Harrison Le wins $500 scholarship from Union Plus!

Congratulations to local members, Jonathan Le and Theresa Nguyen. Their son Harrison Le won a $500 scholarship from Union Plus.

On July 26th, the anniversary of the Postal Service, the APWU, NALC, NPMHU, and supporters rallied in front of the main post office to protest local subcontracting and privatization efforts by the Postal Service. In response to several occupy actions by the organization Community for Postal Workers the Service had several delinquent managers attempt to bully the lawful attendees at the rally. Typical! These same managers won’t have anyone to manage should the Postal Service continue to subcontract out postal jobs. No good deed goes unpunished!

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Luana Manalo teaches interview techniques

Several members attended an all day training on Sunday. The class was meant to provide these members who have decided to do something about the injustices that they have witnessed with the necessary tools and knowledge to do something about it.

Thanks to all the instructors! Lead instructor Joe Cogan, Cheryl Walton – Step One module, Bill Martin – Writing a grievance module, Brian Dunsmore – Investigative Interviews module, and Luana Manalo – Conducting Interviews module.

Beginning Stewards training is offered year round for any interested member. Speak to your craft director or call the Union hall to get more information on how you can step up and stand up to right the wrongs in your work unit!

Maria Rojas, Pat Priest, Dharmawan Wongsomadi, Ryan Eversole, Ben Smith, Daniel Cortez, Anthony English, Nick Kisner, Cheryl Walton, Joe Cogan, Bill Martin, (not pictured Daryl Teckenburg, Brian Dunsmore)

President Brian Dunsmore looks on as NBA Dunn finalizes settlement overturning wrongful terminations

Mutual aid and protection is why we work together as a Union. When one member suffers an injustice we are all harmed.

Eight PSE’s had been removed by the Postal Service over the past year. Without any warning or attempts to correct any perceived misdeeds the Service callously terminated these employees for minor infractions. Every member had a stake in the outcome of these cases because had the Service prevailed we would all become subject to the same unjust actions.

National Business Agent Brian Dunn has been working tirelessly over the past several months to resolve these cases. Determined to get justice he was prepared to arbitrate each and every case in one day if necessary. Fortunately as a result of his dogged determination arbitration was not necessary. Through a series of meetings at the regional level settlements were reached returning all the PSE’s to work with full back pay.

Michelle Scott receives her $100 gift card!

Member Michelle Scott was the winner of the drawing for a $100 gift card. Oregon Representative Peter DeFazio created a White House Petition online and all members were encouraged to sign. Legislative Director Patty Olson sponsored the drawing to encourage greater participation from our membership. Thanks Michelle and everyone else who took a minute to sign the petition to save our postal service.

Mark Morrissey’s skeptical look in response to Bill Martin’s claim that he can eat more potluck than Mark.

Members gathered around a medley of wonderful dishes prior to the June membership meeting. Special thanks to Cheryl Walton for hauling in her BBQ and grilling up some tasty burgers. The Organizing committee made an initial report during the membership meeting and handed out non-member lists and some additional organizing tools. The Local’s organizing drive is set for July 28th thru August 11th.

The Organizing Committee will be giving a brief presentation to rollout our summer organizing drive beginning at 5 pm June 9th, at the Union hall. This year we are also inviting everyone to bring a dish to delight and impress. We should have a nice potluck for everyone to enjoy something tasty. General membership meeting follows at 6:30. 

With the additional mail and equipment from Salem the workroom floors at the P&DC, PACC, and Mt. Hood are being filled to capacity. Ensure your work spaces have proper egress routes available. Should you encounter blocked routes immediately attempt to remedy the situation. If it is a repeated problem or one that you are unable to fix contact your supervisor immediately. You should also fill out a hazard report 1767 to document the problem.

Chief officers of the Local sat down with senior plant managers on Thursday to discuss several issues. Of major concern was the proposal by the Postal Service to contract out clerk craft work at the PACC to a private company. They are looking at having the SWYB machines operated by Matheson Flight Extenders which occupy a portion of the building. We have received some information from the Postal Service and will be sending this new information to our National Officers for feedback and direction.

With the changes necessitated by the Salem consolidation several Postal Support Employees expressed concerns about losing work hours. Management doesn’t foresee any major reductions in hours and have been making efforts recently to expand the skill base of the PSE’s in order to maintain their hours.

We were informed that the Maintenance Department will be laying off 14 maintenance PSE’s because of the influx of career Maintenance employees from Salem. Employees apparently were told verbally and management agreed that written notice will be provided immediately. Additionally an agreement was reached to ensure that the employees would have access to computers in LDD and instructed on other job opportunities in the area. This is an extremely unfortunate result of the Salem Consolidation. For decades Postal Employees have been protected from layoff but the new PSE category of employees don’t have that same protection. The layoffs will occur by juniority and the employees will have recall rights for one year.

The maintenance department is also looking at reducing the number of assignments here in Portland. Because of the Salem consolidation decisions have not been finalized by the Service. The parties agreed to meet again next month to review the situation.

Many employees from the Motor Vehicle Craft took advantage of the early retirement. The Postal Service seems to be content with its current staffing and has no plans to hire additional people to fill the vacant routes. Nationwide the Motor Vehicle Craft is under constant attack and threat of subcontracting.

Difficult times for all-the struggle continues.