I urge my fellow Union Members to read this article, research what is at stake and take action.
Unions Angered by Postal Service's Staples Outlets
WASHINGTON January 19, 2014 (AP)
By SAM HANANEL Associated Press
The
opening of Postal Service retail centers in dozens of Staples stores
around the country is being met with threats of protests and boycotts
by the agency's unions.
The new outlets are staffed by Staples
employees, not postal workers, and labor officials say that move
replaces well-paying union jobs with low-wage, nonunion workers.
"It's
a direct assault on our jobs and on public postal services," said Mark
Dimondstein, president of the 200,000-member American Postal Workers
Union.
The dispute comes as the financially struggling Postal
Service continues to form partnerships with private companies, and
looks to cut costs and boost revenues. The deal with Staples began as a
pilot program in November at 84 stores in California, Georgia,
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania as a way make it easier for customers to
buy stamps, send packages or use Priority and certified mail.
Postmaster
General Patrick Donahoe said the program has nothing to do with
privatization and everything to do with customer service and driving up
demand for the agency's products.
"The privatization discussion is a
ruse," Donahoe said in an interview. "We have no interest in
privatizing the Postal Service. We are looking to grow our business to
provide customer convenience to postal products."
Staples
spokeswoman Carrie McElwee referred questions about union concerns to
the Postal Service. She said the company "continually tests new
products and services to better meet the needs of our customers."
Union
leaders fear that if the Staples program is successful, the Postal
Service will want to expand it to more than 1,500 of the company's
other stores. That could siphon work and customers away from nearby
brick-and-mortar post offices, taking jobs from postal workers and even
leading traditional post offices to close.
Union leaders have been
visiting Staples stores to meet with managers, asking them to share the
union's displeasure with upper management.
Dimondstein asked to meet with the Staples CEO Ronald Sargent, who has declined.
The
union plans to hold "sustained" protests this month at Staples stores
in the San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., area that would be expanded
elsewhere. Union officials also are considering how they can exert
pressure on Staples shareholders.
"If Staples insists on continuing
to refuse to staff those stores with postal workers, we're going to
urge people to take their business elsewhere," Dimondstein said.
The
union says it's not asking to shut down the program. It wants the
counters to be run by postal employees, not workers hired by Staples.
The average postal clerk earns about $25 an hour, according to the
union, plus a generous package of health and retirement benefits. The
Staples post office counters are run by nonunion workers often making
little more than the minimum wage.
The Postal Service increasingly
has looked to work with the private sector to help increase business.
In November, it announced a lucrative deal with Amazon to begin package
delivery on Sunday.
The agency has struggled for years with
declining mail volume, but the lion's share of its financial plight
stems from a 2006 congressional requirement that it make annual $5.6
billion payments to cover expected health care costs for future
retirees. It has defaulted on three of those payments. The Postal
Service lost $5 billion over the past year, though operating revenue
rose 1.2 percent.
So far, the Postal Service has rebuffed the union's demands.
As
far as who will staff the counters, "that's Staples' business. They
make their own business decisions and it has nothing to do with us,"
Donahoe said.
Donahoe said he'd like to see post office counters in
every Staples store "as soon as possible." But he doesn't see them as
replacing any of the 33,000 traditional post offices. He said he sees
the program as an opportunity "to grow the business."
James
O'Rourke, a professor of management at the University of Notre Dame,
said the Postal Service is simply following the trend of other
businesses such as banks and medical clinics opening in grocery and
drug stores to get more customers and save overhead costs.
"You
can't blame the union for looking suspiciously at this move, but from
the perspective of postal management and postal customers, this is all
good," O'Rourke said.
Donahoe acknowledged that it could save money
in employee costs, but insisted that is not the agency's motivating
force. Since 2008, the Postal Service has reduced its employees by more
than 200,000, mainly through attrition.
"Keeping our expenses down is no different than what any other business would do," he said.
Back
in 1988, the Postal Service tried a similar plan to put retail units in
Sears stores in Chicago and Madison, Wis. APWU members picketed Sears
headquarters in Chicago, mailed thousands of letters of protest to then
Sears Chairman Ed Brennan and even cut up their Sears credit cards.
The
pressure worked and a year later the program ended, with Sears saying
it did not want to be at the center of a dispute between the Postal
Service and the union. But the APWU's membership now is almost half of
what it was 25 years ago, and unions don't carry the same clout they
once did.
Dimondstein, who took the helm of his union in November
and pledges a more activist approach, insists his members will bring
considerable pressure on Staples.
