lehigh Acres. There are TL-5 problems at many stations. Sam received some ideas while at the state convention on how to deal with those issues. If you are unclear exactly what your bid’s tasks include, ask to see the form 4852 for your bid. If you are being forced to perform tasks not on this list you can ask to see a steward. There may be a situation that you can file for a higher level pay. LABOR/MANAGEMENT: Sam’s time has been consumed by working on the second part of the RI-399 grievance so there hasn’t been labor/management meetings. GOOD AND WELFARE: The winner of the COPA 50/50 drawing was Mickey Szymonik. The total netted was $58. Mickey won $29 and the other $29 will be sent to COPA. The name drawn for the member’s incentive award was Sandee Beckler. Had she been present she would have won $70. The pot will be $80 at the next general membership meeting. ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND DELEGATES: None LEFTOVERS: Robert Nowall asked about the wording of the RI-399 settlement in the case that we are unable to locate everyone entitled to part of the settlement. We received advice from our lawyer to ensure we are legally compliant. Sam is going above and beyond to contact all those he can. We are also posting requests for contacts at the stations and plant as well as The Eagle’s Eye. If you are aware of someone who may be entitled to part of the settlement who is not on the list then please speak up asap! If the deadline is missed they may be forfeiting their share. ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS: Felicia Gluhareff performed the roll call of officers. The results were recorded. NEXT MEETING: Robert Nowall moved to hold the next meeting on May 22, 2016, at 9:30 a.m. at the union hall. The motion passed. ADJOURNMENT: Robert Nowall moved to adjourn at 10:36 a.m. The motion passed. MAY 2016 THE EAGLE’S EYE 3 Bait And Switch The USPS is doomed. No longer does Postal management care about good service and customer satisfaction. Paul McAvoy It has Clerk Craft Director SWFAL APWU become a deceitful sneaky numbers game. Ever since the Operational Window change came into existence, the Post Office has gone downhill like Sonny Bono skiing. It seems as though managers have degrees in crash and burn. Management has gotten to the point if the numbers don't work then lie about it. Before the Operational Window Change it used to be every piece every day. Now it has become a constant lie about what is commit- ted and what is delayed. GPC's that are committed for 7am. 4 hours for the list. The most recent example of this was yesterday when MDO Tweedle decided that waste mail was more important than customer’s medication. When the Tour 1 clerks left at 7am there were still 6 to 7 committed GPC's of waste mail that were delayed. Not only did we put medicine on the back burner so to speak we did not clear anyway. It used to be in waste mail that every tray had a machine printed label in it. Not anymore. Now they have red pieces of paper that just say waste on it. A handful of clerks, including myself, were finishing up priority. All that was left was some bundles of supposedly committed 2C and standard and a hamper with medicine in it. They needed this mail on the dock within 20 minutes and the supervisor asked Tweedle if we were going to finish the little bit of mail that was left. Now it would have taken all of 5 to 10 minutes, still leaving time to get to the dock and onto the truck timely. Tweedle in his infinite wisdom said, “No” - just do the bundles of 2nd class and put the medicine off to the side. It is almost 5 o'clock and I need those clerks in waste mail ASAP because we have 11 You would think management would maximize the ODL to get it out. Nope - there was to be no penalty overtime issued. When I asked a general clerk the next day how much mail was delayed, she told me Tweedle told her not to put down any delayed mail. I information requested the Delayed Mail Count Report for that day and yup, no delayed mail was reported. This is not only devious and a lie, it is falsifying a government document. Soon after Tour 1 left for the day, Tour 2 clerks were ALL given overtime. Two hours for the non list and Why did they do that you ask? The machine generated labels had a date and time the label was printed. Now management can simply change the date and or time on the placard on the GPC and - poof delayed mail all gone. Gone are the days of clearing every piece every day and getting every piece of mail out of the building without delay. Now it is if we don't finish it we will just lie about it and call it non committed mail. I am sure this is happening at stations and branches also. Say hello to the new Post Office with management experts at the art of BAIT AND SWITCH. To all you moms out there, HAVE A VERY HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! Overtime List “Sign Off Sheet” Recently I have had s e v e r a l employees with an “OLD” OTDL sign off sheet. from the Pre-tour, Post-tour and for N/S (Non-Scheduled Day) are