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President’s ReportSam Wood

SUNCOAST DISTRICT(TAMPA, FL)LABOR-MANAGEMENT MEETINGOn Tuesday September 18, 2012,I attended a meeting in Tampa,Florida, called by management,“District Union LeadershipMeeting.” Normally, I do not likegoing to these types of meetingsdue to my belief that managementuses these meetings much like apolitical candidate running foroffice (all talk and not muchaction). I went primarily due to cur-rent issues facing our member-ship.

My attempt was to get answersand relay problems that my mem-bers have been facing in thehopes that I could get answers toquestions and other issues wouldbe looked into by our DistrictManager. I will reserve my judg-ment on the results and report onwhat I learned from this meeting.Here is some information sharedby the Suncoast District Staff:

FINANCESThey reported a U.S.P.S. projecteddeficit of approximately $11.5 bil-lion for the fiscal year, most of thedeficit coming from the pre fundingmandate ($11.1 billion). Withoutthe pre-funding mandate theUSPS would have lost about $0.5billion. The pre-funding mandatewill make up about 96% of the(Fiscal 2012) deficit.

In the Suncoast District (whichcovers surrounding areas ofDaytona Beach, Fort Myers,Melbourne, Orlando, Sarasota,Tampa, and Vero Beach), MailProcessing (Funtion 1) was utiliz-ing 5% in Clerk Craft overtime,Customer Service (Function 4) uti-lized 8% in Clerk Craft overtime,and the Letter Carrier Craft utilized15% overtime.

Management’s plan is to excessClerk Craft employees to residualClerk Craft, Maintenance andCarrier Craft residual positions.Since the carrier craft is utilizingthe most overtime, they want toexcess Clerks into the CarrierCraft.

NOTE: Most excessing to theCarrier Craft is due to the fact thatmanagement cannot hire in thatcraft due to the Carrier Craft hav-ing no contract and theirTemporary Employee (TE’s) com-plements being maximized.

The Suncoast District staff spoke alot about customer service (this isthe political candidate crap I spokeabout in my opening), but in reali-ty, they are doing quite the oppo-site as most employees can seeby what is happening in their sta-tions, branches and plants.

Management continues to cutstaffing, having employees crosscrafts, allowing supervisors to per-

form bargain-ing unit work,etc.

Management’s current philosophyis to violate the contract now anddeal with the issue later in thegrievance procedure.

MORE COMPUTERIZEDFORWARDING SYSTEM (CFS)CONSOLIDATIONSIn August, CFS operations inMontgomery Alabama and MidFlorida were moved to TampaFlorida. On October 1, 2012 man-agement plans to move CFS oper-ations in Atlanta Georgia, JacksonMississippi, and JacksonvilleFlorida to Tampa Florida also.

Management stated that this willcreate 154 jobs in Tampa.Management also stated the pos-sibility of many of these jobs goingto PSE’s due to the fact that notmany career employees were put-ting in for these CFS positions.Jobs for these CFS positions willbe placed on e-Reassign.

PROPOSED CLERK CRAFTSTAFFING CUTS - EXCESSINGFunction 1 (Plants) –

193 Full Time EmployeesFunction 4 (Stations) –

140 Full Time EmployeesTotal Cuts –

333 Full Time Clerks

Current excessing events arescheduled to begin on November17, 2012. However, some ClerkCraft employee movements withinthe installation into residual posi-tions will begin On October 6 andagain on October 20, 2012.

Postal Support Employees(PSE’s) will also be adverselyaffected, as management intendsto reduce the amount of PSE workhours, and analyze PSE workhours to find landing spots forexcessing employees.

Management stated that there arecurrently 321 PSE’s in theSuncoast District and averageabout 26.6 hours in Function 1 and26.8 hours in Function 4 offices.

AREA MAIL PROCESSINGSTUDIESMid Florida to Orlando

IN PROCESSSt. Petersburg to Tampa

APPROVEDLakeland to Tampa

APPROVEDManasota (Sarasota) to FortMyers

PROPOSED

SCANNING “BOX SECTIONS”UP TIMESThis issue was discussed at somelength as it has become an issue

See PRESIDENT’S REPORTContinued on Page 7

IN THIS EDITION OF

THE EAGLE’S EYEPresident’s Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Secretary-Treasurer’s Report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Discipline Issues Still OngoingAt Fort Myers P&DC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Minor Victory . . .And The Struggle Continues. . . . . . . . . . . 3

It’s Time To Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

SWFAL APWU Election Update . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Union MattersThe Elephant In The Room . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Dear MM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Save The United States Postal Service . . . . . 6

Greetings From Bokeelia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Know Your Enemy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

