[March 26th]

Is Your Son or Daughter Graduating High School This Year?

The PMAPWU is proud to announce the eligibility rules for this year's Patrick McShane Scholarships. If your daughter or son is thinking of attending a trade school, college, or university, please take a moment to review the scholarship rules and consider sending in an application.

There will be three $500.00 scholarships for one year, the 2003-2004 school year.

The deadline for applications for the Patrick McShane Scholarships is May 15th, 2003. Remember, please read the rules in order to determine if your child is eligible.

        [March 25th]

Reservist's Rights

With more than 175,000 reservists called up to help with the US war with Iraq and homeland security, a new webpage area at the AFL-CIO site provides resources for reservists and their families about reservists' rights on the job during their leave.

Visit Your Rights When Called Up at the AFL-CIO website.

        [March 25th]

Backing Our Troops

The union movement is standing firmly behind our troops in the war with Iraq, said AFL-CIO President Sweeney. "These men and women are America's best. The AFL-CIO has maintained that the best way to disarm Saddam Hussein would be with a broad international coalition sanctioned by the United Nations. Now that a decision has been made, we are unequivocal in our support of our country and America's men and women on the front lines as well as their families here at home."

An estimated 20,000 union members have been called as reservists as part of the war against Iraq. That includes some 4,000 police officers and hundreds of air traffic controllers, pilots and firefighters. More that 4,000 members of maritime unions-- International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Longshoremen, Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association, Masters, Mates & Pilots and Seafarers-- are loading and transporting equipment, supplies and material to support the troops in the Persian Gulf.

Sweeney urged President Bush "to redouble the administration's commitment to bolstering our security against terrorist attacks here at home" and said such an imperative cannot wait until the Iraqi operation is over.

        [March 24th]

Please Give Us Your Support
a letter from Richard Johns

I am writing to ask for your help and support of the AFL-CIO affiliates.

CWA Local 13000 is in war with Verizon. They have laid off 260 of our members without justification. Verizon is 64 billion dollars in debt and their rating is quickly falling on Wall Street.

The reason for this letter is to ask that you circulate to the AFL-CIO councils a Mobilization we are currently doing in Pennsylvania. We ask every customer of Verizon to send their bill back with the check made out for 2 cents short of the actual bill. We ask that they tape 2 pennies tot the bill and remit payment in that fashion. We're asking that they continue this until we have successfully negotiated a new contract in August (hopefully).

The 2 pennies doesn't seem like a big deal but each bill they receive with 2 cents attached must be done by hand. And, hopefully, they also have to deal with a large number of pennies!

Thank you for your help.

Richard L. Johns
Vice President, Local 13000, CWA

        [March 23rd]

Remember: You Can Claim Window Shortages with the IRS

When you get a Letter of Demand, did you know you can claim this off on your income taxes if you itemize your deductions? We're talking about Line 20 of Schedule A, Form 1040, since this repayment is considered a "loss." You also have three years in which to do this, if you want to file a 1040X, which is an Amended Return Form.

Employees who claim the standard deduction cannot deduct these expenses.

To read more and determine if you qualify to deduct these shortages, please read the entire article, Reporting Shortages to the IRS
in our Window Clerks' section, "Thru the Window." You will find links to the PDF downloadable IRS forms needed in the article itself.

        [March 21st]

House GOP Leaders Target Postal, Federal Workers, Retirees' Benefits
from the APWU News Service Vol. 33 No. 6

Accommodating massive tax cuts for wealthy citizens and special interests, the House Budget Committee on March 12 approved its blueprint for balancing the budget over the next 10 years.

While Chairman Jim Nussle's (R-IA) budget resolution is not binding, it contains the GOP's plan for finding ways to raid government workers' benefits to pay for the tax cuts.

The budget sets spending parameters for FY2004 and instructs each congressional committee to propose a total of $470 billion in "savings" by cutting funding for various programs. Though short on specifics, the resolution instructs the House Government Reform Committee to cut nearly $40 billion from postal and federal employee health care and retirement programs.

While the committee has not decided which programs to cut, it is likely to choose from proposals contained in a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office, the legislative branch's nonpartisan accounting arm.

To read more, please visit the APWU News Page.

