Nashville APWU Transportation Crafts

Nasvhille MVS

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USPS Testimony On AMPs Reveals Discrepancies

Bob Pritchard, Motor Vehicle Division Director
Mike Foster, Assistant Director
(This article by first appeared in the July/August 2012 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)
Recent testimony by USPS officials before the postal regulatory commission (PRC) revealed a troubling pattern: Postal executives of-fered unscientific calculations and sidestepped tough questions about facility consolidations.
Union Resolves Uniform Issue
For Non-Traditional Assignments
(06/05/12) The APWU resolved a nagging problem on May 24, when the USPS issued instructions to managers in the field notifying them that they must re-establish uniform allowances for eligible Clerk Craft and Motor Vehicle Craft employees who hold Non-Traditional Full-Time assignments (NTFT).
[read more]
The testimony of the Manager of Surface Transportation on April 12 about the transportation of mail using Highway Contract Routes (HCR) and Postal Vehicle Service (PVS) is a good example.
To derive the percentage of savings expected from implementing Area Mail Processing (AMP) studies, the Postal Service grouped several AMPs together, calculated the savings for each, and then averaged the percentage of savings.
The problem with this method is that the highest percentage of savings was found in very small installations, which have a relatively small impact on total savings, and the lowest savings were found in the large installations.
In addition, if we compare the total number of miles driven before facility consolidation to the number of miles driven afterward, the estimated savings would have to be cut in half. This is the calculation that the USPS should have presented before the PRC.
They Don’t Know?
Another amazing aspect of the Postal Service’s testimony is the fact that management’s so-called expert witnesses were unable to answer basic questions about hub-and-spoke operations. Depending on the distance and the time it takes to travel between gain-ing facilities and losing facilities when consolidations are implemented, hub-and-spoke operations may have to be created. (Trucks with large quantities of mail will have to be sent from the gaining facilities to the consolidated facilities, which will serve as hubs; then mail will have to be trucked to the sta-tions and branches that were served by the losing plant.)
Hub-and-spoke operations have been utilized by the USPS and in the pri-vate sector for decades. It is astonishing that the Manager of Surface Operations testified that she had no knowledge of how these operations work and could not answer the questions posed to her, despite the fact that the Vice President of Operations had referred all questions on the topic to her.
The True Cost
Also revealed during the USPS’ testimony was the fact that the cost of hub-and-spoke operations would be assigned to the budgets of district or area managers instead of USPS head-quarters.
We can only conclude that man-agement is attempting to justify ques-tionable savings projections by shifting costs from USPS headquarters to field office budgets. Shifting the costs of surface transportation to the local
level may show a sizable savings for USPS headquarters, but it won’t result in savings for the Postal Service as a whole.
And let’s not be hoodwinked: Hub-and-spoke operations will be costly. They will inflate transportation costs and will have a significant impact on the Motor Vehicle Craft.
We also have been amazed by the Postal Service’s claims about the places where AMP operations have already been implemented. In some Post-Implementation Reviews (PIRs), the USPS has claimed to have eliminated millions of miles of driving. However, when you take a closer look at the data, this cannot be confirmed.
For example, in Detroit, the USPS claimed to have saved 2.5 million miles, but an APWU review could only find a savings of just 800,000 miles — a difference of 1.7 million miles.
The difference could wipe out any cost savings claimed by the USPS.
Devastating Impact
The Postal Service’s plans to consolidate 232 processing centers and reduce service standards will be devas-tating to the APWU and to the Motor Vehicle Craft.
The changes will impact drivers, reducing their trips to post office facilities, associate offices and related sites from twice a day to once a day. The close-out and the morning dispatch could be consolidated into one run, which may result in more trips initially, but overall it would greatly reduce the amount of work in the Motor Vehicle Craft.
But the real losers in this will be the American people and the USPS itself. Postal executives have admitted that by degrading service, they will lose business — and billions of dollars in revenue. It is incomprehensible that managers are willing to make this choice. It appears that we have a struggling in-dustry doing everything it can to make matters worse.
There is already movement away from first class mail, and this decision will push away even more business. Customers who pay their bills by mail will now risk incurring late fees if the USPS has a cavalier attitude toward the delivery of first class mail.
Furthermore, if the USPS relaxes service standards, people who depend on their medicine to be delivered through the mail would suffer greatly, especially if their medicine has a limited shelf life or must be re-frigerated.
Packages account for less than one percent of postal volume, yet they make up approximately 16 percent of Postal Service revenue. So why is the USPS pushing packages out of the mailstream by relaxing service standards?
The USPS appears to be more than willing to give work away to our com-petitors. We will never understand why.
It is crucial that we continue to contact our U.S. representatives and sena-tors, and let them know where we stand on postal issues.
Do not become complacent. Get to the polls, and vote for those members of Congress and a president who are friendly to the APWU.
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Battle for MVS Jobs Continues
Bob Pritchard, Motor Vehicle Division Director
Mike Foster, Assistant Director

