Maintenance Open Season

Just a reminder, it is open season for the 955 Test for maintenance. You have until the end of this month (April) to apply and take the test.

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Member Appreciation

Due to the diligent efforts of the Executive Board over the past several years, we have been able to use technology as well as other means to cut back spending in the local without any loss in representation of our membership.

Because of this, we would like to use some of our surplus to give back to the Members who support our efforts to make this local as strong and productive as possible. We are looking for ideas for what members would like in order to feel appreciated. It was suggested at the meeting to possibly do Shirts, Backpacks, lunch boxes, gift cards, etc. There are some issues that arise with the ideas of gift cards, but may still be an option.

If you have a suggestion of what would make you feel more appreciated, please let us know by emailing me at shanemcdonnell77@hotmail.com put Appreciation in the Subject line.

Thanks you all. Without you, we would not be here.

That being said if there is anything we can do to improve your representation, please let us know.

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July Meeting

The next meeting is this Sunday, July 18, 2021 at 11:00 A.M. Everyone can attend in person or online. If you want to attend in person, please wear masks and we will be following the 6 feet social distancing guidelines. We will be discussing the state convention. So, those who where voted to go to the state convention should attend the meeting. Again, either in person or online. Hope everyone is well and we look forward to talking to everyone at the meeting.

More details are available in at the Meeting Page

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Hazmat Questions and Discipline

It has been brought to our attention that employees are being disciplined and emergency placed for answering the “Hazmat” question for the customer while on the window.

A button is available to Clerks to answer the question if the customer is not able to do so. It is our belief that if management does not want the employees to ever use that option, the option should be removed from the software.

If you receive discipline or are emergency placed for answering the Hazmat for a customer, contact your Union Steward or other Union Official immediately.

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July 19th Meeting

The Executive Board has decided to have our July meeting this Sunday, July 19,2020 at 12:00 P.M. There will be no stewards meeting. Sorry for the short notice, but we felt with all that is going on and the current state of the Postal Service, it is important that we meet. This meeting is going to be a bit different. Due to the COVID19 pandemic, we are requiring that all stewards and members attend the meeting via gotomeeting.com. The Executive Board, ONLY, will meet at the union hall. This is to try and keep us all safe.

For more information go to the Meetings page.

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USPS Fairness Act

Breaking news! The USPS Fairness Act has been unexpectedly scheduled for a vote tomorrow – Wednesday, Feb. 5.

We need to do everything we can to get our elected representatives to support us.

301 members of the House have sponsored this important legislation. But now the vote is here. We are not leaving anything to chance. This is too important.

That’s why you need to call your U.S. Representative today.

Dial (844) 402-1001 to be connected.

Tell your House Member to vote YES on H.R. 2382, the USPS Fairness Act. The Act would remove the burdensome prefunding mandate from the United States Postal Service that is responsible for 100% of the Postal Service’s financial losses since 2013.

It is critical your House Representative votes in favor of H.R. 2382 on Wednesday, February 5th!

Your Legislative & Political Department has been hard at work ensuring this legislation has a broad coalition of bipartisan support in the House.

Call the legislative hotline today to be connected to your Representative and tell them to vote ‘YES’ on H.R. 2382.

Call 844-402-1001 to be connected.

In Solidarity,

Judy Beard
Director, Legislative and Political Department

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PO Box Standard Operating Procedures

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE PO Box Billing Process

1. On the 1st business day of every month (First Notice – Informing customers fee is due by the end of this month for their next term, i.e., 6 month or 1 year which begins the following month)
a. Print billing labels from WebBATS (under Reports | Billing | Labels).
b. Place labels on Notice 32-N (Group E Verification), Notice 32–B, PO Box Fee Due (FIM B Marking), or Notice 32–C, PO Box Fee Due (FIM C Marking).
c. Place Notice in the customer’s PO Box.
Note: Do not use the reminder letters for the first notice!

2. On the 10th day of every month
a. WebBATS sends an email notice of renewal to those customers who have provided a valid email address.
Note: Email notices are not sent to Caller/Reserve and Group E box customers.