        [March 21st]

Mailers' Rebuttals Fall Flat
by President William Burrus

As the Presidential Commission on the U.S. Postal Service continues compiling recommendations from the business community on the future of the Postal Service, it is apparent that the major mailers and the mail consolidators are concerned that the APWU has exposed the subsidies embedded in the postage discounts they receive. The mailers' associations have submitted extensive rebuttal testimony in an attempt to justify the deeply discounted postage rates that have been a major cause of postal deficits.

The mailers offer a variety of defenses of the inappropriate subsidies, including the costs incurred establishing processing operations; the low wages and lack of benefits paid to private mail processors; exaggerated costs involved in the application of bar codes that have little utility to the Postal Service; and the threat that without subsidies they would switch from mailing to electronic messages.

These defenses fail to address the basic issue involved in excessive discounts. My testimony before the Subcommittee on Feb. 20 clearly set forth the central issue on postal work sharing:

Sound economic principles clearly establish that work sharing discounts should not exceed the "costs avoided." If services can be performed at a lower cost, the cheaper provider should perform the service. Such is not the case in many postal work sharing contracts, including the application of bar codes.

As Postmaster General John E. Potter testified, postal automation equipment affixes approximately 31,500 bar codes per hour with two employees staffing each machine. With discounts of 7 or 9 cents per letter, the cost to the Postal Service is more than $1,000 per hour. The arithmetic is simple, 7 or 9 cents per discounted letter times the speed of the machine at 31,500 letters per hour, divided by two employees, equals a labor rate many, many, many times greater than postal employee wages. As the commission seeks to identify the reason for postal deficits, these subsidies should be Exhibit A.

The CEO of United Parcel Service (UPS) also testified before the commission on Feb. 20, and he was questioned by the members about his vision for the Postal Service. No one asked whether UPS participates in work sharing. I trust that the commission is aware that UPS, like the Postal Service, uses bar codes to sort parcels and expedited packages. Despite offering their mailers a variety of volume discounts, UPS does not offer a single discount for applying bar codes.

If the mailing associations now taking exception to the APWU position were truly interested in a competitive Postal Service, they would embrace the principle that discounts should never exceed the costs avoided. It is not surprising that they have not accepted this economic concept, because it would lead to a loss of their sweetheart deals.

        [March 19th]

Republican's Budget Cuts Deep and Wide

The union movement is intensifying its campaign against President George W. Bush's budget, which contains deep and widespread cuts in basic domestic programs to pay for his $951 billion dollar tax restructuring plan that favors the wealthy. Votes are expected this week on republican-controlled House and Senate fiscal year 2004 budget resolutions.

While the budget resolutions are not binding, they do set a blueprint for actual spending and tax legislation. The Republican budgets would devastate working family programs, cutting Medicare, Medicaid, veterans benefits, student loans, school lunches, child care, food stamps, cash assistance for the elderly and disabled poor and many other programs by as much as $4170 billion over the next 10 years, according to a study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).

The House budget contains only $28 billion over the next decade for a Medicare prescription drug benefit, $372 billion less than Bush's inadequate request and $572 billion less than what Democrats want. AFGE President Bobby Harnage Sr. said the House version also could cut up to $40 billion from federal worker retirement and health care programs. Neither plan includes the cost of the looming war with Iraq or the post-war costs of occupation and reconstruction.

Leaders of four AFL-CIO state federations and 400 AFSCME activists will urge Congress to provide substantial new aid to strapped state and local governments. State governments face a cumulative $30 billion next year, according to the National Governors Association. As a result, states are being forced to cut education, transportation. Health care and other key programs.

Details are available at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities website.

        [March 19th]

Layoff Reports to Resume

Responding to a strong outcry from the public, legislators and state workforce officials, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics announced March 11 it will resume publication of monthly mass layoff statistics. The Bush administration quietly terminated the program in December. The first batch of new figures likely will be released this month.

View further information at the Burea of Labor Statistics website.

        [March 19th]

Watch for Article One Violations by Management
Excerpted from an article by Business Agent Pat Meanor, Metro Voice Vol. 4, #3

Excessing...
"Remember: You are obligated to give the USPS a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. You must work in a safe and conscientious manner at all times. If you are rushing around, trying to do the work of two, three, or more clerks, you may be placing yourself in an unsafe position. And you know management does have a history of issuing discipline when a bargaining uinit employee is injured on the job."

"Excessing is a hard pill to swallow when it seems management continues to have one supervisor/204B for every five (5) employees or so. Have you ever heard of management telling any of the non-bargaining unit employees that they are being excessed outside the installation?"