SWFAL Membership News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

PROUD MEMBER

2 THE EAGLE’S EYE OCTOBER 2012

Southwest Florida Area Local, APWU

11000 Metro Parkway, Unit 8Fort Myers, FL 33966239-275-1007Open 9am-3pm, Monday-Friday

WEBSITE ADDRESSwww.swfloridaapwu.org

PRESIDENTSam WoodSWoodFla@aol.com239-823-APWU

VICE-PRESIDENTDan GrayVPswfal@aol.com239-834-2736

SECRETARY-TREASURERFelicia GluhareffSecTreaSWFAL@aol.com

CLERK CRAFT DIRECTORPaul McAvoyClerkCraftSWFAL@aol.com

MAINTENANCE CRAFTDIRECTOR

Mickey SzymonikMaintdirswfal@aol.com239-834-2900

EDITORKathy MoyerEdSWFAL@aol.com

MOTOR VEHICLE CRAFTDIRECTOR

Vacant

TRUSTEESHelen SkinnerWendy SkaffDavid Grant

SAFETY & HEALTHCOMMITTEE

David GrantWendy Skaff

CONSTITUTION COMMITTEEDan Gray, ChairmanFelicia GluhareffPaul McAvoyKathy Moyer

ELECTION COMMITTEEBarbara CarrGrace BaerEileen DiMaseSue JohnsonWayne NicholsRobert Nowall

NATIONAL MAILING ADDRESSPer Capita SectionAPWU, AFL-CIO1300 L Street NWWashington, DC 20005

FLORIDA POSTAL WORKERThe Florida Postal WorkerP.O. Box 8363Fort Lauderdale, FL 33310www.apwuflorida.org

9/23/2012

CALL TO ORDER:Time: 9:32 a.m. There were 27members in attendance.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:The pledge of allegiance was ledby Eileen DiMase.

ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS:The roll call of officers was per-formed by Felicia Gluhareff.Present were Sam Wood, DanGray, Paul McAvoy, Kathy Moyerand Felicia Gluhareff. KeithMcGee made a motion to excuseMickey Szymonik who was onannual leave. The motion passed.

MAP:Sam Wood called for a moment ofsilence to be observed to honorthe memories of Charles Glennonand Dave Capello.

THE ORDER OF BUSINESSWAS CHANGED TO ALLOWTHE GUEST POLITICALCANDIDATES TO SPEAK:*Debbie Jordan is a small busi-ness owner running for StateSenate district 30. She is a demo-crat that believes that unions servea purpose to protect the workers.Says she will fight to keep postaljobs in our area if elected.www.DebbieJordan2012.com*Lee Bushong is running for LeeCounty Sheriff as an independent.He spoke at our town hall meetingurging the Postal Service to keepthe Fort Myers plant open. Hepledges to stand beside us as avoice for our union and what isright. He wants to make LeeCounty a safe place to live andwork again. *Will Bronson is a democrat run-ning for U.S. House ofRepresentatives for district 17. Hebelieved that good ideas can winover money. Mr. Bronson wrote awonderful Essay titled “Save thePost Office” that he passed out atthe meeting. He commits toprotect the Postal Service,unions and the working class.www.BronsonforCongress.com*Arvella Clara is a motivated andenergetic Democrat running forState Representative in district 77.Says she will fight to keep thePostal Service and protect unions.www.VOTEARVELLACLARE.com

NEW MEMBERS:Roderick Mentus (PSE)

EXECUTIVE BOARD MINUTES:We discussed the Eagle’s Eye andKathy Moyer explained to us someof the legalities of election seasonin regards to our articles. Discussed limiting the time eachcandidate gets to speak when theycome to our union meetings. Kathy Moyer brought in informa-tion on First Community Bank ofSouthwest Florida since we planon going forward with our plan tochange banks in January.Sam Wood talked about thelabor/management meeting inTampa.We want to inform members of thememorial gathering for DaveCapello. Details will be addressed

in the GMM.Sam put together a new “cheatsheet” for the APWU Health Plan.When finalized it will be sent out tomembers on his email list and willbe available to all members.

SECRETARY – TREASURER’SREPORT:Paul McAvoy made a motion toaccept the minutes as printed inlast month’s Eagle’s Eye. Themotion passed.We are still collecting informationon bank and credit unions to findthe most convenient and helpfulplace to move our business check-ing account to in January. All of thebills for the convention have notbeen received yet but it is lookinglike less was spent than we hadoriginally estimated.

REPORT- SELECTION OFCOMMITTEES:Monday December 10th is ourlocal SWFAL-APWU election.Barbara Carr, who is chairing thecommittee, informed us thatNovember 5th will be the day thatthe committee meets to stuff bal-lots into envelopes. Eileen DiMaseand Sue Johnson volunteered toserve on the election committee.

REPORT OF CONVENTIONCOMMITTEES: None

REPORT OF TRUSTEES:Helen Skinner would like to coordi-nate an audit before the nextmeeting.

COMMUNICATIONS:Letter from National APWU urgingmembers to send the letters whichnational sent to them to the chair-man of the board of governors.Sue Carney of national sent a let-ter asking all members to considerdonating to the United Way andthe Postal Employees Relief Fundthis CFC season.Letters of excessing sent to clerks.Thank you card from Tim andRosie Sandt.

UPDATE OF GRIEVANCES:None

OLD BUSINESS:Helen Skinner asked about herprior letter of demand. Of the 26letters of demand to the clerks,three are scheduled for arbitration.