3. On the 20th day of every month (Reminder Notice)
a. From WebBATS, print letters under Reports | Billing | Letters. (Letters will only be printed for customers who have not yet paid or presented their Group E Verification letter.)
b. Place letter in the customer’s PO Box.

4. On the 1st business day of every month after the due date
(Prevent Access to Box ~ for customers who have not paid their box fees or returned their Group E Verification letter by the last day of the previous month)

a. WebBATS sends an email notice to those customers who have provided a valid email address and not renewed by the due date.
Note: Email notices are not sent to Caller/Reserve and Group E customers.
b. Prior to plugging boxes for nonpayment, employees (box clerks) should run the “Delinquent Report” and only plug the boxes on that report. With online renewals, employees must use WebBATS prior to plugging boxes.
c. Plug the lock or change the combination if a box customer fails to pay the fee by the due date, submits a change–of–address order, or otherwise indicates that the service is ended.
d. For any payments received between the 1st and the 10th of the month, the box clerks can run the “Receipt by Date Report”, daily if needed, to see if any new payments were received so they can unplug boxes.
Note: For Group E PO Boxes, unplug the box immediately after receiving the Group E Verification letter.
e. When a PO Box payment is made online (Group E PO Boxes cannot be managed online) for a box that is in a past-due status (between the 1st and 10th after the due date), an alert announcing this payment appears on the WebBATS News Page. The alert includes a link to the Online Transaction Report. The report asks the user to unblock the box. Alerts are not generated if a box is renewed online on or before the due date.
Note: As a reminder, customers should not be handed PO Box mail between the 1st and the 10th after the due date (during the delinquent period). PO Box mail should be made available once payment is made by unplugging the box. This applies to any overflow mail.

5. On the 11th day of every month (Box is closed ~ Stop Delivery to the Box and return all mail to sender for customers who have not paid their box fees or returned the Group E Verification letters which were due by the last day of the previous month)
a. Pull the mail from each of the boxes listed on the WebBATS Auto Closed Report.
b. Treat that mail and any subsequent mail addressed to the customer at that box as undeliverable mail.

6. Change the lock
Fee PO Boxes (Within 48 days of closure)
a. Print the Auto Closed by WebBATS Report (under Reports | Payments | Auto Closed by WebBATS).
b. Pull the PS Forms 1093 for the boxes listed on the report.
c. Locks must be changed immediately after a PO Box is closed if the office has a shortage of available PO Boxes.
d. If there is no shortage of PO Boxes take the necessary steps to ensure that locks/combinations are changed within 48 days of the box being closed.
Note: It is preferred that locks are changed after 30 days.
e. Log into WebBATS and update the key and lock information.

Group E PO Boxes Only!
a. Print the Auto Closed by WebBATS Report (under Reports | Payments | Auto Closed by WebBATS).
b. Pull the PS Forms 1093 for the boxes listed on the report.
c. Change the lock immediately on the 11th. A lock change fee can only be charged if the lock is physically changed.
Note: We do not charge the handling/late fee for Group E PO Boxes.
d. Log into WebBATS and update the key and lock information.

NOTE: WebBATS will automatically close all unpaid Delinquent PO Boxes (including Group E Boxes whose primary box holders have not returned the Notice 32-N by the dates described above), Callers, and Reserves. The News page will show you how many boxes/callers/reserves were closed and allow you to view a list of the closed boxes/callers/reserves.

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Bereavement Leave

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE AND THE AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION, AFL-CIO

Re:
Bereavement Leave

APWU represented employees may use a total of up to three workdays of annual leave, sick leave or leave without pay, to make arrangements necessitated by the death of a family member or attend the funeral of a family member.

Authorization of leave beyond three workdays is subject to the conditions and requirements of Article 10 of the National Agreement, Subsection 510 of the Employee and Labor Relations Manual and the applicable local memorandum of understanding provisions.