"I think we have a lot of clout," he said. "We're in every hamlet, town, city and state in the country."
Here is a list of places that are said to be Staples pilot stores:
|
Note:
The USPS has not responded to the APWU's request for a list of
pilot locations for placing postal retail units in Staples stores.
However, the Postal Service provided the Going
Postal
blog with the list below of more than 80 pilot locations and their
opening dates in California, Georgia, Massachusetts, and
Pennsylvania. The list [PDF
|
XLS]
was posted Nov. 17, 2013.
|
|
City
|
State
|
Opening
|
Address
|
ZIP
Code
|
Store
No.
|
|
Antioch
|
CA
|
28-Oct-13
|
4863
Lone Tree Way
|
94531-8553
|
1321
|
|
Berkeley
|
CA
|
5-Nov-13
|
2352
Shattuck Ave.
|
94704-5207
|
1458
|
|
Campbell
|
CA
|
8-Nov-13
|
500
East Hamilton Ave.
|
95008-0210
|
375
|
|
Concord
|
CA
|
31-Oct-13
|
4498
Treat Blvd.
|
94521-2704
|
1365
|
|
Cupertino
|
CA
|
7-Nov-13
|
20830
Stevens Creek Blvd.
|
95014-2121
|
1478
|
|
El
Cerrito
|
CA
|
6-Nov-13
|
11545
San Pablo Ave.
|
94530-1951
|
474
|
|
Escondido
|
CA
|
7-Nov-13
|
1358
West Valley Parkway
|
92029-3129
|
276
|
|
Fairfield
|
CA
|
12-Nov-13
|
1250
Oliver Road
|
94534-3467
|
1452
|
|
Foster
City
|
CA
|
12-Nov-13
|
2230
Bridgepoint Parkway
|
94404-1569
|
875
|
|
Fremont
|
CA
|
5-Nov-13
|
43484
Boscell Rd.
|
94538-5131
|
655
|
|
Fremont
|
CA
|
6-Nov-13
|
39116
Fremont Hub
|
94538-1328
|
1299
|
|
Gilroy
|
CA
|
29-Oct-13
|
8840
San Ysidro Ave.
|
95020-3682
|
771
|
|
Hollister
|
CA
|
28-Oct-13
|
1725
Airline Highway
|
95023-5612
|
1033
|
|
Menlo
Park
|
CA
|
11-Nov-13
|
700
El Camino Real Ste. 120
|
94025-4884
|
1379
|
|
Milpitas
|
CA
|
4-Nov-13
|
627
East Calaveras Blvd.
|
95035-7705
|
358
|
|
Morgan
Hill
|
CA
|
30-Oct-13
|
1023
Cochrane Rd
|
95037-9305
|
1428
|
|
Napa
|
CA
|
13-Nov-13
|
3325
Jefferson Street
|
94558-3437
|
422
|
|
Novato
|
CA
|
11-Nov-13
|
55
Rowland Way
|
94945-5001
|
944
|
|
Pinole
|
CA
|
7-Nov-13
|
1230
Fitzgerald Drive
|
94564-2252
|
652
|
|
Pittsburg
|
CA
|
1-Nov-13
|
2000
North Park Blvd.
|
94565-4122
|
420
|
|
Pleasant
Hill
|
CA
|
30-Oct-13
|
2120
Contra Costa Blvd.
|
94523-3742
|
443
|
|
S.
San Francisco
|
CA
|
13-Nov-13
|
470
Noor Ave.
|
94080-5957
|
488
|
|
San
Francisco
|
CA
|
14-Nov-13
|
1700
Van Ness Ave.
|
94109-3621
|
818
|
|
San
Jose
|
CA
|
31-Oct-13
|
760
Newhall Drive
|
95110-
1106
|
719
|
|
San
Jose
|
CA
|
1-Nov-13
|
121
Bernal Road
|
95119-1396
|
1327
|
|
San
Leandro
|
CA
|
4-Nov-13
|
15555
East 14th St Ste. 200
|
94578-1975
|
1394
|
|
San
Rafael
|
CA
|
8-Nov-13
|
655
Irwin Street
|
94901-3943
|
492
|
|
San
Ramon
|
CA
|
29-Oct-13
|
2710
Crow Canyon Road
|
94583-1606
|
593
|
|
Sonoma
|
CA
|
14-Nov-13
|
977
West Napa Street
|
95476-6422
|
1488
|
|
Temecula
|
CA
|
5-Nov-13
|
32120
Hwy 79 South
|
92592-6801
|
1346
|
|
Ukiah
|
CA
|
15-Nov-13
|
1225
Airport Park Blvd.
