General Membership Meeting Minutes

Meeting was called to order at 7:02 PM at 918 Benjamin NE, Grand Rapids.
Meeting was opened with the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance and Invocation.

Roll Call of Officers:

Present: Jennifer Amos, President
Amy Marcus, Executive Vice-President
Dan Quillin, Clerk Craft Director
Karen Hodges, Recording Secretary
James Myszka, Maintenance Craft Director
Linda Chandler, Treasurer
Scott Larabel, MVS Craft Director
Steve Karbutowski, Sgt-at- Arms
AO Director, To be announced

April General meeting minutes were accepted with the following corrections: Under the policy for the editor, change “as of” to “effective”

Application for Membership:

Jerry Holmes Fremont Clerk
Fred Quillin GR Retained (for dental)
Mp< Motion to accept both….Division 15-8 Carried.

Officer’s Reports:

Treasurer’s: Chandler: Read April report as amended by Hendricks MSC

Maintenance Craft Director: Myszka: Long time union member and union supporter Don Kramer retired May 2nd. Still a full dues paying member. Staffing packages for maintenance, downtown same, annex to get 2 more, P-2, four. No positions filled at the annex or P-2 until after the holiday. Eight vacancies for custodians check with personnel for the specifics. Pay grade is a 3. I don’t know the mechanics packages yet.

Clerk Craft Director: Quillin: Still working on getting PTF’s made regular. Everything is set to go. Having problems with management giving up the flexibility because these PTF’s are customer service. I have a step 2 settlement date 4/12 that shows that management doesn’t have a choice. Ronda Reister will talk to the postmaster again and try to convince her that she must do this. I ask the senior PTF’s to be patient a little longer. The SPBS will be around for another year. TE’s will be gone in six months. Management has stated that they want one crew on the SPBS probably from 2 or 3 in the afternoon until 10:30 or 11:30 at night. I plan to ask around and see if any T-3 SPBS Clerks who lost their jobs, want to go back for a year. The rest of the jobs will be filled with TE’s until November. At that time, I will ask that management fill the vacated TE positions with details unless it looks like the SPBS will be around longer. Currently management has TE’s that were hired for work on the SPBS, training to work on the FSM 1000. After giving this a lot of investigating. I’ve discovered that there is nothing we can do. They were not hired specifically for the SPBS. They were hired as Clerk TE’s in general and can be placed in just about any clerk job. I attended my first job summit this week. Management seemed to be very cooperative with the union in making corrections and additions or subtractions to some jobs. I would like to recognize Amy who made a negotiation with T-1 management to get some jobs posted on T-1 automation with consecutive days off. We will try to keep this trend going. We are having our State Education Conference next month. I am looking forward to talking with some other Clerk Craft Directors from around the state to get some pointers and ideas of how they direct their local clerk craft. I have been in contact with a couple by phone fairly regular and now I can get a chance to put a face with the voice. Warm weather is here again. To a union steward, this usually means lots of discipline to grieve, ranging from attendance to short shorts. Obviously, stewards will be busy so please be patient with them.

MVS Craft Director: Larabel: Still getting the same grievances, management will pay rather than stop transporting mail with non MVS personnel. Contract drivers have been doing trips that MVS drivers have done. Members have been contacting me about this.

Legislative Report: Hodges: The APWU Supports changes to the Social Security system that would strengthen the retirement safety net for American citizens. We oppose any privatization scheme that would replace guaranteed benefits with uncertain private accounts, reduce workers’ benefits, or burden our children with trillions of dollars in debt. We believe our seniors, the disabled, and the young are entitled to a Social Security system that is unaffected by the profit motives of Wall Street and the investment cycles of the securities market. I also had received an email from Congressman Vernon Ehlers, in regards to the email of the concerns I have with proposed changes to Labor Unions. Our federal labor laws are intended to preserve the balance of rights between employers, employees and labor organizations. One law, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), established procedures for joining unions and holding union elections. Another law, the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), requires union leaders to disclose information to union members about their rights. Some have suggested that the laws should be revised to allow workers to more freely form or join a union. On the other hand, others have suggested that the laws should be amended to alleviate pressure on employers and to make union leaders more accountable to their union members. Congress is considering several proposals to change these laws. The Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 1696) would amend the NLRA to allow employees to join a labor union by signing a petition rather than by secret ballot. The Truth in Employment Act (H.R. 1816) would preserve the rights of workers to organize, but not require employers to hire workers who work on behalf of the union. Other proposals, such as the Labor Management Accountability Act (H.R. 1075), would hold union leaders accountable for disclosing financial information and informing their members of their rights.

