APWU URGES MEMBERS TO BOYCOTT "VOICE OF EMPLOYEE" SURVEY

The USPS recently notified us of a new employee survey that they are conducting. We do not believe that it is a coincidence that this survey is being conducted just as contract negotiations are about to begin. In the past, the Postal Service has used these surveys to undermine the union in collective bargaining, and we have every reason to believe they will attempt the same trick again.  In a letter to all locals, APWU Director, Industrial Relations Greg Bell reminds members how management twisted previous surveys and used them against us during negotiations.  Is it a coincidence that management is launching this survey right before negotiations are to begin?  Read the letter and see this survey for what it is.

Facts Don’t Lie: Chart Shows True Picture of Postal Service’s Financial Health

In a series of recent Updates for union members, I have pointed out that the Postal Service’s current financial difficulties are the result of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA), which imposed on the USPS the onerous burden of pre-funding future retiree healthcare liabilities — in amounts exceeding $5 billion annually over a 10-year period.  A USPS chart [PDF] confirms my analysis: It shows that from 2001 through 2008, minus the pre-funding requirement of the PAEA, the Postal Service experienced a cumulative surplus of more than $14 billion.  full story ...

CONSIDERING RETIREMENT?  READ THIS FIRST!

Tammy Flanagan is the senior benefits director for the National Institute of Transition Planning Inc., which conducts federal retirement planning workshops and seminars. She has spent 25 years helping federal employees take charge of their retirement by understanding their benefits.  Ms. Flanagan has written a series of articles on retirement planning.  She examines the calendar to determine the best date to retire in order to maximize your benefits.  Ms. Flanagan also helps people understand how to get the most out of their lump sum leave payments and other retirement related issues.  We have several of her articles available for you here.  We encourage all employees to read these articles.  Even if you are not retiring this year, the information will help you plan for the future.  More information is available at the National Institute for Transitional Planning website.  (The PPWU is not affiliated with the Institute.  We merely refer to it as a source of information.)

LEGISLATIVE ALERT:  URGE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO SUPPORT HR 5746!

By an 8-1 vote, the House postal oversight subcommittee approved H.R. 5746, the United States Postal Service’s CSRS Obligation Modification Act of 2010, introduced by the panel’s chairman Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA). If passed, OPM would be required to recalculate how much the Postal Service should have paid into the CSRS fund. Any overpayments, which have been estimated as being between $55 and $75 billion, would be transferred into the Postal Retiree Health Benefit Fund fully funding it, as well. This would end the required $5+ billion yearly payments. more...

HAVE YOU BEEN IMPACTED BY THE NATIONAL REASSESSMENT PROGRAM (NRP)?

To strengthen the fight against the Postal Service’s harsh National Reassessment Program (NRP), the APWU is encouraging limited-duty and permanent-rehabilitation employees to complete a questionnaire sponsored by a law firm that has filed a class-action complaint against the USPS. The complaint alleges that the NRP discriminates against disabled employees.  After certifying the case as a “class action,” the judge ordered the Postal Service to notify all potential class members of the complaint. The USPS did so in a letter dated July 1, 2010, which it sent to limited-duty and permanent rehabilitation employees. The letter said that workers are members of the class if they “are or were a permanent rehabilitation or limited duty employee of the Postal Service who was subjected to the NRP between May 5, 2006, and the present.”
 

The APWU encourages all current and former rehab and limited-duty employees who were subjected to any portion of the NRP to complete the questionnaire, whether or not they received a notice from the USPS that they may be members of the “class.” This will help ensure that the attorneys representing the workers are aware of all potential class members — including those that may have been overlooked by the Postal Service. 

PPWU CONVENTION PHOTOS

We have posted some of the photos taken at the 20th Biennial PPWU Convention.  The photos are available for any APWU local to use in their newsletter or on their website.  We do ask that you credit the photographer when his/her photos.  There is currently only one set of photos posted, but we hope to have more soon.  To see the photos, click HERE

If anyone who took photos at the convention would like to have their work posted, please contact, or e-mail the photos to, Andy Kubat.

