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Tom Cook President Tyler APWU AFL/CIO Local 1477 PO Box 5000 Tyler TX 75712 903 877 9105 Fax 903 877 4508
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President's Some of the comments below are posted on the Union board at the plant. I can't post them all there, management has a key to our bulletin board and will go in a take them down. They have in the past. Since management will not allow my opinions on the board at the Plant, I changed the name to President's Page.
9/9/2007 At the membership meeting today we made decisions to endorse candidates for the National APWU elections. We are publishing our endorsements not to tell you who to vote for, but to try and reach a unified vote for our local. I have stressed several times how important it is for us to send a voice to our leadership in solidarity. When I discuss different concerns with our National leadership, they often look to see how our local voted in an effort to see how unified we really are. It is a way for national to gauge not only the wishes of our people but the degree of commitment to a common goal we display through our ballots. Our ballots will be mailed out around Sept 15th. Members who have not received a ballot by Sept. 20 are asked to notify their local, or to contact the American Arbitration Association between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. (EDT) at 800-529-5218 to request a duplicate. To receive a duplicate ballot, members must provide their name and the last four digits of their Social Security number, along with their local, craft, mailing address, and telephone number. Ballots may also be requested by e-mail to apwu@adr.org. The reasons for support of the candidates we selected were varied, but we were unanimous in each case. In the President’s race we chose to support Richard D. Cornell. The overwhelming voice seemed to be that it was time for a change. We are not satisfied with the direction current leadership has taken and feel the time to voice that has come. In the National Maintenance Craft Director race we will support Joseph “Joey” Cataldi. The arrogance of our current National Maintenance Craft Director along with the extreme slow pace of decisions at the national level were important in this decision. In the Health Plan Director race we voted to support Terry Finnerty in hopes of a more responsive and user friendly health care plan. The decision to support Jack Crawford in the Dallas Region A Clerk NBA position was made not in dissatisfaction with Claudia Richardson and the way she has performed her duties, but rather in support of the impressive way Jack has served us in past dealings.
8/20/2007
The decentralization has taken place as most of you already are aware. The effects have been interesting so far. For those of you who have manual scheme jobs, it is important for you to bid on the jobs currently posted if there is something there you are interested in. Time for that is short due to the bidding cycle, and I am told there will be no bidding cycle in September. Remember if you do bid on a job, you will not retain retreat rights to your current section. I have attempted to remedy that with management through an agreement specifically for this instance. Local management has been unwilling to sign such an agreement. I encourage you to grieve individually the fact that although management has not officially abolished your position, in effect the job is already gone and you are no longer able to do the job you bid on due to management’s actions. As a remedy to that grievance we can request to have your retreat rights reserved. That is a roundabout way of getting to where we need to be with this issue, but when management refuses to make reasonable agreements, we are forced take actions like this. I still am unsure about why management has chosen to delay the abolishment of the positions, but it appears to be just a way to cause hardship and deny your retreat rights.
Remember to make plans to be at the local membership meeting on Sunday Sept. 9th. Shortly following the membership meeting we will be getting ballots in the mail for the national APWU elections. This will be our last and best opportunity to discuss how we might encourage our membership to vote. I have stressed in the past the importance of unity in our vote.
There has been some discussion recently about a grievance payment some clerks received and some didn’t. I would be happy to discuss that issue with anyone who has a question about it. The decision about who would be paid was made from a 2002 seniority roster and as far as we have found so far is correct. I understand there has been some dissatisfaction with the way it was handled. In my opinion the settlement was handled properly. If you have a different opinion, please let me know (preferably in writing) and I will do my best to see that any questions raised are properly addressed.
7/14/2007
Many times in the past year, I have sought your input into ways to make our local a stronger more effective organization. Once again I am here to ask for your input as members and friends. While I realize I have made mistakes in the past year as a new local President, I have sought to do things to improve this local. The leadership of the local has worked well together and we have been effective in many ways. Could we do better? Certainly! And with your help we will. Our local was honored by National APWU Leadership with an award recognizing us as a “Best Organized Local”, with 86% of the represented craft employees as dues paying members of the APWU. We have grown in membership in the last year in spite of having fewer people to represent. How do we do better? I seek your input on ways we can make this organization more desirable to those who are not members. I am always pleased when I see new members. I am troubled by those who drop out for whatever reason. I am really concerned when I don’t know the reason they dropped out. If someone is mad about something we did, talk to us about it. If they are thinking they will save money by not paying dues, talk to us about that. If there are people out there who think there is really no benefit in membership, you really need to talk to us about that and think about it seriously before you make that decision.
National APWU elections are approaching and ballots will be sent out in mid September. The leadership at the national level uses the local’s vote totals in many ways in determining ways of responding to the requests from a local. You may think your vote is not important. That is not true. It is very important how you use your vote, not only for the outcome of the national election, but it will reflect on our local as well. Let me share an example. I had complained to President Burrus about an issue with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. He looked at the local vote total and responded that since the Tyler Local voted 78% in favor of ratification, I was not representing the wishes of my local in voicing displeasure with the CBA. He did recognize our vote as below the national average of 89%, but still overwhelmingly in favor of the agreement. So here is my suggestion. I would like to see this local send an overwhelmingly united vote in the upcoming elections. It is not so important to me who we support, as it is that we do it together. If we can come together and make our voice go out in unison, we will have a stronger influence with the national APWU leadership. I do not wish to tell anyone how to vote. It is your vote to use or not use as you see fit. I am trying to make our local stronger by increasing our influence with the APWU leadership at the national level. We can make decisions at the next membership meeting on September 9th about who we will or will not support, let’s just do it in solidarity and make use of the power we have.
