Yes, the election for the Philadelphia PA Area Local APWU is about 7 months away. So, as you can see, a few individuals have probably decided to get a jump on it by putting out flyers consisting of mostly inaccurate and/or untrue facts; But, whether or not its election time, irresponsible and baseless misrepresentations about our Union hurts our ability to be credible and effective on behalf of this membership.
I have spent a good part of my career working with the Philadelphia Local, to better our situation with the Postal Service. I can honestly say that the kind of irresponsible statements about the Local that we have been seeing in print are very discouraging to the 95% of this Locals’ representatives who are very committed, and work very hard to make sure that this Local provides the best representation possible. This has become somewhat difficult since management knows it’s hard for the Union to focus on representing the people, when we have to keep looking over our shoulder at each other. The effort to undermind and discredit the Union is really harmful to all of us – to every member.
In one flyer, for example, Tour One Chief Steward Larry Henderson implicitly questioned the legitimacy of the Local’s officers, by saying that in the last election the Eastern Regional Coordinator, Jim Burke, instructed Dennis Sullivan not to run anyone against Gwen Ivey or myself. This is just not true. Not only is Larry Henderson ignorant of any such discussions, but both Gwen and I had decided to run independently two years prior to the election. Also, there was no conspiracy between Mr. Sullivan and me regarding him resigning and me becoming President, as also implied by Mr. Henderson. The truth is, Mr. Sullivan resigned for personal reasons and the Locals’ Constitution dictated the procedure to follow in replacing him as Local President.
In another recent flyer Mr. Henderson says the deed to our new union office is in my name and Vice President Ed Oliver’s name. He wants you to believe we have swindled the Local into us having ownership of the Local’s new building, and that our heirs would get the building if something happened to us. Not true! The truth is, yes, our names are on the deed. Since we are not an incorporated entity the deed shows the current officers hold the deed in trust for the Local; so the fact is, whoever the current officers are their names will be on the deed to the building.
Mr. Henderson also alleges that newly elected Executive Board Members were replaced after I became President. This is totally untrue and, like his other allegations, ridiculous. In fact, the President does not have the authority, under our Constitution, to remove elected union officials. After I took office, three nonvoting, appointed jobs were changed, to make them effective. I appointed the previous Editor (who had won several awards at the National APWU Press Conference) and the previous Legislative Director, who had done such a great job that she was offered a full-time job by the Philadelphia AFL-CIO. In addition, some previous stewards were brought back to assist with handling the grievance workload, due to the fact that at least 70% of the newly elected representatives had never even written a grievance. As I promised at my first meeting as President, all of the Union’s resources would be used to proficiently representing our membership. That’s exactly what we have done.
Trustee Larry Love also put out a flyer questioning the Local’s commitment to pursuing jurisdictional disputes and use of casual violations. As an elected union official Mr. Love should be more aware of the history of jurisdictional disputes and what the National Agreement says on use of casuals before questioning the Local’s commitment on these issues.
Regarding the RI-399 Situation, Drew Stevenson is our RI-399 representative. He was sent for extensive training on how to handle this process. The training he received was given by the National APWU and was over 40 hours long. He is a certified National APWU RI-399 Arbitration Advocate. Mr. Love’s statement that he has attended RI-399 training at the National APWU Convention is laughable. I’m sorry, but a one hour presentation at the convention on the history of RI-399 is not “training,” which the National provides in an in-depth process to the arbitration advocates on this issue.
Since Mr. Love does not understand either the history or the contract, let me briefly explain. RI-399 is not a new issue. Jurisdictional disputes between the APWU and Mail Handler union have existed since the late 1970’s. Most, if not all, of our jurisdictional disputes over jobs are national in scope. Therefore, because we have a National Agreement, we must await the outcome of national level arbitrations before we can move forward on them locally. However, if a mail handler is performing work that is undisputed clerk craft work, the steward in your work area should file a crossing-craft grievance, not an RI-399 dispute. There is a huge difference between the two types of grievances. An RI-399 dispute arises when management designates, either due to an operational change to an existing job position (such as with the addition of AI to the FSM 100) or when a new position is created, the work to a specific craft and another craft disputes whether or not the management designation is correct. A crossing craft grievance arises when workers from one craft are performing undisputed work in another craft (an example is mail handlers working as expeditors.)