Presidents: Amos: Don Kramer retired May 2nd, we all wish him well, Don is a true patriot with a heart.

Thank you for sending me to the Presidents Conference, President Burrus talked to the group via video relay. He said he wouldn’t sign a contract extension unless it was in the best interest of the union. He said that he thought there was a rule that contracts can’t go over five years, but he was wrong they can.

He said that the APWU health plan didn’t generate the interest he anticipated. He spent a lot of money sending representatives to all regions to advertise. He didn’t see any return on that money. He is going to lease the Health Plan building to make money. The health plan would then move to another building with less cost to the union. Burrus wants to purchase property to use as investments.

There is a major arbitration coming up dealing With PMRs (Postmaster reliefs) National is looking for a good award to stop management from replacing PTF clerks with PMR’s. DAS award already stated you cannot move duties from bargaining to non-bargaining employees.

Burrus is also looking at moving the convention workshops to after the convention. This should be about an $180,000 savings. This would also keep attendees from leaving early Friday afternoon.

National is considering a school for those who would be aggressive organizers. Burrus encouraged locals to make up their own VOE surveys. We should ask questions that educated our members on the postal VOE surveys such as “Do you know what VOE is?” “Do you know what VOE does?”

(VOE is a way for management to circumvent the contract. The APWU is the sole representative of employees, not management.)

I attended a meeting and was shown a video about the Bio Hazard System that is attached to the 010 and can detect bio hazardous material in the mail. Management will get more information to the unions as it is available.

Don’t forget your website, wmal.org. This site is a useful tool, OWCP, FMLA forms; the local constitution, Life care and the ELM are a few of the tools you can access.

Congratulations to Steve Lang as the new AO Director appointed by the Executive Board

Committee Reports:

A&E: Stoddard: Golf Charity Outing is May 22nd. You have until May 12th to register. Hoping for 17 Foursomes- approximately 100 golfers. Donations are coming in pretty steady. Have some great prizes.

Want to thank Amy Marcus for all your help, and Don Kramer.

Building: Karbutowski: I had no input after the article was put in the paper in regards to the union purchasing a building.

Correspondence: None

Unfinished Business: Vote on the Merger of Sand Lake. Secret ballot Yes 25 No 2

Point of Information: Hendricks: Kent Ionia Labor Council now meets on the third Thursday of the Month. Also would like a copy of members who are retiring.

Board Recommendations:

To send Karen Hodges to the Educational Conference in Kalamazoo with registration, lodging, per diem, lost time, mileage and applicable taxes. Carried

To replace the computer at the P-1 union office at a cost up to $750. Carried

To pay 8 hours of LWOP for Steve Lang and Jim Myszka to establish our Search program for the PDF files at the Benjamin St Union office. Carried

New Business: Motion: Myszka Second: Austin; To solicit volunteers and appoint a parliamentarian at our meetings. Carried

Motion: Scutt Second: Myska ; Not to allow any EAS managers in the union building unless an executive board member is not allowed to enter the postal service to attend a meeting. Discussion. Division No 11 Yes 7 Denied

Point of Information: Hendricks Retires will have a session at the Educational Conference.

Motion: Gilbert; Second: Burke; To donate $500 to benefit MOPICS “Movie theatre accommodations for the hearing impaired & blind. Discussion Denied

Motion: Austin, Second: Karbutowski; To Prohibit management in the union building for pre-discipline and issuing discipline of employees, Article 16 grievance activity. Carried

Motion: Austin Second: Long; To pay 4 hours of lost wages he incurred for RI399 training in Detroit. (if the post office doesn’t pay him) Discussion Denied

Point of Information: Hendricks: Is Scott Achterhoft going to give classes on retirement. No he is just the Counselor.

Motion: Lang Second: Karbutowski; To make it a policy that any Executive Board member attending Postal Service Training out of state be excused from not missing the meeting. Carried

Labor Management:
OWCP get management trained.

Drawings:

COPA $29.50 Dan Quillin $29.50

VOE May Natalie Ziton $50.00

$10.00 Door prizes:

Jennifer Amos, Phil Marckini, Steve Lang, Steve Austin, Jim Myzska, Steve Karbutowski, Jackie Pike, and Sonja Bergers.

Meeting Adjourned at 8:47 PM.

Respectfully Submitted

Karen Hodges
Recording Secretary

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