NEW BUSINESS:Management change of schedulesmust be posted on the schedule bythe deadline, see the JCIM andCBA, of the prior week. If not, allout of normal schedule hours willbe considered overtime and yournormal bid hours will remain guar-anteed hours. This will need to begrieved in order to be paid appro-priately. The only exception to thisis maintenance relief bids.PSE hours must be reduced tobelow 32 hours if excessing is ineffect.A bid abolishment means a bid istaken away due to a REDUCTIONof clerks in a SECTION.Mark Kylo asked the membershipto give Sam Wood a round ofapplause for the work he does.

L o r e n z oT i n d a lthanked thee x e c u t i v eboard and themembers for allowing him to par-ticipate as legislative director forour local for the last few years.Lorenzo also complimented KathyMoyer on the great work she doeson the Eagle’s Eye. He also spokeabout the anti-union commercialthe chamber of commerce is airingand urges everyone to write thebusinesses of that are members ofthe chamber and let them knowthat if they do not relinquish theirmembership then we will notpatronize their establishments.Sam Wood wanted to personallythank Lorenzo for everything hehas done for us. The membershipthanked him as well. LorenzoTindal made a motion that theSWFAL publicly endorse the can-didates that came out to speak tous today at the meeting. (DebbieJordan for State Senate district 30,Lee Bushong for Lee CountySheriff, Will Bronson for U.S.House of Representatives in dis-trict 17 and Arvella Clare for StateRepresentative for district 77) Themotion passed. Larry Kolar is retiring on ThursdaySeptember 27th.Kathy Moyer asks all members tocontact her if there is any lifeevents they would like printed inthe paper. Ex: weddings, gradua-tions, retirements, deaths…..etc.

LABOR- MANAGEMENT:Sam Wood talked about thelabor/management meeting inTampa. There will be possibleexcessing into the carrier craft. Ifforced into the carrier craft andthen laid off clerks will be entitledto their retreat rights if a positionbecomes available.

GOOD AND WELFARE:The winner of the COPA 50/50drawing was Felicia Gluhareff whowon $50.50. The total netted was$101.00. Felicia donated $30.50 ofher winnings back to COPA. Thename drawn for the member’sincentive award was VivianThomas. She won $60. The potwill start over again in the amountof $50 at the next meeting.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS ANDDELEGATES:None

LEFTOVERS:None

ROLL CALL OF OFFICERS:The roll call was performed andrecorded by Felicia Gluhareff.Present were Sam Wood, DanGray, Paul McAvoy, Kathy Moyerand Felicia Gluhareff.

NEXT MEETING:Robert Nowall moved to have thenext meeting on October 21, 2012at 9:30 a.m. at the union hall. Themotion passed.

ADJOURNMENT:Paul McAvoy moved to adjourn at12:13 pm. The motion passed.

Secretary-Treasurer’s ReportFelicia Gluhareff

OCTOBER 2012 THE EAGLE’S EYE 3

We are stillhaving issueswith employ-ees beingissued disci-pline andthen failing togrieve theird i s c i p l i n ewithin the 14days asrequired bythe CollectiveBargaining Agreement.

Remember if you are issued aLetter of Warning, Notice ofSuspension, or Notice of Removal,it is your responsibility to ask tosee your Union Steward andgrieve the discipline. Your unionsteward is not notified that youwere issued the discipline.

YOU are the one that is notified bymanagement when they hand youa copy of the discipline and ask foryou to sign a receipt. So, pleaseprotect yourself and grieve the dis-cipline.

It constantly amazes me when Ihear from an employee that theirunion steward should have knownto grieve the discipline since thesteward was at the employee’sinvestigative interview.

Management does not notify thesteward; again YOU are the onethat is notified. If you fail to tellyour steward and fail to grieveyour discipline within the 14 daysallowed per the CollectiveBargaining Agreement, you willnow have the discipline in your filefor the next two years. You haveno one to blame, but your own self.

If you are unable to come into workand receive discipline sent to yourhome in the mail, immediately con-tact the Union Office so the localcan start a grievance on yourbehalf. Remember, you only get14 days to grieve your discipline.Please do not wait to the lastminute.

FMLA and submitted documenta-tion requests still seem to be anissue. If you request FMLA leave,submit the APWU form, and theFMLA coordinator denies yourrequest, ask to see your UnionSteward to find out if the denial isjustified. I have seen numerousdenials where the FMLA coordina-tor is asking for more informationfrom the employee then is requiredor allowed.

Management cannot force you tosubmit the Department of LaborWH-380 forms. The Department of

Labor WH-380 forms are optionalforms.

If you submit an APWU form and itis filled out by your health carepractitioner correctly, managementmust accept it. The APWU formscontain the information that isrequired by law to have FMLAapproved.

You can download the APWUforms to take to your health carepractitioner from the APWU web-site (www.apwu.org), and printthem at home. Please, if you havea medical condition that meets therequirements of FMLA, submit theproper documentation to protectyourself.

Management has gone overboardon the issuing of attendance disci-pline and they have no sympathyfor any employees becoming ill.Most of us are not getting anyyounger and with age we get sick-er more often, plus our bodies tendto not heal as fast.

