[September 30th]

USPS Seeks to Impose Restrictions In Offer on Early Retirements
From APWU's News Service

"Recent actions by the Postal Service designed to limit voluntary early retirements by APWU-represented employees are nothing less than treachery," APWU President William Burrus declared today. "It is clear the Postal Service has engaged in double-dealing to avoid living up to its commitment to offer early outs to all eligible members."

The exclusion of some categories of employees from the offer of voluntary early retirement has been hotly contested by the APWU since July. In December 2002, as part of the extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the union and management agreed that the Postal Service would petition OPM for authority to offer early retirement to all eligible APWU-represented employees. According to the agreement, only restrictions imposed by OPM could limit the offer.

"The Postal Service— in concert with OPM— is attempting to make it appear that OPM has imposed restrictions on the early-out offer, when it is clear that management is actually trying to limit the offer, in violation of the APWU contract."

Read the entire article at the APWU News Service page.

        [September 24th]

Democrats Challenge Policy of Higher Funding for Iraqis Than for Americans
By Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post Staff Writer

President Bush formally shipped his $87 billion war spending request to Congress last Wednesday, offering new details about the burgeoning costs of reconstructing Iraq and drawing criticism from Democrats that the White House is willing to spend more on Iraqis than on U.S. citizens.

The spending bill's fine print offers a glimpse of the task the administration faces in rebuilding Iraq. Of the president's request, nearly $5.8 billion would go toward rebuilding Iraq's electricity system. An additional $2.1 billion is earmarked for its oil infrastructure, $3.7 billion for water and sewer building, $800 million for telecommunications and transportation improvements, and $900 million to upgrade hospitals and health care.

U.S. taxpayers will construct two prisons in Iraq, build houses and finance the importation of $900 million worth of fuel to a country with the world's second-largest oil reserves. All that is to be done by the end of 2004, administration officials said.

Rep. David R. Obey (Wis.), the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, issued a report showing how much the administration would pay to meet Iraqis' needs compared with Americans'. The budget proposal allocates $157 per Iraqi for sewage improvements, compared with $14 per American, for example. The administration is devoting $38 per Iraqi for hospitals, compared with $3.30 per American.

Bush's "vision for Iraq is precisely opposite his vision for the United States," Obey said. "We also need to have a balance in the budgets between what we're doing abroad and what we're doing here at home."

Read $87 Billion War Request Details Spending today, then contact your Senators and Representatives to let them know how you feel!

        [September 23rd]

Postal Inspection Service Expanding Investigation In Mail-Carrier Clayton Smith's Murder

U.S. Postal Inspectors seeking clues in the death of a Crafton letter carrier have recently taken their investigation outside Pennsylvania, to nearby Steubenville, OH. The murder weapon, a .380 caliber handgun, has been traced to an area just outside of Stuebenville.

Close to three dozen Postal Inpectors are assigned to this case, which ranks second in importance behind the 2001 anthrax attacks. People in Dillonvale, Ohio, and Toronto, Ohio are scheduled to be questioned.

A $100,000 reward is available for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the Smith killing. The phone number is 800-846-4677.

        [September 22nd]

Senate Gov't Affairs Committee Holds Hearing on Commission Report

Visit Senate Committee on Government Affairs, and you will notice several links on the page that take you to transcripts of the actual hearing.

Also: an online article provides a synopsis and analysis of the September 17th hearing. Keep yourself educated!

        [September 21st]

Health Insurance Premiums to Rise 10%
From the Federal Times Online's Tim Kaufmann:

"Premiums in the federal health-care insurance program will increase 10.6 percent on average in January, the second consecutive year of declining rate increases, the Office of Personnel Management announced Sept. 16. Biweekly payments for Postal Service employees is $3.13 for individual coverage and $6.53 for family coverage on average.

This year's increase was well below the 13.9 percent average increase for plans outside the federal government in 2003, and the increase that takes effect in January also likely will be below the premium increase in nonfederal plans."

Please read the full article at FederalTimes.com

        [September 21st]

Be Warned: Bonuses *Are* Back

No matter what management wants to call it, the program that ties "performance" to pay for management employees is back, starting next month (October 2003). The National Performance Assessment replaces the Economic Value Added program canceled in 2002. The first "raises" to come out of this new program will occur in the first few weeks of 2005.

This program has established three categories of "performance goals", but the "goals" with possibly the most impact on craft employees are the so-called "unit goals." Interestingly enough, no decision has been made on who will set "unit goals" and what they might be. They will most likely include things like speeding up mail processing, making sure more letters reach their final destination accurately, or making sure more trucks leave post offices on time.

While none of these "goals" have anything wrong with them, we have all experienced the ways that local managers implement their plans to achieve so-called "goals." Be prepared.

Once again, we'll be earning extra money for the people who often appear to care the least about the long-term success of the Postal Service.

        [September 19th]

Help Save Overtime Pay Now!
From the AFL-CIO:

The U.S. Senate voted September 10th to block President Bush's overtime pay cuts. But that is just the first step in defeating Bush's attack on workers' paychecks. Now the U.S. House of Representatives considers the measure. Act now to voice your opposition to changes in federal overtime rules, which could deny overtime pay to at least 8 million people, by signing the online petition and spreading the word.

Please visit the AFL-CIO's special website Save Overtime Pay as soon as you can and sign this petition. Then pass it along to anyone else you think will be interested in helping this cause.

        [September 14th]

APWU Files Suit to Force Resolution of Early Out Dispute

The APWU filed a complaint in federal court, President William Burrus announced, as part of its effort to resolve a dispute regarding the Postal Service's refusal to offer voluntary early retirement to all eligible APWU-represented employees. The suit seeks to compel the Postal Service to arbitrate the issue expeditiously so that no eligible employee who wishes to retire early is denied the opportunity to do so.