|
95482-7400
|
800
|
|
Vista
|
CA
|
6-Nov-13
|
235
Vista Village Drive
|
92083-4998
|
1334
|
|
Acworth
|
GA
|
25-Oct-13
|
3344
Cobb Parkway
|
30101-8344
|
1270
|
|
Alpharetta
|
GA
|
31-Oct-13
|
945
North Point Drive
|
30022-8266
|
560
|
|
Atlanta
|
GA
|
8-Nov-13
|
5560
Roswell Rd
|
30342-1861
|
1839
|
|
Atlanta
|
GA
|
12-Nov-13
|
3535
Peachtree Road NE Ste. 103
|
30326-1276
|
1003
|
|
Atlanta
|
GA
|
15-Nov-13
|
650
Ponce De Leon Ave.
|
30308-1804
|
1005
|
|
Bethlehem
|
GA
|
22-Oct-13
|
916
Loganville Highway
|
30620-2144
|
1894
|
|
Buford
|
GA
|
6-Nov-13
|
3205
Woodward Crossing Blvd. Ste. F
|
30519-4944
|
562
|
|
Canton
|
GA
|
1-Nov-13
|
108
Riverstone Parkway
|
30114-2448
|
796
|
|
Carrollton
|
GA
|
6-Nov-13
|
1325
South Park Street
|
30117-4433
|
539
|
|
Cartersville
|
GA
|
24-Oct-13
|
155
Cherokee Place
|
30121-2966
|
513
|
|
Conyers
|
GA
|
30-Oct-13
|
1550
Dogwood Drive
|
30013-5041
|
1022
|
|
Cumming
|
GA
|
5-Nov-13
|
2355
Market Place Blvd
|
30041-7933
|
1808
|
|
Duluth
|
GA
|
14-Nov-13
|
2255
Pleasant Hill Road
|
30096-2325
|
568
|
|
East
Point
|
GA
|
13-Nov-13
|
3675
Marketplace Blvd.
|
30344-5730
|
1113
|
|
Fayetteville
|
GA
|
8-Nov-13
|
105
Banks Station
|
30214-7503
|
1649
|
|
Hiram
|
GA
|
7-Nov-13
|
4471
Jimmy Lee Smith Pkwy. Ste. I
|
30141-2727
|
1786
|
|
LaGrange
|
GA
|
5-Nov-13
|
240
New Franklin Road
|
30240-2344
|
1016
|
|
Lithonia
|
GA
|
29-Oct-13
|
8170
Mall Parkway
|
30038-2545
|
1267
|
|
McDonough
|
GA
|
31-Oct-13
|
1772
Jonesboro Road
|
30253-5900
|
1284
|
|
Milton
|
GA
|
30-Oct-13
|
13071
Highway 9 North
|
30004-5137
|
1838
|
|
Morrow
|
GA
|
1-Nov-13
|
1865
Mount Zion Road
|
30260-4179
|
1110
|
|
Peachtree
City
|
GA
|
7-Nov-13
|
225
Market Place Connector
|
30269-3542
|
1035
|
|
Rome
|
GA
|
22-Oct-13
|
212
Shorter Ave.
|
30165-4288
|
1123
|
|
Roswell
|
GA
|
28-Oct-13
|
1125
Woodstock Road
|
30075-8220
|
1028
|
|
Snellville
|
GA
|
25-Oct-13
|
2059
Scenic Highway
|
30078-6142
|
557
|
|
Suwanee
|
GA
|
23-Oct-13
|
3630
Peachtree Parkway
|
30024-6049
|
1162
|
|
Tucker
|
GA
|
28-Oct-13
|
4351
Hugh Howell Road
|
30084-4706
|
1910
|
|
W.