6/17/2007 The Texas Postal Workers Convention completed Saturday 6/16/2007 and I would like to report on actions there. Tyler was represented by six delegates including myself, Vice President Vermon Chatmon, Secretary Treasurer Wanda Coleman, Clerk Craft Director Mickey Crawford, Maintenance Craft Director Paul Dickey, and Delegate Tina Kile. You may feel free to approach any of those present to ask them personally about their opinions about what went on. The Convention was opened with an address by Bill Burrus. Mr. Burrus as usual gave an informative speech addressing the challenges we face and some of their intent for ways to deal with those challenges. Through the course of the convention we heard from The National Craft Directors from all three crafts as well as other National and State officers. The Convention is far from just speeches though. There are real matters dealt with concerning everything from the finances of the State organization to the election of officers and amendments to the TPWU Constitution. The most valuable opportunity for me in the Convention is meeting with national and other local leaders of our union both before and after Convention hours to discuss ways to better serve our membership and to form relationships with those people. Those relationships better enable us to accomplish the things we need to accomplish here for you. Our delegation served the membership with their attendance and involvement in the convention in many ways. Wanda is on the State Audit Committee and chairs the Budget Committee. She had to go to the convention early to review the finances of the state organization. That is a tedious and critical responsibility Wanda has performed repeatedly for the state organization in the past and has agreed to continue to do so in the future. Wanda was nominated and selected by a great majority of those in attendance to serve as a delegate from TPWU to the APWU National Convention next year. There are only 5 delegates from Texas and our own Wanda Coleman was selected. Congratulations to her. Mickey Crawford and Vermon Chatmon served on the election committee for the convention. The state election of officers was hotly contested and required their complete focus even through a fire in the hotel building requiring an evacuation during the vote count. Tina Kile served on the automation committee. The automation committee reviewed suggested changes in automation practices to benefit the employees involved in those operations. Tina’s previous experience as an automation clerk and current experience in maintenance give her valuable insights into that committee’s responsibility. We all worked hard to represent the interests of our members and used the opportunities with national leadership to ask questions and work toward improvements for our membership. I was honored with the Bennett-Stubblefield\Jonell MacKay Award as outstanding TPWU Member of the Year for 2007. That was a great honor for me and I was humbled to be recognized by the leadership of TPWU. The award is selected by a vote of the State organization leadership and the Presidents from Texas APWU Locals.
6/4/2007 The LMOU negotiations are finally over. The exhausted and battle weary officers are happy to present the final product to you. While it is not perfect, there are some positive changes and some protections we think are important with the changes to the National Collective Bargaining Agreement. The new CBA allowed for the increase we have already seen in casuals. We were able to negotiate language that further limits management’s ability to rely on the casual compliment. Members can pick up a copy of the new LMOU in the Union office or see a steward to request one. The various LMOU’s are also available on the website at http://tylerapwu.org/aboutme.htm . Even though our Plant Manager Mr. Cade is refusing to sign the agreement from the Plant, it is still valid. He chose not to participate in the negotiations but used Dwayne Washington as his spokesperson. He ran Dwayne back and forth like a used car salesman in the negotiations. Now Dwayne has agreed to something that Mr. Cade doesn’t like and he is refusing to sign the agreement. He is saying he is proof reading it, but we know in fact he is just not signing it. The agreement is still valid even without his signature because we kept the original signed agreements for each item. He chose his negotiators, he could have been there himself but I guess he had more important things to do. Many of our members may not realize the commitment these negotiations took from your APWU negotiation team. We were not allowed to do these negotiations on the clock. The time spent on negotiations was a substantial contribution of the officers and I want to express my thanks to those who worked so hard for the improvements secured. Unlike when the National APWU negotiates, we normally do not compensate our people for the time they spend negotiating. The actual negotiations were only a part of the whole picture. There was a lot of time spent traveling to and from negotiations and preparation of the proposals and language. If we seemed to be slipping a little on some issues in the last month or two, please excuse it while we were concentrating more on the LMOU negotiations. I know for me, my wife is glad it is over. She has reminded me several times that she is not management and I need to be careful how I speak to her, guess I got a little consumed by it. At the Plant we are experiencing some management games over their numbers and their total focus on that. It is almost comical at times to see how consumed management can get over the numbers. I am sure this focus will pass in time and they will concentrate on something else for a while. It is amazing that when our numbers are good we get paid the same as when they are bad. If somebody’s pay is changing because of the numbers, it is not an APWU craft employee so I have little concern about the numbers. Perhaps if they staffed the facility correctly like I have been trying to get them to for the last year, the numbers might improve. The fact that some of the issues are likely maintenance related, leads me to believe the severe understaffing of our maintenance department is a contributor to their problems. The short staffing of clerks on the machines is another obvious problem. But for some reason our management can’t seem to see that.
5-12-2007 The LMOU discussions are in full swing. We have been meeting for a couple of weeks now and have made some progress. Management reaction to some of our proposals was as expected and then at times they have been cooperative. I believe we will come away with a better LMOU as a whole. Anytime you negotiate improvements, you have to expect there to be give and take. We had very few suggestions made on things for us to negotiate so the negotiating team has tried to seek improvements we think are attainable. There have been a couple of items we will end up sending to impasse, but all in all it looks so far like we are getting some positive things. When the new agreement is finalized we will post it here on the website for you to review as desired. We will also have copies available for any member who desires one in the union office.
4/29/2007 I would like to update everyone on some of what is going on in the local. We have begun to negotiate LMOU changes. Negotiations will continue through the end of May or when we complete negotiations whichever comes first. This will be the first time some of your officers (me included) have been to the table for this purpose. We are confident we will come away with improvements in our LMOU. If management is unyielding, the worst we will do is hold our own. The Texas Postal Workers Union will convene the state convention June 14 – 16. We have a strong state organization and it benefits our local in many ways to stay involved. We not only get superb training opportunities through the state organization, but we maintain working relationships with the NBA’s and other National officers through functions of the state. I know many of our members don’t understand the reasoning behind this but it is extremely important. When questions come up, we are able to call on our National Business Agents, Southern Region Coordinator, or other national officers to assist us when needed. Although in theory that should be available to us without our involvement in TPWU sponsored activities, the real truth is, when we have been in classes with those people and actually have spent time talking face to face with them, it helps. The same way you are more likely to trust information from, or lend a helping hand to someone you know these relationships are important. Even though sometimes it seems national officers do not have our best interests in mind, it could be worse. Without the constant communication we try to maintain with those who handle issues when they leave our office, bad things seem to always happen. Sometimes they mishandle our issues even when we are communicating with them. Obviously many decisions are made on issues that we don’t agree with. I try to remember when that happens those people have knowledge about things I am not aware of. That does not change the fact that we will many times challenge the decisions those people make. The relationships we have built sometimes help us to work through that. These opportunities also help us to know which officers represent the best interests of the membership. National Union elections are coming up quickly. Ask one of the local officers how they feel about the candidates if you don’t know. I personally don’t tell people how to vote, I will offer my opinion when asked. The advantage to that is the more in unison we are when we vote, the more pull we have with elected officers. That is true even when we vote against a particular officer. When they see vote totals that show unison within a local, they take notice and are more likely to make calculated decisions on issues important to that local. Lets work together and make our local stronger.
