[April 28th]

RTC Drivers Ask For Your Help

The drivers of ROOD TRUCKING COMPANY (RTC) and the American Postal Workers Union request that you show your support and solidarity for their efforts to obtain a First Contract.

The owner of RTC owns a small church in the Austintown, Ohio area. The owner is also an Elder at this church. This church is mainly attended by his family and normally has approximately 12 to 20 adults in attendance.

Over the last few weeks the drivers of RTC and their supporters have been attending this church, sending the Rood family a message that the drivers will not go away.

We invite you to join us on May 4, 2003 in this non-disruptive demonstration.

We meet in the parking lot of the Best Western Hotel Route 46 and Interstate 80 at 10:00 am on Sunday mornings. We then travel as a group to the church.

We do ask that you come wearing your Union Logo's... shirts, jackets, etc.

For directions or other questions please contact Joe Radovich at (412) 512-3723.

In Unity Lies Our Strength--
Hope to see you there!

        [April 25th]

2003 Pittsburgh AFL-CIO Union-Industries Show

The 2003 Pittsburgh AFL-CIO Union-Industries Show-- the largest exhibition of union workers' skills and services displaying millions of dollars worth of union-made, American-made products, will be held at the David Lawrence Convention Center, May 2-5.

This will be the third time in the Show's 65-year history that it will be staged in Pittsburgh. The Show was first held in 1938 and was forced to skip some of the World War II years; but, restarting in 1948 in Milwaukee, the Show has run each year since. Other Show visits to Pittsburgh were in 1965 and 1982.

In recent years, the Show has evolved into an educational forum to provide participating unions the opportunity to showcase the skills and expertise of their members and the value they add to their communities and to the nation.



"The American Dream-- Union Made" will be the theme at the Pittsburgh Show. Exhibits by unions and companies with union-represented employees, many from the Pittsburgh area, will cover floor space the equivalent of over four football fields.

To read more about this fascinating and fun family event, please visit the show's website, where you can get detailed information about everything from exhibitors, events, and where to stay if you need lodgings.

And don't forget-- Admission is free!

        [April 25th]

Postal Employees Ordered Not to Use Gloves

Can you imagine being forbidden to wear gloves while working one of the machines in a mail processing facility? No? Well, that's just what happened to craft employees in Phoenix, Arizona. The issue is spreading across postal facilities all over the country. Who is next?

Read an article about this in the Arizona Republic online edition to find out more.

        [April 15th]

Mutual Trade Desired to Pittsburgh from Erie

We received a very nice letter from a Level 3 Maintenance worker in Erie, looking for a trade in order to return home and help his sick mother. If you are interested in finding out more about this trade opportunity, please read Dana Morreale's letter.

        [April 12th]

PMAPWU Local Officers Election Results

President

Penascino      834
Pugar          1003


Vice President

Jones         1036
Meanor        804


Secretary-Treasurer

Hansen          851
Neurohr        979


Recording Secretary

Kimes            822
Shipley         989


Trustee A

Teasley           763
Thompson      1026


Trustee B

Golphin            877
Hamilton        985


Trustee C

Ank                789
Salac              643
Rogozinski        375


Trustee D

Nyman            834
Pcola             933


Clerk Craft Director

Gilchrist           596
Lucas             682


Maintenance Craft Director

Katchmark      166
Pogany            160

        [April 9th]

Unequal Pay Issues

Even though equal pay has been the law for 40 years, in 2002 women were paid 76 cents for every dollar men received. That's $24 less to spend on groceries, housing, child care and other expenses for every $100 worth of work we do. Nationwide, working families lose $200 billion of income annually to the wage gap.

Equal pay isn't just a women's issue. When women get equal pay, their family incomes rise and the whole family benefits. Equal pay helps men, too.

On average, it takes a women worker until April 15 to earn as much as a man was paid during the previous year. On Tuesday, April 15, Equal Pay Day, workers across the country will spotlight this gender gap in wages with special events such as rallied and town hall meetings. To find out how women workers fare in your state, visit The Pay Gap By State at the AFL-CIO website.

        [April 9th]

Made in the USA!

The US Postal Service now requires all postal uniforms to be made by workers in the United States. The action comes after UNITE, postal unions and union clothing manufactures objected to postal clothing being made offshore.

In February, UNITE and The Letter Carriers rallied against San Francisco Knitting Mills, a nonunion manufacturer that recently began producing postal uniforms overseas. The union will continue to press USPS to require that uniforms be made by responsible, worker-friendly employers that respect workers' rights and treat them fairly.