listed. Because we share the same sign off sheet with the Mail Handler Craft, it can be a little confusing for someone new. The old sheets, which Jamie Robertson should no Tour 1 Steward longer be in Ft. Myers P&DC use, have SWFAL APWU three choices that you can circle to sign off the overtime list. The options for removing yourself The Clerk Craft only has a Pre/Post list and a N/S day list. The Pre and Post are on the same list; therefore, you cannot choose to remove yourself from just one. It is all or nothing. If you are signing off of one you are signing off for both because Progress At The VMF us about changing the start times. The Ft. Myers VMF has now moved the second tour to join the day shift. We still have two start times, but they are 6am and 9am now instead of the previous 6am and 2pm start times. Joe Fracek Motor Vehicle Craft Director Ft. Myers Lead Steward Page Field SWFAL APWU In December the Union had suggested to management that this move would be beneficial to everyone involved. The employees most definitely wanted it. Last week Management finally agreed with Hopefully, with more technicians in the shop, we will curb the use of contractors by management. With USPS using less contracting, there should be less grievances. The result of both of these changes will help keep costs down and create less paperwork and less stress for everyone. We still have a vacancy for a technician at the VMF. With these hours and weekends off, perhaps more interest will be generated in these positions. Anyone interested might wish to look into it. Go to Ereassign. Sign up for the test. Good luck to those of you that decide to apply for this position. they are one list. The reason that the old sheets had three separate lists to sign off on was because the Mail Handler Craft at one time did have three lists. They no longer do. They now have two just like us. ting the new ones back out. Management was supposed to have “NEW” OTDL sign off sheets with the proper OTDL’s listed. Of course somehow the old sheets keep making their way back to the floor confusing some employees. One key thing to remember is, if you sign off the list you are off the list and your name does not carry over to the new list for the next quarter. You will need to re-sign up for the next quarters list to put your name back on it. Your name only carries over to the next quarter if you do not sign off any of the list. So if you see an old sheet ask for a new one and let the union know that the old sheets are circulating again and we will see about get- Usually you can find an OTDL sign off sheet on the outside of the General Clerk’s office in one of the holdouts on the window. In Solidarity THE EAGLE’S EYE 4 MAY 2016 An Overview Of The Principal Assignment Area (PAA) Remember to please clock to the correct operation you are working. It is very easy to clock in on your base operation and never move to the correct operation, since in most cases in does not this rule is if an employee with a scheme in his/her duty assignment has not reached the current minimum 30-hour sortation requirement in an AP. In that instance, a more senior employee may be moved out of the “PAA”. Daniel M. Gray Vice President SWFAL APWU affect your pay. This does more than effect BPI. This helps the Union in grievances to properly document where you are working. Remember the Union has the burden of proof in a contractual grievance. Also, by being on the wrong operation, management uses this information to state we have too many bids in specific operations. If you are sent to work in a manual operation but stay clocked over to your Automation base, we cannot prove we need more manual bids. If you are on your base of 030 and you are in the Registry Cage, it shows no need for a Registry bid. We continually have Automation Clerks and Manual Clerks that fail to clock over on a nightly basis to the correct operation. Management is continually trying to eliminate Manual and Automation positions, or any position at the Plant, stating we have too many employees. An issue that seems to continually raise its ugly head is the Principle Assignment Area or “PAA”. The Mail Processing Clerk Position Memorandum of Understanding between the USPS and APWU is a question and answer memorandum that explains the rules when it pertains to your “PAA”. Your bid should have listed a “PAA” and this is where you should perform the majority of your work. When management must move an employee out of their “PAA” to another operation it must be done by juniority. The only exception to A recent Step 4 sign off concerning an interpretive issue involving the Mail Processing Clerk MOU and which was mutually agreed to by both the Union and management determined that a light or limited duty clerk who does not hold a bid in the area they have been assigned light/limited duty due to their restrictions to work and/or are not the senior employee in that PAA must be moved as the MOU requires without exception. The Union is requesting a fifty (50) percent premium for all time