This is a bonus I thought some might enjoy reading 4/26/2007
He responded.... You will be sent a notice for the next District Meeting, and I did get in touch with them about it. I would appreciate you working with me on the issues you feel we have not taken care of on both sides.
4/12/2007
The following is a copy of an email sent to Mitch Cade with cc to Kathy Downing and Ken Taylor, in reference to the cell phone policy that previously was posted around the plant. I will point out that I got no response to this email. The absence of a response leads me to believe he is OK with it…
Mitch, In light of the no cell phone policy I would like to bring a matter to your attention which needs to be addressed. I have had two different maintenance employees come to me today with concerns about the inability of family members to get in contact with them in emergency situations. It is reasonable to assume there have been many others as well in both crafts represented by the APWU. One employee said his wife attempted to call here for three hours on T 3 to inform him of a situation at home where they had a gas leak in their house. The other said his wife attempted for over 2 hours to call him on a weekend T 2 to inform him of a death in the family. I have absolutely no faith in the system currently in use and will continue to carry my cell phone with me for that reason. I will encourage others to do the same. Your insistence that the company phones (3009) will be answered and messages will be passed on to employees has not shown to be valid. While I understand your reasons for issuing the policy, you must understand the employees concern about the system currently in place. I will continue to agree that employees should not use their cell phones on the workroom floor for normal conversations. I will not agree to the unreasonable demand that employees not be allowed to carry their cell phones to the workroom floor. You may take whatever action you deem appropriate. You may call this a form of insubordination if you wish. I will not deny my family the opportunity to get in touch with me in an emergency. While my time spent on the clock does belong to the USPS, it is unreasonable for management to assume they have a right to deny me access to the outside world when situations warrant my involvement. I understand your intentions were never to deny an employee of the ability to get messages from home when needed. That has however become the result of the system currently used. Any attempt now to correct that system and salvage the faith of the employees in it would be an extreme challenge. I have serious doubts about anyone's acceptance of the idea that management will get a message to them as needed while they are at work. It is time to admit the failure of the policy and allow the employees to carry their cell phones with them. They are going to anyway. And rightfully so. Reason dictates it.
Tom Cook President APWU Local 1477 Tyler TX
After speaking with other employees around the facility I have found this to be a widespread problem. Please let your union official know if you are directed not to have your cell phone with you on the work-room floor. Remember that management still does have the right to direct your actions while you are on the clock. They also have the responsibility to provide a uniform means of communication for all employees. (HBK AS-508)
Tom Cook
2/6/2007 Your Local APWU is working for you. Many of you may not be aware of the amount of work the local does for you, it's members. Let me share just a few of the things we are currently working on. We have a new contract and with it come many new challenges for enforcement. It will require some time and training to get to know all the changes and how to best deal with them. We have a new Local Memorandum of Understanding (LMOU) to negotiate in multiple locations. The plant has to have a new LMOU for both Clerks and Maintenance. The City of Tyler has to have new LMOU's for Clerks, Maintenance, and Motor Vehicle Services. And soon we will likely have the opportunity to negotiate LMOU's for some other small offices in our area. We have Labor Management issues to deal with involving critical man-hour counts for the city of Tyler. We have Longview retreat rights we are trying to enforce while they face maximization issues in Longview. While that should be a fairly simple thing, when you have to cross into another local union’s area, (Longview is the Greater East Texas Area Local) it does complicate things a little in getting the documentation. We have Safety and Health issues we are working on, staffing issues for both Maintenance and Clerks, and Retreat Right enforcement for our members from Tyler. All of these issues, as well as many others, are important to our membership. We have many individual grievance issues, which are very time consuming. It is a constant battle for stewards to get the time we need to process those issues. Please do not take this as a complaint. It is the pleasure of this local to serve the members who have been aggrieved by Postal Management. We signed up for the jobs as stewards and officers of this local. I have recently been a little distracted though, by labor charges filed against the local by a couple of individuals who appear to be self-seeking and untruthful in their allegations. I and other officers of our local have spent numerous hours investigating, documenting, and defending against these charges which have so far proven to be unfounded. I have made the choice now to ignore those who want to cause trouble and keep my attention on the job we have at hand. It would not be in the best interest of the local for us to continue to deal with issues from one or two individuals while we have legitimate issues that concern a much greater number of our people which need our attention. I make no apologies for the leadership of the local. While we do make mistakes, we work very hard and try to do the right thing, especially where the membership of this local is concerned. I would encourage you to remember that the stewards and officers of this local volunteer for the services they perform. When official union duties require an officer to miss work, they are reimbursed the amount of their LWOP. Aside from that and the rebate of their dues, the stewards and officers of this local are unpaid. Overall, I think the membership of this local is well represented by their stewards and officers. Is there room for improvement? Always! If you have suggestions for how we can do things better, let us know. We are Your Union. Get involved and make it better.
1/19/2007 The following is a little departure from my usual "opinions". This is a cut and paste of emails I have been involved in sending, concerning some safety issues at our plant. So far it has not had an impact on anything (that I know of), but has served to keep me frustrated. I hope you can take the time to read this and see what a genuine concern your management has for your safety. I do have hopes that eventually I will get a response from someone. From: Tom Cook To: Robert A Brown Sent: Monday, December 18, 2006 4:45 PM Subject: safety vs staffing Mr. Brown, I have an issue to discuss from a safety standpoint. We have repeatedly discussed the staffing on the DBCS and Flat Sorter 1000 equipment. These discussions have taken place in our local Labor Management meetings as well as in our Safety Health meetings. These conversations have been going on for some time and have not been productive. The local APWU has maintained that the staffing is a safety issue. Management has maintained that it is not a safety issue. The safety concern on the flat sorters is more related to the failure of employees ability to rotate between keying and sweeping. There are also concerns about the loading of the automated flat feeder from a tub in a hamper with the twisting and turning involved in that instead of use of the flat prep carts provided. These things are done because of the shortage of employees. Management has maintained that these things can be done safely with a reduced staff. We disagree. We feel this is very much a safety issue. The same issue is a concern on the DBCS machines. Management has repeatedly and habitually short staffed the equipment on a regular basis. In a recent safety and health training in Tyler, Mr McDowell suggested I contact you for information on how to proceed with this matter from here. Thanks, Tom Cook President APWU Local 1477 Tyler, TX Safety Heath Committee Member apwutcook@gmail.com Getting no response I resent the message
From: Tom Cook
[mailto:apwutcook@gmail.com] This is a repeat of the original message. Please respond….. So now he responds - sorta – if you call this a response From: Brown, Robert A - Coppell, TX To: Tom Cook Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 11:55 AM Subject: RE: safety vs staffing Mr. Cook, I apologize for any delay in responding to your email as I have been in and out of the office quite a bit the last couple of weeks. Could you please provide with some detail about what exactly is the Safety issue with the staffing on the DBCS and FSM 1000. When these issues are occurring and how often. Robert...
