Oakland: USPS Changes to Positions Held by Postal Employees Over 40 May Be Age Discrimination
The following is a message sent out to Postal Employees by APWU Oakland (California) Local #78 regarding Non-Traditional full-time (NTFT) duty assignments.
ATTENTION MEMBERS 40 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER
It appears that the October 26, 2011, reposting of the manual units’ traditional duty assignments as non-traditional full-time (NTFT) duty assignments is a ploy by management to frighten , intimidate, harass and coerce the senior employees who presently hold bid assignments in the manual units into bidding on the NTFT assignments to avoid being assigned
to an automation unit where the most physically challenging work is performed. This would be a constructive change to a part-time regular and a reduction in pay and benefits for the senior employees who successfully bid on these assignments out of fear of not being allowed to continue to work in a manual unit if they opted not to bid.
Accordingly, if you presently hold a manual unit duty assignment that is being reposted as a NTFT assignment, the APWU encourage you to file a grievance within 14 days of the posting and an EEO complaint within 45 days of the posting alleging age discrimination.
If you have any questions regarding this announcement, contact your steward.
Fredric Jacobs
President
Oakland: Postal Employees Injured On Job Continue To Be Placed Off-Duty
The Thanksgiving Ambush
Oakland Postal management hit injured employees with “shock and awe” tactics better suited to the battlefield. Starting a few days before Thanksgiving of 2009, management started to place injured on duty employees off duty. The expected Phase 2 interviews never took place: employees were called aside, allowed to clean out their lockers, and told to
leave the building.
The departures have continued into April 2010. Injured employees have been left wondering if they will be next, and even bystanders are often disturbed by the sight of co-workers forced to do the perp walk just for having been injured on the job. The procedure was heavily scripted, designed to leave no room for negotiation.
Oakland injured employees had been forewarned and offered coaching by local officers and by Western Regional Coordinator Omar Gonzalez. A series of workshops given by the Oakland Local last summer outlined the history of the NRP and suggested ways to contest actions taken under the program, from filing grievances and EEO complaints to appealing to the MSPB. All of the members that have been placed in a non work status have remained in contact with the local and have received assistance with paperwork. Most of the employees are receiving compensation from OWCP or unemployment benetits from EDD. Thirty of the local’s grievances that were appealed to Step 3 regarding the NRP ambush have been remand to Step 2 pending adjustication of a national grievance that is not applicable to our cases. President Jacobs has ask APWU Headquarters to rescind the remand settlement and have the cases appealed to arbitration.
source: Fred Jacobs, Oakland APWU President