Officers

In an effort to curb expenses, the USPS has announced a hiring freeze at the headquarters level. Click the link at the right for more information.

USPS Employees in the FERS System use more sick leave in their last year.

Because FERS employees have to "use it or lose it", they are showing a pattern of sick leave usage in the last year prior to retirement. For more information, click the link at the right.

On January 18, 2008, there was a meeting with Management and Union on the Michigan Metroplex P&DC. It was discussed at the meeting that the AMP (Area Mail Processing) Study has been put on hold indefinitely due to legislation introduced by Congress. At this point, the Royal Oak P&DC will be the only facility moving into the Michigan Metroplex P&DC. The Flint and Detroit P&DC operations and/or employees will not be coming into the Michigan Metroplex P&DC.

In the meeting, Senior Plant Manager Peter Edward stated that the SPBS machine will be moving to the new building. The reason that SPBS machine will be moving to the Michigan Metroplex P&DC is that it was planned that 80 DBCS would be installed in the new building. However, there will be only 64 or 65 DBCS in the building and that is why the SPBS machine will be going into the new building.

The dates that four (4) Royal Oak P&DC buildings will begin to move into the Michigan Metroplex P&DC are as follows:

All buildings will be moved into the Michigan Metroplex P&DC by September of 2008. The DBCS from Sterling Heights and Southfield Post Offices will be moved into the building by October of 2008.

Senior Plant Manager, Peter Edward would like to set-up a joint team, the Mail Flow Team of craft and management employees to address how the mail should move through the new building. Further information on this team will be posted by management at a later date.

Mary Misuraca Zerr

National Postal Mail Handlers Union

Royal Oak Branch President

The Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800), supported by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, would level the playing field for workers and employers and help rebuild America’s middle class. It would restore workers’ freedom to choose a union by:

• Establishing stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations.
• Providing mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes.
• Allowing employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.

For more information, please click the link at the right.

The Union has been notified that the Area Mail Processing plans for the Detroit and Flint facilities have been put on hold indefinitely. This is the direct result of a Senate appropriations measure that was passed recently that was sparked by studies in South Dakota. A recent Government Accountability Office report showed that USPS consolidation decisions are not based on consistent information, that site-specific data is not used and that the delivery impacts of consolidation are not measured. For more information on the Senate measure, click the link
at the right.

Local 307 will provide more specific information as it becomes available.

The United States Postal Service is defending it's plans to shift some of the processing of Detroit mail to the new Pontiac Facility. Click the link at the right to read the entire article.

The National Labor Relations Board ruled that the USPS was wrong when it told a steward that he could not speak during an employee's predisciplinary interview. Weingarten rights protect an employee during an interview. If the employee feels that he may be disciplined as the result of this interview, he has the right to request a steward.

For more information, click on the links at the right.

The current members of the NPMHU Local 307 Executive Board are:

Don Kister, Local President

Steve Patricelli, Vice President

Virgina Szuygi, Treasurer

Mary Misuraca Zerr, Recording Secretary

Jim Haggarty, State Executive Board Member

Two grievances filed in Grand Rapids resulted in Pre-Arbitration settlements that will protect the rights of Full Time Regulars during Holiday weekends.

Grievance #0711-94 was filed because non-listers were being forced to work seven days during holiday schedules. The Union took the position that management was using holidays as an excuse to force as many mail handlers to work as possible, including forcing non-list full time regulars to work seven days. The Union cited Article 8 of the National Agreement, which
states that excluding the month of December, non-listers will only be required to work seven days during emergencies. This grievance was filed at Step 1 and appealed to Step 2 by Roger Moore. After I appealed the case to Step 3, it was denied. President Kister made a pre-arbitration settlement the will prevent the mandating of non-listers.

Grievance 0611-1453 involves working junior mail handlers as 204B's during the Holiday schedule. This was filed when management worked these 204B's so that supervisors could take the
Holidays off, in turn forcing senior mail handlers to work so the junior employees could act as 204B's to cover for the supervisors. This grievance was filed at Step 1 and appealed to Step 2 by Jerry Pollard. I appealed the case to Step 3. President Kister's pre-arbitration settlement provides that junior mail handlers be scheduled to work holidays, which will force supervisors to work the holidays and allow more senior mail handlers to have time off.

Respectfully,

Steve Patricelli, Vice President

localuspsnewsbreak

March 21, 2008

eOPF NOW AVAILABLE on LiteBLUE

What is eOPF?The Official Personnel Folder, or OPF, documents the employment history of individuals employed by the federal government. An OPF is established and maintained for each Postal Service employee regardless of appointment type or duration. All USPS Official Personnel Folders for active Southeast MI Performance Cluster employees have been converted to electronic official personnel folders
(eOPFs).

Is my eOPF Secure?Yes! Your eOPF is encrypted over communication lines and stored in a secure enclave, which means it is safe and only visible on your computer and the workstations of authorized employees.

Who has access to my eOPF?Your eOPF can only be accessed by you (from LiteBlue with your Employee Identification Number and Personal Identity Number), and by Postal professionals in the course of their official duties with a need to know. For example, an HR professional may access your eOPF to process a transaction, like a bid or promotion or a benefit change.

What if I want to add something to my eOPF?If you want to add a document, for example, a DD214 to document recently-completed active duty military service or an official letter from the Veterans Administration supporting your claim for veterans' preference, make your request in writing, attach the document, and submit to your district personnel office at USPS 164 Indusco Ct Troy MI 48083-9431.

How can I get a copy of selected documents from my eOPF?You can open and print any or all the documents in your eOPF. Just click on
the document link to open the desired document and click the Print button.

Access your eOPF online 24 hours a day / 7 days a week via any NON-POSTAL Computer @ www.liteblue.usps.gov

Current Branch President and Chief Steward Listing

Detroit GWY and Branches - Shelton Hasan

Detroit BMC - Michael Mendez

Royal Oak and Branches - Mary Misuraca-Zerr

Grand Rapids - Jim Haggarty

Lansing - Dan Glinn

Detroit Priority Mail Center - Michelle Combs

Kalamazoo - Ellen Carpenter

Saginaw - Priscilla Willis

Flint - Michael Moye

Chief Stewards

Jackson - Brian Taylor

Traverse City - Jeff Vefling

Many of you have noticed that 204Bs are being sent back to their craft positions. The USPS has announced that they are reducing the total number of supervisory positions by 2400 nationwide. Click the link at the right for more information.

Click the link at the right for the entire story.