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 [February 25th]Joint Effort to Combat Repetitive Motion Injuries on the Job The American Postal Workers Union has joined with the Mailhandlers Union and the U.S. Postal Service to perform a joint study on repetitive motion injuries resulting from on the job tasks. OSHA is providing a certified ergonomist to work with our representatives to observe and recommend safer ways for our members to perform daily tasks especially those associated with running automated machinery. The study will take place at the Pittsburgh GMF on all three tours. Pittsburgh has some of the worst injured-on-duty statistics in the nation. It is imperative that we discover a means for our members to safely perform our jobs and remain healthy. Our main hesitancy in cooperating with this study, was that management would somehow use the information gathered to discipline workers. To protect against this occurrence, we have secured a guarantee that no employee names will be entered into the data collected. No one involved in this study should ever ask you or a coworker for your name or anyone else's name. As the project gets underway, we will keep you informed. |
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| [February 25th] Pre-Arb Reviews in March The National APWU has signed an agreement to hold a Pre-Arb Review in an attempt to deal with the national backlog of grievances. Our Local has requested that we be allowed to handle our own cases, as we believe that no one can address our issues as well as we can. We have been given permission to go forward in March. We are working out the details of the review, and hope to begin resolving your grievances within the next week. If your stewards ask you to provide documentation for old case files, please do that to help us in resolving your cases. |
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| [February 25th] Installation of a Biological Detection System at the P&DC The Pittsburgh GMF is also one of the test sites for installation of a new system designed to detect anthrax in the mail. The system will be installed on one of the Advanced Facer Canceller System machines, sometime in June. |
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| [February 25th] Clerk Steno Bids on the Chopping Block Management has notified us that they intend to excess two clerk stenos off of Tour 2 at the GMF. At this time, it is their intent to create a new work section with two new clerk steno bids on Tour 3 at the GMF. |
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| [February 24th] Election Ballot Information A secret ballot election for the offices of President, Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer, Recording Secretary, Clerk Craft Director, Maintenance Craft Director, MVS Craft Director (unopposed), and Trustee A, B, C and D is being conducted by mail. Ballots for this election are being mailed to members on March 27, 2003. Any eligible member who has not received a ballot in the mail at home by April 3, 2003 or any member who spoils a ballot may request a new ballot by contacting the local office a 4l2-321-4700. Arrangements will be made for you to receive a duplicate ballot. If you request and return another ballot, only the replacement ballot will be counted. Check out the list of nominees, and please... remember to vote in this election. It is important that you make your voice heard. |
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| [February 11th] Nominees for the Upcoming Local Election Nominees were finalized at the Membership meeting over the weekend, February 8, 2003. The Executive Board approved Kathy Onyshko as the Judge of Elections, and the usual Get Out The Vote raffle will be held. Ten $100 prizes will be awarded from among the members who return their ballots. Please check out the list of nominees, and please... remember to vote in this election. It is important that you make your voice heard. Good luck to all of the candidates! |
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| [February 7th] Urgent-- Action Alert The Bush administration is trying to pack the federal courts with ultraconservative judges with views and records hostile to workers, civil rights and environmental and consumer protections. Tell your senators to stand up against these court-packing plans. CLUW members are urged to voice their opposition to the nominations of Charles Pickering and Patricia Owen. Visit the AFL-CIO's website to find out how easy it is. (taken from CLUW news Jan./Feb. 2003, vol. 29, No. 1) |
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| [February 7th] Please Make Your Voice Heard Please take a minute to make your voice heard on a crucially important debate of working families every day. The fight-back over President George W. Bush's plans to pack the nation's courts with ultra-conservative judges begins in earnest as the Senate debates Bush's nomination of Miguel Estrada to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit - the second most important court in the country. The Senate will vote on Estrada's nomination next week, so it's essential to make your voice heard NOW. Estrada refused to answer important questions from senators about his views and his legal philosophy. Yet Bush has nominated him to the court that will make decisions on key workplace laws affecting everything from worker safety to wages and hours. But there is hope: If 41 senators STAND UP to President Bush and refuse to allow Estrada's nomination to be passed, one seat on the court will be saved and Presient Bush will get the message to start nominationg moderate judges, not extremists. You can help by faxing your senators and telling them to block Estrada's confirmation. Go to http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/No_Estrada/dxix7zo737k (taken from Working Families e-Activist Network, February 6, 2003) |
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| [February 3rd] A Guide to Understanding Postal Privatization by Sarah F. Ryan A former postal employee and APWU official, now a member of the Faculty of Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, Labor Studies Department discusses the background of privatization initiatives, and proposes strategies for unions to use in opposing them. "The recommendations made in this paper are specifically aimed at APWU union activists, local and national, who find themselves in the middle of this controversy, though they may also have relevance for union members in other areas of public service." Please educate yourself about this very important issue by visiting her website and reading the entire document. |
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| [February 3rd] Revisions to Labor Laws May Mean Less OT WASHINGTON (AP) Heeding the complaints of business, the Bush administration is revamping decades-old labor regulations in an overhaul that could force many Americans to work longer hours without overtime pay. The administration argues that the pillars of American labor law, which established the 40-hour work week, a minimum wage and overtime pay, are antiquated. But labor unions fear changes would severely restrict who is legally required to be paid for overtime work. It is just one of several changes the administration is pursuing to workplace regulations and programs, including the Family Medical Leave Act, job training programs and unemployment insurance. Read the entire article as published by USA Today. |