 OSHA SLAMS USPS WITH FINES FOR THREE PENNSYLVANIA OFFICES 

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been taking a hard look at USPS plants across the country.  To date, three offices in Pennsylvania have been cited for violations.

Philadelphia Bulk Mail Center fined $210,000 for five "willful" safety violations

Philadelphia P&DC fined $217,000 for three "willful" and one "serious" violation

Pittsburgh P&DC fined $299,500 for four "willful", one repeat, and two "serious" violations

"Willful" violations are defined by OSHA as "one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health".  A "serious" citation is issued "when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result and the employer knew, or should have known, of the hazard."  The addition of these latest fines brings the OSHA imposed penalties to more than $1 Million.

 PPWU OFFICERS ELECTED FOR 2010 - 2012 TERM

the election of officers for the 2010-2012 term of office were held at the 20th Biennial PPWU State Convention.  All officers were elected by acclimation as there was only one candidate for each office.  All incumbent officers seeking re-election were unchallenged, some chose to run for different offices, and several new officers joined the ranks of the PPWU Executive Board.  To see the Officer Listing and contact information click HERE

 POSTAL BOARD OF GOVERNORS APPROVES POTTER's 5-DAY DELIVERY PLAN. 

The U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors today approved management’s request to move forward with its five-day delivery proposal and to file a request for an advisory opinion with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) on March 30.  The plan to eliminate Saturday delivery is part of PMG Potter's 10-Year Plan which has been dubbed "Delivering the Future".  The USPS hopes to implement 5-day delivery in October 2010 which coincides with the beginning of the 2011 Fiscal Year.  Even if the PRC approves the change, the USPS must still seek the blessing of Congress.  More. . .

There is a bill in Congress, House Resolution 167, which, if passed, would require the post office to maintain six day delivery.  To contact you Representative and tell them to support HR 167 click HERE.

 SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON 5-DAY DELIVERY  APWU Web News Article #021-2010

The Postal Service’s proposal to eliminate Saturday mail delivery has been widely reported, but most news articles fail to address the devastating effect it would have on the USPS, as well as on citizens, businesses, and communities.  Accordingly, the union has prepared an outline of “talking points” members only PDF file available as a brochure or text only copy to correct the record and to assist locals in efforts to oppose five-day delivery. The outline will help local activists spread the word about why ending Saturday mail delivery is unnecessary, and how it would lead to the demise of the world’s most efficient, dependable and affordable postal system.

 APWU URGES CONGRESS TO REJECT 5-DAY DELVERY

In testimony submitted to a Senate subcommittee March 18, APWU President William Burrus denounced Postal Service plans to eliminate Saturday mail delivery, and urged Congress instead to correct two major causes of USPS financial difficulties: A provision of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) that requires the agency to pre-fund retiree healthcare costs, and a flawed method for computing USPS obligations to the Civil Service Retirement Fund.

“The PAEA has forced the Postal Service virtually into insolvency,” Burrus said. It imposed a $75 billion obligation that is not borne by any other federal agency — including Congress, he noted.  “This requirement, more than any other single factor, has created a USPS deficit of alarming size. A 2008 GAO report found the USPS’s $5.3 billion shortfall in FY 2007 was caused primarily by this provision of the PAEA,” Burrus said.

When Congress approved PAEA legislation in 2006, supporters said the law would provide the USPS with “tools and mechanisms to help ensure efficiency, flexibility, and financial strength, the union president observed. “However, the law has had the opposite effect.”  Burrus urged lawmakers to rescind the pre-funding provision of the PAEA. Doing so, he said, would make the elimination of Saturday mail delivery unnecessary. “Absent this pre-funding burden, the Postal Service would have experienced a cumulative surplus of $3.7 billion over the last three fiscal years, despite declining mail volume, an economy in chaos, and electronic diversion.”  full story

 OIG - "USPS OVERPAID INTO CSRS FUND BY $75 BILLION"

A study just released by the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General shows that the system of funding has resulted in the Postal Service overpaying $75 billion to the pension fund.  more...

