I wish to thank the entire Executive Board and Union Council for a successful and productive meeting. The entire Executive Board and Union Council unamiously voted to take pay cuts along with other changes in the bylaws that will be available in the future, upon the National President's approval.

Fraternally,

John Macey
President, Local 308

You can apply for scholarship assistance from the NPMHU Arthur S. Vallone National Scholarship Program.
CLICK HERE

Southeastern to undergo AMP study

L&DC Closing

Local 308 was notified that the Swedesboro L&DC will be closing. More information will be provided as it becomes available.

Wilkes-Barre P&DF being consolidated.

On August 27, 2009 the USPS notified the employees of the Wilkes-Barre P&DF that all mail processing operations will be moved to Scranton and Lehigh Valley. However the USPS did not have any numbers to share with the affected employees. We do not know how many mail handlers will be going to Scranton, Lehigh Valley or if any will be left in Wilkes-Barre, since we will still have the carrier annex, window service, and the BMEU. The USPS has no conscious at all. They seem to think it is better if their employees don't know what their future holds.

The USPS recently updated the PO-408 (Guidelines for Area Mail Processing) the reason was to make this process more transparent to the stakeholders which was to make this process less stressful on the employees. District Manager Ed Burke did everything in his power to make this a very transparent study, that's if a brick wall is transparent! We were lied to, yes the USPS lies, they even lied to the DOL when an unfair labor charge was filed due to the Postal Service not fulfilling information requests. The Postal Service told the DOL that they supplied certain information, however the union never received it.

This whole AMP process was nothing more then smoke and mirrors to make it appear as if the USPS was following their own guidelines when in fact they had their minds made-up long before the study even started. A matter of fact when Ed Burke was informing the employees of the decision, he was presented with facts and figures that proved the mail would be handled less efficiently if consolidation occurred. His reply was "You don't understand. The numbers don't matter. The mail is going." So you employees in the Central PA Performance Cluster remember your District Manager says "numbers don't matter."

Sammy the Steward's helpful Advice

Tip #9 - 6 steps to make your job easier:

Know your co-workers. Maintain frequent personal contact with everyone you represent in the shop.

Know the contract and the grievance procedure. A big part of being a steward is helping people when they’ve been wronged. You don’t have to memorize the contract cover to cover, but you should familiarize yourself with the parts that are used the most. Grievance procedures often have deadlines; for instance, a grievance usually has to be filed within a certain number of days after the event occurred. Make sure you know these details.

Get the facts. Who’s involved? What exactly happened? When? Where? Why? Before you file a grievance or confront the boss, make sure you know exactly what’s going on. Talk to everyone involved, find witnesses—be a detective.

Inform and educate. Make sure to pass on information from the union office to all the members in your shop. Welcome new members. Ask people if they have questions.

Involve as many people as possible. Our power as a union comes from the involvement of the members. Leadership is not about doing everything for everyone; it’s about getting everybody to stand up for themselves by standing together. For instance, if you are filing a shop grievance, you might also want to get everyone in the shop to sign a petition to the boss; that way everyone has played an active role, its’ not just you filing that grievance for everyone else.

Ask for help. No one expects you to know the answer to everything. If you don’t know, don’t make it up and don’t blow it off—call your State Rep, or Branch President and ask her or him to help you.

Check out Sammy's past advice by clicking HERE

Some of the Steward Tips are taken from The Union Steward's Complete Guide by David Prosten, and the Shop Steward Manual put out by our National.