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| [February 3rd] USPS Overpayment into Retirement System Even Higher Still? by Larry Riggs (excerpted) The revelation Friday by the General Accounting Office (GAO) the U.S. Postal Service overpaid its pension obligations even more than it had originally thought should come as good news to mailers. At the same time, it raised some broader political and public policy issues that go well beyond making postal rates and paying the pensions of retired postal workers. Last fall, the federal Office of Personnel Administration found that the USPS overpaid its fund that pays its retirees by some $71 billion. This would leave the USPS with more to spend on itself and forestalling a rate case possibly until 2006. But now, the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, at the request of Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) and others has found that the USPS overpaid its obligations by about $103.1 billion. The GAO made slightly different assumptions than the OPM, ostensibly leaving the USPS even more money to work with to forestall a new rate case. The GAO's different approach centered around who should pay the military obligations. "That's a public policy question that Congress will have to decide," said Bob McLean, executive director of the Mailers Council. "And they're not likely to take this up very soon since they have to absorb all the information." McLean noted that this issue has many implications related to reducing the overall federal deficit totaling nearly $300 billion. "This is more good news," said Neal Denton, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers. "It means an even larger amount of money could go to the postal service." Specifically, the GAO says the USPS overpaid its retirement obligations by about $103.1 billion because it paid the pensions of postal employees retirees who had served in the military that should have been paid by the Department of Treasury, which pays most government pensions. The issue of paying the USPS's retirement obligations may now possibly be decided as part of the omnibus fiscal 2003 appropriations bill currently before a joint House-Senate Conference Committee. Sen. Bill Frist, (R-TN) last week introduced an amendment to the bill that could clear the way for Congress to fund the postal retirement obligations. "If legislation is modified so that the postal service would not be responsible, then it would have further ramifications on our rates," said USPS CFO Richard Strasser in a press conference Friday. But he added "there is no doubt that a public policy decision on military service has to be made." |
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| [February 2nd] New Buyout Rules on the Way by Mike Causey Buyout and early retirement rules will change dramatically next month making it easier, maybe much easier, for agencies that are reinventing themselves to offer incentives to selected workers. Read the full article on our current Metro News page. |
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| [February 1st] Early Outs But No Incentives from the Burrus Update, 1/27/03 The union has received a copy of the Postal Service's request to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for authority to offer employees represented by the APWU Voluntary Early Retirement. The USPS seeks to offer early outs to APWU-represented employees from April 1 through Sept. 30, 2003. The request is in accordance with the terms of the contract extension ratified by APWU members last month. In a letter to OPM dated Jan. 23, Chief Operating Officer Patrick F. Donahoe wrote "At this time, there are approximately 16,000 positions represented by the APWU excess to the needs of the service nationwide by September 30. We anticipate that approximately 50 percent of these positions will be vacated through normal attrition. Voluntary Early Retirement Authority will help the Postal Service reduce a portion of the balance of that number." Approximately 58,000 APWU members are eligible for Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) according to Donahoe, and the Postal Service expects 5 to 6 percent, or approximately 3,000 of those VER-eligible employees to opt for early retirement. "In light of the number of positions that we need to eliminate from the Postal Service during this fiscal year" he wrote, "we respectfully request that you give this proposal favorable consideration so that we may use VER as a tool in our downsizing strategies." The Postal Service has committed to an effort to take $5 billion in expenses out of its operating base over five years, the letter said. "To accomplish this, we have begun to implement a number of specific measures designed to improve operational efficiencies. These efficiencies include efforts to automate our mail forwarding operations, to further automate the processing of large envelopes, magazines and packages, and to reduce our transportation costs, by focusing on ways to maximize our distribution/transportation network." "While the Postal Service's efforts to date have been successful, certain external challenges have surfaced", He continued. "The recession, electronic diversion of first-class mail, and bio-terrorism have had an adverse impact on our mail volumes. In fact, our first-class mail volume has decreased by 1.6 billion pieces in the past year. Other classes of mail have sustained similar impact. These business drivers require the postal Service to review and adjust our complement requirements as we move forward." As expected, management's application for Voluntary Early Retirement Authority does not include a request to offer incentives to employees who elect to retire early. Note: 3,000 early retirements seems like a small number when you consider that there are 30,000 postal facilities nationwide. According to the PMG's figures, 5000 employees would still be excess to the needs of the service on September 30, 2003. |
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| [February 1st] Pittsburgh to Host Union-Industries Show Dear Brothers and Sisters: Pittsburgh will host a national exhibition of U.S. made, union-made goods and services May 2-5, 2003, as the AFL-CIO Union-Industries Show comes to town. This is a unique opportunity to build support for the trade union movement and the goods and services our members and their employers provide. For 56 years, in city after city, the Union-Industries Show has drawn hundreds of thousands of people and attracted widespread media attention. The Pittsburgh Show will be the very first show of any kind at the new David L. Lawrence Convention center. It will be a very big deal. The show currently occupies floor space equivalent to five football fields. Plans include numerous live demonstrations highlighting the skills of union labor, active outreach to local and regional news media, educational campaigns to young people - and the general public - explaining the importance of good jobs with high quality wages and benefits to the future of our community. I urge every affiliate to take advantage of this opportunity in every possible way:
Let's make this the most tremendous opportunity. Let's make the 2003 Pittsburgh Show the best Union-Industries Show ever! In Unity, Jack Shea President, Pittsburgh AFL-CIO |
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| Past Issues of the Bulletin Board [January 2003] | |||||
| Use our Search function to look up further back-issues of the Bulletin Board. | |||||
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