        [April 9th]

Overtime Pay On Its Way Out?

Working families could see extra pay from overtime work vanish if a bill approved by the house Workforce Subcommittee April 3 becomes law. H.R. 1119, which would allow employers to offer comp time in lieu of cash overtime pay, was approved on a straight party-line vote of 8-6.

The full House Education and Workforce Committee are expected to act this week with a floor vote later this spring. The bill and a similar Senate bill (S.317) provide no meaningful protection against employers requiring workers to take time off instead of overtime payments or assigning overtime hours only to workers who agree to take time off rather than cash.

The legislation also gives an employer ultimate control over when--or even if--a worker is allowed to use earned comp time. The House panel's action follows the March 27 announcement by the Bush administration that it is seeking new federal regulations that could exempt millions of workers from the overtime pay protections they currently enjoy under federal law.

Visit the AFL-CIO's Bush Watch for more information on the Bush administration's attack on working families' paychecks.

        [April 7th]

APWU Reaches Settlement on Resource Management Database (RMD)
By Greg Bell, Industrial Relations Director, APWU

In a national pre-arbitration settlement dated March 28, 2003, the Postal Service and the APWU reached agreement concerning the implementation of the Postal Service's Resource Management Database (RMD), its web-based enterprise Resource Management System (eRMS), and the application of current leave-related rules and policies.

This settlement resolves many of the issues related to management's implementation of these systems, including Privacy Act issues, improper retention of disciplinary records, multiple call-in requirements, medical documentation for absences of three days or less, and fixed numbers of absences for triggering discipline.

Several issues in this dispute remain outstanding, specifically: management requesting the nature of illness or injury when an employee calls in, FMLA second/third opinion procedures, and medical documentation requirements to substitute paid leave for unpaid intermittent FMLA leave. We have agreed to continue discussions related to these unresolved issues. However, if no agreement is reached within fifteen (15) days from the date of the settlement, the parties have agreed that these issues will be given priority scheduling for national arbitration.

It should be noted that on February 21, 2003, in national-level arbitration, we heard the case involving whether the Postal Service violates the FMLA by requiring a detailed medical report from bargaining unit employees seeking to return to work from FMLA leave after certain illness or ailments, or after absence of more than 21 days. An award in that case is expected soon after the submission of briefs.

        [April 7th]

OSHA, U.S. Postal Service, Postal Unions Establish Strategic
Partnership to Reduce Ergonomic Injuries
U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ 04/04 16:49

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the U.S. Postal Service, and unions representing Postal Service workers are teaming up to reduce ergonomic hazards for postal workers at worksites around the nation, announced John L. Henshaw, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health. OSHA, the USPS, the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, and the American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO (APWU) signed a partnership agreement today to work together to promote early identification of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and to control ergonomic risk factors for postal employees.

"Under this partnership OSHA, the postal unions, and the Postal Service will all be working together for the good of postal workers," said Henshaw. "It is just this kind of commitment from management and cooperation from unions and employees that we need to help reduce injuries and illnesses related to ergonomics and to assure a safer workplace for employees."

Read about the establishment of a national Ergonomic Work Group by all of the parties in the entire article, found online at the usnewswire.com site.

        [April 3rd]

Postal Security Plan Would Evacuate Employees, Close Mail Facilities
By Matthew Weinstock for GovExec.com

Mail-handling centers would immediately shut down and employees would be evacuated at the first sign of a biohazard under a new security plan being developed by the Postal Service.

Still in the formative stages, the new protocol would remove all local discretion from the process. As soon as a biohazard such as anthrax is detected in a mail processing plant, the facility will be closed, workers will be evacuated and decontaminated, and law enforcement officials and emergency responders will be called to the scene.

The new security procedures, however, depend upon the Postal Service's installment of biohazard detection equipment in its 280 mail processing plants. Currently, the agency is testing the equipment at a facility in Baltimore. There are plans to roll out the system to 14 facilities during the summer, but it could be upwards of 18 months before the system is deployed nationwide.

Read the entire article at GovExec.com.

        [April 3rd]

Senate Votes To Cut Postal Pension Costs
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer

The Senate passed legislation yesterday to allow the U.S. Postal Service to scale back some of its pension payments, a move that would keep postal rates flat until fiscal 2006.

The House is scheduled to consider an identical bill today.

Under both bills, the Postal Service would keep billions of dollars it would have paid into the Civil Service Retirement System fund, which covers employees who joined the agency by 1983.

