New York Metro APWU PRESIDENT JONATHAN SMITH TO NJ NDC DRIVERS & VOAs:
Motor Vehicle Workers-We are at War!
Excerpts of article sent to members of New York Metro APWU Local
In August, USPS management sent the national APWU a letter that they intend to convert all our PVS work at the NDC to contract jobs. This was attached 10 a
trumped up study” claiming that private contractors can perform the motor vehicle functions more cheaply than postal workers can. This was put together primarily by
one person who came and sat at a computer, spending no time actually observing the operation. A spot comparison of drivers’ actual move logs exposed that the statistics she used were fatally flawed. But this did not stop the Postal Service from using them.
“There is nothing more important in the N E Region than what is going on here right now.This is not by far a ‘done deal.’ But if you guys throw in the towel, there’s nothing we can do as union officials. The entire Motor Vehicle operation is our work. We have to fight to keep this work.”
President Smith explained that we know the “study” is based on false information. “Nobody does it better than us. Nobody does it more efficiently than us. Nobody does it more safely than us.”
USPS Blatantly Violating the Contract
While the TTOs and VOAs have been providing this information, NBA Joe LaCapria has been researching the Contract to expose management’s violation. The Collective Bargaining Agreement signed in May 2011 promised to restore at least 600 Highway Contract Routes to the postal drivers as the HCRs expired . Instead, at the NJI& NDC, management kept the exact same HCR but changed the name to hide their noncompliance with the Agreement.
Instead of returning our work as mandated by the Contract, USPS management is trying to change the playing field to steal our jobs. Their threat to abolish all Motor Vehicle craft jobs at the NDC is a blatant violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Contract drivers are the source of multiple safety complaints at every NDC. They speed in the yard, break safety rules, and cause accidents. At the very time that postal management was doing the “study” to contract out, they had the nerve to issue an O & I to yard contractors dated June 27, 3012, saying: “Three [Contract] Drivers Banned from NJ NDC/STC Property for Serious Violations of Posted and Issued Regulations.”
National APWU: USPS Contracting Out All MVS Jobs in California
A hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 9 [PDF]on the APWU’s request for an injunction to stop the USPS from contracting out all Postal Vehicle Service operations in California. The USPS has notified the union that beginning Nov. 17 it intends to replace postal truck drivers with drivers employed by contractors.
“We are pursuing every avenue to protect our members’ jobs,” said Motor Vehicle Craft Director Bob Pritchard. “We will do everything we can to prevent the Postal Service from proceeding with this assault on postal drivers.”
Management’s plan would eliminate approximately 840 jobs held by postal drivers; there are approximately 6,900 postal drivers nationwide.
The APWU filed a complaint in federal court in California on Oct. 16 [PDF] that outlined the facts and explained why a preliminary injunction was needed. On Oct. 23 the APWU filed a motion [PDF] asking the court to issue the injunction.
Typically, the union’s motion would be heard 35 days from the date of filing. However, because the USPS intends to implement the California subcontracting plan on Nov. 17, the request for an expedited hearing was granted.
The union’s grievance on the USPS plan has been scheduled for arbitration on Nov. 27 and 28.
“Management’s plan violates our Collective Bargaining Agreement and will cause hardship for the drivers whose jobs would be eliminated,” said APWU President Cliff Guffey. “If it is implemented, it also will damage the Postal Service.”