an employee is improperly displaced from their PAA. One thing I have noticed - groups of employees filing a grievance when only one employee is improperly working in a PAA. The only employee in this case would be the most senior PAA employee who is then improperly displaced. PAA displacement is factor one person, per person improperly being improperly displaced. So if you have two light duty employees working in manual letters and management then sends six manual letters PAA clerks to priority only the two senior manual letters PAA clerks have a valid grievance, not all six. This violation would not be for all employees within the PAA, just the senior displaced employee. Also if you are brought in for your non-scheduled day or designated holiday you do not hold entitlements to your “PAA”. Example for your holiday - it is done by Tour and skill for staffing and overtime is done by section. So in these instances you cannot displace an employee on their normal scheduled day. Remember this MOU as well as all handbooks and manuals are available on the APWU national website wwwapwu.org. Many times people think they have a grievance when in reality it is just a gripe. A gripe is a simple complaint that is not a contractual violation. Issues such as, how come I have to work with this person or on this machine. A grievance is a violation of the contract. Where a Step One is the grievant’s grievance, after Step One the Union now controls the grievance and determines if it is an actual contractual violation or just a gripe. When you do have an issue a steward will try to guide you to determine if a violation of the collective bargaining agreement did occur. Please do not start yelling or getting angry with your steward if they do not agree with you. It is the job of the steward to correctly guide you as to if a grievance legitimately exists. The steward knows they must file your grievance at Step One regardless if it is a violation or not. If the steward tells you it is not a violation they are not doing you a disservice, but being honest with you. As stated if at Step 2 it is determined that no legitimate grievance exists the Union will withdraw it. When I withdraw a grievance at Step 2 you are free to ask me why and I will explain how I made my determination. If your grievance is withdrawn at Step 3 typically the National Business Agents will attach a comment sheet to the withdrawal explaining their decision. Please completely read and verify before signing your PS form 3971s Request for or Notification of Absence to make sure the information on them is correct. When you sign your PS Form 3971 you are agreeing that the information on the form is correct. Once again, please review the 3971 prior to signing it. If you do not agree with what is on it (i.e. leave type, dates, scheduled, unscheduled, FMLA, etc.) correct the information or have your supervisor correct it. If your super- visor refuses to correct the disputed information, politely refuse to sign the form and ask to see your Union Steward. Simply signing the PS Form 3971 with incorrect information may come back to haunt you in the future. Also if you call in and want to use FMLA, you must request FMLA. If you fail to do this your PS form 3971 will state “Not FMLA”. During an investigative interview for attendance is not a good time to find out you failed to request FMLA and you signed your PS form 3971 agreeing to such. Remember nothing restricts you from writing in the comments section such as FMLA requested or documentation supplied - months after the fact does not help you. The recent RI 399 settlement for $5.2 million from Arbitrator Hales Award which covered the period of 2000-2006 only is being calculated to determine what employees within the Fort Myers Bid Installation are entitled to be compensated. Sam has been diligently working and going to great lengths to contact and make sure everyone who should be included, will be. Sam has spent a lot of time off the clock on his own time getting this completed. Remember this is only one third of our fight to win back our work. Our local is still continually and diligently fighting to be awarded back the work on the AIs to include all back pay owed for the rest of 2006 until present. To win back the work lost is as important, if not more so than the money owed. This is especially true for the employees who have years left in their postal career. Where there is no guarantee that we will finally win in arbitration, our local will put up a good fight as we always do for our members. Remember if you have any questions or concerns ask to see your steward. Thank You From A Former Ft. Myers P&DC Employee Sent: Sun, Apr 24, 2016 1:21 pm Subject: Fort Myers APWU Team Sam, I just want to take a moment to draw attention to what a hardworking team you and all the stewards are at the Fort Myers Plant. I was a longtime employee of the Plant and have since retired from the Orlando MP Annex, which has now been renamed. You know the old saying, “You don’t know what you have until it is