Branch 351, Serving The Letter Carriers of Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater and Shelton, WA since 1892

VOLUME 37, ISSUE 4 APRIL 2013

CLARK V. SAVIDGE

SENTINEL

President’s Report: April 2013 By Al Floyd

A lot of talk continues over the new National Contract. Talk about the new language concerning PTF’s and their abil-ity to become regular full-time carriers and TE’s and their ability to become career.

It took 14 months and a National Arbitrator, but a National contract has finally been signed. Our National officers put in long hours and worked extremely hard in protecting our jobs and our livelihoods and for that I am very appreciative.

National has always wanted to have a workforce of full-time career carriers and with this contract they have gotten ex-tremely close to that becoming realty. The new classification of carriers coming in, City Carrier Assistants (CCA), which takes the place of the Transitional Employee (TE), now have an opportunity to become a regular full-time em-ployee, with benefits. I know, those that are TE’s now will take a pay cut if and when they become CCA’s, and yes, they are having a hard time with that, but what needs to be understood is that they will move up in pay grades working less weeks than before; 46 weeks as compared to 96 weeks for two pay grades, then 47 weeks the next 7 pay grades, then 34, 26 and 24. Even though a CCA may come in making less than before, as they continue working, they will continue to make more money. Just do your job in a safe, efficient and professional manner, you will have the oppor-tunity to make a living, which is a good thing.

With what our National Officers did on behalf of all of us, it bothers me to still hear negative talk about the Union and especially from its members. Why is it so easy to talk negatively about the Union but so hard to say something to the non-members, even though they are literally getting everything for free. It takes a portion of our union dues to help pay for the resources that got us this contract and those non-members did not contribute one dime, but did reap the benefits. We need to continually stay in their ears about the importance of being “Unified”.

Another thing that is still bothering me is something that I heard a while back and at first wasn‘t going to say anything, but I think something needs to be said. How or why would a carrier go around the Main Office and ask other ODLers to get off the list because they are high on the list. How or why would a letter carrier go around the Main Office and say that the ones low on the ODL list aren’t hard workers. I call it, being a hypocrite, since some of those same peo-ple, use to be low on the list and crying about management not working them., about management giving the opportu-nities to their favorites. Who were the hard workers back then, when they were low on the list. Who were the “slugs” when they were low on the list. Tell me, what do you say of the ODLer who management is expecting them to work 2 hours of overtime, completes the assignment in 1 hour and then leaves without 1st checking

Con’t on page 5

PAGE 2 CLARK V. SAVIDGE SENTINEL

Minutes of Meeting: Thursday, March 7, 2013

The meeting was called to order at approximately 7:00 pm, at the Labor Temple, on 119 ½ Capital Way N. Olympia.

“Thirteen” members were in attendance. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by President Floyd.

Roll Call of Officers: All Branch Officers were present with the following exceptions:

John Mauk (Web Master) - Absent, Lisa Wooden (Trustee) - Absent

MBA, HBR, and Director of Retirees positions are vacant.

Minutes of the Previous Month: A motion was made to accept the February minutes as printed, seconded and carried.

MBMR Raffle: Vince was the March MBMR raffle winner. He chose a gift card for A Native New Yorker.

Applications for Membership: Trish Griffin

Communications: - Seattle Thunderbirds sent two complimentary tickets for the March 17th game against Portland. The tick-ets will be raffled off at the March meeting for COLCPE or MDA drawing. They also sent a schedule for next year if anyone wants to set up another game event. – Retiree Seminar will be put on March 17th at 1:00pm at the Labor Temple. –NALC web-site has a link to sign a petition to oust Donahoe. Also, there are links that give instructions on how to send a letter to your sena-tor to keep 6-day delivery.

Committees: -Food Drive (Ric Z): Meeting next Thursday with office coordinators, food bank, and Postmaster. Everything will go the same as last year, except the truck for the Westside will have a lift this year. The food bank will arrange that. Ric wants to start stepping back and have others take more responsibility. If anyone is interested, let Ric know. Bags and cards will go out again this year as has been done in the past. The bags make a huge difference and actually bring in twice the amount of food. Food drive t-shirts will be available again this year. – Picnic: August 25. All the paperwork has been done. The picnic will be at Columbus Park again. Still need someone to coordinate the picnic. Juli said she would do the games and buy the raffle items. – Retiree Party: Contract was signed for the 1st Saturday in December. John Mauk is heading this up. – Branch Outing: Vince will work on setting up a baseball game with the Rainiers or Mariners.