So I did From: Tom Cook To: Brown, Robert A - Coppell, TX Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 12:32 PM Subject: Re: safety vs staffing Mr. Brown, The precise issue for safety concern is both the rotation of keying on the flatsorters, and the working of mail into the automated feeders on the flatsorters from mail tubs which are unpreped. The failure to rotate keyers is a well documented safety issue. The problem is that management refuses to allow enough staffing for the rotation to occur in our facility. We have added another flat sorter in our facility and have not staffed accordingly. Local management insists on running the added machine even though we are not staffed to handle it. For the other issue of working the unpreped mail, this means the operator has to continuously twist and turn bending down to load the mail from the tubs located in the APC's behind them. The operators will all testify that this is not a safe way to operate, and on some tours the mail is preped. (meaning the mail is moved into the FSM carts built for this purpose) The normal operation for us on Tour 3 and usually on Tour 1 is to have the operators work the mail from the tubs in the APC's due to management failing to staff correctly and allow for enough personnel to properly prep the mail. We have attempted to show management the staffing sign off at national level for the DBCS machines which states in part that, Normal staffing for the OCR, BCS and/or DBCS will be two Mail Processing Clerks to perform the loading, feeding and sweeping functions. According to the questions and answers on this topic, machines may be operated by a single operator only in very specific circumstances which do not include managements failure to properly staff. I would be glad to provide a copy if you like. http://www.apwu.org/dept/clerks/031211clkautostaffing.pdf
If you remember ETPDC was a site attempting to work toward VPP status at one time. This time seems to be long since past. Management has not only given up on the idea of VPP for this facility, they have gone in the complete opposite direction from what I can tell. I realize that local management can't just go out and hire to fill the needed positions without approval from District, but they have completely ignored repeated safety concerns. This not only relates to the staffing levels. We have safety issues raised as a result of the inspections and even though I have repeatedly asked to be on the abatement committee, I have not been allowed to do so. The abatements are done on paper but not actually corrected. Issues reported on 1767's are left uncorrected. A tornado drill for my tour a few months ago was failed miserably and never repeated. I could go on and on, but the truth of the matter is, management has chosen to ignore the safety concerns raised to them here in this facility and we need outside assistance. Our Safety / Health committee meetings are a formality where the required motions are gone through, but no progress is made.
I would appreciate some feedback on this. If you are unable to help then please point me toward someone who can.
Thanks, Tom Cook President APWU Local 1477 Tyler TX Safety Health Committee Member But that failed to get a response of any kind so I proceeded as shown next… From: Tom Cook To: Carl T January Jr. Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 4:40 PM Subject: Fw: safety vs staffing Mr. January, Could you please direct me to the proper person who can get some action on these safety concerns. Mr. Brown does not seem to want to respond and I was directed to him by David McDowel. I have been attempting to get help with these issues for quite some time now. I do not intend to go over anyones head, I just want to get answers for genuine safety concerns that are swept under the rug here at ETPDC. Thanks, Tom Cook President APWU Local 1477 Tyler, TX Safety Health Committee Member I seem to be running out of patience here because I am not waiting as long between responses…
From: Tom Cook To: Carl T January Jr. Sent: Thursday, January 18 2007 8:40 AM Subject: Fw: safety vs staffing Mr. January, I understand you are a busy man and you want everyone to use their chain of command. I agree with that except when that chain of command does not work. I sent you this message in hopes someone would at least take note of it and acknowledge it. I suppose that was too much to ask. I will proceed with the necessary action to try and get a response. It has been a month since I Originally sent the message to Mr. Brown in your district safety office. He has yet to respond. I sent this to you over a week ago and I got no response. Your inaction has clearly shown to the local APWU you have no concern for the safety of the membership. You have relied on the local management to deal with the problem. I tried very hard to express to you the problem with that. You seem to have me in a place where I am limited on the things I can do now to try and correct the problem. I will however, still attempt to correct the problem. At every level of this problem, I have asked for some sort of feedback on the issue. As of this date I have gotten absolutely no reply at all. Yet management claims to have a genuine concern for safety. You have shown your concern for you managers comfort are more important that your concern for the physical safety of the employees. For your information, if I get no response from this message, I will post the complete log of messages on the Union Bulletin Board at the East Texas P&DC to show the employees the lack of concern management has for their safety. This issue is important to my membership (your employees) and needs to be dealt with. Management wonders why the VOE survey scores have fallen so much??? Tom Cook President APWU Local 1477 Tyler, TX Safety Health Committee Member So We proceed on to the next step…with less time spent waiting for a reply. And by the way – if you ever do something like this – always attach a read receipt so you have proof they got the message.
From: Tom Cook To: Ellis.A.Burgoyne Sent: Friday, January 19 2007 11:12 PM Subject: Fw: safety vs staffing Mr. Burgoyne, Do you have any idea how I might find someone to respond to my genuine safety concerns at East Texas P&DC? If you observe my past communications, you will see that I have not been rude or unreasonable in anything I have brought forward. The problem is, I have yet to get a response of any kind from any of the managers I have brought this to. Do we have to have major health issues with our employees before we look at these issues? I would appreciate a response of some kind. Thank You Tom Cook President APWU Local 1477 Tyler, TX Safety Health Committee Member But when the others see you are willing to keep going they get nervous about not doing their job... From: Brown, Robert A - Coppell, TX To: Tom Cook Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2007 5:35 AM Subject: RE: safety vs staffing Mr. Cook, I apologize for not responding to you sooner. I have contacted Mr. Cade and requested that he set up an appointment with you and I to discuss you concerns. Additionally, I have already discussed your concerns with the Ergonomics coordinator from the North Texas Plant, Maria Chacon. We would like to observe the operations in question during the time in which you feel are of the most concern. Please provide me with as many potential times and days in order to coordinate our review. In addition, please provide me with your contact numbers. Robert A. Brown Manager, Safety Dallas District (972) 393-6069 (972) 393-6145 And this is where we are now.
Mr. Brown,
As I stated before, many of the items I am
concerned about are things that are "swept under the rug" here at ETPDC.