One subject that is constantly rais-ing its ugly head and shouldn’t,concerns employees signing theirPS form 3971s Request for orNotification of Absence withoutreading or making sure the infor-mation on them is correct. When

you sign you PS Form 3971, youare agreeing that the information iscorrect.

Please review the 3971 prior tosigning it. If you do not agree withwhat is on it (i.e. leave type, dates,scheduled, unscheduled, FMLA,etc.), correct the information orhave your supervisor correct it. Ifyour supervisor refuses to correctthe disputed information, politelyrefuse to sign the form and ask tosee your Union Steward. Simplysigning the PS Form 3971 withincorrect information may comeback to haunt you in the future.

We will all miss Dave Capello, aclerk at the Plant who recentlypassed away. Dave was planningon retiring in a few months andunfortunately never got to enjoythis part of life. I will miss talkingwith Dave and his view on sports,religion and politics to name a few.Times like this makes you remem-ber how important your friends andfamily are in your life. We shouldall take this time to call an oldfriend or family member who wehaven’t talked to for a while.

Discipline Issues Still OngoingAt Fort Myers P&DC

Daniel M. GrayVice PresidentSWFAL APWU

Let’s startwith the goodnews first.

Through thehard work ofyour unionrepresenta-tives threeclerks whowere dis-placed fromtheir bids(because of the improper repost-ing of lead clerk bids) have beenreturned to their original assign-ments.

Also, two clerks that wereremoved from their bids becauseof the posting of the Lead Clerkbids were given back all their train-ing and deferment time.

This was a cumulative effort byyour stewards (who did the stepone grievances) VP Dan Gray(Plant step 2 grievances), andPresident Sam Wood (who did theCustomer Service step 2's).

I spent many mornings on thephone with Labor Rep. Robert

Disciplining employees for havinga total of three absences orlateness. (one clerk wasdisciplined for having 1 sick and2 lates, on of .09 and one of .15since March)

Disciplining employees for havingan accident (Dan Gray has filedOSHA charges againstmanagement concerning theseissues

Improper abolishment andreposting of bids at stations

Improper reversion of bids

Supervisors performing clerkwork

Failing to provide information

There are many more but that isjust a short list. I assure you, yourstewards and executive board aregrieving all these issues and fight-ing to stop management fromthese blatant violations of yourrights.

In closing, I would like to say a fewwords about a good friend I lostthis month.

Dave Capello passed away

recently and I will miss him. He

was one of the first and longest

friends I had since coming to Fort

Myers. Dave was a strong sup-

porter of the union and was a

member his entire career.

I had talked to Dave the day before

he passed and he told me he was

ready to retire. He was planning to

leave at the end of this month

(September).

He would constatntly ask me if

there was going to be an early out

retirement. His plans were to sell

his house get an RV and travel the

country. He did this when he was

young, having dropped out of col-

lege to travel across the country.

He was looking forward to reliving

his youth.

Don't let life pass you by. Don't

wait to long enjoy the rest of your

life. Enjoy every minute you have

on this earth. RIP Dave!!!!

Ocasio and CSSC Nancy Rose.We are now working on getting outof schedule pay for all clerksaffected.

There has been a major struggleto get management to abide by theCBA. Just remember your unionrepresentatives are doing the bestwe can, but unfortunately, man-agement does not care aboutabiding by the contract and is vio-lating it knowing. They are wrongin doing this.

This is very frustrating but notdetremental in any way of yourunion reps fighting for your rights.President Sam Wood attended aLabor-Management meeting inTampa earlier this month.

President Sam Wood, VicePresident Dan Gray and I had onelast month at the plant and toldmanagement we will not accepttheir flagrant violations of the CBA.

Here are just some examples ofviolations by management:

Not accepting APWU FMLAforms

Minor Victory . . .And The Struggle Continues

Paul McAvoyClerk Craft Director

SWFAL APWU

4 THE EAGLE’S EYE OCTOBER 2012

NOTICE OFELECTION OF OFFICERS

Nominations for the election of offi-cers of the Southwest Florida AreaLocal shall be held at the generalmembership meeting on Sunday,October 21, 2012, 9:30am at theunion hall.

Candidates may be nominated for,campaign for, run for, and holdonly one office. On October 21,unopposed candidates will beelected by acclamation.Candidates must accept nomina-tions at the time made, or in writingprior to the meeting if unable toattend.

Nominations will be held for thefollowing offices, and shall be heldin order as follows: President, VicePresident, Secretary-Treasurer,

Editor, Clerk Craft Director, andthree (3) Trustee positions. theterm of office is two (2) years, fromJanuary 1, 2013 throughDecember 31, 2014.

All candidates will receive a copyof the election rules at the October21 meeting.

The ballots will be "stuffed" onMonday, November 5, at 9:30amthe union hall, and candidates, ortheir representatives, may bepresent. The ballots will be mailedon Thursday, November 8, and willbe verified, counted, and tallied onMonday, December 10.

If you have any questions, youmay contact me at 936-2778.

Barbara CarrChairman, Election Committee

SWFAL APWUElection Update

This is why they are attackingunions. We’re growing, gettingstronger, the numbers prove it.People are getting tired of mini-mum wage jobs without benefits.