SMALL OFFICE CLERKS:  THE APWU WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Postal employees in small offices whose hours have been reduced while managerial hours have been increased are being asked to complete and return a union-sponsored questionnaire [PDF] on the subject. Work-hours for part-time flexible clerks at many small offices have been slashed, APWU President William Burrus noted in a column in the January/February issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.

The National Agreement limits management’s right to shift work from clerks to other employees, Burrus wrote, but management continues to violate arbitrators’ rulings on the issue. “While the APWU-USPS contact recognizes the right of supervisors and postmasters to perform bargaining-unit work in small offices, arbitrators have repeatedly concluded that supervisory work cannot increase at the expense of work for clerks,” he said.  full story...

POSTMASTERS SAY NO TO V.O.E.

League of Postmasters President Charlie Mappa urged all Postmaster's to boycott the Voice of the Employee survey due to a deteriorating work environment. more . . .

POST.COM PRESIDENT BLAMES POSTAL EMPLOYEES FOR USPS TROUBLES

Gene Del Polito, President of the Post.com Mailer's Advocates group lashed out at postal workers blaming our wages and benefits for the financial hardships the USPS now faces.  Mr. Del Polito should be no stranger to postal employees as he routinely takes potshots at our jobs, wages, and collective bargaining rights.  In this most recent rant, Mr. Del Politio demands that postal employees make sacrifices to help out the financially struggling USPS.  "We've suffered, and they haven't", he whines.  more. . .

FERS S/L FIX WILL BE PHASED IN

FERS employees wishing to take advantage of the new regulations which allow FERS to get service credit for unused sick leave will have to wait until 2014.  The provisions granting this credit are being phased in over time and will not become 100% effective until 2014.  FERS employees can still retire and get credit for unused S/L, but people who retire before 2014 will only get partial credit.  more ...

APWU ISSUES CHALLENGE TO PMG POTTER TO PUT UP OR SHUT UP
Outsourcing and "workshare discounts" are nothing new to industry.  We have seen hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of good jobs shipped overseas for the sake of cheap labor.  At a time when the USPS is trying to be more "business-like" every day they certainly make poor business decisions when it comes to workshare discounts.

 The National Agreement and the Postal Accountability & Enhancement Act indicate that the USPS should offer discounts only if the discount is smaller than the costs avoided by doing work in-house.  The USPS, contrary to all wisdom, has done just the opposite.  The USPS routinely gives discounts greater than costs avoided.  For instance, a recent study by the APWU found that it costs the USPS 2 cents to sort and process a letter.  By outsourcing sortation of that letter the USPS saves 2 cents, yet they are giving a discount of 10.5 cents per letter!

To understand the scope of problem you must realize that the USPS has single-handedly created the presort industry.  Prior to the 1990's mail presort houses didn't even exist.  Once the USPS began offering excessive discounts presort houses began appearing around the country.  Today, presorting is a multi-billion dollar industry reaping profits at the expense of the USPS and postal workers. 

PMG Potter, several congressmen, mailer's groups and the media have all suggested that craft employee salaries and benefits are the cause of the USPS' problems.  The reality is, that if APWU were paid to do what the pre-sort houses do, at the rate they are paid, we would earn much, much more than our postal salaries pay.

 To that end, APWU President William Burrus has thrown down the gauntlet and issued a public challenge to USPS PMG John Potter.  End the excessive discounts, bring all presort mail back into the USPS for processing, and pay the APWU 10.4 cents for each letter or flat sorted.  More. . .

Local Presidents:  You are encouraged to share this information with your members.  The Dept. of Labor and Industry will provide free "tip cards" for distribution in your local.  To order cards contact Tara Roebuck at 717-787-7530 or via e-mail at dlipress@state.pa.us.