If you coordinate a time with the Plant Manager, you give him ample
opportunity to cover up the issue you need to observe. What I suggest is
that you make an unannounced visit.
The issue with staffing is something local management claims to be
trying to deal with. We have 18 clerk positions vacant right now. That
might not sound too bad for a plant the size of NTX, but for an
operation the size of ours, it is a disaster waiting to happen. We are
severely short on Maintenance positions as well and that has created
another safety issue, but we need to stay focused on one issue at a
time.
The times to best observe the flats operations
are generally any tour 3 and tour 1 weekday. Management has abolished
almost every weekend off job and now are left with fairly good coverage on
the weekends (when there are no supervisors left there).
The same is generally true of the DBCS
operations, although it is more prevalent on tour 1. I understand these
are not convenient times to visit a plant out in east Texas. But I really
see no other way to observe what I am talking about. The observation is
important, but if someone would spend some time talking to the employees
of the plant one on one, they would get a better picture of what is going
on. This would need to be done randomly to get a true feeling for what is
going on.
I will make myself or any of my officers and
stewards available any time you would like to visit. I currently work tour
3, but just left tour 1 a couple of months ago so I am familiar with the
situations and employees. Please feel free to contact me anytime. I will
come in on any shift or day you prefer, if you want me there. If you had
rather do this without me there I am fine with that too. I am still
confident you find the problem if I am there or not.
Tom Cook
cell 903 780 5412
home 903 858 1190
union office 903 877 9105
Our clerk craft director is Mickey Crawford
and he recently left the plant after working on the tour 3 flat sorters
for many years.
Mickey can be reached at
home 903 XXX XXXX (removed for their
protection)
azalea station Tyler 903 597 0208
Our local union's sec/treas. is Wanda Coleman.
Wanda works tour 3 flat sorter currently and is the expert on the issue
as it relates to the flat sorter operations.
Wanda can be reached at
cell 903 XXX XXXX (removed for their
protection)
union office 903 877 9105
Our Vice President of the local Vermon Chatmon
who is also on our safety health committee, is familiar with the way our
meeting proceed and works the flat sorters on tour 2 and is familiar with
the operations.
Vermon can be reached at
cell 903 XXX XXXX (removed for their
protection)
union office 903 877 9105
I will cc them in this message which will give
your their email address as well
So now we wait and see.
1/5/2007 This is still the watered down, less controversial version of my opinion. I know many of you became accustomed to the nice little on-going sagas we had posted for a while here. I apologize for the disappointment caused by the lack of postings in the past couple of weeks. I guess it can’t all be full of glamour. It is not that your union leadership has not been busy working for you, I assure you, we have. Many times the issues we are concentrating on are not things we can publicize. They are, at times, private issues that need to stay private for the individuals we are fighting for. I will continue to bring you the scoop when it is permissible, and as shown in times past, sometimes when it is not. I know I am not the best writer and often make grammatical errors, please excuse that and get the pure entertainment offered. One of the interesting things going on right now involves the Safety and Health Committee. We have long had a dispute on the correct staffing of the equipment here. I often bring it up at the Safety Health Committee meetings, without much effect. I have since forwarded that issue to our district safety office, Mr. Robert Brown. When Mr. Brown failed to give a response in a timely manner, I forwarded the entire package to Mr. January. Now we wait to see if he responds. I am not trying to say that safety is an entertainment issue. I think it is very important. That is the reason why I have taken this action. Traditional avenues have been unproductive; I am seeking ways to make a difference. Those ways can sometimes be a bit entertaining if we allow them to.
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and I hope you are enjoying the New Year. I hope you had the opportunity to voice your opinion on the new contract. Please don’t let the opportunity to vote in favor or against it go. I would love to see our local with a high percentage of votes cast. Against or for ratification, just vote your conscience. While you are voting, come out to the union meeting on January 14th and vote there for or against something too. We really need to find ways to involve more of our membership in the meetings. We sometimes make decisions at the meetings where your voice could make a big difference. However, unless you are willing to let your voice be heard at the meetings, when it can make a difference, it is of little use to complain afterwards. Besides, there is always the incentive of the $25 door prize at every meeting. If you need directions just give a yell, we can get you there.
12/16/2006 This is the watered down, less controversial version of my opinion. In the next few days, you should be getting your copy of the tentative National Agreement. As stated by APWU National, everyone will get a copy of the agreement and a ballot. Even the non-members will get a ballot, accompanied by a form to join the union and let their vote be counted. Sneaky… but it might get a few folks to join. There are many things about the new contract that will be different. I am speaking about the contract as if it had already been ratified. I suspect it will overwhelmingly be adopted. (That borders on opinion and may cause me to get in trouble again). It just looks like the membership nationwide is happy with the proposed agreement. From the conversion and elimination of future PTF’s in larger offices, to the level increase for all APWU represented employees, and the elimination of split days off, there are many things that sound attractive. Just make sure you read it and know what you are voting for or against. Many websites have information about the new agreement that you can use to educate yourself. I have an opinion, but management has prohibited me from expressing it here. Even so, I am for it. Be prepared for a dues increase from National. Traditionally it accompanies a new agreement. In the past, the local has absorbed that increase several times. We have tried to keep your dues from going up by accepting less for our portion of the dues you pay. I am not in favor of doing that again. We need to stay in solid financial condition. We need to stay prepared for the future and meet the needs of the present. Having said that… it is not my decision to make. The membership makes those decisions. If you have things you would like to see changed in our LMOU, you need to let us know. We will begin local negotiations soon and we need your input. If the local is unchanged and you didn’t express your wishes for changes, you have no room to complain. The same goes for the Constitution for our Local. We are making efforts to upgrade it and make needed changes. Let us know what you think needs to be changed there. This local needs everyone to be involved so that we can be YOUR UNION.