With respect to casual workers, our previous arguments to limit casuals have been weakened greatly by the new language in our National Agreement. The fact is, in an installation the size of Philadelphia, we can no longer file ‘casual in lieu’ grievance every time we see a casual.
The union is now provided with the Casual Compliance Report on an accounting-period basis at the National level and the National APWU closely monitors management’s adherence to Article 7.1.B. of the National Agreement, which provides that in 200 man-year offices or more the number of casuals employed shall not exceed 11 percent of the total number of career Clerk Craft employees in that installation.
In the Philadelphia installation the percentage of casual employees is 8.31, which is under the maximum limit. Furthermore, if management here in Philadelphia violated the allowable casual percentage, the National APWU would take the lead in addressing that violation, in conjunction with the Local. Most of the grievances being filed currently regarding the use of casual employees are for when the casuals work between the hours of 5am and 12pm, or when casuals work outside of their craft or perform skilled work, as these are the only use of casual violations the Local can now pursue on its own initiative.
Mr. Love, as an elected union official, should be aware of the above interpretations since they are a part of our National Agreement. You must ask yourself as a member – why doesn’t Mr. Love know the contract on these issues? And what is his motive for intentionally trying to work up the membership over these issues?
In the same vein, Mr. Darrell Holland has been alleging financial improprieties against Local Treasurer Gwen Ivey and me since we took office after the last election, without a shred of fact behind him – although he’s never let facts stop him from lying. Gwen has been more open to the members with the Union’s finances than any Treasurer that’s held this office in the history of this Local. Mr. Holland just wants to go on a witch hunt with no valid reason. Why? Because he knows that if he mentions money, it draws attention. It’s an old and shameless trick.
Let me assure you that the Local’s spending and income is closely monitored by elected Trustees. Comprehensive monthly financial reports are presented to the Executive Board, and annual audits are done by certified public accountants. All financial questions and concerns are addressed at the Executive Board and General Membership Meetings. All questions about officers’ pensions have been addressed by the Treasurer at several Executive Board and Membership meetings, yet Mr. Holland tries to get attention by bringing it up again and again. Hopefully, he will learn one day that you get elected based on your work ethic, not by spreading rumors, lies and innuendo.
Last, there was a Constitutional change on the Contingency Fund, which was submitted by Gwen Ivey to protect this Fund, to ensure that no monies would be spent without Executive Board and membership approval. The Treasurer checked around to see how we could get a higher return on this Fund: purchasing a certificate of deposit was the safest and best option at the time, and that is what was done. No money was spent and the local is getting a better return on our money. How is this a problem? It isn’t. The only problem is that Mr. Holland’s “spin,” insinuating without any basis whatsoever that something was done inappropriately.
I could go on and on, but then I’d have to kill a forest of big trees. My point is this: this type of behavior is self destructive for the Union, and it needs to be stopped immediately. As long as we have representatives exhibiting these unfortunate characteristics against their own Union, we will never be able to demonstrate our full potential as a Local.
Let me say once again: 95% of the Philadelphia Local’s Representatives bust their tails to give you, the members the best possible representation. They work for no reward or recognition, beyond doing a good job for people they care deeply about. For the sake of the 95%, it is a shame that we have a few individuals that find it necessary to put out deception, innuendo and lies, for their own purposes and gain.
In closing, I just ask that if you have any questions or concerns please call (610-522-4520) or better yet, stop by our new Union office. The Local owns our new Union Hall free and clear, and the new space will allow us going forward to conduct expanded and new programs for members - for development, education, social activities, and training. I will be glad to speak with you about your concerns, and you can see for yourself what your Union is really about, and what we have achieved.
Most importantly, with your support, this Union and your elected officials can stay focused on what we really do, and want to be about: representing you.
In Solidarity,
Harmon P. Elliott Jr.,
President
Return to Philadelphia Local APWU Homepage
Posted: November 20, 2007