gone” applies to you and the APWU team in Fort Myers. Once I transferred to Orlando, the differences in the unions were like night and day. It was as if a contract did not exist in Orlando or was basically ignored. I was shocked by the blatant violations that constantly took place. Upon speaking to other employees at nearby Plants, it seemed status quo at their locations as well. You and your team are totally dedicated to protecting the rights and well-being of all the employees like no other I have encountered. Your tireless dedication to pursue what is right should be commended. I hope all the employees in Fort Myers realize what a treasure they have and appreciate you going over and above to protect them. It is a thankless job and I, for one, would like to take this opportunity to say “thank you” for a job well done! Phyllis Hamilton MAY 2016 THE EAGLE’S EYE 5 24th Biennial State Convention And 2016 Spring Seminar Recently returning from our State Convention I find myself reflecting back on how truly proud I am at being a part of such a fine Local. Danny Carinci T2 & T3 Steward Ft. Myers P&DC SWFAL APWU I wish I could convey the words that would enable every member to understand just how inspiring of an experience it has been. From the moment I arrived I could sense the focus from the National Representatives and other local delegates. You could feel it in the air. We are the Southwest Florida Area Local. The shakers, the ones who fought back and wouldn't give up; the ones who stood fast against the odds and were victorious. A surreal moment came when the President of the Broward County Area Local asked if he could address the floor. He then took the time to congratulate our Local on such a huge win. With every greeting and handshake came a look of respect at what we had accomplished. He stated, "The Southwest Area Local is leading the way". With his speech came a standing ovation from the entire Convention. Our SWFAL APWU President, Sam Wood, Vice President Dan Gray, Delegate Jamie Robertson and I were seated in the center of the Convention floor. It was a humbling and heartfelt moment of which I will never forget. Our win of the RI-399 Arbitration and settlement was a feeling of victory shared by all. It gave hope to others showing them that persistence and perseverance is the key. Although recognition of what we had achieved might have been played down by some of high stature I believe it was to hide the embarrassing fact that, "We did this alone!" I also had the privilege of being a member of the Resolution Committee during the Convention. Although no new resolutions were put fourth I enjoyed the learning experience on how the whole process works. After the Convention I was able to attend an OWCP class during the first day of the Seminar. There was quite a bit of information presented, much to soak in. I will try to share it with all of you in my next article. Finally, I would just like to thank all of our members and our Executive board for allowing me the privilege once again of representing our "Great Local”. This is our time to shine so we can’t stop now. If you see a violation FILE and if you're not a member JOIN! In Solidarity Management’s Mail Stream Slow Down My experience as a postal customer has been confirmed. This confirmation comes from none other than the P o s t a l Regulatory Commission (PRC). Kathy Moyer Editor The Eagle’s Eye SWFAL APWU In a recent March 28 Annual Compliance Determination Report (ACD) the Commission stated “the Postal Service failed to meet the majority of service performance targets in fiscal year 2015. In addition it was noted that service performance remains “substantially below their targets”. The USPS lowered service stan- dards in January 2015 - and has failed to meet the newer degraded standards. At my home, delivery of first class mail averages 3 days later than before the reduction in service standards. I have had more than a few occasions when mail was 6 days later. When I mail first class letters, on the items I can actually track, I am noticing the same slow down in my outgoing mail. Postal management has really messed up the USPS. All of the processing plant closures and the loss of so many postal jobs are taking their toll on mail service. The Union warned the USPS that closing processing plants and eliminating postal jobs would negatively affect postal customer service. All the postal management number crunchers cannot deny how wrong they were. Union Matters Inspired by Clerk Craft Director Paul McAvoy’s article in last month’s The Eagle’s Eye, “Pet Peeves a n d Ramblings of an Old Man”, Mickey Szymonik I decided to Maintenance Craft Director vent a few of SWFAL APWU my own pet peeves relating to the RI399 clerk craft award. First off, let me thank and congratulate Sam, Dan and Paul for the stellar job they did pushing this grievance through and retaining the law firm of Masa/Lara to aid in our victory. Eligible employees will be sharing in the 5.2 million dollar award secured by the Local’s win, and you would think