MBA: No Report. HBR: No Report.

Unfinished Business: None New Business: None

Good of the Association: State Wide Training (March) and the State Convention (May): All the rooms have been set up. Let Vince know if you aren’t going to go so that the rooms can be cancelled. The vacant slots for State Wide Training will be turned in. Also, any vacant slots for the State Convention will be turned in as soon as Al confirms who is going and not. – Congratula-tions to Dannie Smith for making through Basic Shop Steward College. Dannie has volunteered to be the Alternate Steward for the Main Office. – B Team Decision on Steward Time: Grievance came back in our favor. Management must stick to the provi-sions of the National Agreement when scheduling Steward time. Also the branch received a monetary settlement for unreasonably denying and delaying steward time. – CCAs: New CCAs will be starting soon. They should be encouraged to join the union. – Route Inspections: Lacey will be done in April. It will be a 6-day count, using the M-39. We have not heard when Olympia will be done yet. – Using POV on the Clock: You shouldn’t use your personal vehicle while on the clock. There are liability issues and you may not be covered by the USPS or your own personal insurance. If you have any questions, you should contact your personal insurance company and ask them if you will be covered

PAGE 3 SERVING THE LETTER CARRIERS

Treasurer’s Report: A motion was made to accept the report, seconded and carried.

50/50 COLCPE Drawing: $15.00 donated/Dean Petersen drawing winner.

MDA Drawing: $16.00 donated/Vince Corsi drawing winner.

Food for next month’s meeting: Surprise

Message from President: Please do your routes in a safe and professional manner every day.

Adjournment: A motion was made to adjourn, seconded and carried. The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:25 PM.

Submitted by Juli Greenhalge

Many Hands Make Light Work

By: Juli Greenhalge, Olympia Main

I know you have all heard the old adage, “Many hands make light work.” We all know what it means, espe-cially working for the Postal Service. Each of us has an important role to play in getting the mail delivered. It takes every one of us from the collection driver picking up the outgoing mail, to the processing clerk processing the mail, to the maintenance workers repairing machines and our vehicles, to the truck driver bringing it to the offices, and finally to the letter carrier delivering mail to each customer every day. I think we would all agree that it’s an important job and cannot be done by just one person. In return for doing our part, our employer pays us for our time. It’s ex-pected.

Volunteering works the same way, except instead of a monetary reward, you get a personal reward. This per-sonal reward extends beyond just the good feeling of helping out an organization in need. You get to learn more about your community, make some new friends, take on leadership roles, and be a part of positive change. The rewards are endless and many times volunteering can lead into other opportunities that enhance your life.

The annual NALC Stamp out Hunger Food Drive is a volunteering opportunity for all of us to be a part of. Of course, we get to be a part of the most important aspect by picking up the food on the actual food drive day, but there is so much more that goes into making this happen than a lot of us realize and it definitely cannot be done by one per-son.

For instance, Debbie Nicklaus coordinates the food drive efforts for the Westside and Rural routes. Ruth Mil-roy graciously takes on the responsibility of recruiting and coordinating volunteers from outside organizations to help on the day of the food drive, Steve Ambeau and his wife Schauntel enthusiastically volunteered last year and again to coordinate the Food Drive functions for Lacey and did an awesome job, and of course, Ric Zassenhaus has headed up the NALC Food Drive in Olympia for 6 years and working on it for 15 years. Next time you see one of these fabulous people, make sure to tell them, “Thank you”. Without them, our food drive wouldn’t be a success, which means some of the customers, many of them children and seniors, we deliver to every day would go hungry through the summer months. It’s that important.

Now that I’ve shared all the awesome reasons to volunteer, I know that you will want to give a little bit of your time to help out this great cause. Ric has expressed that he would like to step back from coordinating the food drive and let someone else step up and share in some of the responsibilities. Since it is a big job, I think any help he can get is appreciated. If you are interested in volunteering, even if it’s just a little, please let Ric know.