President's Page 12/7/2006
If you will notice, the title of this page has changed. It is no longer my opinion. Management has stated I cannot place my opinions on the Union board. Therefore, I will attempt to place FACTUAL things here and we will see if management finds that less offensive. Management claimed to me in a phone call today, “Employees had approached them and complained they were offended by the comments I had made on the last page”. Specifically, they were offended in my reference to large female underpants. I will therefore refrain from references to such things in the future. I will not however, stop placing the truth about what is going on here in my attempts to keep you informed. For all the faults of my ranting, it did serve to halt management’s plan to put people sorting mail outside. It stopped the plan to put people in a port-a-potty. Therefore, I will continue to use this resource as long as it is effective. I will attempt to make everything I place here FACTUAL and not opinion. According to the FACTS of what has happened, management controls the Union Bulletin Board. Let us look at history. Management in the past, removed without consulting the union, a posting placed there by your elected clerk craft director. That issue was never properly explained or dealt with (that borders on opinion, but the person who had placed the posting there was not satisfied with the explanation). Management felt they had the right to go into the locked board and remove something. Management has now twice told me to remove a posting I have placed on this board. The FACTS are that management thinks they control this board. I will encourage you therefore, to look at the website for uncensored writings. They will continue there. This board will only be used for the “FACTS”. Management has complained to me in the past about the use of this board to post their bonus amounts. I suppose even though the amount was not contested, that must have been opinion too. I will look into that and see if we can’t find more FACTS about bonus amounts. Or perhaps we could use this page to discuss the FACT that members of management who attended the district Christmas party, were all given a personal camcorder. How does that compare with the FACT that you will not get a Christmas gift from the Postal Service? I am certain management will be pleased with my use of only FACTS here. So, I will go in search of more FACTS.
President's Opinion
11/30/2006 In the interest of harmony, I would like to clarify my remarks posted earlier. Before I do, please note the title of this page…. It is opinion. Everybody has one….. I stated in my opinion on 11/28/2006, “I want to go on record as having voiced my strong disagreement with this decision, even though the Mailhandlers representative seemed to be OK with whatever management wanted to do.” The basis for my opinion is, when management suggested some of the most outrageous things I have ever heard, (port-a-potties, transporting mail across a dark area congested with trucks maneuvering to the dock in potential bad weather conditions, etc…) the Mailhandler representative stated “I have no objection”. The fact is, there was no solidarity from the Mailhandlers representative when the APWU objected and suggested alternatives. It is never my intention to create a work environment that is less than cooperative and united between the unions. I want very much for us to be able to work together. If we agree, we have a better opportunity to correct the situations within our facility that need our attention. That was exactly what the APWU was attempting to do when we disagreed with management over the Christmas move of operations to the un-insulated, three sided building, originally constructed under the guise of a storage facility for AMT collection boxes. Management has pulled that trick before as you know. They have been allowed to manipulate the system and turn much needed storage space into work area, instead of going through the proper channels of getting an addition approved for a seriously overcrowded facility. They robbed you of a portion of your parking area, which was locally negotiated, and put you in a gravel pit without lights, when they had an area they could have used alternatively. I know the APWU and Mailhandlers will continue to have differences over whose work is what (also known as RI399 issues). This is beyond that. The APWU will not attempt to represent Mailhandlers except where safety is involved. These items will be addressed, because they involve all employees here. If I have offended some with my opinions, I apologize. The opinions were not intended to offend. I was attempting to make everyone aware of what is going on. I have always believed we should all be aware of what is going on when possible. I can only provide my point of view. Outside of that, I suggest the offended, “put on your big girl panties and deal with it”.
11/28/2006 Last night I was invited to "participate" in a meeting with management and the Mailhandler's Union to discuss changes needed to get through the Christmas season and the changes in volume during that time. Management had decided it was necessary to move an operation out to the new maintenance shed. Their decision was to move 2 C operations out there. I want to go on record as having voiced my strong disagreement with this decision, even though the Mailhandlers representative seemed to be OK with whatever management wanted to do.The concerns I brought to management about this decision included the safety of the employees while transporting the mail back and forth through the docking area while trucks are backing in. This is during a time when weather conditions are likely to be at their worst, and truck drivers have been dealing with increased schedules, bad weather, and increased traffic. They will be trying to back into a very limited space that has already shrunk due to empty equipment, storage trailers taking up dock space, and now they will have to dodge mail being moved across the area they have to maneuver their load through. I also voiced concerns about the comfort of the employees working in an area not designed for mail processing (basically outside, on uneven floors) that is a great distance from any restroom facilities or break area. I also brought up the security concerns that management seems to be so concerned about. The employees would have to have access to the building through the walk through door between the trash compactor and the registry cage. In the past management has refused to even allow maintenance workers to have access to this door even when they have to work on the air compressors right outside the door. I offered suggestions to management for how to deal with this in other ways. My ideas were not acceptable to them, and when I raised the concerns I had about the logistics of their plan, I was given their solutions. "A permanent heater is being put in place in the shed and additional heaters will be provided if needed". "If needed, an employee will be placed at the doorway so employees will have access back into the building". "When mail is transported across the dock parking area, a guard will be used to escort the equipment with a light if necessary". " Upscale portable-potties would be provided if needed in the area for the employees working in the shed if necessary". If you notice, all these things are "if necessary". I can see now, unless someone is seriously injured, these things were "not necessary". Today I will take these concerns up in Safety Health Committee, which also seems to be a waste of time. Management's concern for safety is only a paper concern. They only deal with safety issues when they are a part of an inspection or a PEG score. The limited concern they show for safety in an inspection is quickly gone as soon as the inspection is over. I am attempting to make changes in that trend, but it is an uphill battle. It would appear the VPP process is a very dead issue. Another quick observation about the "Christmas plan", which I voiced at the meeting. We can provide employees to "escort" mail transported through the dock parking area, and guard the door, but we can't staff the machines properly??? We can't replace employees when they retire, resign, or retreat? We must continue to work our MPE's in maintenance through the busiest time of the year with 30% of the MPE positions vacant, and management steady bringing in additional equipment and moving the equipment we have all over creation.
11/10/2006
The past few weeks of working Tour 3 have enabled me to see some things a
little differently. I see management seeking to correct behavior in the
APWU Clerk Craft by breathing down the necks of automation clerks about
throughput, jam rates, bin fulls, and out of sequence. At the same time I
see the behavior of AFC operators go unchecked and nothing is said when
they fail to call a maintenance technician for a reject rate of 40% or
when they ignore the obvious fact that no mail is going into a certain
pocket when they know it should be.
I see this as a desperation in treatment. I view this as management
treating one group very differently than another. I am not seeking to
compare the clerks to mail handlers. Obviously the clerks are a higher
paid (in hourly rate) group and should be held to a higher standard. I do
not seek to cause a further division between the ranks of the employees. I
do seek to bring attention to the fact that management has chosen to
enforce a change in employment conditions that was previously not there.
This action has been brought about by pressure from upper management on
local supervision. The decisions of upper Postal Management to place their
supervisors under some sort of unrealistic goals and expectations and then
pressuring craft employees to perform differently so they can meet those
goals, meets the contractual definition of unilateral actions prohibited
under Article 5, and constitutes a change prohibited by Article 19, of the
National Agreement.