that no one would have cause to complain (except the Postal Service), but you would be wrong. I have heard so many employees looking a gift horse in the mouth that it’s astounding to me. We all know that greed rears its ugly head when money is involved but honestly I am appalled by some of the comments I’ve been hearing. Why was a current EAS employee included in the payout? Why would the Union solicit names of retired, dead or missing employees due remuneration, further cutting into my slice of the pie? Why would the Union allow the Masa/Lara law firm to throw us a party, taking more money away from me? Let’s start with that last question first. No, a party thrown by the excellent law firm we engaged is not coming out of your pocket. Your local entered into a legal contract with Masa/Lara. Like our own CBA, a contract is a binding agreement (well, it’s supposed to be, anyway). The right thing to do is honor the agreement that you entered in to. Masa/Lara facilitated a big win for us and certainly earned their pay. If we hadn’t won, they wouldn’t have seen a dime. Now they would like to award our patronage by hosting a party. This is a huge win for us all and their willingness to throw the Local a bash shows their largess in giving back to us - on their dime, not yours. Also, this celebration affords all our Local’s members a chance to celebrate this win, not just the people that will be financially enriched by the award. Working back to the prior questions I heard: Why would the Union try to find former employees that could be entitled to a share of the award? Answer: Because that is the right thing to do. Any clerks in the bid cluster during the years encompassed by the award have a legitimate stake in the claim. Why are some EAS employees included in the payout? Same answer: They are entitled to a share of the award for the time they were in the eligible craft position, barring any time spent as a 204B. Why are non-union members included in the payout? Ask yourself that one if you are not voting for pro-labor representation in our government. Florida is a “right to work” state and Unions are mandated to represent non-dues paying employees equally. You know, I have been a Maintenance steward for over 10 years and have never received any sort of monetary award. That’s not what I do it for, but I’ll damned sure have my dancing shoes on for the party hosted by Mas/Lara. It’s an astonishing win for our Local and instead of bitchin’, you should be putting on your dancing shoes, as well. Solidarity, Prosperity, Peace THE EAGLE’S EYE 6 MAY 2016 L to R Danny Carinci, T2 & T3 Steward, Ft. Myers P&DC, Jamie Robertson, Tour 1 Steward, Ft. Myers P&DC, Richard Lara, of Masa/Lara Law Firm, our Local’s attorney in the RI-399 case, Dan Gray, Vice President, SWFAL APWU and Sam Wood, President, SWFAL APWU LIST OF EMPLOYEES Continued from Page 1 move PSE hours around each week as some may feel is harassment. Although employees may feel this is retaliation (which it may be), management can move PSE schedules to fit their needs of the service. Part Time Flexible employees who have had over 25+ years of service have their schedules moved constantly and they are career employees. MANAGEMENT LOGGING IN ON POS/RSS SYSTEMS In many offices management is logging into the POS/RSS system in order to perform Clerk Craft bargaining unit work. It is the APWU's position that once a Postmaster or Supervisor logs into the system, they are performing bargaining unit work until such time as they log out. Those offices who have the POS1 system where Postmasters or Supervisors are logged in should be grieving those instances as well. On the NAPS website, it states: "NAPS was notified by USPS HQ that starting Thursday, April 14, 2016 the End of Day (EOD) Report will be temporarily disabled for the next 30-60 days. This report is being suspended to investigate improper use of the data that negatively impacts visibility and postal customers' tracking experience. It was explained to NAPS that the End of Day report is intentionally unavailable and there is no system defect. In addition, employees are not to log a Help Desk ticket for this change." If no End of Day Report is avail- able because management has temporarily disabled them, then the APWU will consider management performing bargaining unit work the entire day. The National APWU has also filed a dispute on the issue so we should hear more about this very soon. AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS ACCIDENT BENEFIT ASSOCIATION (APW-ABA) Earlier this year, our local invited the APW-ABA to come to our facilities and educate our members on the benefits they receive from being a 100% ABA local. The SWFAL-APWU pays for every member of our local to be enrolled into the Value Plan. This plan pays $12 per day for disability from a covered accident. It also pays a $6,000.00 benefit for a member's death caused by an accident. It is important to continuously review and update your beneficiary on your ABA plan. To update or name your beneficiary, call the ABA Headquarters at (603) 635-5597 as soon as possible. Members can also enroll in various Unum Plans (including whole life, term life, critical illness, extended accident, off the job accident, or wage replacement insurances). If you have questions in one of these plans, you can call Unum directly at (800) 635-5597. If you already have coverage and wish to add, change, increase or decrease your current policy, simply call them. RI-399 SETTLEMENT LIST Name Allman, Jean Almas Lewis, Debra Anderson, Larry Anderson, Nancy Arrebola, Luis Baer, Grace Bailey, Silvia Baisden Smith, Tammy Baldwin, Keith Balinski, George Bard, Peggy Barnes, Deborah Bartrem, Mark Battle, Senoritta Beatty Kirkland, Elaine Beckler Cornell, Sandra Beeler White, Staci Beeler, Boneda Bell, Joyce Belloga, Rene Bergman, Jolene Bielecki, JoAnn Billups, Randall Black, Janice Bohall, Sharinda Bonham, Lori Bowen, Lyle Bowman, Julie Boyle, John Brandich, John Brazzel, Robert Brent, Dorothy Brocious, Robin Brooks - Stewart, Marina Brown, Corey Brown, Sophia Brown, Thomas Bryan, Kenneth Burke, Mary Ann Burney, Donna Busscher, Della Calhoun, Cyrus Campbell, Tammy Cannon, Angelia Carinci Karmeris, Janna Carinci, Daniel Carlson, Roger Carpus, Donald Carr, Jamie Carr, Barbara Carroll, Diana Carwile, Lisa Cash, Gail Cates Parbs, Karen Cerin, Linda Cesarino, Vincent Cespedes, David Cespedes, Kathleen Childs, Crystal Clark, Barney Cleaver, Kathryn Clinton, Samuel Cobb, Cathy Coello, Cecilia Coleman Corcoran, Karen Coleman Hedges, Betsy Collins, Roger Condon, Janet Connor, Lori Cook, Kathleen Cooper, Scott Coover, Carol Corrado, Diane Crabill, Joyce Cram, Lynne Crews, Della Crouse III, Clyde Cruz, Rufina Currier Brock, Margaret Curtis, Tameka Daniels, Brenda Daniels, Richard Davis, Clarice Davis, Tawana Deguzman, Jr. Benjamin Delpi, Colin Depasquale, DeAnna Devarona, Stephen Diamond, Cathy Diamond, Jane Diaz Williams, Kathie DiBenedetto, Laura Dimase, Eileen Dinkins, Jaudon Dinschel, Michael Druzisky, David Dulal-Whiteway, Louis Dunna, R. Eagan, Mary Eben, Joan Edwards, Elsadie Edwards, James Eid, Marianne Elek, Diane Eliopoulos, Jeanette See: List Of Employees Continued on Page 7 MAY 2016 LIST OF EMPLOYEES Continued from Page 6 Ellis-Ortiz, Chris Embury Witt, Lisa English, Gale English, Penni Ennis, Julia Erickson, Richard Espinosa, Ricky Eyzaguirre, Aldo Fair Wilkinson, Lorraine Farano, Paul Farris, Linda Faulkner, William Favata George, Heather Feldmaier, Richard Fenicle, James Ferguson, Sandra Fermin, Josefina Finley, Vivianne Fitzpatrick, Crystal Flores-Staniec, Dina Flynn Burns, Linda Fracek, Joseph Franks, Dora Fraser, Patricia Fraser Sr., Paul Gahafer, Laura Gale, David Garcia-Irene, Heriberto Garvis, Vincent Gaunt, Margaret Gendron, Patrick George, Donna Getman-Gradwell, Leslie Gibbs, Dwayne Gilkeson, Tamara Gilvey, Thomas Girard, Christine Gleason, Rodney Gluhareff, Felicia Gobeil Steward, Denise Gobeil, Martin Gonzalez, Luis Gorman, Kathleen Gradwell, Doug Graf, Donna Granderson, Linda Grant, David Gray, Daniel Grebey III, Alvin Grebey, Kay Green, Barbara Greenberg, Richard Griggs, Anthony Griswold, Lisa Grout, William Guerra, Richard Hagie, Pamela Halko, Linda Hamilton, Ana Hamilton, Mark Hamilton, Phillis Hamouma Husebye, Stephanie Handly, Robert Hanisch, Steven Hanners, Michael Hansen, Mary Hardiman, Patrick Harkcom, Richard Harmon, Annette Harper, Kip Hartley, Sr., James Hartman, Kathy Hartwig, Glenn Harwig Lentz Haiber, Rhonda Heese, Richard Heinrich, Lynn Hentkowski, Bonnie Herlovich, Michelle Hernandez, Jose Hervey Nunn, Virginia Hill McLarry, Patricia Hillabrant, Stephen Hines, Catherine Hoerner, John Hofer Furtado, Dawn Hofer, Jr., Robert THE EAGLE’S EYE Hogrefe, Cassie Honchar, Rosalie Hoover Smilovitz, Helen Hoppe, Penny Horton, Jerry Howard Hartwig, Darla Howard, Lagonda Hunt, Dennis Huston, Robert Huston, Steven Husz, Devant Hutton, Douglas Hyatt, Margaret Ireland, Ralph Jackson, Vicky Jacobs Rotolo, Michelle Jacobsen, Norman James, Barbara Johnson Leos, Susan Johnson, Ann Johnson, Deidre Johnson, June Johnson, Martha Johnson, Oscar Jones, Gwendolyn Julien, Arnold Kantaris, Dorothy Kantaris, John Karch, Susan L. Karmeris Bodensky, Linda Keister, Merri Kelberer, Alex Keller, Karen Kelly, Joyce Kelmar, Douglas Kendera Yeugelowitz, Ann Kennington Dinschel, Deborah Kersey, Alice Ketchmark, David King, David Kirkwood, David Koerner Nelson, Nancy Krampen, Joyce Kuhn, Peggy Kyllo, Mark Lacy Jr., James Lafountain, Gary Lampitt, Kathleen Landis, Michael Lane, Patricia Lang, Eugene Larson, Debra Larue, Mark Lawhon, Stella Leavor, Phyllis Lee II, James Lee, Beom Hyun Lee, Kum Lee, Maria Leobrera, Joselyn Leobrera, Leo Ley, Glenn Linger, Virginia LoBianco, Andrea Loewel, Charles London, Sharlene Loyola, Carlos Luttrell, Mary Lynch, Deborah Ma, Betty Maier, Fred Malavenda, David Manning, Laura Marino, James Marlet, Carol Maros, Debra Massolio, James Mattice, Kathy Mault, James Maxilom, Elaine Mayer, Sharlene McAvoy, Paul McClaskey, Lori McFarland, Harold McGowan, Brian McGurk, Hope McLain, Kevin