Definition of Family Member.
“Family member” is defined as a:
(a) Son or daughter — a biological or adopted child, stepchild, daughter-in-law or son-in-law;
(b)Spouse;
(c)Parent; or
(d)Sibling — brother, sister, brother-in-law or sister- in-law; or
(e)Grandparent.

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Out of Schedule

434.6 Out-of-Schedule Premium

434.61 Policy

 434.611 General

Out-of-schedule premium is paid to eligible full-time bargaining unit employees for time worked outside of and instead of their regularly scheduled workday or workweek when employees work on a temporary schedule at the request of management.

 434.612 Timely Notice

Payment of out-of-schedule premium is dependent on timely notice being given by management of the temporary schedule change, as follows:

a. If notice of a temporary change is given to an employee by Wednesday of the preceding service week, even if this change is revised later, the employee’s time can be limited to the hours of the revised schedule, and out-of-schedule premium is paid for those hours worked outside of and instead of his or her regular schedule.

b. If notice of a temporary schedule change is not given to the employee by Wednesday of the preceding service week, the employee is entitled to work his or her regular schedule. Therefore, any hours worked in addition to the employee’s regular schedule are not worked “instead of” his or her regular schedule. The additional hours worked are not considered as out-of-schedule premium hours. Instead, they are paid as overtime hours worked in excess of 8 hours per service day or 40 hours per service week.

434.613 Application

Out-of-schedule premium hours cannot exceed the unworked portion of the employee’s regular schedule. If employees work their full regular schedule, then any additional hours worked are not “instead of” their regular schedule and are not considered as out-of-schedule premium hours.

Any hours worked that result in paid hours in excess of 8 hours per service day or 40 hours per service week are to be recorded as overtime (see 434.1).

434.614 Examples

See Exhibit 434.614 Below

Example: An employee is notified by Wednesday of the preceding service week to work a temporary schedule the following service week from 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., instead of his or her regular schedule from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The employee is paid 2 hours out-of-schedule premium for the hours worked from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. and 6 hours’ straight time for the hours worked from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. If in this situation the employee continues to work into or beyond the balance of his or her regular schedule (2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.), then he or she is to be paid for hours worked in accordance with Exhibit 434.614.

Example: An employee’s regular schedule is Monday through Friday and he or she is given a temporary schedule of Sunday through Thursday. The hours worked on Sunday are out-of-schedule premium hours provided they are worked instead of the employee’s regularly scheduled hours on Friday. If, however, the employee also works his or her regular schedule on Friday, then there can be no out-of-schedule premium hours; the hours worked on Sunday would be paid as regular overtime hours worked in excess of 40 in the service week.

Exhibit 434.614
Computing Out-of-Schedule Premium Hours

Hours Worked Total Work Hours Out-of-
Schedule Premium Hours
Straight Time Hours Overtime Hours
6:00 AM-2:30 PM 8 2 6 0
6:00 AM-3:30 PM 9 1 7 1
6:00 AM-4:30 PM 10 0 8 2
6:00 AM-5:30 PM 11 0 8 3
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January 12, 2020 Meeting

Western Colorado Area Local #600 – 

Our next meeting is coming up SOON!!! Sunday, January 12, 2020 at noon!  We want to let you know that now is the time to tune in & see what is happening. BE INFORMED! You can join from: your phone, tablet, or computer!   We have so many issues that are coming up! We need to be FIRED UP & READY TO GO!!! 

Below is the link for the meeting scheduled for January 12, 2020. A phone number was added for members who just want to call into the meeting.  Help us get the word out and encourage participation. It’s your union, we can’t do what we do without you!

WCAL600 Union Meeting https://www.gotomeet.me/wcal600   

You can also dial in using your phone. United States: +1 (312) 757-3121

Access Code: 572-447-877 

This meeting link & phone number will always be the same, so if you can’t make it this time, keep the future dates in mind. Meetings are held in: January, March, May, July, September & November.  We need your participation!!!

First GoToMeeting? Members can do a quick system check: https://link.gotomeeting.com/system-check 

If you want to be added to our email list, please send your info to: WCALAPWU@AOL.COM

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