"I do not believe management needs to excess any clerks from their hiring installations within the Pittsburgh District. We continue to track the hours of the casuals and the part-time flexible clerks. Management continues to revert every vacated bid in the clerk craft, trying to show there is no need for the bid. With us tracking the hours of the casual clerks, part-time flexible clerks, and the overtime hours in each section, we can show there is a need for the bids. Someone continues to perform the duties of the bid; they just don't have the bid."

We all need to be pro-active to protect our jobs. One of the most blatant violations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement is when management insists on performing duties exclusive to the clerk craft.

Article 1.6 of the National Collective Bargaining Agreement prohibits management from performing duties exclusive to the bargaining unit except:

1. in an emergency
2. for the purpose of training or instruction of employees
3. to assure the proper operation of equipment
4. to protect the safety of employees
5. to protect the property of the USPS

If you observe management performing duties exclusive to the bargaining unit, please contact your union steward who will provide you with a form to fill out so the grievance will be documented. Or better yet, download the form yourself, print it and fill it out, then turn it in to your steward.

        [March 18th]

Fundraising Letter from Tom DeLay Bashes Unions
excerpted from a letter from Morton Bahr, President CWA, 2/11/03

"I am sure you read in the newspapers... about the fundraising letter that Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay mailed out on behalf of the National Right to Work Foundation. The text is available at
http://www.cwa-union.org/friday_mail/president/documents/DeLayLetter.pdf.

I am personally outraged, for myself and for every member, past and present, who served in our armed forces. From my personal viewpoint, I did my service in the U.S. Merchant Marine in World War II and resent the slur deeply.

This display of "patriotism" came from a man who spent the Vietnam years fighting bugs and cockroaches as head of his exterminating company. That's the closest he ever came to shooting a war.

What is even more disturbing, the only criticism-- but we are glad for it-- came from decent, labor supporting Republicans like Representative Jack Quinn of Buffalo who spoke out immediately. The rest of the GOP and the White House and its agents have been silent.

And, like the rave guy DeLay is, after feeling the heat from guys like Quinn and the labor movement, he blamed the letter on his staff.

... I hope you can give it wide circulation - that the Majority Leader's letter really expresses the ideology of today's majority in the GOP. The work toward turning these kinds of politicians out of office in 2004 begins today."

        [March 17th]

Election Ballot Information-- Repost

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.

        [March 12th]

Window Training Test Failures

Recently, the USPS began using a new retail test, Version 3.7, Series 040 (IRT) and Series (POS). Employee Development has become aware of potentially problematic items in the test. As a result, test failures far exceed historical figures.

Therefore, the USPS will be rescoring all tests taken by employees between February 25, 2003 and March 14, 2003. All trainees and district offices will be notified of the rescored results. The current examination will be replaced with a new examination.

Any questions should be forwarded to my office.

Rob Strunk, Assistant Clerk Director, APWU
Phone (202) 842-4220

        [March 12th]

Preparing to Implement Voluntary Early Retirements
President William Burrus, Update #4-03

The union and management are discussing procedures for offering voluntary early retirement to APWU-represented employees, despite the fact that Office of Personnel Management has not yet responded to management's request for authority to do so. A favorable decision from OPM is expected within several weeks.

When approval is confirmed, notice will be provided to employees immediately. In the interim, it would be helpful to have an estimate of the number of employees who are considering voluntary early retirement, and the installations that would be affected.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement between the APWU and the USPS required management to seek authority to offer early retirement to all eligible APWU-represented employees. Management did so in a letter to OPM dated Jan. 23, 2003.

The early-out opportunities are likely to be phased in to coincide with management plans for plant consolidations. If OPM approves the Postal Service request for Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, the opportunities could be staggered over a period of six months or more, depending on where employees work.

Notwithstanding statements made by local or regional postal officials to the contrary, unless OPM disapproves the Postal Service request, the early outs will be offered to all APWU-represented employees nationwide.

To determine the number of interested employees by installation, it is requested that those APWU-represented employees who are eligible and are interested in voluntary early retirement (without a monetary incentive) go to the APWU Web site (www.apwu.org) and click on Early Retirement Opportunities [sic] in the vertical blue INDEX bar on the left side of the screen. After completing the requested information, simply click on Submit.