The states with the lowest percent-age of union members tend tohave the highest unemploymentrates and they all have RepublicanGovenors. New Jersey has amuch higher percentage of unionmembers 17.1% but they rank 48in unemployment because theirGovernor laid off many of theschool teachers and state employ-ees who were union members.

I can’t tell you what to do, but I amgoing on the attack. Since we arethe enemy, I’m telling every familymember and friend, not to supportany business who is a member ofa chamber of commerce. Whenthese businesses learn why theyare losing money, they will stoppaying dues to their chambers.

I’m buying a new car when I getwhere I’m going. It will be made byGM. If we don’t fight back, this all-out assault on unions, it will be toolate.

I never wanted to be just an emptysuit, talking without substance.Hope I achieved that. I want tothank President Sam Wood for theopportunity to serve this local. Inever felt like I was talking to anempty chair even during the timesI felt that I was beating a deadhorse.

I wish you all the best in yourretirement. In Solidarity,Lorenzo Tindal.

S e v e r a lmonths ago Ishared myt h o u g h t sabout know-ing when it’stime to go.

Well, thattime is nowfor me. In lateOctober, justafter I cast myearly vote inthe Presidential Election, I’m off tomy new home in the DominicanRepublic.

But before I go, I need to sharesome things that are on my mindwith the retirees and the member-ship thinking about retirement.

Recently, I have noticed TV com-mercials sponsored by the cham-ber of commerce that make refer-ences that they do not want a gov-ernment that sides with unions andfurther goes on to mislead the pub-lic that unions want the public’spersonal information. Why arethey afraid of us?

So I decided to do some factchecking. I checked online atwww.bls.gov/news.release/union2.t05.htm and I discovered that in2010 there was 7,033,000 totalemployed in Florida and 392,000union members, 5.6% of the totalworkforce. In 2011 there was7,283,000 employed and 460,000union members, 6.3% of the work-force. An increase of .06%.

Florida also ranked 39th in unem-ployment as of July 2012 @ 8.8%.

It’s Time To Go

Lorenzo TindalPresident

Retiree’s ChapterSWFAL APWU

Count me in and enroll me as anAPWU Retiree for only $3 a month!

Complete details for the following are listed in APWU National Constitution andBylaws.

� OPTION 1

Retiree Membership of only $36 per year, ANNUITY DEDUCTION ofretiree $3 dues monthly.

Privileges: The right to vote and run for office as a Retiree NationalConvention Delegate or National Director of the APWU Retirees Department. Shall be eligible for vote for the three (3) APWU GeneralOfficers: President, Executive Vice President, and Secretary-Treasurer,and four resident department officers: Director and Assistant DirectorLegislative/Political Department, Director Human Relations Department,and Director, APWU Health Plan; excluding all local, state, and nationalresident and craft/division officers not specifically listed herein, or in anymatter pertaining to national agreement ratification, LMOU’s, orproposed work stoppage.

� OPTION 2

Retiree Membership of $36 per year plus APWU NationalPer Capita Tax, ANNUITY DEDUCTION of approximately$23 per month. *

Privileges: Same as OPTION 1 plus eligible to participate in nationalelections (limited to areas outlined in the election rules).

� OPTION 3

Retiree Membership of $36 per year plus APWU full dues(National Per Capita Tax and local dues), ANNUITY DEDUCTIONof retiree $3 dues monthly. You will be billed for the National Per CapitaTax and the required local dues amount. This amount will vary fromapproximately $200 to $600 annually.* (Note: Constitution orreinstatement of full dues-paying membership requires compliancewith Article 3, Section 4 of the APWU National Constitution and Bylaws.This language can be reviewed on the APWU web-page,www.apwu.org, in the Secretary-Treasurer section under “Constitution and Bylaws”).

Privileges: Same as OPTION 2 plus eligible for full local and nationalmembership rights.

* For Options 2 and 3 only, contact 202-842-4288 to find out thecurrent amount.

OCTOBER 2012 THE EAGLE’S EYE 5

Our currentManager ofMaintenanceSupport holdsthe record ofhaving thehighest num-ber of previ-ously happyand produc-tive employ-ees fleeingfor the door.

In order of departure, this is theroster of employees this MOSManager has “chased” off.

One of our employees was a Tour1 MOS Clerk from Feb. 2006 toMarch 2009. This individual hastransitioned out from MOS clerk tohis current position as an MPE.Even after 3 ½ years, he still har-bors ill feelings.

Another employee, a Tour 1 MOSClerk from Feb. 2000 to Feb.2006, who also brought excellentorganizational skills to Tour 2 fromFeb. 2006 until Jan. 2011.

This employee was “chased” fromthe scene as well. This individualloved his job. He told me, “it wasone of the saddest days of my life”when he left. It was one of the sad-

dest days of my life as well. He satright next to me, organized andenergetic, an excellent worker.Now he is gone.

