Ramping Up the Staffing Advocate Program

(This article first appeared in the May/June 2008 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

By now, everyone should have requested and received their custodial staffing packages, under the terms of theMS-47 remedy settlement agreed to in late January. According to the settlement, the new staffing packages were to be prepared by management within 30 days, and in accordance with the 1983 version of the MS-47 Handbook. Please contact your NBA if you have not received the package.

After an initial examination of the Local Building Inventory (PS Form 4869), your local may wish to have the package reviewed further. If so, the local president should send a written request to Maintenance Division Director Steve Raymer, asking that an advocate review the package. Include staffing package forms, identification of items that appear to be incorrect, and contact information for someone in the local who is familiar with the inventory.

To prepare for the influx of requests we expect, we conducted headquarters-level training for new staffing advocates. Under the direction of National Representative at-Large Idowu Balogun, regional team leaders Chauncey McCamey (Nation’s Capital/Southern Maryland Local) and Larry Miller (480-481 Area Local) prepared and presented the training sessions. Nine advocates, including a few who were returning to the program, were brought in for the training, which featured a hands-on session at the Southern Maryland Processing and Distribution Center in suburban Capital Heights.

The 2008 staffing advocates are: Bob Andrews (Norfolk Local); Hector Baez (San Diego Area Local);Mike Boyne (Philadelphia BMC Local); Clive Cannon (Columbus GA Local); James Clack (Houston Area Local); Bill DeLaney (Pasadena CA Local); Lonnie Hartley (North Platte NE Local); Michael Hines (Oakland Local);Ken Horn (Portland OR Local); Dennis Ingham (Greater Seattle Area Local);Mike Isaacson (Phoenix Metro Area Local); Robert Jarrell (Greensboro BMC Local); Shirley Jasper (Greater Los Angeles Area Local); Alzena Johnson (Lafayette LA Local); Jennifer Johnson- Heiss (Madison Area Local); William Kreutter (New York Metro Area Local); Al Lewis (Baton Rouge Area Local); Pat Luttrell (Boise Local);Chauncey McCamey; Larry Miller; Lois Mitchell (Wilmington DE Malcolm T. Smith Local); B.C. Morris ( Pocatello Local); Edward Noftell (Saginaw Local); Rito Abel Palencia (Long Beach Area Local); Carlos Paz ( Dallas Area Local); William “Bill” Pick ( Broward County Area Local); Tony Roebuck (Northern Virginia Area Local); and Dave Singer (Milwaukee Area Local).

Staffing advocates are not limited to custodial staffing. They must also be familiar with the staffing requirements for Mail Processing; Building Equipment; Field Maintenance and the Administrative side. Each aspect of maintenance staffing is different, but our advocates can keep up.

National Representative-at-Large Balogun will assign requests for reviews of custodial packages to an available advocate. Please do not contact the advocates yourself. Some advocates specialize in BMC issues, while others offer a mix of experience, and we will be setting up their workloads accordingly. We need to be aware of what they already are working on and who else might be available.

Early Info on the FSS

The most recent addition to the Automation stable is a workhorse called the Flat Sorter Sequencer (FSS). This new, large piece of equipment will be deployed for the first time later this year. The schedule calls for 100 FSS machines to be in operation by the end of 2010. There may be even more after that.

Anyone who remembers working on an LSM (Letter Sorting Machine) will recognize similarities with the FSS. The mail is inserted into a slot in a cart; at the bottomof the cart, a slot-door opens that drops the piece into the appropriate bin. The preventative-maintenance route is certain to include checking for open cart doors. For many there will be some deja vu.

The 360-bin FSS is divided into four logical units of 90 bins each. The automatic feed will process as many as 17,000 flats per hour through the FSS. The Postal Service intends for the FSS to walk-sequence flat mail, and to have it run the same as a two-pass DBCS (Delivery Bar Code Sorter).

The FSS machines will be deployed in multiples of two, three, four, or even five machines to an office. Most facilities already have made or are in the process of making floor space available. The latest schedule shows Bulk Mail Centers in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New Jersey to be first in line for FSS deployment.

Increased Number of ETs

As far as the Maintenance Division is concerned, the additional FSS capability will increase the number of ETs in each office. While it will vary from office to office, you can expect up to 15 additional ETs for the first FSS. Additional machines will require more ETs, just not as many.

The effect on the number of MPE employees is not known at this time, but both MPEs and ETs will require six weeks of training at the National Center for Employee Development in Norman, OK. ETs will then spend an additional five weeks of training in Norman.

We will keep you posted on our negotiations with the Postal Service over the fine points of training for the FSS deployment.

Casuals and Vets

The Maintenance Division has received inquiries recently about custodians, casuals, and veterans’ preference. Even if local management could employ casuals as custodians — and that is a big “if” — the casuals would have to be preference-eligible veterans. The use of casuals is a big “if” because Maintenance Divisions positions are still covered by prohibitions on the use of casual employees “in lieu of” career employees.

If the employees in question are not preference-eligible veterans, they simply cannot be employed as custodians unless the hiring register is devoid of any veterans. As noted in the Maintenance article in the May-June 2007 edition of The American Postal Worker , preference-eligible veterans receive priority in hiring for custodial positions.

Here’s how it is stated in Handbook EL-312, Section 232.52:

Employment and Placement

Certain positions, whether career or non-career, are restricted to applicants eligible for veterans’ preference under the Veterans’ Preference Act of 1944. This rule applies only to appointments from external recruitment sources (whether competitive or noncompetitive). The following are restricted positions in the Postal Service:

Building maintenance custodian.
Custodian laborer.
Custodian.
Elevator operator.
Laborer custodial.
Window cleaner.

Please note the “whether career or non-career” phrasing. Even if local management can meet the casual “in lieu of” tests, the individuals employed as casuals still must be preference-eligible veterans. This principle is reinforced in Section 234.1 and Section 234.21 of the handbook.

Maintenance Division officers will continue the fight to protect the jobs of all Maintenance Craft employees.