Not an Application

Supplying the information to the APWU will not represent an application for retirement. It is not a commitment to retire, but will simply provide the union with estimates that will be used in our discussions with management. Employees who do not meet the eligibility criteria for early retirement should not submit information, as their inclusion would skew the results and prevent an accurate analysis.

Please provide the information as soon as possible and no later than March 25, 2003.

To be eligible for Voluntary Early Retirement, both CSRS employees and FERS employees must be at least 50 years old and have at least 20 years of federal service (including military service). Employees of any age, however, are eligible if they have at least 25 years of federal service.

The annuity payments for CSRS employees will be reduced by 2 percent for each year that they are younger than 55 at the time they retire. CSRS employees also must have at least five years of creditable service and must have been in a pay status for at least one of the two years immediately preceding their retirement. (This is known as the "one-out-of-two rule.")

For more information about eligibility requirements and the level of benefits available, check with your Human Resources department or click on the Early Outs Magazine article link on the APWU Home Page on the Web.

        [March 12th]

COLA Adjustment

An increase in the Consumer Price Index in January means that after the sixth and final month of the third Cost-Of-Living Adjustment period in the National Agreement, employees have accrued an annual raise of $250.

The adjustment amounts to a 12 cents per hour increase, which works out to $9.60 per pay period.

The COLA increase took effect March 8, and will be reflected in March 28, 2003, paychecks. Updated pay scales were distributed in the March/April edition of The American Postal Worker.

        [March 8th]

CSRS Bill Passes House Committee, Joins Senate Version
Melissa Campanelli, DMNews.com

The House Committee on Government Reform unanimously approved a bill yesterday that would lower U.S. Postal Service pension contributions -- and potentially keep rates steady until 2006. The bill, HR 735, follows a similar Senate bill that passed unanimously out of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs on March 5.

"This is very good news for the mailing community," said Bob McLean, executive director of the Mailers Council. "Both markups went very smoothly." He is optimistic that the bills will move to the House and Senate floors in a few weeks, adding that HR 735 has 20 cosponsors so far while the Senate bill, S 380, has 14.

But because the bills differ slightly, he said, "we are headed to a conference committee, which [is] oftentimes time consuming to schedule."

Quick passage is important since the postal service has said that it will file a rate case this year if pension contributions are not lowered. Postal officials would not comment on when they plan to file, but insiders said it likely would come in August and would not include provisions for phased rates.

The move to reduce the contributions came after reviews by the federal Office of Personnel Management and General Accounting Office found that the USPS was paying too much into the Civil Service Retirement System. Pension contributions are fixed by law and cannot be changed without congressional approval.

The postal service estimates it would save $2.9 billion in fiscal year 2003 and $2.8 billion in FY 2004 through lower contributions.

The bills require the USPS to use some of the savings to pay down its $11 billion debt in FY 2003, 2004 and 2005. Other savings would be used to continue funding of retiree health benefits and to hold postal rates steady until 2006.

Beyond 2005, the postal service and OPM would be required to calculate the difference in the cost to fund the CSRS pension under the bill and the cost under the old law. This amount would be held in escrow until Congress decided what to do with the money.

One difference between the two is that the Senate bill requires the USPS to report to Congress on how it intends to use any savings before filing future rate increases.

The USPS said in a statement that it is pleased the legislation was approved by both committees.

"Full congressional consideration and passage of this bill is important to any business that uses the mail," the agency said. "It will keep the postal service from overpaying into the [CSRS] thereby allowing postage rates to remain unchanged until 2006."

        [March 4th]

New Bulk Mail Plant in Works for Pittsburgh P&DC
Susan Elliot, Pittsburgh Business Times

The U.S. Postal Service is scouting the Pittsburgh area for a site for a new 300,000-square-foot bulk mail facility.

The plant will replace the existing 200,000-square-foot operation the agency currently has in Warrendale, where it has been based for five years. The Postal Service said it will consider either taking an existing property or building from the ground up.

If it is to be a new construction project, the Pittsburgh Logistics and Distribution Center-- which one real estate source said could cost around $20 million excluding equipment-- would be one of the largest buildings to go up in Western Pennsylvania this year. Only the planned $420 million Children's Hospital in Lawrenceville and the 400,000-square-foot warehouse under construction by ALDI Inc., a German food store chain, in the Victory Road Business Park in Clinton Township, Butler County, are larger.

"We need additional space," said Dallan Wordekemper, a real estate specialist for the Postal Service's Eastern Facilities Service Office in Greensboro, N.C., who is overseeing the project. The Postal Service's lease in Warrendale is also coming up for renewal as well, he added.