PAGE 4 CLARK V. SAVIDGE SENTINEL

Grievance Report

By: Juli Greenhalge, Olympia Main

Grievance Issue: Grievant Disposition

WA carrier working OT off assignment Individual Resolved at Informal

WA carrier scheduled early but not allowed to start Individual Resolved at Informal

Q4 2012 Equitability Class Resolved at Formal A

WA carrier not paid for out-of-schedule premium Individual Resolved at Informal

Management doing craft work Class Appealed to Formal A

Mandatory OT Class Appealed to Formal A

WA carrier required to work OT off Assign Class Resolved at Informal

WA carrier working OT off assign Class Resolved at Informal

Mandatory OT Class Resolved at Formal A

Mandatory OT Class Resolved at Formal A

Mandatory OT Class Resolved at Formal A

WA T6 - OT on string Individual Appealed to Formal A

Mandatory OT Individual Resolved

Discipline Individual Appealed to Formal A

Carrier not getting 8 hrs on own rt Individual Resolved Formal A

Supervisor behavior in the workplace Individual Appealed to Formal A

Chief Steward Report: April 2013 By Al Floyd

4 Mando grievances resolved where the non-ODL carriers were paid an additional 50% of the amount of time worked in violation and the ODLers being paid for lost opportunities.

Grievance for management contracting out collections went unresolved, appealed to Step B, where it was found that management did not bargain with the Union. Now Union and management will meet again to bargain fairly.

Grievance resolved where PTF is to be paid for not receiving up to 8 straight time hours while a TE was worked.

Grievance combining 38 cases of Steward Time grievances was appealed to Step B and the Dispute Team reached the decision of management paying the steward for having to work off the clock and also paying the Branch for the viola-tion.

PAGE 5 SERVING THE LETTER CARRIERS

with management and the ODLer who management was expecting to work 1 hour of overtime and does, is told they are needed to carry more. Tell me, what do you say of the ODLer who is working their non-scheduled day, carries their assignment then comes down with a sudden case of the “don’t want to carry any more overtime” illness.

In other words, who are you to judge who is a hard worker or not. It’s managements responsibility to distribute the hours and the opportunities equitably, not the ODLers. As a matter of fact, by those of you going around trying to get every ODLer who is high on the list to drop off so that the carriers who are low would not be paid through the griev-ance procedure, you are attempting to help management circumvent the contract and at the same time helping to keep managements “buddy-buddy” way of thinking on going like a virus. Instead of degrading your fellow ODLers, make management do the right thing, make management do their job.

Main Office, Juli and myself are the Stewards and now Dannie Smith has stepped up to be an Alternate Steward and I appreciate him doing so. Now we need 2 more to step up to the plate, one to be a Steward, so I can get out of the way, and another to be the other Alternate Steward. Is anyone interested, even if it is only for 3,6 or 9 months. Just let me know.

ODL Equitability grievances from Lacey and the Main Office resolved for management failing to equitably distribute the hours, management will pay ODLers who were not equitable.

Grievance resolved where management will provide copy of Form 4584 (Street Observation) within a reasonable amount of time; 3 days if conducted out of house; 1 day if conducted in house.

Grievance resolved for management requiring a carrier to deliver Express Mail off his assignment, while ODLers were available.

Grievance resolved for management improperly applying Article 16.7 and the carrier made whole.

Grievance appealed to Step B for carrier receiving a 14 Day Suspension and the Dispute Team made the decision to expunge the notice.

2 grievances resolved for overtime being taken away from Work Assignment T-6’s and given to ODLers.

Grievance for management improperly posting the weekly schedule, went unresolved and is being appealed to Step B.

2 grievances for management giving Notices of 7 Day and 14 Day Suspensions were resolved where one was expunged and the other reduced.

From page 1

PAGE 6 CLARK V. SAVIDGE SENTINEL

Vice President Report by Debbie Dixon – March 2013

Number 2 of the 10 great moments in Letter Carrier history found on our National Union website,

www.nalc.org, is the birth of our great Union. Last month we learned that the right to work 8-hour days

was fought and won before Congress. This great event happened in 1888 PRIOR to the organization of the

National Association of Letter Carriers in 1889. It only took our Union leaders less than one year to come

together and recognize that…

THERE IS STRENGTH IN NUMBERS!