Marietta
|
GA
|
4-Nov-13
|
2535B
Dallas Highway
|
30064-2662
|
575
|
|
Auburn
|
MA
|
12-Nov-13
|
436
Southbridge Street
|
01501-2442
|
294
|
|
Gardner
|
MA
|
13-Nov-13
|
60
Pearson Blvd.
|
01440-3910
|
1277
|
|
Shrewsbury
|
MA
|
17-Oct-13
|
571
Boston Turnpike
|
01545-5977
|
59
|
|
Sturbridge
|
MA
|
11-Nov-13
|
120
Charlton Road
|
01566-1564
|
1193
|
|
Westborough
|
MA
|
14-Nov-13
|
18
Lyman Street
|
01581-1459
|
1216
|
|
Worcester
|
MA
|
15-Nov-13
|
541B
Lincoln Street
|
01605-1905
|
1218
|
|
Belle
Vernon
|
PA
|
24-Oct-13
|
796
Tri County Plaza
|
15012-1992
|
533
|
|
Butler
|
PA
|
11-Nov-13
|
110
Moraine Pointe Plaza
|
16001-2411
|
680
|
|
Cranberry
|
PA
|
15-Nov-13
|
6910
US 322
|
16319-3108
|
1198
|
|
Cranberry
Township
|
PA
|
8-Nov-13
|
1675
Route 228
|
16066-5307
|
1021
|
|
Greensburg
|
PA
|
25-Oct-13
|
6207
Route 30 Ste. 1027
|
15601-6444
|
389
|
|
Indiana
|
PA
|
28-Oct-13
|
3100
Oakland Ave.
|
15701-3240
|
428
|
|
Monaca
|
PA
|
7-Nov-13
|
3938
Brodhead Road
|
15061-3028
|
790
|
|
New
Castle
|
PA
|
13-Nov-13
|
2551
W State Street
|
16101-1036
|
693
|
|
New
Kensington
|
PA
|
29-Oct-13
|
100
Tarentum Bridge Road
|
15068-4670
|
614
|
|
Pittsburgh
|
PA
|
30-Oct-13
|
4801
McKnight Road
|
15237-3423
|
570
|
|
Pittsburgh
|
PA
|
31-Oct-13
|
2515
Banksville Road
|
15216-2809
|
1007
|
|
Pittsburgh
|
PA
|
1-Nov-13
|
6375
Penn Ave. Ste. B
|
15206-4051
|
1799
|
|
Pittsburgh
|
PA
|
5-Nov-13
|
6521
Steubenville Pike
|
15205-1005
|
711
|
|
Pittsburgh
|
PA
|
6-Nov-13
|
999
Freeport Road
|
15238-3123
|
1597
|
|
Uniontown
|
PA
|
23-Oct-13
|
3
Work Parkway
|
15401-8993
|
705
|
|
Washington
|
PA
|
21-Oct-13
|
301
Oak Spring Road
|
15301-2966
|
929
|
Uniontown, PA. located at 3 Work Parkway, how ironic is that!?!?!?!
WE WANT, the Customers and we deserve these jobs!
Cassie Williams
Assistant Director of the Clerk Craft______________________________________________
Clerk Craft
__________________________
Question: Can
I work Overtime in a NTFT Assignment?
Answer: Yes you can BUT
ONLY on the days you work 8 or more hours.
The only time you can work on overtime on a less than 8 hour day is
for an emergency, heavy mail volume is not considered an emergency.
__________________________
Unassigned Regular in
NTFT Positions
Employees whose 10 hours a day 4 days a week jobs
were abolished and reposted became unencumbered/unassigned after the
bids were awarded. They must be given an 8 hours a day 5 days a week
assignment within 28 days of becoming unassigned. There are no provisions
in the CBA for a NTFT assignment for unencumbered/unassigned employees.
__________________________
ATTENTION PSEs
Health Insurance Information is Available
-- Read More --
____________________________
ATTENTION EXCESSED CELRKS...
The past few weeks there have been several employees excessed from Sales
and Distribution positions. The Union is filing grievances to get your
jobs back but this may be a lengthy process and there are no guarantees
that we will win. Therefore I would recommend to all of you to bid on
any job that you are interested in, bidding on a job will not affect your
grievance and will not cause you to lose your retreat rights. So bid
and get a job that you want, otherwise as an unencumbered employee you
could be assigned to any position that has no successful bidder.
__________________________________
"NEVER GO TO THE
POST OFFICE AGAIN!!!!"
Turn on your radio or TV, see the ads and postcards that go into OUR
own mailboxes and this is what you hear and read.
Customers are urged to use the web site, offering discounts and carrier
pickups. This new 'lobby assistant' (which management cannot implement
because they do not have the staff) pushes the customers to use the APC. Management
themselves have been performing lobby sweeps and walking the customers
to the APC to teach them how to use it. THIS is a violation! That is
our work.
For those that do not understand what this means - MANAGEMENT is trying
to reduce and eliminate customer service. Six jobs in the city have
already been abolished/excessed. Management has taken it upon themselves
to perform bargaining unit work (YOUR clerk work) and a lot of you have
turned your head to it. It is long overdue but now is the TIME for YOU
to take action and FIGHT for your job. We cannot file a grievance and
build a good case in defense of all of OUR jobs if the violation is
not brought to our attention. I have personally gone into a few of the
postal stations that I represent and I am appalled at how much our members
are allowing management to do OUR job. The worst part of it is finding
out this has been going on..
We urge YOU - our valued Union members to alert your Union steward each
and everytime you see management doing OUR jobs. Document what you see
them doing, note the time and about how long they performed OUR job.
Call your union steward or visit your new- and- improved local's website
apwunashville.org. for contact info. We have to stand up for our jobs,
we must fight and not turn a blind eye to violations. OUR future and
the spectacular customer service WE provide DEPENDS ON US!
UNITED WE STAND - DIVIDED WE ARE WEAKENED.
Cassie Williams - Assistant Director of the Clerk Craft.
______________
Get ready STATIONS!
Management is going to start it again very soon - excessing and abolishing.
The only way to save our jobs and our co-worker's job is to take charge!
Unfortunately, crossing crafts happens all the time in our stations.
We need to document and the union be made aware EACH and EVERY TIME
another craft or management does our job. We have been very successful
in the past winning crossing craft cases and getting affected employees
monetary settlements. But the biggest part of the picture is proving
that our work is indeed there - and it is! Especially with help from
the 'Lobby assistant' and the 'Lead Sales Associate' jobs we have two
new incredibly important tools to prove that we need everyone we have
in the stations if not MORE. We encourage everyone to read these
new job descriptions and understand the importance of its entitlement
to our NEW work. If you are not sure what is our work and what is not,
here are two important things to remember: If management is doing something
besides scheduling and issuing discipline then IT'S OUR WORK! Some examples
are issuing/clearing accountables to carriers, 3M mail logging, moving
mail or equipment around, dispatching mail, scanning (ANYTHING!) , counting
mail and logging it , lobby sweeping and helping customers with the
APC(other than complaints), changing locks on CBUs or post office boxes,
transporting any mail, and many others. Most managers and supervisors
will tell you that they are instructed to do these things by their manager
and honestly that may be true, but it is not for us to educate them on
the mutally agreed to contract that our bosses signed. We just have
the job of 'policing' it and ensuring that it is abided by.
Many of us have recieved APCs , either new ones altogether or an additional
one. Management isn't putting these out there because they want to spend
the money - they put them there to invest in our demise. It is up to
us to save our own jobs - so please alert us of any violation. United
we stand, divided we are weakened.
Thanks!
Cassie Williams Asst. D.C.C (A)
__________________________
Union Resolves Uniform Issue For Non-Traditional Assignments
APWU Web News Article 70-2012, June 5, 2012
The APWU resolved a nagging problem on May 24, when the USPS issued
instructions to managers in the field notifying them that they must
re-establish uniform allowances for eligible Clerk Craft and Motor Vehicle
Craft employees who hold Non-Traditional Full-Time assignments (NTFT).
The problem arose when the USPS accounting system deleted employees
from uniform allowance program after they were promoted to full-time
on Aug. 27, 2011, and placed in NTFT assignments.
To reactivate employees’ uniform allowance, their supervisors
or postmasters must complete a Uniform Program Worksheet. The union
encourages representatives at the local level to make sure the proper
paperwork has been initiated. Unspent prior-year allowances for the
converted NTFT also will be issued.
__________________________
APWU Web News Article 51-2012, May 4, 2012
The APWU and USPS agreed to job descriptions for new Lead Clerk positions
on May 4, and agreed to the process for posting and bidding the new
positions. The new positions were negotiated as part of the 2010-2015
Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The process for establishing the new positions is outlined in a series
of Questions and Answers available on the link below.
Lead Clerk positions will be established as follows:
Lead Sales & Service Associate
Lead Mail Processing Clerk
Lead Customer Service Clerk
They will earn one level higher than others in their group.
To be awarded a Lead Customer Service Clerk or Lead Mail Processing
Clerk position, employees must have a minimum of one year’s experience
in the functional area. Lead Sales & Service Associates must have
a minimum of one year’s experience working on the window.
Lead Clerks can perform all of the tasks of a supervisor except issue
discipline and grant leave. They may work alone or as a working leader,
with or without supervision, and will have the latitude to determine
when a supervisor should be involved in their activities.
Lead Clerk positions will be posted as senior-qualified duty assignments.
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