The meeting was called to order at 7 PM in Lakeland by President Joe Paul.

OFFICERS PRESENT

Joe Paul               Linda Minix        John Burton       Wendy Crandle       Warren Wright           Robert Lohr

OFFICERS REPORTS

Bob Lohr reported that Mike Littlejohn has been appointed as the Tour 3 steward and Fred Benda as the Tour 1 steward for the Maintenance Craft at the Lakeland Plant.  There are 2 grievances being appealed to Step 3.

Warren Wright said that it was refreshing to see Linda Minix involved with union activities once again.  A 14 day suspension was settled on attendance issues (and then the employee called in sick again).  15 jobs were posted in the Plant that were related to the upcoming excessing and loss of 11 positions due to the outgoing mail being transported to Tampa.  He also said that attendance issues are on the rise once again.

Linda Minix reported that Mike Leahy has been appointed as the Attendance Czar in Lakeland and that management is putting out all kinds of misinformation about attendance policies that are totally erroneous.  In Winter Haven an Unfair Labor Practice has been filed with the NLRB.  Several large monetary settlements have been paid out regarding supervisors doing bargaining unit work thanks to the signed and documented statements submitted by our members.

Joe Paul submitted a written report and is also trying to schedule employee meetings with the different tours in Lakeland and is also moving forward with scheduling labor-management meetings in all offices.

Warren moved to accept the Officer’s Reports.  The motion was seconded and adopted.

The February meeting minutes were distributed and reviewed.  Linda Minix moved to adopt the minutes.  The motion was seconded and adopted.

BILLS SUBMITTED

Paul – 40 hrs LWOP and mileage

Minix – 22.75 hrs LWOP for Winter Haven and 22.23 supplies

Lohr – 12.91 postage, supplies 53.01

Wendy Crandle moved to pay the bills as submitted.  The motion was seconded and adopted.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Safety & Health – Linda Minix will be replaced on the committee due to her new and expanded duties as Vice President.  At this time the S & H committee is not really functioning as it should be; only lip service by management.

Constitutional – Warren noted that there are some discrepancies that need to be addressed in the local’s Constitution.

Audit – John Burton stated that the committee is meeting to finish conducting the audit but due to a death in one of the member’s family it is still ongoing.

OLD BUSINESS

None

NEW BUSINESS

Two impact statements have been posted in Lakeland regarding the moving of the outgoing mail to Tampa and the decrease in mail volumes that we are currently experiencing.  One has been retracted by management and the other is inaccurate as management is unsure what to do with the employees due to the mail decline. 

The union is still following up on the Tour 2 compression issues as well.

Management has no clue as to how to follow the contract regarding these issues and the union and President Joe Paul will be diligently following up on all of the Postal Service moves on these issues.

There are many issues ongoing at the time and the President asked all members to keep up with the bulletin board postings as well as the web site for up to the date information.  Rumor control always runs rampant when management doesn’t want employees to know what is going on or to try to mask their incompetencies.

Linda Minix moved to adjourn.  The motion was seconded and adopted.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 PM.

 Respectfully Submitted,

 John Burton

 Secretary/Treasurer