2. Birth of a union

In 1889, the Milwaukee Letter Carriers Association organized the founding meeting of the National As-sociation of Letter Carriers. With approximately 60 carriers attending from 18 states, NALC was born August 29, 1889 in a meeting hall above Schaefer's saloon in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This event marked the beginning of NALC. Even beyond that obvious fact, the founding convention is proof that letter carriers knew early on—even before workers in many other industries—that they would achieve more if they could form a national union. In many cities, carriers had "mutual benefit" associa-tions that tried to win improvements for carriers in those cities. But NALC's founders realized that true power would only come when every carrier in the country joined together. Those hours in Schaefer's Saloon marked the very beginning—the birth of a union that would eventually become one of the most powerful and influential organizations of federal and postal employees.

————————————————————-

MARCH 24, 2013**RALLY AT WESTLAKE PARK If 60 Carriers from 18 states in 1889 could make their way to gather together for a cause that benefits their

own families and citizens across the United States of America, then YOU can help for the same reasons

today, in 2013. Get in your car (not horse) on Sunday, March 24, 2013. Take several minutes to hours (not

days on horseback) to drive to Westlake Park in Seattle to rally with your fellow Washington State co-

workers to protect 6-day delivery, protect our jobs and protect our services to the American people!

BUILD THE USPS UP-DON’T TEAR IT DOWN!

Sign up (not needed to attend): http://action.deliveringforamerica.com/page/event/detail/jj7

See you all there!

In Unionism,

Debbie Dixon

Time: Sunday, March 24, 2013 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM PDT

Host: Meaghan Slater

Location: Westlake Park (Seattle, WA)

401 Pine St.

Seattle, WA 98101

PAGE 7 SERVING THE LETTER CARRIERS

Brain Tease: April 2013 By Al Floyd

1. Supervisors may refuse to answer questions during an investigation.

A. True B. False

2. Management must explain that an injured employee is guaranteed a choice of treating physician.

A. True B. False

3. Insubordination, in and of itself, is grounds for an emergency suspension.

A. True B. False

Answers, bottom of back page

PAGE 8 CLARK V. SAVIDGE SENTINEL

PAGE 9 SERVING THE LETTER CARRIERS

Seattle Thunderbirds vs. Vancouver Giants!

Feb. 17 in Kent

T-Birds win in an exciting overtime victory!!

Photos submitted by Debbie Dixon

Thank you Julie for organizing a

great evening with Branch 351

members and their families!!

Fun was had by all! Julie got her groove on with her daughter (lower left) and Ryan’s two sons had plenty of

smiles! Brian’s son shouted “Go T-Birds” 100 times! The older kids also had many smiles and laughs and the

older, older kids (yes, I mean the adults) had an awesome time! Thank you Branch 351!

President - Al Floyd 628-3319

Vice President - Debbie Dixon 701-7453

Secretary/Treasurer - Vincent Corsi 493-1622

Recording Secretary - Juli Greenhalge

Editor - Stephen Ambeau 870-7807 stamper9@comcast.net

Assistant Editor - Schauntel Ambeau

Director of Retirees - John Marley

MBA Representative - Vacant

HBR Representative - Vacant

Sergeant at Arms - George Vocke

WebMaster - John Mauk

Trustees - Lisa Wooden (13-14) Vacant (13-14) Ralph Hitchcock (12-13)

All items published in the Clark V. Savidge Sentinel are the property of Branch 351. Reprint permission is granted to trade union and labor publications, providing appropriate credit is given. Material submitted for publication must be received by the Editor no later than the 15th of the month. This is a monthly newsletter. Opinions expressed by contributors are their own and not necessarily those of NALC Branch 351 or it’s editor

Stewards / Alternates and Phone #’s

Chief Shop Steward - Al Floyd Cell # 628-3319

Main Office Shop Steward - Al Floyd

Main Office Shop Steward - Juli Greenhalge

Main Office Alt. Shop Steward - Dannie Smith

Lacey Station Shop Steward - Vincent Corsi 888-3354

Lacey Station Alt. Steward - Debbie Dixon 701-7453

Shelton Office Shop Steward - George Vocke 426-5928

BRANCH OFFICERS

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION

U.S. POSTAGE PAID

Olympia, WA

PERMIT NO. 298

NALC Branch 351

P.O. BOX 7715

OLYMPIA, WA 98507-7715

Branch 351 holds its union meetings on the first Thursday of each month at 7:00 pm unless otherwise noted, at 119 1/2

Capitol Way, Olympia, WA

(360)754-8600

Spring time is here

Get outside and enjoy

Branch web page is: www.nalc351.comcastbiz.net

1. False - M-00988, 2. True - M-01117, 3. False - C-10423

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED