THE BULLETIN BOARD
June 2009
[June 22nd]Five Day Delivery... Again?
excerpted from APWU Web News Article #071-09
"The American Postal Workers Union submits in the strongest possible terms our insistence that the Postal Service refrain from conversion to five-day delivery," APWU President William Burrus wrote on June 18. "The consequences of the proposed change far outweigh the expected monetary benefits associated with delivery reduction."
Burrus letter was in response to a notice from the USPS Vice President for Labor Relations, which said the Postal Service plans to complete a study of the concept within 60 days. '"Our interest is in gathering, in this short timeframe, as much input from interested parties as possible," the June 10 letter said; it asked for a response from the union just nine days later.
A reduction in the number of delivery days will result in "negative changes to employee staffing and scheduling," the union president noted. Although the changes are intended to reduce personnel costs, "Any service organization that reduces service invites its own demise," he said.
"This decision is the worst possible response to unusual circumstances that have adversely affected mail volume," the union president wrote. It assumes that the economy will not recover, and that mail will not serve as a viable medium for commercial activities.
Read the entire article....[June 12th]Revamped Maintenance Selection System
excerpted from APWU Web News Article #068-09
After intensive discussions, the APWU and the USPS have agreed to modify the Maintenance Selection System (MSS), the process by which many Maintenance Craft duty assignments are filled.
"The Revamped Maintenance Selection System maintains employee protections that are important to the craft, and establishes a selection process that is far more objective than the old system," Maintenance Craft Director Steve Raymer said. "The RMSS also should result in a more timely return of results, and the elimination of several troublesome issues."
The USPS began reviewing the MSS in 2006, citing changes in technology and equipment, as well as difficulty maintaining selection registers and recruiting new hires. The MSS had not undergone a complete review since 1984. As part of the review process, the Postal Service surveyed hundreds of current craft employees and supervisors, and evaluated the work associated with Maintenance Craft occupational groups.
In early 2009, when the Postal Service notified the APWU of proposed changes to the EL-304 Handbook, the APWU initiated serious discussions with management on the subject.
MSS applications that were started prior to May 27, 2009, will be processed under the old system. Applications submitted in March for the 2009 Open Season will be processed under the revamped procedure.
Read the entire article, including a partial list of important changes....[June 11th]Zumbox Lines Up Partner to Launch Paperless Postal Service
excerpted from VentureBeat.com, by Dean Takahashi
Zumbox is announcing a new partner and a new chief executive today to prepare for its launch of a national paperless postal service.
Zumbox lets you send or receive scanned, physical representations of letters, bills or other things you might normally send via paper mail. You can log into your mailbox at the Zumbox site and then receive digital delivery of your mail, which lets companies send you bills or friends send you correspondence to a digital mailbox, eliminating the need to send paper letters or bills through the U.S. Postal Service. The company came out of stealth mode in February.
And you dont have to put a stamp on anything. For now, it's free for everyone except advertisers and marketers, who can pay for premium service. Consumers can now view online the mail they wish to receive and the service allows them to access it from anywhere at anytime via the Internet. And the service doesn't take a day off on Sundays.
Zumbox has created a digital mailbox for every street address in the U.S. So companies can send bills via Zumbox. You open them and they look like scanned versions of the real paper bills. The Zumbox site will let you look at a variety of media in the form of HTML, Flash, audio, and video. Nonprofits, businesses, government entities and consumers can use it for free.
Zumbox mailboxes are secure, since the company uses a closed system with security measures that meet the toughest regulations, such as the medical-record HIPAA law. Users get a secure PIN number, which they receive from Zumbox via paper mail, just to make sure that scammers don't hijack your mail. The benefit of the closed system is there's no junk mail. Consumers can still order and use a variety of electronic payment systems. They can also browse through the catalogs they want to see and order goods.
The company was founded in 2007. It has 33 employees and has raised $4 million from private investors. Rivals include Earth Class Mail, another provider of alternative mail services.
Read the entire article....[June 11th]APWU Responds to USPS Notice on Retail Operations
excerpted from APWU Web News Article #064-09
In response to a USPS notice that "the Postal Service is considering consolidating operations in our larger stations and branches," APWU President William Burrus has reminded management that a Memorandum of Understanding included in the 2006-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement requires that "all existing retail operations will remain within the installation of which they are a part."
"I note that of the many factors that will be considered in your final decisions, you omit the parties' negotiated agreements," Burrus wrote to the USPS manager of contract administration on June 8. The May 15 letter from the Postal Service says the USPS will review the activities of all stations and branches in Level 24-and-above post offices for possible discontinuance.
The Postal Service cited dramatic decreases in mail volume and the USPS' extremely challenging financial circumstances as the cause of the study. "Like mail volume, window transactions at our retail units have substantially declined," the letter noted.
The effort to consolidate operations at stations and branches "could include possible termination of leases and/or movement of operations from Postal Service-owned facilities.
"As a consequence, employees working in those retail/delivery facilities may be reassigned to other retail/delivery units, and/or other facilities, or other duties in accordance with the relevant provisions of the applicable collective bargaining agreements," the notice said. "Until the process is initiated and the reviews are completed, we will not know which leases or owned facilities, if any, will be terminated or sold, or the impact on employees."
Read the entire article....[June 6th]FERS Sick Leave Measure Delayed
excerpted from eNAPUS Legislative Bulletin, Volume 6, Number 8
On Thursday, the Senate was poised to pass an amendment offered by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and crafted by Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) that would, among other things, equalize the sick leave treatment between FERS and CSRS. The Lieberman-Akaka Amendment also includes provisions that would make minor changes to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and would alter the application of Territorial Cost of Living Adjustments (T-COLAs). The T-COLA provision is promoted by Senators from Alaska and Hawaii, and only impacts federal and postal employees from the non-contiguous states and territories.
The amendment was planned to be added to H.R. 1265, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act; however, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) raised objection to considering the underlying tobacco regulation bill. Sen. McCain wanted to offer an amendment to legalize drug reimportation, but it was ruled non-germane. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that the Senate would vote Monday or Tuesday on cloture, a procedural motion to close debate and overcome McCains objection. The motion requires a 60-vote majority. It is unclear whether the Lieberman-Akaka Amendment will be considered prior to the cloture vote.
The House-passed version of H.R. 1265 includes the Sick leave and TSP provisions, but does not address T-COLAs. Consequently, a House-Senate Conference Committee would have to resolve the differences between the House and Senate passed versions of the tobacco regulation measure.
Read the entire bulletin....[June 5th]No Buyouts with VERAs
excerpted from Mike Causey's Federal Report
Rumors about impending buyouts and/or special early retirement incentives have been rocketing around the federal service since the early 1990s when buyouts were first offered on a large scale basis.
The Clinton administration wanted (and succeeded) to trim the federal workforce by about 240,000 individuals. Most of the downsizing was aimed at Defense. Most of the buyout rumors now are centered in the giant U.S. Postal Service which have offered early-retirement (but not buyouts) to 150,000 workers. Early outs, called Voluntary Early Retirement Authorities, or VERAs in fedspeak, permit individuals to retire on immediate annuity if they have at least 20 years of federal service or at any age with 25 years of service.
Buyouts, known as VSIPs for voluntary separation incentive payments, are much rarer than VERAs although a number of agencies are offering them to targeted groups of workers in specific geographic areas or occupations.
Postal union leaders have urged members not to take a VERA without a VSIP. In English that means no early out without a buyout!
Insiders - in Congress, at the OPM, among postal unions and at the USPS itself - have repeatedly said there is little (as in very, very little) chance the Postal Service will ever again offer buyouts. The last time it tried it the program, by and large, crashed and burned.
Read Mike Causey's entire article....[June 4th]Burrus Calls on Labor Department to Reverse Bush FMLA Rules
excerpted from APWU Web News Article #063-09
APWU President William Burrus has called on U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to rescind the new regulations governing the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) that were imposed by the Bush Administration just days before the former president left office.
The new regulations, he noted, define "serious health condition" more narrowly; require employees to provide more medical documentation about their conditions, and provide it more often; allow employers to contact an employee's healthcare providers without the employee's knowledge or permission, and permit employers to request FMLA recertification every six months in conjunction with an absence, at the employee's expense.
In calling for the reversal of the President Bushs parting shot to American working families, however, Burrus requested that Labor Department '"retain the one positive change" in the new rules: the expansion of FMLA rights for members of the military and their families.
Read the entire article....[June 1st]McShane Scholarship Winners
The winners were announced at the May 16th Membership Meeting.
Clay Long
Brian Armstrong
Shane Donahue
Daniel Bryant
[June 1st]Non-Members Fail to Appreciate What's at Stake
excerpted from Burrus Update 07-2009
In March I sent a letter to non-members, requesting that they join the union. Approximately one thousand decided to join, returning their signed applications; others chose to share their negative views about the union in the postage-paid envelopes supplied by the APWU.
The remarks of those who rejected the invitation to join the APWU included a wide range of anti-union sentiment and some mean-spirited comments.
Generally, the responses from those who declined membership demonstrate that they fail to appreciate that every benefit of employment they receive is a direct result of union activity.
As conditions change due to the Postal Service's deepening financial crisis, these individuals may begin to realize that their working life is directly affected by the union.
It would be in their best interest to have a voice in the decisions that will affect them, including their rate of pay, the number of hours they work, and the location of their employment.
Read the entire article....
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