Maintenance Craft Director Idowu Balogun announced that the APWU and USPS have reached an agreement on the implementation of the new MS-1 / TL6 Handbook.  This dispute began in 2016 when the USPS modified the MS-1 / TL4 Handbook.  The Union disputed the changes and the parties have been negotiating ever since.  (note:  During the time the parties were negotiating the TL4 changes, the USPS released the TL5 version of the MS-1!)

The new MS-1 / TL6 will see the transferring of maintenance work in stations and braches from plant maintenace to Field Maintenance Operations (FMO).  The parties have agreed that staffing impacts will be achieved through attrition.  More details will be released next week during a APWU webinar for local union representatives.

You can read the Step 4 agreement HERE

A Labor / Management meeting was held at the Allentown DDC to discuss areas of concern at the office.  In attednance were LV Local President Andy Kubat, Clerk Director Chad Beer, Acting Postmaster Paul Vor, Manager Qiana Reid, and several other supervisors and managers.

The APWU's concerns included such subjects as: scheme training, use of radio headsets, sectional seniority rights, disparate treatment of employees, and the conduct of supervisors towards employees. 

The discussion was frank and, mostly, courteous although several issue remain unresolved.  We are preparing the official minutes for the meeting.  When they are available we can provide more in depth analysis of the meeting and what we can expect in the future.. 

The USPS announced, on Friday, August 02, 2019, that it was eliminating Bulk Mail Technician (BMT) and Bulk Mailing Requirements (BMR) Clerk jobs throught the Central PA District.  BMTs accept, process and dispatch bulk mailings from customers at their facility.  BMR clerks help customers establish new bulk mail accounts, manage their bulk mail accounts, and help them with any difficulties.

TheThe USPS plans to remove all BMR clerks from local offices and will direct customers to a toll-free helpline where someone will help them over the phone.  Many customers have already made their feelings known.  They do not want to deal with a faceless person over the phone.  They want to work with the person they know.  The person at their local BMEU.

At the LV P&DC, management intends to eliminate three BMT jobs and 1 BMR job.  This could lead to Unencumbered FTR clerks being excessed out of the BMEU.  It would also create retreat rights and closed bidding for the BMEU.  The Lehigh Valley Clerk LMOU defines Bulk Mail as a seperate section, by tour for the purposes of excessing.  So an impact on T-2 would only affect T-2 BMEU clerks and not mail processing.  The same applies to T-3.

The APWU believes this plan is a mistake.  The USPS will lose customers as they become frustrated by the lack of staffing, and mailing delays, at their local BMEU.  While they may not have a choice to go to UPS or FedEx, we certainly could lose some business if customers turn to private contractors to consolidate and prepared their mailing.  Some may even give up on mailing altogether and switch to digital publishing.'  too often it seems that USPS efforts to improve service or reduce costs only serve to chase customers away.

The Local is building an eMail Alert list which will be used in concert with our Twitter and Facebook pages to keep members informed of important happenings, meeting reminders, and calls to action.  This email list will not be used to flood your mailbox with messages.  It will be reserved for important announcements.  We will not share your email information with any other group or company.

To join the LVAL email alert list, send an email to eMailAlerts@lvapwu.org.  Include your name, office and email address.

ALLENTOWN OFFICE MOVING?

  The USPS has announced plans to "relocate" the Allentown Main Post Office.  The Office, currently located at 442 W. Hamilton St. has occupied this space since the construction of the building in 1933.  Although not recognized as a National Historical Site, the building is protected by the National Historic Preservation Act.

According to a press release, the USPS is proposing to relocate the post office to a new site "in the immediate area of the existing Post Office" though no specifics were given.

There will be an Allentown City Council meeting at 6pm on March 28th to discuss the proposal.  Following the meeting there will be a 30 day period for people to submit comments.

In accordance with the 2015-2018 Collective Bargaining Agreement, career employees represented by the APWU will receive a 25 cent per hour cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), effective March 3. 

The increase is the result of a rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W). It will appear in paychecks dated March 23, 2018 (Pay Period 06-2018), and will total $520.00 per year. The COLAs are in addition to general wage increases. This is the sixth cost-of-living increase under the 2015-2018 contract. The COLAs received so far during the 2015-2018 CBA will total $1,144 per year.

Postal Support Employees (PSEs) do not receive cost-of-living increases, but will receive a total of five general wage increases under the 2015-2018 contract. On Nov. 25, 2017, PSEs received a pay increase of 2.3 percent and will receive another 21-cent raise on May 26, 2018.

The Local is building an eMail Alert list which will be used in concert with our Twitter and Facebook pages to keep members informed of important happenings, meeting reminders, and calls to action.  This email list will not be used to flood your mailbox with messages.  It will be reserved for important announcements.  We will not share your email information with any other group or company.

To join the LVAL email alert list, send an email to eMailAlerts@lvapwu.org.  Include your name, office and email address.

The USPS has announced plans to conduct employee surveys to evaluate more than 50 different clerk craft duty assignments.  Management claims this is being done to improve efficiency and ensure job descriptions match the duties of the assignment.

The APWU does not believe this for a second.  The Unions and employees have been burned before by employee surveys and USPS promises not to use the results to impact jobs.  We explore this in a bulletin board posting.

The Lehigh Valley Area Local will be conducting a contest as part of our "Say 'No' to Surveys" campaign.  Anyone who brings their survey to the union office for "proper handling" will be entered into a drawing.  Drawings will be held several times throughout the year.  Associate Office clerks can send a email to surveys@lvapwu.org including your name, office and date you trashed your survey.

We'd like to see people get creative with their survey handling.  Send a photo / video to the email address above showing the appropriate filing of your survey and we will post them on our website / facebook page.  Have some fun, but keep it clean(!) and be safe. 

The tentative dates for the 2018 General Membership Meetings are as follows

Penalty overtime exclusion period...Health Plan deadlines...A/L Exchange... 

December is filled with important dates you don't want to miss.

Check out our Important Dates poster to make sure you don't miss a deadline!

We have added a digital copy of PS Form 3971 (Request for or Notification of Absence) to our website.  The PS 3971 is located on our FORMS page which can be accessed using the menu above. Or you can det a copy HERE