We met with management to discuss future changes in the flatsorter section. Installation of the newest FSM100 is underway. Burn in for machine #3 started May 21, 2001. May 25, 2001 is the scheduled installation date for the fourth FSM100, and burn in for that machine will start on June 28, 2001.

Management is considering going to a two-tour operation in the FSM section. Tentative start times are 10:00AM for daylight, and 8:00 PM for Tour 1 employees. This will bring the flatsorter section in line with the automated letter sections. Preventive maintenance is slated to take place between 6:00AM and the 10:00AM Begin Tour for clerks. Once again, management will not commit to getting rid of all casuals before impacting career clerks.

Retrofit to feed stations and read heads on the FSM1000 is tentatively scheduled to begin sometime in June of 2002. Future starting times for this operation are unknown at this time.

The Union has approached management about simplifying the overtime sign-up procedures by allowing employees to sign the ODL once and allow that selection to carry over in each succeeding quarter. This is the way it is done with clerk craft members. Management seemed receptive, but no agreement was reached.

The question of wash-ups was addressed during this meeting. Management claims that some maintenance employees play cards, eat meals and read the newspaper for 30 to 45 minutes before their wash-up is scheduled to take place. We, of course, assured them that they were mistaken about this belief. We know that no maintenance employee would be foolish enough to do such things under management's very nose and expect not to get caught.

The contract provides that "reasonable" time will be provided for employees to wash up before lunch and before going home for the day. We expect them to be reasonable and they expect us to be reasonable.

Once the FedEx contract is in place (sometime in August 2001) management expects to make further changes at the AMC. It's unknown how much of an impact will result because management does not know who the third party will be in the new agreement.

They do plan to move the pouch rack operation at the AMC to the GMF workfloor, but would not commit to posting bids for this new operation. Against the strong objections of the Union, management continues to maintain casuals at the AMC even after they have excessed full-time career employees.

We have begun negotiations with the Rood Trucking Company. The initial session was guarded but friendly. The company refused to release all the drivers on the negotiating team, so we restricted the business to opening statements and proposals. Future meeting dates have been set, and we continue to work on our proposals.

Negotiations for the Priority Mail Processing Center in Warrendale, PA have opened. The parties have met and set future meeting dates and sites. Our negotiating committee will tour the facility in full operation, so that we have our own data to take to the table.

Pittsburgh Metro has been awarded permanent jurisdiction over this facility, one of only ten such sites in the country. We look forward to securing a first contract.

In the past couple of months, we have visited several sites to meet with employees about their particular concerns. We were at the Penn Hills station, Natrona Heights, the Remote Encoding Center, the Sewickley Post Office, GMF Tour 3 flatsorter section, Evans City, and Butler. We will try to make it to every facility represented by Pittsburgh Metro.

In addition, our Chief Grievance Officers, stewards and Step Two Designees have visited additional sites within the same time frame. We are striving to provide you with the best representation possible by being where you need us. When it is not possible for us to visit you personally, we have successfully handled your problems by phone.

Your stewards, CGO's, Step Two Designees and advocates have made valiant efforts to protect every member's rights. Please remember to thank them for their efforts. How often we forget that even a small gesture can mean a great deal to those who labor for us.

Now that we are tied up with negotiations at the PMPC and Rood Trucking, we've instructed our secretaries to refer member calls to our CGO's and stewards in the field. We hope this arrangement will allow us to provide you with answers and solutions with more quickly. As always, thank you for your patience and cooperation. We are working for you.

USPS Plan Weeds Out Unproductive Employees
By Tim Kauffman
Federal Times Staff Writer

The U.S. Postal Service is being accused of violating federal laws by ousting injured workers. Dozens of postal employees across the country who were injured on the job and given new positions meeting their physical limitations allege they have been removed illegally because they could not return to their previous jobs.

"They told me if I could carry mail, come to work. If I can't carry mail, don't come back," said Janet Thomas, who was injured while working as a letter carrier in the Washington, D.C., region in 1989. She had been performing administrative work since then but was told to leave in August.

A Postal Service official said the agency is making a concerted effort to return injured employees to productive work in the Postal Service. If they cannot be placed in a productive Postal Service job, they are asked to find work in the private sector and are given help in doing so. But the official said all laws are being followed. The Federal Employees Compensation Act and the Rehabilitation Act require agencies to make every effort to provide work to injured employees.

"We're not running roughshod over people," said Pat Donohoe, who was senior vice president for human resources until being promoted to senior vice president for operations February 9, 2001.

As the Postal Service struggles with rising labor costs and declining mail volume, the agency is keen to make full use of every available employee and rid the organization of those who do not contribute to its mission. The Postal Service's costs associated with injured employees near $1 billion annually, with the majority spent on worker' compensation and medical expenses.

The agency has on its payroll about 10, 500 employees who cannot work because of injuries, and another 12,000 who were placed in other positions, such as sorting mail, after suffering permanent injuries on the job. The number of injured employees working in a limited capacity for a temporary period is not maintained by the agency.

When an injured postal employee obtains a private-sector job, the Postal Service stops paying the worker's full salary, but is pays any difference between the employee's postal salary and a lower private-sector salary.

"From a cost-avoidance perspective, it's a good thing for us to do in the organization," Donohoe said. "It's a major issue we have to face."

Postal headquarters has been working with offices around the country on programs to reduce the agency's workers' compensation costs, he said. A December memo obtained by Federal Times shows how the national directive is being carried out locally.

In the memo, Craig Wade, who oversees postal operations in 11 states as vice president of the agency's Western area office, instructed his managers to review all cases of injured employees working in a limited capacity or not working at all with the intent of removing those who could not return to regular jobs.