In a complaint issued Feb. 25, Region 5 of the National Labor Relations Board found merit in APWU charges that the Postal Service has improperly refused to provide the union with information about its agreement with Staples. [NLRB decision-PDF] The pilot program has placed postal counters in 82 Staples stores — staffed with Staples employees rather than postal workers. A hearing before an Administrative Law Judge has been set for March 31.
Region 5 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has also recommended that the board seek an injunction in federal court to compel the USPS to provide the requested information to the APWU.
The decision to recommend an injunction is extremely rare, according to the union’s attorneys. Violations carry heavy penalties for management officials who fail to comply, up to and including incarceration.
APWU President Mark Dimondstein applauded the ruling. “This is an important victory for the APWU and for postal customers. The Staples deal is a brazen attempt to privatize postal retail services and it has been shrouded in secrecy,” he said.
“Postal officials seem to forget that the Postal Service belongs to the people,” Dimondstein said. “We intend to keep reminding them.”
The union president said getting the complaint issued was a group effort. “Special thanks go to Clerk Craft Director Clint Burelson and Assistant Director Lamont Brooks for all their work toward that goal.”
The information in dispute includes:
- Measures to protect the sanctity of the mail;
- Training of Staples employees;
- Criteria for determining any Postal Service compensation to Staples;
- Discounts, if any, to be offered by Staples, and
- Cost analyses of the Staples project.
The APWU is demanding that postal employees staff the postal counters at Staples stores. If Staples refuses, the union plans to ask Staples customers to take their business elsewhere. Postal management, on the other hand, plans to expand the program to Staples’ 1,600 stores across the country.
The union submitted an extensive set of questions about the pilot program to postal management in November, shortly after the deal was announced. In January, management brushed off the request, claiming that the Staples project was a pilot that was not covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The APWU has filed a national-level dispute over the Postal Service’s contract violations.
“This is an important victory for the APWU and for postal customers? How? An important victory would result in more window jobs as a result which this will not accomplish. A victory for customers? Less options available for customers only serves to push them into the eworld. What will be accomplished? On-air interviews and photo ops with Diamondstein declaring that APWU won. So…pay your dues and don’t bother looking for those job postings. And don’t forget to stay tuned to Ed News and postalreporter.com for videos of Diamondstein.
It is refreshing to see Mr. Diamondstein agressively rejecting
managements decisions to cripple the unions infrastructure.
He is correct in the assumption of this being a tactic to
begin the dismantling of collective bargaining rights amongst
it’s members. These jobs belong to the qualified USPS clerks
whom are extremely efficient in providing the knowledge and
customer service required to address the needs of valued postal
customers at the staples stores. Management has also started to
deploy self servcie terminals in BMEU’s across the country which
allows customers the possibilities of a begin to end process
without a BMEU clerk. It is in the early stages but with no verifications being asked for placards can be printed and the
mail staged by the mailer to the plant for release. This has to
done with electronic statements only and currently isn’t possible
with meter or precancel stamp but the writing is on the wall. It
is likely that Mr. Diamondstein will grieve this also. It is
a hypocricy of management to claim compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley
and it’s financial controls set forth for the Postal Service then
allow mailers to proceed with mailings on their own as long as no
verifications are called for. They are side stepping the important
“revenue protection” performance taught to all BMEU clerks. $$$$
will be lost with this approach without the actual initial review
of the mailing being performed. This is the wave of the future but
it just isn’t the right wave to be riding!
I sure hope the Steinmeister looks as hard into the Amazon deal as they have into the Staples deal…
Just imagine what the outcome would have been with the” guffey “in charge he would have lead us all off the “cliff” thank god for leadership with strategy and vision now if we could just do something about Fredrick the ratfink Rolando maybe we could save the postal service.
Sorry Staples! You gonna find out how the BIG BOYS play hardball now! Prepare the mud! Cock the Slings!
Yea Right. And I just fell from the sky and landed here.
Whenever dealing with postal management use protection, even then it’s never safe.
And somehow this will be a surprise to upper level Postal Management. Stop Being STUPID…
Just *another* ruling that postal eas/mgmt. has no intention of honoring.