The Union has in no way been negotiated with about these additional
requirements of management on the Automation Clerks. Management has a
history of changing at the district level and attempting to enforce some
new way of doing things. This too shall pass. In the meantime, if you feel
management has put you under some different condition of employment, some
new requirement, just follow their instruction but bring it to the
attention of a steward. Always follow the instruction (unless it is
unsafe). Usually just following the instructions you have been given is
enough to prove the ignorance of management. As you do that, remember to
follow the instructions exactly. No more and no
less.
10/26/2006 I would like to update you on a few things. If you have found this page then you surely have found a way to check the contract negotiations online so I will not repeat the things found on the national's website about that. If you would like to look at it closer look at some of the sites on our links page. It is still early in negotiations. At the plant, things seem to be getting worse every day with the understaffing and unrealistic expectations of management. As I talk to management, I have learned that district wide they expect to go through 2007 without hiring. As we have people leave through retreat rights, transfers, retirement, resignation, or even removal, they will only be replaced by someone seeking reassignment on e-reassign. It looks more and more like management is doing everything possible to make our plant fail. When we get a position that comes down no-bid, management reverts it. Then they wonder why we can't make the production efficiencies we are supposed to when we are running the machines understaffed constantly. We have addressed these things with local management repeatedly, and will continue to do so. It looks like the only way we will ever get more staffing is to continually fail to make dispatches. I am not advocating we intentionally do that... yet. However, the possibility is always there, and as management continues to mismanage, it may require desperate measures to draw attention to the pure ignorance of failing to staff vacant positions. I am told (by local management) that they are attempting to fill the vacant positions but are not allowed to hire. I almost believe them sometimes. The fact is though that they will still get a... what are they calling it this year, a pay for performance BONUS. All while we are working short-staffed, in a seriously over crowded facility, through non-air-conditioned summers. We are watching management spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on floors to contractors (which now look like crap), hiring contractors to replace a sprinkler system (which we can't use because the building might collapse), wondering why they can hire casuals but they can't convert some PTF's and fill some vacancies. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions at apwutcook@gmail.com
10/20/2006 The steward training will take place on Saturday afternoon 10/28/2006 at 2:00 PM. If you need directions email me or call. Immediately following the training at 7:00 PM, I will host a party at my home. If you think you would like to attend the party but you have no interest in the stewards training, that's OK too. We would love to see you there. We always have a good time so load up your lawn chair and come on. Don't let bad weather influence your decision to attend, we are prepared and have a large indoor space. We will have Julie's home made chili, refreshing beverages, a poker table, a domino table, and music to shake a leg by. For those of you who have heard the stories about past parties, there will not be a bon fire this year so the local Fire Department can relax. The Constitution Committee is in place and ready to go to work. The committee consists of; Chris Gray (chairman), Kelly Young, Nichole Crowder, Terry Gandy, and William Love. We will try and keep you updated on the progress of the committee. Please see a member of the committee with suggestions you have for our local's constitution.
10/7/2006 We will be repeating the training for stewards again this month. We have some interested in the training who were unable to attend the last session. The date is set for 10/28/2006 right now but could be changed if needed. We have enough persons showing interest in the constitution committee now and they will be given the documentation this week to begin their work. Thanks to those who stepped up and took the task on. Southern Region Coordinator Frankie Sanders has resigned and is temporarily replaced through national executive action by National Business Agent William E. Sullivan from the Atlanta region. What does that mean to us??? well I have an opinion and I suppose I can legally state it here... maybe it means we will get some arbitrations scheduled here. I have been very vocal to our previous Southern Region Coordinator in the past about the fact that we seem to get very few dates scheduled in comparison to other locals. Since we are a small local it seems we get very few dates in relation to the number of grievances we have waiting to be heard. Perhaps that will change now. I am optimistic.
9/17/2006 We just completed the local training for stewards. It went very well but we could have used more participation. We are in need of good stewards. This local has a lot of experienced members who would make great stewards if they wanted to. I am not suggesting that everyone has to be a steward. In fact, just a couple of really good stewards would do a lot of good for this local. We are always on the lookout for interested members who have the potential for serving in the capacity of steward. It doesn't mean you have to have all the knowledge. You will be trained well. You would be taught from the basics all the way through advocacy if you desire to go that far. Stewards are not all we need. We have been in need of a committee to examine and recommend changes to our local constitution. We know of some changes that need to be made but we need a group to sit down and look at the entire document (all of about 10 pages) and see what needs to change to make it comply with the national constitution and the labor laws. If you would be willing to serve in either of these capacities, let me know or let another officer or steward know. The constitution committee will be headed up by Chris Gray, and you can contact him directly. I know I still have a lot to learn to be the kind of President I want to be for this local. I am doing the best I can and I do appreciate the encouragement and feedback I get from many of you. I just ask that you let me know when you see something that I could do better or something that would make our local better able to serve the membership.
8/20/2006 We just got back from the National Convention in Philadelphia. It was exciting and enlightening. As always, the convention is a huge operation full of unexpected resolutions and outcomes. I encourage you to speak to the representatives who attended. We did our best to keep up with all the resolutions and the recommendations made by the delegates. That is sometimes a very tricky thing to do with the individual resolutions presented in a very hurried pace. The resolutions that were prepared before the convention and sent to the delegates were a small part of everything that was presented. The delegates attending were; Tom Cook, Vermon Chatmon, Wanda Coleman, Mickey Crawford, Paul Dickey, Linda Shofner, Donny Allen, and Tina Gray. I have encouraged them to fill you in on their impression of the National Convention. As for my impression... It was very political as always, but there were some clear messages sent to the national officers about the stewardship of union funds. Speaking of that... I would like to see our local sit out some conventions to save some money for more important things. The National Convention is a huge expense for a local the size of ours. Perhaps we can either scale it back or sit some out to save money and purchase our own Union Hall. That is a desire of mine but the final say is yours as the membership. It would require either an amendment to our local constitution or at least a suspension of the requirement to send delegates for a time. As always I want to hear what you have to say... Now it is time to get back to work on the issues here at home. I would like to thank the membership of this local for the opportunity to serve as a representative to the National Convention. Philadelphia is a beautiful old city, full of history. The problem is that it is also full of Yankees, but all together it was a positive experience.
