THE BULLETIN BOARD
December 2008
[December 15th]Christmas Greeetings!
Christmas cookies will be available for all members of Pittsburgh Metro Area Postal Workers Union beginning on Tour 3, Monday, December 22, 2008 following through Tour 1 and Tour 2, Tuesday, December 23, 2008.
Please stop by the GMF Steward area, located at the end of the building near the pedestrian entrance.
[December 13th]Burrus Meets with Member of Obama Transition Team
APWU President William Burrus met with Stephen Crawford, a member of President-Elect Obama's Transition Team, at the union's national headquarters on Dec. 8, where the two "engaged in a thoughtful conversation about the future of the U.S. Postal Service and postal workers."
"Mr. Crawford impressed me as a highly intelligent individual, who is extremely knowledgeable about public policy," Burrus said.
Crawford has also met with USPS executives, and members of the Postal Regulatory Commission. He is expected to meet with representatives of other postal unions as well.
Crawford is deputy director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, a highly-respected public policy think tank.
[December 12th]Scholarship Available to PMAPWU Members
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Scholarship Essay Contest
- Type: Academic Scholarship
- First Prize-$2,000.00, Second Prize-$1,000.00, Third Prize-$500.00
- Graduating high school seniors, all post secondary students, and affiliated Union members attending an accredited institution, are eligible.
- Deadline to apply is January 31, 2009.
- You can view all the details and download an application from the PA AFL-CIO website.
[December 10th]Deadlines Extended For Health Plan Selections
Belated elections for all plans within the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program will be accepted beyond the original Dec. 9, 2008 closing date. The new deadline to make employee self service FEHB elections using PostalEASE is Dec. 28, 2008 at 5 p.m. CT.
Also, you will be able to make Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP) belated elections past the original Dec. 8, 2008 closing date. The deadline for belated elections for FEDVIP is Jan. 31, 2009.
Go to www.benefeds.com for further information and to make dental and vision insurance elections. The benefits customer service toll-free number is 877-888-3337 (TTY is 877-889-5680).
Read about the Belated Elections at www.benefeds.com
[December 5th]Modified Work-Week Talks Stall
excerpted from The Burrus Update, #14-08
Discussions have been underway at the national level for several months regarding the implementation of the Modified Work Week known as 10-4, where employees are scheduled to work 10 hours per day, four days per week.
Over recent weeks these discussions have failed to make significant progress and therefore I am unable to project that a final agreement will be reached. Despite the lack of progress, we will continue to explore possibilities for reaching a settlement with management on this matter.
The subject of intense discussion at the national level is the possibility of requiring employees to work a modified work week as a condition of their bid assignment. The original pilot agreed to by the parties in 1994 limited 10-4 schedules to employees who volunteered for them and had the option to discontinue their participation at their discretion.
Headquarters management has proposed that the new program include a requirement that all employees within a designated section be required to work the modified work week as a condition of their bid assignment.
While many employees would favor the opportunity to have three non-scheduled days in the course of a service week, their entitlement does not supersede the right of an employee to work the contractually required eight-hour, five-day schedule.
Read the entire update at APWU's website.
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