Mr. Wordekemper said the extra space is needed because the Postal Service plans to add additional services in Pittsburgh. He declined to elaborate on what those may be. Besides the Pittsburgh area, the Warrendale bulk mail facility distributes mail and packages for parts of West Virginia, New York and Ohio. According to the Postal Service, it needs either 17.4 acres, or an existing 300,000-square-foot building or one that can be expanded to that size. Ceiling heights of no less than 24 feet are needed.

Plus, it's critical for the distribution center to be close to a major highway system, he said.

"We definitely need a road hub," said Mr. Wordekemper who is overseeing a similar-size project in the Philadelphia area. "And it doesn't necessarily have to be in Allegheny County."

The area being considered for this facility covers a broad area, most of which is in Allegheny County. According to the Postal Service, it is looking north by Warrendale and the first exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. In the south, the Postal Service would prefer to be near the Route 60 and Interstate 79 in the Carnegie area. In the east, the Postal Service is looking near the I-79 and Turnpike intersection. And in the west, the Postal Service is looking along the Parkway West in the proximity of Route 60.

The new space will include 7,000 square feet of office space, as well as parking for 160 employees and room for 60 tractor trailers. Most of the people who work at the facility will be there in the evening, said Mr. Wordekemper, adding that the project will create 30 new jobs.

Mr. Wordekemper said he has received a number of proposals from developers. All developers bidding must own or control the site, he added.

"We hope to make a decision on this within the next four months," he said.

In its year-end report, the Pittsburgh office of Grubb & Ellis Co. said construction activity in the region was light this year. Low interest rates are making buying more attractive than building, but the lack of inventory of class A industrial space for users of 100,000 square feet or more-- will be a problem in the not-so-distant future.

"Large users will need to consider build-to-suit arrangements," the report said, "however, they will have difficulty, in most submarkets, locating adequate building sites with appropriate infrastructure," the Grubb report said.

(From the Pittsburgh Business Times February 28, 2003 print edition)

        [March 4th]

Bush Flunks Economics

The nation's economic deterioration "is a damning indictment of President George W. Bush's economic stewardship and his failed, flawed and unfair tax policies," the AFL-CIO Executive Council said last week.

White House policies have resulted in fewer jobs, more unemployment, stagnant wages, falling incomes, rising poverty, more personal bankruptcies, less retirement security, unprecedented trade deficits, massive federal budget deficits and financial catastrophe for the states, the council said.

The council outlined an economic recovery plan that includes tax cuts that broadly benefit most families; financial help to states; investment in schools, transportation systems and the nation's industries; and strengthening and protecting retirement security.

Meanwhile, Bush's massive tax restructuring scheme that will mostly benefit the nation's wealthy was introduced in both houses of Congress last week. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates the scheme will cost $2.5 trillion through 2013. The Fair Taxes for All coalition of unions and consumer groups launched an e-mail petition drive to stop the Bush plan.

To sign the petition, visit www.fairftaxesforall.org

(From the AFL-CIO's Work in Progress)

        [March 3rd]

Postmasters Won't Be Disciplined

Postmasters in Everett and Marysville (WA) who approved the installation of baby monitors at clerk counters will not be disciplined, a U.S. Postal Service spokesman said Friday.

Marysville Postmaster Michael Ferri put baby monitors at the Marysville post office in November. Everett Postmaster Pat Ogle put them in the main Everett post office two weeks ago.

They said the monitors were needed to make sure clerks were asking customers if their packages carried hazardous contents. Supervisors listened from a back room. But no signs were posted telling customers their conversations with clerks may be monitored, and the clerks complained about the use of monitors.

Both post offices yanked the monitors Wednesday after The Herald published a story about the practice. It was later learned that the monitors likely violated the Postal Service's own code of conduct.

Post office spokesman Ernie Swanson said the district supervisor of the two postmasters has decided against pursuing any punishment.
From the Everett, WA Herald

---

From the US Postal Service Code of Ethical Conduct (Employee and Labor Relations Manual 668.29): "During the course of activities related to postal employment, no postal employee will record, monitor, or otherwise intercept the oral or wire communications of any other person through the use of any electronic, mechanical, or other device, nor listen in on a telephone conversation, nor direct another to do so, unless all parties involved in the communication consent to such interception."