Postal Employee Impact Expected at CFS Sites
02/05/2016 – In a letter dated Jan. 29, 2016 the Postal Service notified the APWU that it plans to activate Flats Postal Automated Redirection Systems (FPARS) in 17 locations where there are Central Forwarding System (CFS) sites. Deployment of the new equipment is expected to impact employees in some locations as early as March 28, 2016.
The FPARS program is an expansion of the Postal Automated Redirection System (PARS) program that automated Undeliverable As Addressed (UAA) letter processing. Implementation of FPARS requires hardware and software modifications to AFSM 100 machines. The new equipment will lift images from mail and apply labels to UAA flats.
“It is anticipated that the deployment of FPARS processing will result in savings of approximately 1 million work hours annually at impacted CFS sites,” management wrote in the Jan. 29 letter.
The Postal Service anticipates a significant impact on employees at affected CFS sites; therefore, employees may be excessed.
However, the APWU can challenge the impacts.
In accordance with Article 12 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Postal Service is required to notify the APWU Regional Coordinators in the event of potential excessing outside of the craft/installation. Management is required to notify local presidents of any excessing outside of a section within an installation. The Postal Service is also required to provide impacted employees with proper notification of any excessing.
Please contact your local president for more information. The union’s National Business Agents and Regional Coordinators will assist local presidents in enforcing employees’ rights under Article 12 and Article 37
There will be no change in craft jurisdiction for prepping the mail.
The offices where FPARS will be activated and employees affected are listed below:
Click here for a list of affected CRS sites.
source: APWU
Excessing is nasty stuff, especially when you’re not very high up on the seniority roster. We’ve had it a couple times with us city carriers too, but our office was lucky having had a few leave so two could come up from the next city and they both like our office a lot better. That’s been several years ago, but it still can be bad if you have to look at moving, have a family, your spouse has a job where you’re at and some tough decisions have to be made.
I don’t like the thought of uprooting workers but to be realistic automation makes good business sense in an age where doing everything by hand has dramatically reduced. Rural and city carriers have the safest jobs in the USPS because we’re not likely to be replaced by robots or drones any time soon, although I could see the day where there will be no casing time except to sign for accountables if they don’t just let you go with them on your route without signing for them. You’d go in, the route would be ready and your route would be about 7 and a half hours long. That alone would kill city and rural routes, and you know the mail would be really fucked up.
Take DPS: in the last several months I have never seen it come in so screwed up, out of sequence, black shit all over it which means it got caught in the reader and will be totally undeliverable that day, and full of misthrows and old mail that isn’t deliverable. Management just doesn’t give a damn except to run, create vacancies and pocket the “savings” in bonuses.
In a world that made sense, there would be a concerted effort to demand mailers to have updated address lists, and to stop sending crap for people who haven’t been at a particular address for 10 years or more. You bulk mailers need to understand something: customers HATE your mail. They hate your phony offers on credit cards. They don’t give a rat’s ass that your used car lot, excuse me, pre-loved vehicle lot is having a Hot Summer Deals sale. Marriage mail is thrown all over the street. You basically do nothing but kill trees and help litter the landscape. And don’t get me started on political mailings.
But instead of charging a fair rate for bulk mailers, management makes them pay very low rates that don’t even cover the cost of the labor, and screw first class mailers. I didn’t take business courses in college, but even I know as a stupid old fart mailman who is far too dumb to be a genius manager that deliberately accepting business that COSTS the USPS money is the height of stupidity.
However, I think those direct marketers make sure those who make these decisions are well compensated under the table. Otherwise there would be no sense in it at all. FPARS will be as screwed up as PARS and DPS is.
From what,I as the summer of 2012,USPS downsized CFS 2 one facility per-state. In NY state,all CFS was moved to Kingston,NY. At this point,it’s probably NOT a major job-bid loss. Perhaps,there r others,who know better than I do?