McLoughlin, Kimberly Medina, Glenn Mefford, Wanda Melcer, Carol Melvin, Gary Mey, Michelle Meyering, Kurt Meyers, Timothy Michalski, Carl Mikovich, Kathleen Mikusek, Ronelle Miller, Debbie Miller, Lenna Mitchell, Jennifer Morang, Joanne Moreno, Kathy Morin, Claude Morin, Linda Mosely, Vicky Moser, Donald Moyer II, Chris Mozdzonek, Agnes Mueller Bezdek, Dianne Neraal, Nils Newman, Linda Newton, William Nicely, Armida North Perkins, Debra Nowall, Robert Nowlan, Jan Nunez-Lopez, Angel Nurse, Devorah Oler, Danette Oliver, Peggy O'Neal, Coyle O'Neill, Deborah Osman, Margaret O'Toole, Patricia O'Toole, Suzi Overhultz, James Pajares, Patricia Parker, Carolina Parker, Michael Paschal Murray, Carla Pavichevich, Bronko Payne, William Pendarvis, Patricia Petrick, Linda Petrie, Robert Petrillo Jr., George Philipovich, Connie Pigott, Pamela Pique, Cynthia Pique-D'Auria, Priscilla Pitasi, Felicia Pointer, Gregory Popkey Spice, Donna Prawl, Angela Pritchard, Charles Quigley, Andrew Quigley, Steven Quinones, Frank Quintana, Manuel Rakocinski, Charles Ratliff, Candace Ravellette, Chrystell Raybourn, Angela Redavid, Mathew Reilly, Sandra Rice, Wayne Rickman, Gary Rickman, Lori Rico, Jamie Ringsmuth, Jean Rivers, James Robertson O'Neill, Jamie Robertson, Judy Rock, David Rock, Karen Roe-Elliott, Tina Rolland, Peggy Rucker, Charles Rydecki, Diane Sacco, Lucille Salters, Dewitt Sandt Stevens, Rosemary Sandt, Timothy Sass, John Sasso, Doreen Sasso, Dominick Scott, Wardell Wiser Scott, Melanie Scurry Wilson, Debora 7 Sears, Al Shelor, Diane Sheppard, Michael Sherman, Angela Shorter, Melanie Shultes, Candace Siemers, Jessica Siggs, Brenda Simmons-Moore Nash, Amethyst Skaff, Wendy Skeen, David Skeen, Laura Skinner Brillhart, Helen Slattery, David Smith, David Smith, George Smith, Warren Snell, Warren Snyder, Mary Sparks, Tracy Spicer, Clyde St Cyr, Arthur Staeb, Richard Stafford, John Stella, Nicholas Stella, Vicky Stoner, Robert Strunk, Jeremiah Strunk-Fuller, Diana Stuckert, Pamela Summa, Duane Swindler, Barbara Terrell, Brenda Theriault, Jeffrey Thomas, David Thomas, Marilynn Thompson, Deborah Thompson, Diana Thompson, Gary Thompson, Michael Tidmore, Steven Traylor, Laura Tripp, Kathleen Ujlaky - Kriz, Elizabeth Urbina, Joeseph Valentine, Robert Vanduzer, Richard VanHall, Timothy Vivona, Annette Vogal, Paul Vozzella, Karen Walcott, Samantha Wallace, David Walthall, William Warecke, Patricia Weaver, James Weaver, Kimberly Welch, Michael Wells, Terry White, Jean White, Lisa Wiatr, Kamil Wilder, Marty Wilkinson, Maureen Williams, Daniel Williamson, Daniel Wilson Maines, Cheryl Wilt, Walter Winn, Mark Wiser, Scott Withstandley-Loyola, Dawn Wojtecki, Marion Wolff, Sherri Wood, Julian Wood, Joseph Wood, Sam Woodbury, Ellen Wooten, Darrell Yacca, Kenneth Yeomans, Marvin Yost Jr, Isaac Younger II, Robert Zbieranowski, Mark Zengel, Erin Zengel, Nick Zeske, Judith Zorrilla, Digna THE EAGLE’S EYE 8 Your Elected Officials President Barack Obama Web Site: www.whitehouse.gov E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov Phone: 202-456-1414 Fax: 202-456-2461 Capital Address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, DC 20500 Senator Bill Nelson Web Site: www.billnelson.senate.gov E-mail: senator@billnelson.senate.gov Phone: 202-224-5274 Fax: 202-228-2183 Capital Address: 716 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-0905 District Office: Tallahassee, FL District Phone: 850-942-8415 Senator Marco Rubio Phone: 202-224-3041 Fax: 202-228-5171 Capital Address: 524 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-0903 District Office: Tallahassee, FL District Phone: 813-207-0509 Our members live in several different districts. For your representative’s information, go to www.congress.org. Enter your zip code and the web site does the rest. You can e-mail most of your representatives at once with a click of your mouse at this web site. Their voting records are also available here. Check it out! Let them know how you feel, it’s your DUTY! Southwest Florida Area Local Membership News We wish to extend our welcome to all new employees coming on board at the United States Postal Service by inviting you to our next SWFAL APWU meeting at the Union Hall located at 11000 Metro Parkway, Unit 8, in Fort Myers. Meetings are held once a month on Sunday at 9:30am. Stand strong and be united, protect your job and discover the many benefits of becoming a member of the SWFAL APWU. Join us at our next local meeting united we can make a positive difference in our workplaces. We look forward to seeing you there! For those of you that have recently retired who wish to continue receiving The Eagle’s Eye newspaper, please email the Editor at Edswfal@aol.com or call Karen at our SWFAL APWU office at 239-275-1007. We encourage members to email information to the editor regarding marriages, graduations, special events or achievements of our employees, or their families. Please email information to The Eagle’s Eye at Edswfal@aol.com. We will be pleased to include as many member announcements as