8/7/2006 It seems management has relented and will now allow our Clerk Craft Director into the plant. We will wait and see this happen before I withdraw the charges filed with the NLRB. Your officers will be away beginning 8/10/2006 and back on 8/20/2006. We will be in Philadelphia for the National Convention. While the officers are away, I fully expect management to do some things they would not ordinarily do. There will be some stewards still here and they will be happy to represent you as needed. Remember there is a National Level Extension for time limits during the National Convention. Your issues can be dealt with when we return. If you have a problem that cannot wait for our return and you cannot find a steward, you are free to call either the union office, we will get the message, or if it is urgent call my cell. We will attempt to give a report on the National Convention from our viewpoint as soon as we return.
8/3/2006 As of this date, the Plant Manager at East Texas P&DC has refused to allow the Clerk Craft Director for this local to enter the facility. The officers of this local are not so ignorant to think this is a security concern when Mickey has been an employee here at this plant since the plant opened with no security issues. Management has chosen to make an issue of the fact that Mickey accepted his retreat rights to Tyler and is no longer an employee at the plant. Personally, I can see at least two possibilities for why management has chosen to take this action. It could be due to the efficiency of Mickey's grievances and the monetary cost of those grievances on the Postal Service, which actually is not Mickey's fault, he was not the one who violated the National Agreement. Alternatively, it could be management attempting to distract the local's attention from other issues. Either way, we are not amused. In the first scenario, management is retaliating against a union official. In the second, we are closely examining all areas to reveal management's deceptions. You can assist us by letting us know when you observe violations. Remember, when we work together, we can accomplish much more with less effort. ARTICLE 23 RIGHTS OF UNION OFFICIALS TO ENTER POSTAL INSTALLATIONS Upon reasonable notice to the Employer, duly authorized representatives of the Union shall be permitted to enter postal installations for the purpose of performing and engaging in official union duties and business related to the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
I have some ranting to do publicly here so hold on... I just finished reading a post in the plant about some scores management wants us to "help" them achieve in the month of July. As a reward for these improved scores they want to offer you a free hotdog. WOW! I am overwhelmed by their generosity. My opinion on this is, "shove the hotdog and provide some air-conditioning". Those of you who know me will know that I am working very hard to force managements hand on our extreme working conditions at the plant. So far I have had little success. I may need your help. It seems all management is concerned with is the scores and numbers. So that means if we have control of something they want, and they have control of something we want, (the ability to provide a comfortable working environment), then we have room for negotiation. It will require us working together to make things happen, but we are after all a "union" and that is what we are supposed to be about. I have no problem with us getting money for a member who has been wrongfully denied overtime, or in some other way representing the individual members of this union. We are definitely supposed to be doing that. That is the role of Stewards. My role as President of this local, is to look out for the cooperate needs of the membership as well. I express this opinion to you in the hopes that when I need your cooperation in reaching the goals we may have, you will understand the method and strategy behind what I am doing. I am not so ignorant as to believe that management is not aware of our strategies. I welcome them to openly negotiate the things we desire with the things they desire. I have nothing to hide. We don't do behind the scenes deals or compromise the integrity of this local with trade offs of member's rights for favors. That does not mean we do not have the ability to negotiate.
Next, on the issue of the "or else" meeting with T1 automation Tuesday night 7/26.... Let me explain a couple of things to the people present. You were instructed to do a few things at that meeting that require additional time on an already fragile schedule in making dispatch. I know many of you have a great deal of satisfaction from making dispatch on a very tight schedule. I want to remind you again though that you are not responsible for making dispatch. You are an hourly employee and as such you must follow instruction. If you are told to do things a certain way, you must comply. Even if it means you don't make dispatch. You are only held accountable for following instruction. You are not, by your job description, required to work without supervision. Management is responsible for dispatches, you are responsible for 4 clock rings per day and following the instructions given. As long as we follow the instructions given, management must stand to answer for the ignorant instructions they have given. You are neither paid nor rewarded by the scores on your machine. If anyone is ever disciplined for the scores on their machine when they have followed instructions, I certainly want to hear about it. You were told that maintenance would be watching to see that you were complying with the instructions you were given. Let me clarify that a little. Management in maintenance may be doing that. Your maintenance craft brothers and sisters will not take part in that. Even though management has tried to push ET's into doing that, ET's and MPE's are not managers or supervisors, they are fellow craft employees. The interest they have is on the performance of the machines not your performance as an operator. They will not be a part of "getting you in trouble" for anything. That job falls completely to management. If you feel you were "ratted out" by someone in maintenance, please let me know.
3/17/2007
The Membership meeting for March was wonderful. I want to thank the members who showed up and voiced their concern and interest in the business of the local. I am pleased we were able to discuss issues and conduct ourselves as adults. I hope we can continue to have this much success with the business of the local. For those who were not present and want to know the outcome of the constitutional proposals, we have included an updated copy of our constitution on the website. www.tylerapwu.org
We are in preparations for LMOU negotiations. We have formally requested to open discussions. I have been working on proposals to address various problems. I know many of you have ideas for items you would like to see addressed. Please send those ideas to me, (apwutcook@gmail.com or give it to a steward to get to me) so we can attempt to negotiate positive changes. Remember we are somewhat limited to the 22 items previously identified in Article 30 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. I say somewhat because, if a problem is identified outside those 22 items, which can effectively be addressed through the LMOU and it is not in conflict with the CBA, it is proper to discuss those items.
Effective March 23, 2007, we welcome the Lindale Clerks into the Tyler, TX local. The Brothers and Sisters there are a welcome addition to our family here. They unanimously voted to come into our local and we unanimously voted to accept them. National was not too quick in approval of the request, but with a little prodding they did finally get it out. We are looking forward to the opportunity to work with the members from Lindale in securing their contractually guaranteed rights and conditions.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the stewards and officers of this local for their service. While we will always have flaws, we are fortunate to have a group as caring and steadfast in their commitment to the membership. We may not always do everything right, but it is our intention to always represent our membership as professionally and compassionately as we can. Many of our members have recently commented positively on actions taken by the local. We appreciate the encouragement and validation. The reason the stewards and officers do what they do, is for you the membership to have a better place to work. So thank a steward, that’s their pay for the work they do. Tom Cook apwutcook@gmail.com
These are my opinions. I do not mean to say they are the opinions of the majority of this local. If you find my opinions to conflict with your own, you are completely free to have your opinion. If you would like to post your opinion you are completely free to do so. We have even provided a space for you to do that. http://www.tylerapwu.org/feedback.htm If you feel you need to express to me individually your opinion, I welcome that via my email. |
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