THE BULLETIN BOARD
April 2004
[April 27th]VER Opportunities
A number of questions have arisen regarding the current VERA (Early -Out) retirement opportunity.
Previous publications were posted on facility bulletin boards, as well as the January Bulletin Board here online, notifying employees who declined early retirement on October 21, 2003, that they must notify the Union by February 2, 2004, if they were now interested in early retirement.
The APWU National office has advised me that discussions are being held with the USPS regarding employees who did not respond to the Union by February 2, 2004, and are still interested in the early-out opportunity.
If you fall into this category, click on the link below, download and print the form, and send it via fax to (202) 371-0992. The form can also be requested by contacting the Local office at (412) 321-4700.
If you have any questions, please contact Secretary-Treasurer Desi Neurohr.
Click here for a printable form.
[April 27th]COPA Awareness Walk
Pennsylvania Postal Workers Union President LeRoy Moyer will be walking 150 miles, from Philadelphia, PA, to Washington DC to raise public awareness regarding Postal reform and raise funds for APWU COPA.
All members are encouraged to sponsor Brother Moyer during this effort. Sponsor sheets are available from your steward, by contacting the Local office, or by a printable downloaded form (link below.)
The APWU National office has advised me that discussions are being held with the USPS regarding employees who did not respond to the Union by February 2, 2004, and are still interested in the early-out opportunity.
Postal reform is a real and serious threat to the rights and benefits we enjoy. We must all do our part to defeat the efforts of those who would destroy our way of life. Sponsoring Brother Moyer is an easy, painless way to do our part.
Thank you in advance for your support.
Click here for a printable (PDF format) sponsoring form.
[April 26th]Study: Workers Should Stay Home When Sick
(William Kates, Associated Press, excerpted)
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- American workers should stop trying to be heroes and just stay home when they're sick- it could be cheaper for their employers, according to a study.
Workers who come in sick cost their employers an average of $255 each per year, according to Cornell University labor researchers.
Sick employees have difficulty concentrating, work more slowly and have to repeat tasks, bogging down productivity, according to the study. (They also get their co-workers sick, but those costs were not counted in the study.)
Lori Rosen, a workplace analyst for CCH Inc., a Riverwoods, Ill.-based trade group that does an annual nationwide survey on absenteeism, acknowledged presenteeism is a problem but said absenteeism still costs employers more, an average of $645 per employee per year.
[April 26th]Sununu Says Senate Set for Postal Reform
(Richard H. Levey, Direct Newsline, DMA.com, excerpted)
A day after two House chiefs of staff declared that postal reform was dead on Capitol Hill until at least 2005, Senator John Sununu (R-NH) said that on his side of Congress Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) was "excited about taking up postal reform."
If Sununu correctly characterized Collins's attitude, it means that Congress's so-called "upper chamber" could lead the way to reform this year. Collins chairs the Senate postal oversight committee.
Sununu himself senses an opening. "I don't think we can find [another] time where the need for reform and the leaders of the committee responsible for reform and the groundwork for reform have all come together," he said. He anticipates that the committee will issue discussion material by the end of the month. "It is the issue for the committee," he said, stressing the "the."
Read the entire article at DMA.com
[April 22nd]House Staff Says No Chance for Postal Reform
(Richard H. Levey, Direct Newsline, DMA.com, excerpted)
It doesn't get more unequivocal than this: Asked whether postal reform will be considered by Congress this year, the chiefs of staff for both House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland and House Republican Whip Roy Blunt of Montana replied with one-word: "No."
Fair's fair: The question had been put to them as a simple yes-or-no proposition. But given the opportunity to comment further, both cited the run-up to the general election as a factor, as well as wrangling over federal budget and other top-tier issues.
Both agreed that the process of bringing legislation to the House floor was designed to be as deliberate as possible, and when the majority is held by one party or another the system is geared toward gridlock.
Read the entire article at DMA.com
[April 2nd]APWU NBA Greg Poferl Sentenced to 90 Days After Protest at SOA
Greg Poferl, a well-known St Paul union activist and US Army veteran will enter federal prison in Waseca, Minn., on April 6 to serve a 90-day sentence imposed as a result of participation in a protest at the United States Army's School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia, earlier this year.
Poferl was sentenced along with 26 other protesters tried in Columbus, Georgia in January for "crossing the line" during the annual demonstrations at the SOA last fall.
The US Army's School of Americas, renamed the "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation" by the Bush administration, and known to many as "The School of the Assassins," is based in Fort Benning. SOA/WHISC graduates are responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses in Latin America. In 1996 the Pentagon was forced to release training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution.
In an open letter to APWU members, Poferl cited a close personal connection to Latin American postal workers whom he had met at a postal workers caucus during an international labor meeting in Puerto Rico in 2000.
"(APWU) President (Moe) Biller assigned me to represent APWU at the conference. (Workers) recounted the stories of union organizers who had been assassinated or disappeared in Latin America. They were an inspiration to all of us at the conference. I was humbled by their courage."
Messages of solidarity can be sent to Brother Poferl at FCI, PO Box 1731 1000 University Drive SW, Waseca, MN, or to American Postal Workers Union, 8009-34th Av So, Bloomington MN 55425
Read the complete article online, available at Workday Minnesota.org
[April 1st]Senate, House Begin Process of Drafting Legislation to Overhaul Postal Service
The House Government Reform Committee has concluded its hearings on postal reform, and the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee has only one more hearing left. Members from both bodies predict they will introduce legislation by the end of this month to begin the process of overhauling the Postal Service.
Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, is expected to introduce legislation with Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del., at the end of April, and in the House, Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., plans to introduce a separate bill with Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., a long-term advocate of postal change and chair of the House committee's postal panel.
At the front of the debate will be workforce issues, particularly-- reducing the size of the postal workforce and opening employee health benefits to collective bargaining. Senator Collins also has said she intends to change the postal worker compensation system.
[April 1st]Support Efforts to Require Fees from Non-Union Employees
(Reposted from last month)
An effort is underway in California to get a bill sponsored by Congresswoman Barbara Lee that would provide negotiated fees to labor organizations representing non-member bargaining-unit Postal Employees.
Take a moment to read the flyer and letter from our union brothers and sisters in Oakland who are asking for our help with this issue. They ask that we contact our own representatives in addition to contacting the Honorable Barbara Lee, and ask for their support and/or sponsorship of this bill.
Note: This file downloads a Microsoft Windows Document formatted file. If you do not have MS Office or Works, you may not be able to view it. Downloading it for viewing or printing should take approzimately 20 to 30 seconds with a broadband connection, and a little longer with dial-up accounts.
[April 1st]Nat'l APWU Files Grievance Over 'Interactive Voice Response' (CALL-IN) System
The APWU has initiated a national-level dispute over the Postal Service's unilateral implementation of the Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) system to handle unscheduled leave requests.
With the new eRMS speech application, when employees are unable to work due to unexpected illness/injury, personal emergency, or community disaster, employees will make their unscheduled leave request using the IVR system. The IVR will then update the RMD/eRMS with the employee's leave request information.
Previously, the APWU has requested access to the findings of a usability study conducted in December on the new IVR system, but has not been provided with the results. The APWU's concerns range from possible lack of protection of employee's confidential information (such as Social Security Numbers), to improper recording of the very complex leave requirements, to the unusual order of the phone script which may make it difficult for employees reporting off from work to properly answer questions in order to protect their rights.
A complete online version of this document, filed by Greg Bell, Director Industrial Relations at Lu's News and Reviews.
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