THE BURNING EMBER 4

YOUR LOCAL PRESIDENT--MANAGEMENT'S BEST FRIEND

Well it is apparent that APWU Local President Greg Stinson continues to ingratiate himself with local USPS management. One would think that it would be the local President’s mission to protect the interests of the local and its members. He even stated in his campaign flyers that he would take an aggressive stance with management. To most people an “aggressive stance would mean not giving management the tools to undermine the stewards who work so hard to protect your rights, not so with Greg Stinson. It seems he just cannot do enough to give management whatever utensils they need to tear the local apart. In the past he sent out a letter to management saying that unless he had signed a letter releasing a union representative to do union work then they should not be released from their work areas to do union work. It was a clumsy oafish attempt to exert control over the other members of the executive board. What happened was that management started to deny employees the right the see a steward as they did not have an authorization from the “Bullfrog.” After several of the members of the executive board took him to task he sent out a letter rescinding the “release for union activities” letter. After that you would think that he had learned his lesson about not involving management in the affairs of the local—not so. In May, in another poorly thought out ham-fisted attempt to have absolute dictatorial control of the local he involved management again in the affairs of the local. He sent out another letter to Management, Labor Relations in particular, stating that he had exclusive authority to designate Union representation, based on Article 17 of the National Agreement. Well guess what, Article 17 does not give the Local President exclusive authority to designate union representation—it gives the Union the right to designate representatives. Stinson went further and stated that he never gave the Local vice-president or secretary-treasurer the authority to designate union representatives, a practice that has been in place for years and which helps to protect the rights of members and the grievance procedure. Now one can only imagine the fun that management is having with this howler of a blunder. Grievances that do not get settled at Step 1 or 2 are usually appealed to Step 3 by the local vice president. However, Stinson’s clumsy attempt to control the local has given management a great tool to use against the members of the local. Management has taken up the instrument of stupidity and is trying to use it to get grievances tossed out. That means that any disciplinary issue, pay issue, or duty assignment that was properly grieved has been declared null and void by our local president. Management is now challenging any grievance that was appealed to Step 3 without Stinson’s signature. This will have serious consequences for all of the members of the local. If you have had a grievance filed that was sent to Step 3, maybe you ought to give the “Bullfrog” a call and see what the status of your grievance is. You can call him at 503-231-1797 or e-mail him at orbulldog1@verizon.net or gstin29803@aol.com
Makes one wonder how much longer we can allow a president who continues to work with management and trample over your rights.