And yet, another employee whotook over the desk next to me, (for-merly occupied by the previouslychased off employee) was herselfchased off. This employee wasanother good worker with whom Ihad an excellent working relation-ship, and friendship. We had eachother’s backs, and still do. Thisindividual was harangued andthus, “chased” out as well.

The next employee on the rosterwas, and is, a great friend. Thisindividual is my brother in everysense of the word. We would bick-er and poke, and ultimately laughand support each other. We bothtook MOS Clerk positions in quicksuccession, in January, 2003.

This employee had to leave theposition he truly enjoyed. Evenafter 22 years in the military, hecould not tolerate the degree ofdeception, denigration and incom-petence that constituted “manage-ment” in the MOS Department.

In every grievance I’ve filedagainst this manager, I haverequested that she be required to

attend training to allow her to bet-ter perform her job and engagewith her employees in a profes-sional and sensitive manner. I wastold there was no money for that,but the manager’s shortcomingswould be discussed with her. A fatlot of good that did.

This situation is reminiscent of anon-going problem concerning amail processing equipment super-visor on the workroom floor. Howmany sexual harassment com-plaints have to be filed against aperson before the “Zero Tolerance”policy kicks in?

What does it take to stop manage-ment’s offensive behavior towardscraft workers at the Fort MyersP&DC? I mean really, what does ittake?

I feel like I’m knocking my headagainst the same wall – but youcan’t give up. We can’t give in tothis dysfunctional work environ-ment.

In the MOS Department, good andvaluable employees are gonebecause a member of manage-ment was awarded her position,not because of her qualifications,but allegedly because of an EEOgrievance that she won.

One thing I can say about her isthat she really knows how to playthe game. To his day she neverleaves her fingerprints on any-thing, and consequently, she canredirect blame to anyone otherthan herself.

There are numerous other factssurrounding this managementregime that further illustrate thesame problems. We are not talkingisolated issues, but a manage-ment system that is failing theUSPS.

One of the easily recognizablefacts indicating a workplace withserious problems is a high rate ofturnover. We obviously have thathere (and more). Managementcannot pretend they don’t under-stand or have know knowledgeabout what is happening.However, when management isnot held to any standard ofaccountability, this is what you get.

It is most unfortunate that co-work-ers who loved their jobs and didtheir jobs well had to leavebecause they could no longer tol-erate the work environment underthis regime. I’m still here, but I canno longer keep quiet.

Solidarity, Prosperity, Peace

Union MattersThe Elephant In The Room

Mickey SzymonikMaintenance Craft

DirectorSWFAL APWU

6 THE EAGLE’S EYE OCTOBER 2012

What couldyou possiblyhave beent h i n k i n gwhen onSeptember 5,you gave alevel 3 main-t e n a n c epassword toan unquali-fied anduntrained tour1 OperationsSDO?

We know that you just wanted himto have access to the fan sort func-tion, but did you realize that yougave him absolute carte blancheto the entire maintenance protocolon all of the DBCS and DIOSSmail processing machines at the FtMyers P&DC?

These are Maintenance only func-tions performed by trained craftpersonnel. We guess maybe youforgot, huh?

We’re also guessing that you werea little bit surprised, when onSeptember 18, the same opera-tions SDO used his Maintenancepassword (that you gave him) tostart-up and untarp a powereddown DBCS. That’s a little bit dif-ferent than doing a fan sort isn’t it?

What else do you think he’s doing

with his password? Is he changingoperational parameters? Is he cre-ating new passwords? Is heaccessing any reports? Is he giv-ing out his maintenance passwordto anyone else as he does with hisoperations password?

You see MM, this was not really avery good idea. If you had asked,we could have told you.

By giving this SDO a level 3-main-tenance password you have com-promised the security of all mailprocessing machines at thisfacility.

You have also disrespected allmaintenance personnel whomhave ever spent weeks away fromhome and family training in OKC inorder to qualify to work on mailprocessing machines and use thepasswords (for troubleshooting)that you so casually hand out.

We’re guessing that if you hadremembered the 10 years youspent as an ET that maybe youwould have known better.

Good luck to us as we prepare forthe next inevitable transition of thisSDO doing his own trouble-shoot-ing and then telling us how tomake a repair.

Sincerely,The Maintenance Craft

Dear MM

Scott J. WiserTour 1 Maintenance

StewardFort Myers P&DC

SWFAL APWU

A percentagehas been set.Although wehear manyfigures andpercentagesmen t i oned ,the one I ammost interest-ed in is 47%.

What doesthat numbermean for allof our jobs? We must place differ-ences aside or we will be in a diffi-cult position. We could all face thepossibility of a work environmentso hostile even the employeeswho think they have it made will be

begging to get the union(American Postal Workers Union)to represent them.

Remember, the union is like applepie and baseball for America. A tra-dition we must keep!

A final note - it should be clear toall that the upcoming election isgoing to be hard fought. By allaccounts, from what we can deter-mine at this time, the final result,will be very close. Every vote willbe taking on added importance.

In 2008, approximately 44% ofregistered voters did not vote.Don’t let that be you this timearound. Vote!

Save The United StatesPostal Service

Vivianne FinleySteward

Page Field StationSWFAL APWU

IT MAY BE TIME FOR HIM TOGO - BUT LORENZO WILL BEMISSED!