Projected savings include $2.9 billion this fiscal year and $2.6 billion in fiscal 2004, according to USPS estimates. The Postal Service would be required to use the money to pay down its $11.2 billion debt and stave off rate increases over the next three years. It could not use the money to pay bonuses to its executives.

The pension contributions can be reduced without hurting current and future retirees, supporters say, because an Office of Personnel Management analysis last year showed that the Postal Service was on course to overfund its pension obligations by $71 billion.

Allowing the overpayments to continue would mean more frequent postage rate increases that would hurt consumers and the $900-billion-a-year mailing industry, USPS officials and their allies have argued. The Postal Service has said it will need to raise prices next year if it is not allowed to reduce fund payments.

"In so many ways, postage rate increases have a significant economic impact," said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chairwoman of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee and chief sponsor of the bill in the Senate.

Rep. John M. McHugh (R-N.Y.), sponsor of the House bill, said, "Congress needs to do everything in its power to ensure a modicum of rate stability."

The Postal Service, which is funded by operating revenue, has an annual budget of $70 billion and has not turned a profit since 1999. It has been hit hard by a drop in advertising mail caused by the recent recession, disruptions after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and competition from e-mail and online bill-paying services.

The OPM analysis found that the retirement program was on its way to a large surplus largely because of a higher than expected yield during the past 30 years on the pension fund investments.

        [April 1st]

Is Your Son or Daughter Graduating High School This Year?
Reposted from 3/26

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.

        [April 1st]

U.S. Troops in Iraq Get First Mail Call
By CHRIS TOMLINSON, The Associated Press, 3/29/03

The magic words first came on the battalion's radio network: "Mail is ready for pickup."

"Is that mail to go out, or mail coming in?" asked an incredulous 1st Lt. Eric Hooper of A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment.

"Why don't you go over and find out," answered Capt. Chris Carter, the company commander, from Watkinsville, Ga.

Soon the lieutenant's Humvee pulled up, bringing mail from home. Overstuffed letters, carefully taped boxes, all with U.S. Postal Service markings. The surprise delivery, brought from Kuwait by cargo truck, sparked excitement around the unit, and a few happy tears.

Spc. Luke Edwards of Raleigh, N.C., inhaled deeply the perfumed scent of an envelope holding a letter from his wife. Then he ripped into it with an ear-to-ear grin.

"She joined a gym behind my mom's work, she got a better job," said Edwards, 22, as he voraciously read the letter. "Nothing could be better right now. This is the closest thing to going home."

In the desert, miles from any village or city, anything other than green or tan stands out - especially a pink love letter.

Spc. Shaun Urwiler, 26, received letters from both his fiancee and his parents in Tampa, Fla., filled with snapshots from home. His fiancee, Emily McFarland, sent him photos of his cocker spaniel, Sparky, and a new armoire she'd bought for their future home.

"I didn't expect to get mail for a couple of months," Urwiler said, disappointed that he couldn't write back right now because mail hasn't yet begun to be shipped to the rear. "I keep a diary, so I can tell them about it when I get home."

There were also packages of snacks and letter-writing materials sent to "Any Soldier" from supporters back home-- everything made more precious because it was unexpected.

"You look around and you're in the middle of Iraq," said Sgt. Paul Ingram of Athens, Ohio. "You don't expect to get mail."

Carter received several back issues of Sport Illustrated. He offered the other troops a chance to read them first, and they leaped from the lowered ramps on the back of their Bradley fighting vehicles to get the first whiff of the pristine glossy paper.

Several soldiers had held out hope for shipments of cigarettes, cigars or chewing tobacco, but were disappointed. Their withdrawal pains seemed to worsen. Many resolved to quit tobacco permanently, but were soon seen bumming cigarettes or a pinch from the more fortunate.

Then came the next question: "When do you think we'll get mail again?"

        [April 1st]

Taking On TYCO International
(taken from Work in Progress)

An AFL-CIO sponsored shareholder proposal aimed at curbing exorbitant executive severance packages won more than 57 percent of all votes cast at the March 6 annual meeting of Tyco International-- the highest percentage vote ever for a resolution requiring shareholder approval of so-called golden parachutes.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka wrote Tyco's board members, calling on them to adopt the proposal immediately and define new policies on executive compensation. Also on March 6, more than 26 percent-- a larger than average total-- of Tyco shareholders supported an AFSCME-sponsored proposal that calls on the company to move its legal headquarters back to the United States from the tax haven of Bermuda.