It’s that time of year again when the weather turns colder and the leaves are falling, and the bonfires are blazing, so I hope you and yours are enjoying this fall weather. This time of year is exceptionally hard and quite busy for the Union Stewards in Maintenance Craft because we are dealing with the end of the 2017 FY MS-47 Line H, cases for the Saint Paul PDC Installation Station and Branches, Twin Cities LDC to include 11 Associate Offices.

I am hopeful that the MS-47 Line H cases for 2015 & 2016 for the facilities that have not been resolved will be soon, as soon as, we find out the status for each of these cases we will let you know.

I want to take time here to address the Maintenance Craft Laborer Custodial PS-4 and Building Maintenance Custodial PS-5 employees assigned to the Associate Offices this also applies to the Custodial employees at the Main facilities, indirectly. You all should expect to receive training soon for the MS-47 TL-5 Custodial Team Cleaning (CTC). This training is good in the respect that it will provide structure for the processes of cleaning your facilities. There is a draw back in the fact that cleaning products are crap and do not clean as they are intended.

Each of your facilities will purchase new cleaning equipment and you will receive training on the methods that the Postal Service wants the Maintenance Craft employees to perform. I know most of you at the Associate Offices have not been provided any guidance or training for your position of Custodian, so this will be a good thing for you to learn.

There is a responsibility that goes with this new MS-47 TL-5 Handbook that will be placed on both the Maintenance employees as well as, Management I want to take a moment to address.  Each of you Maintenance employees should be made aware of the PS Form 4839 Custodial Schedule Worksheet. The 4839 form is the weekly schedule that shows which task and time is allowed to be performed on any given day. A good method of tracking your daily work is to make a copy of the 4839 form for each week (52 weeks) and you can write on the copy what task you actually perform and the time you took to complete the task.

A typical 4839 form would indicate the restroom cleaning would be performed three days in a week, Monday, Wednesday, & Friday just to point out what to expect. It is important that you follow the Custodial Schedule Worksheet as it is written. It is very important that your Postmaster provide you different Operation Numbers for you to punch on when you perform any task that are not Maintenance, such as, Express Mail Delivery, Customer Locks Repair/Replace, CBU, NDCBU, repairs/replacement, vehicle transporting, etc., In a nut shell if the task is not included on the PS Form 4852 A&B you need to punch on a different Operations Number that is not Operation # 7470.

The key for the compliance with the MS-47 TL-5 Custodial Team Cleaning (CTC) is to document every task you perform with a date and amount of time it took to complete the task. As stated above the PS Form 4839 is a good tool to follow and write the time on the copy.

If you have any questions regarding these issues please contact your Union steward.

To all Veterans that are in the Maintenance Department I want to thank you all for your service to our country. I also want to take a moment to remind the Veterans that if you have not signed up to receive your Veterans Benefits through the VA it is never too late. For the post 9/11 veterans, here is a contact number:

Pat Foley, M Div, LICSW
Post 9/11 TCM CARE COORDINATOR
(612) 629-7636
Patrick.foley@va.gov

Here is the phone number for all veterans to call for VA Benefits:

1(800) 827-1000
Website for VA Benefits:
www.ebenefits.va.gov

Veterans Crisis Line:
1 (800) 273-8255

Minnesota Veterans Benefits Website:
www.mn.gov/mdva/resources/

Thank you!

Jim Pierce
Maintenance Craft Director
Saint Paul Area Local