Lorenzo Tindal arrived here inSouthwest Florida wearing a LADodgers baseball cap. Once here,you could always count onLorenzo's presence at the SWFALUnion meetings. He quickly put onthe hat of President of our SWFALRetirees Chapter of the APWU

and a second hat of LegislativeDirector SWFAL APWU.

It would not be possible to detail allof the work Lorenzo "Lucky" Tindalhas done - and continues to do - insupport of our SWFAL member-ship. I know there is much I amnot even aware of. He did not lookfor accolades, just to get the jobdone (often behind the scenes)and help make us stronger, wiser

and better prepared for the future.I have learned much from Lorenzo!

Lorenzo's background and experi-ence in the American PostalWorkers Union started at the locallevel and progressed all the wayup through the state and then theregional level. Lorenzo wasBusiness Agent at PennsylvaniaPostal Workers Union andNational Arbitration Advocate at

American Postal Workers Union.He was also Crisis InterventionTeam Specialist - U.S. PostalService at American PostalWorkers Union.

Currently, Lorenzo is Founder ofCorporate Mediators. ConflictResolution in Labor Managementis his specialty.

Kathy Moyer

Greetings From Bokeelia

OCTOBER 2012 THE EAGLE’S EYE 7

in many offices all over the coun-try. The question being; what mailis considered to be committedprior to scanning the box section?The answer was, any mail sched-uled for delivery on that day:

1) First Class Letters / Flats2) Parcels3) PS 3849’s (Delivery

Notice/Reminder/Reciept)4) Third Class Committed 5) Any other time sensitive

mailings such as political, lateor any other upgraded mail tobe boxed.

NEW PASSIVE ADAPTIVESCANNING SYSTEM (PASS)Forty (40) of these will be placed inFunction 4 offices in the SuncoastDistrict. They are basically over-head scanning stations designatedas “Clerk Craft” duties. There willbe one per office.

Here are a list of SouthwestFlorida offices to receive these:Cape Coral Central, Coco River(Naples), East Naples CarrierAnnex, Golden Gate CarrierAnnex (Naples), Naples MainOffice, Page Field (Ft. Myers), PortCharlotte Annex, Punta Gorda,and Six Mile Cypress Annex (Ft.Myers).

POStPlan30 Suncoast District Post Officeswill have community meetings inOctober, 2012, to discuss whathours to open these stations forthe public. Most of these officeswill be opened for only 4-6 hoursper day.

POSTMASTERS ANDSUPERVISORS PERFORMINGBARGAINING UNIT WORKAlthough the District Manager stat-ed that Postmasters andSupervisors have enough of theirwork to do besides having to doClerk work, the reality is, they areperforming this work. What is frus-trating many Union leaders acrossthe country is that Clerks areunable or even unwilling to docu-ment them performing Clerk work.

District Management staffers willtalk a good game when it comes tothis issue, however, they really donot care what happens as long asthe job gets done and they lookgood on paper to their superiors.

This is the same thing happeningat the local level. Postmasters andSupervisors have Clerk work hourconstraints put on them fromabove, they only care about meet-ing or exceeding those goals inorder to look good to their superi-ors.

Suncoast District ManagementStaff placed a list of things (pro-ductivity, sick leave usage, acci-dents, etc.) that are used to rankthe district plants from #1 to #7,and while management may talkabout how happy they want

employees to be and that Craftwork should be done by that Craft,the fact is that management onlycares about numbers.

I know how difficult the last fewyears has been as mostPresidents feel handcuffed witheverything that is happening withinthe Postal Service.

I do believe that the election inNovember may relieve or makeworse the issues facing us aspostal workers. We all must getinvolved and continue to send let-ters to Congress. In addition, wecan contact the Chairman of theUSPS Board of Governors askinghim to instruct the PostmasterGeneral to:

1) Adhere to the APWUContract

2) Work with the postal Unionsto Save America’s PostalService.

The Chairman of the USPS Boardof Governors can be contacted atthe following address:

Mr. Thurgood Marshall Jr.,ChairmanUSPS Board of Governors475 L’Enfant Plaza SWRoom 10300Washington, DC 20260

Once the other three Union’s con-tracts have been resolved, we maysee a light at the end of the tunnelin regard to excessing.

EXCESSING IN SOUTHWESTFLORIDA

While we do not fully understandwhat the impact will be as far asexcessing goes in SouthwestFlorida, we must remain educatedwith what is going on.

Please contact us if you receive anexcessing letter so that we canexplain your rights. Some mem-bers of management will attemptto lead you down the wrong path inregards to these excessingevents, so please contact yourUnion prior to making decisions ontaking positions in other offices.

ELECTIONS

By the time you receive your nextEagles Eye Edition, citizens of theUnited States of America will haveelected a President to lead us forthe next four years. There is stilltime for members to get educatedand vote for those candidates whoyou believe are best for you andyour families by November 6,2012. Make sure you are regis-tered to vote, and take the oppor-tunity to vote, as this is a veryimportant election.