The officers of the Motor Vehicle Service Division have been very active in recent months, in an effort to get postal management to adhere to the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The threat of consolidation and closures leaves us little choice: We must join our brothers and sisters in the other crafts in the fight against unwise plant closures.
We have tried to interact with the Postal Service in a positive way in these exceptionally trying times, but the USPS has failed to act in a responsible and timely manner as it relates to hiring mechanics and drivers under the guidelines set forth in the MVS Jobs Memo in the CBA.
The contract was signed on May 23, 2011, and almost a year later, as far as we know, not a single person has been hired to fill any of the new jobs promised in the memo. In fact, despite management’s commitment to create 740 new jobs in Vehicle Maintenance Facilities (VMFs) and 600 new jobs from Highway Contract Routes (HCR) routes, the MVS complement has declined.
VMF Vacancies
There are many vacant assignments at VMFs around the country. Managers have posted vacancies for internal bidding, which gives postal employees the opportunity to move to higher-level positions. However, when people retire, their jobs are left vacant. If this occurs, locals should file grievances requesting that management fill residual vacancies. (Stewards should cite what is now Article 39.2.A.11 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.)
We recently came across a Web-COINS report, which proves there are vacancies at various VMFs. These complement reports show the authorized positions in an installation, whether the positions are occupied, and by whom.
Although Web-COINS reports frequently understate the number of vacancies, they provide evidence of the minimum number of vacancies, and should be cited in the grievances filed.
Unless the managers in your facility have hired recently or filed vacancies, they are in violation of the contract.
PVS Jobs
Postal officials recently said they would provide the union with a list of an additional 300 new Postal Vehicle Service (PVS) jobs that will result from the conversion of HCR to PVS. But the promise to hire seems hollow because, so far, the USPS has failed to hire anyone for the 330 new duty assignments on a list it provided in September! The lists relate to the 600+ HCR routes that the union and management agreed would be turned over to the APWU bargaining unit during contract negotiations.
Lists are fine, but we want the jobs!
Management’s failure to implement the contractual agreements has soured relations between the APWU and the USPS. Unfortunately, the Postal Service’s failure to meet its obligations under the new CBA extends to the other crafts as well, not just MVS. Wherever the hiring of APWU-represented employees was promised, it seems not to have occurred, and the work that was supposed to be shifted to the APWU hasn’t moved.
The Postal Service’s refusal to live up to its commitment to increase complements and shift work to the APWU is unfortunate. In many cases, the cost of using APWU employees is competitive. According to the Postal Service’s own account, using VMF employees results in savings.
Management’s refusal to comply with the CBA is affecting the Postal Service’s credibility, not only with the APWU, but with the other postal unions. The other unions are questioning whether they can negotiate a contract with the Postal Service, because the USPS has failed to live up to its agreement with the APWU.
Most adults understand when people say they will not or cannot do something. In most cases, we just move on. What really causes consternation is when two parties make an agreement in a give- and-take situation and then one party wants to take but not give. That is what is happening now. Hopefully, the USPS will soon realize that they have an obligation to live up to the agreements set forth in our CBA.
Advocating for the Postal Service
Despite our frustration, it is important to note that, like it or not, our future is tied to the Postal Service. We must put pressure on our elected officials to rectify the congressionally- manufactured crisis so that the Postal Service can be viable. This will enable us to continue to provide the American people with good service and allow us to enjoy good jobs. Every member must support the election of legislators who are on board with the APWU on postal issues and who are willing to protect working families in America.
Some politicians claim it is class warfare to demand that millionaires pay the same tax rate as working people. Perhaps it is. But we agree with billionaire Warren Buffet, who is chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. He says class warfare has been going on and the upper class has won! It is time to reclaim America for the people and for our federal government to work for the good of the majority — not just the top 1 percent.

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Employee I.D. Numbers, Not Social Security Numbers,
Should be Used on Drug-and-Alcohol Testing Forms
(02/10/12) Employee Identification Numbers (EINs) — not Social Security numbers — should be used on postal forms whenever possible, in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding on the Removal of Social Security Number References in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
However, MVS officers have learned that some managers are using Social Security numbers in connection with the drug and alcohol testing program.
At the union’s request, in an e-mail to the field in January, USPS headquarters officials reminded Designated Employer Representatives (DERs) and supervisors that EINs, not Social Security numbers, should be used.
The union has learned that the company that identifies MVS personnel for random drug testing uses SSNs, and includes the last four digits when notifying management of the employees that have been selected.
MVS officers are discussing with USPS officials ways to address this problem and eliminate the use of SSNs entirely. In the meantime, to protect the privacy of APWU members, we remind union members to refrain from using their Social Security numbers.
Go to www.apwu.org for more information.