possible. Accessing Your TSP Account Safely I was at the 2016 state APWU convention and spring seminar in Ft Lauderdale in April. A lot of great info was talked about and great Brad Pate q u e s t i o n s Federal Retirement And Benefit were asked. Seminars One question that I received from the president of a local made me think. Question: Is there a mobile app for the TSP? THE EAGLE’S EYE I did not know if there was a mobile app or not out there on the internet, so I started my search. Here is what I found out and it’s funny, you don’t think about things like this till someone asks you a question that makes you “look outside the box”. So I did my search, typed in all the right key words, yes I know, TSP apps is not hard to search, even for me. I found, not a lot of apps, but I did find some. Some looked legit, and they may be BUT, read what the TSP says (and I have to agree with them). EDITORIAL POLICY Here is the statement from TSP: The Eagle’s Eye is the official publication of the Southwest Florida Area Local, APWU, AFL-CIO. The editor has the right to determine whether the material submitted shall be printed, and has the right to edit as needed. It is the policy of this newsletter to disallow any attacks on individuals. Opinions expressed are those of the writers, and not necessarily those of the Executive Board. The deadline for submission of all articles is the day of the monthly membership meeting. You must be an APWU member to submit an article. Name may be withheld upon request. All articles may be reprinted with proper credit given. Captions/cartoons may only be reprinted upon written permission of the editor. MAY 2016 Learn to Identify Bogus Smartphone Apps There are a number of mobile applications that reference the Thrift Savings Plan and may prompt you for your TSP account credentials. These applications are NOT sponsored by the TSP. The TSP cannot endorse any information or advice provided by third-party applications. More important, providing your TSP account credentials to third-party applications may jeopardize the security of your account. I am glad the local president asked me this, some of these web sites look official and NO I am not going to give any of these sites any “free ads” or point members in the wrong direction. Here are some other statements from the TSP: How the TSP Contacts You The TSP will never contact you by email, telephone, or mail and ask you to provide sensitive personal information. Communication by Mail The TSP contacts participants primarily by mail. The mail is sent from Birmingham, Alabama. Any letter that you receive from us will have your account number printed on it. This number is the TSP's means of identifying you. If we did not have this number, we could not contact you, by mail or otherwise. So if you receive any kind of communication asking you to "verify your account number," you can be sure that it is not legitimately from the TSP. Your Web password and PIN are your business, and no one at the Thrift Savings Plan will ever need to know those numbers for any reason. Note: If you send a letter to the TSP or call the ThriftLine, you will need to provide your account number to identify yourself. If you write a letter to the TSP, you may also use your Social Security number to identify yourself if you have lost your account number. These instructions are included in all letters from the TSP. Communication by Email The TSP will email you only to confirm an account transaction performed on the Web, and only if you provided your email address during your transaction. Communication by Telephone A TSP Participant Service Representative or an official from the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board may call you on the telephone, but only in response to communication that you have initiated by submitting a form, or by calling or writing the TSP. Learn to Detect Fraud Criminals will attempt to confuse you and convince you to share sensitive personal information or visit malicious websites. They may: • Threaten a negative action or outcome ("Your account will be closed if you don't..."); • Offer you a positive action or outcome ("Your account is eligible for a bailout..."); or • Create a sense of scarcity ("The first 100 to respond..."). Typically, these types of illegitimate communications also provide you a "convenient" way to perform the requested action. For example, an email threatening to liquidate your account might contain a link to what looks like the TSP website or give you a phone number to call. The criminal relies on your desire for simplicity to get you to click on the link or call the provided phone number, rather than look it up. Don't do it. Learn to Identify Bogus Websites Unfortunately, it is very easy for a criminal to create a website that closely mimics a target site, such as the TSP website. If you have followed a link to what you think is the TSP website, stay vigilant and practice these verification techniques before you submit sensitive information about your TSP account. Hope this helps.