THE BULLETIN BOARD
November 2012
[November 4th]PSE Health Benefits Deadline Approaches Fast!
Attention, PSEs! You have only sixty days from the date you become eligible, to enroll in one of the health benefit plans.
Please review the instructions contained in the PDF file we've linked you to. Don't miss your chance for coverage!
Health Benefits Enrollment Opportunity -- HR Shared Services Center
[November 2nd]Penalty Overtime Exception
In accordance with Article 8 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, penalty overtime regulations are not applicable for a four-week period each year during December.
This year, the period begins with Pay Period 26-12 (Dec. 1, 2012), and ends at the conclusion of Pay Period 01-13 (Dec. 28, 2012).
[November 1st]Pay Raise Set for Nov. 17
excerpted from APWU News Bulletin 22-2012
APWU-represented postal employees will receive an increase in their annual salaries effective Nov. 17 — the first in three years. The raise will be reflected in paychecks issued Dec. 7 and will apply to employees covered by the APWU-USPS 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Career employees will receive a raise of 1 percent. Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs) will follow in March, and will include increases in the Consumer Price Index for January 2012 and January 2013. The across-the-board raise and cost-of-living adjustments were negotiated during bargaining in 2010 and 2011.
Postal Support Employees (PSEs), who are not eligible for the COLAs, will receive an across-the-board increase of 2 percent.
Under the terms of the APWU Constitution, an across-the-board contractual salary increase results in a small dues adjustment. Dues for career employees will be increased by 57 cents per pay period, with 38 cents going to locals and state organizations and 19 cents going to the national union. Dues for PSEs will be increased by 35 cents per pay period, with 23 cents going to locals and states and 12 cents going to the national union.
Updated pay scales were included in the November-December edition of The American Postal Worker magazine, and are posted on the APWU.com website'.
Read the entire article on the APWU.com website.
[October 2012]APWU Clerk Craft Wins Jurisdiction On New AFCS 200 Operator Position
excerpted APWU Web News Article 116-2012
The Clerk Craft will be the primary craft for the operator position on the new Advanced Facer Canceller System (AFCS), the Postal Service has announced.
In a letter dated Sept. 28, 2012, the Postal Service wrote, "After reviewing the input from the APWU and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union... the Postal Service has determined that on the AFCS 200, the duties performed by the operator are similar to the duties performed by a Mail Processing Clerk. Accordingly, the primary craft for the operator position on the AFCS 200 is the Clerk Craft. The primary craft for the induction activities on the AFCS 200 will continue to be the Mail Handler Craft."
The existing AFCS is a high-speed machine that culls, faces, and cancels letter mail through a series of automated operations. The AFCS 200 will perform the same functions as the existing system while also providing "significant additional capabilities," such as processing thicker mail than the existing AFCS, increased depth-of-sort capabilities, and printing a POSTNET barcode that allows mail to be directly sorted on the Delivery Barcode Sorter (DBCS), the USPS wrote.
Read the entire article on the APWU.com website.
Past Issues of the Bulletin Board
[October 2012]
[September 2012] [August 2012]
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