PRESIDENT’S REPORTContinued from Page 1

as the 47% not taking personalresponsibility for themselves asAmericans. Some of those 47%are people that planned on votingfor him. He states that he does notcare about the 47%. I’m sure mostof you know this by now.

At the carriers meeting, I called fora boycott of all businesses that areChamber of Commerce Members.If we, union members are theenemy of Chamber of Commercemembers, I say that the glovesmust come off, if we want to stopthe national effort to end collectivebargaining. We must send lettersto all Lee County Chamber mem-bers requesting they void theirChamber membership and sendus proof, or we will stop buying attheir business.

The Chambershere in SWFLare the GreaterFort MyersChamber ofCommerce, TheH i s p a n i cChamber ofC o m m e r c e ,Cape CoralChamber ofCommerce andLehigh AcresChamber ofCommerce anda few others.

This is the only way to fight thisonslaught on our jobs. Just PostOffice jobs alone represent 40 mil-lion dollars annually to LeeCounty’s Economy. I gave you thebattle plan, now it’s up to you. Askyourself; are you a wolf or sheep?Chambers think you are sheep.

In Solidarity,Lorenzo TindalLegislative Director

People andOrganizationswho engagein unionbashing areyour enemy.

There’s anational effortof unionb a s h i n gbeing tele-vised almostdaily on many of the networks. Themost famous of them all is the onethat has two men stating, “Wedon’t want a government beingtold what to do by unions.” That TVcommercial and others just likethat are sponsored by theChamber of Commerce.

On September13, 2012 Iattended a unionmeeting of theN a t i o n a lAssociation ofLetter Carriers inFort Myers, FL. Iaddressed themembers inattendance priorto the start oftheir meeting, onthis same topicof knowing yourenemy.

We are into the election cycle toelect the next President of theUnited States of America andmembers of Congress as well asState Representatives. We musteach cast our vote as if our veryjobs depend on it. Many here inSWFL still continue to vote againsttheir best interest for some oddreason. Those same people weredescribed in a video released yes-terday by the RepublicanCandidate for President (Romney)

Know Your Enemy

Lorenzo TindalLegislative Director

SWFAL APWU

8 THE EAGLE’S EYE OCTOBER 2012

Your ElectedOfficials

President Barack ObamaWeb Site:

www.whitehouse.govE-mail:

president@whitehouse.govPhone: 202-456-1414

Fax: 202-456-2461Capital Address:

1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NWWashington, DC 20500

Senator Bill NelsonWeb Site:

www.billnelson.senate.govE-mail:

senator@billnelson.senate.govPhone: 202-224-5274

Fax: 202-228-2183Capital Address:

716 Hart Senate OfficeBuilding

Washington, DC 20510-0905District Office:

Tallahassee, FLDistrict Phone: 850-942-8415

Senator Marco RubioPhone: 202-224-3041

Fax: 202-228-5171Capital Address:

524 Hart Senate OfficeBuilding

Washington, DC 20510-0903District Office:

Tallahassee, FLDistrict Phone: 813-207-0509

Our members live in several dif-ferent districts. For your repre-sentative’s information, go towww.congress.org. Enter yourzip code and the web site doesthe rest. You can e-mail most ofyour representatives at oncewith a click of your mouse atthis web site. Their votingrecords are also available here.Check it out! Let them knowhow you feel, it’s your DUTY!

THE EAGLE’S EYE

EDITORIAL POLICY

The Eagle’s Eye is the official pub-lication of the Southwest FloridaArea Local, APWU, AFL-CIO. Theeditor has the right to determinewhether the material submittedshall be printed, and has the rightto edit as needed. It is the policy ofthis newsletter to disallow anyattacks on individuals. Opinionsexpressed are those of the writers,and not necessarily those of theExecutive Board. The deadline forsubmission of all articles is the dayof the monthly membership meet-ing. You must be an APWU mem-ber to submit an article. Name maybe withheld upon request. All arti-cles may be reprinted with propercredit given. Captions/cartoonsmay only be reprinted upon writtenpermission of the editor.

Southwest Florida Area LocalMembership News

Congratulations to Julio Mayo whorecently recieved two gold stars ina row for Excellence in CustomerService!

Several of our SWFAL membershave recently retired:

Robert “Bob” Vierday, who workedin Punta Gorda as the AM registrycage clerk and on the customerservice window.

David Slattery, John Burrell,Jaudon Dinkins and Larry Kolaralso recently retired.

A big thank you to all of ourretirees for your many years ofloyal service to the USPS from allof your friends at the SWFALAPWU. We wish you much happi-ness and hope that you will enjoyyour retirement.

We also want to thank LorenzoTindal, Legislative Director,SWFAL APWU and President ofour Retiree’s Chapter, SWFALAPWU, for his years of work andsupport of the SWFAL APWU. Hewill be resuming his retirement inthe Dominican Republic.

If you have retired, or wil be retir-ing and were not mentioned here,or if you are aware of one of ourmembers that retired or will beretiring please email the Eagle’sEye Editor at Edswfal@aol.com.You may also email information onmarriages, graduations, specialevents or achievements to theEditor.