The union had sought expedited arbitration but the Postal Service refused. "Eligible employees who are denied the opportunity to retire while the Postal Service drags its heels would suffer irreparable harm," Burrus said, "so we asked the court to intervene."

The union and management agreed in December 2002 that the Postal Service would petition the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for authority to offer early retirement to all eligible APWU-represented employees. According to the agreement, only restrictions imposed by OPM could limit the offer. The USPS filed the request for Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) with OPM in January, and it was approved June 13.

In July, however, the Postal Service issued instructions to managers in the field that indicated that some eligible employees could be excluded from offers for "early outs." A few weeks later, a follow-up letter from the USPS Labor Relations department advised managers that voluntary early retirement would be available only to Clerk Craft employees in Levels 4, 5, 6, and 7, and to Maintenance Craft and Motor Vehicle Craft employees in Level 5 positions and below.

The APWU invoked the Administrative Dispute Resolution Procedure of the Collective Bargaining Agreement in late July, and proposed expedited arbitration so that the issue could be resolved quickly. The USPS refused to expedite a hearing.

In an informal attempt to resolve the issue, Burrus and Industrial Relations Director Greg Bell met with representatives of the Postal Service and OPM on Aug. 12.

The dispute was not settled, but when the meeting was over Burrus expressed confidence in the union's position. "OPM has not imposed any new limitations," Burrus said. "Nothing OPM officials said was contrary to our understanding of the law or our agreement."

Read the full bulletin at the national APWU website.

        [September 11th]

Postal Service Cuts 3700 Jobs Work-Force Reduction
From the Quicken.com news service and Wall Street Journal

The U.S. Postal Service trimmed its huge work force by 3,700 jobs in the four-week period ended Aug. 8, boosting the total number of jobs eliminated over the past year to more than 25,000.

The world's largest mail agency, handling more than 40% of all mail, is in the midst of an across-the-board job-reduction push aimed at shrinking its costs as delivery volume stagnates. The latest cuts push the overall number of career, temporary and transitional jobs eliminated since John Potter became postmaster general in 2001 to 64,000, or 7.8%.

The agency is making the cuts through attrition, since most of the employees in its heavily unionized work force are protected against layoffs. Richard Strasser, the Postal Service's chief financial officer, told The Wall Street Journal earlier this week that the agency could eliminate an additional 10,000 full-time jobs during the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.

The Postal Service had 762,077 employees as of Aug. 8. It is the country's second-largest work force, trailing only Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Next week, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee holds a hearing to discuss ways to tackle the challenges facing the agency, which include the erosion of first-class mail and increasing competition from private-sector rivals such as FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc. A federal panel in July concluded that the agency could be forced to drastically cut service, seek huge rate increases or take on additional debt if changes aren't made.

Read the entire article at Quicken.com's Brokerage News Service.

        [September 8th]

Former APWU President Morris "Moe" Biller Dies at 87

Moe Biller, the APWU's President Emeritus, died Sept. 5 in New York. He was 87. Our union's third national president, Morris Biller, who preferred to be called "Moe," led the APWU for more than 20 years.

"Moe was the hero of the U.S. postal workers movement," said William Burrus, Biller's successor. "From his first job as a part-time clerk he devoted himself to the labor movement. During his rise to the top he worked tirelessly not just for the workers he represented, but for all those who deserved economic justice."

"Moe was a leader— the leader— of the Great Postal Strike," recalled APWU Vice President Cliff Guffey. "The strike began in his hometown and launched his national reputation as a crusader for economic justice."

Survivors include two sons, Steven and Michael, two daughters-in-law, and two granddaughters.

Read the full obituary notice at the national APWU website.

        [September 6th]

Three More Remote Encoding Centers Are Closing

Three more remote encoding centers (RECs) are closing: Bowling Green, KY, Fishkill, NY, and Albany, NY. All three facilities will end image processing operations and shut down in March 2004.

Workloads will be transferred beginning next month and continuing into November. Career employees are to be reassigned and TE's are to be offered employment counseling.

Read the USPS official announcement of it at their website.

        [September 3rd]

Senate Affairs Committtee Will Discuss Reforms to USPS

The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee intends to hold a hearing to discuss postal reform and changes to the U.S. Postal Service as proposed by the Presidential reform commission. The date and time is yet to be determined; the original hearing was scheduled for earlier today.

James A. Johnson and Harry Pearce, co-chairs of the commission, are scheduled to be the "star" witnesses. The President's Commisssion, you'll recall, issued a report in July that recommended widespread changes including increased automation, fewer employees, changes to the collective bargaining process and increased power to close unprofitable post offices.

All of the major postal unions have announced their opposition to some of the reforms. Our own national APWU president, William Burrus, has appeared in a video segment denouncing the Commission's suggestions.

To find out when the hearing will take place, visit Senate Committee on Government Affairs, where you will notice that you can also view the proceedings live if you wish.

        [September 1st]

Celebrate Labor Day!

Join Pittsburgh Metro for a day of FUN!

Labor Day Parade
Monday, Sept. 1, 2003

9:00 AM at the Mellon Arena, march starts at 10:00 AM

Visit our Events page for details!

Did you know that Pittsburgh has one of the largest Labor Day Parades in the United States?
And that it was in danger of being cancelled due to the city budget being in a crisis state at the moment?

Well, it's alive and kicking, because local unions donated nearly $50,000 to keep the 16 year old event going.

Nearly 70,000 people are expected to march today, and the expected spectator turnout is around 50,000.

See you there!

        [September 1st]

APWU Releases Video Featuring President Burrus and the Commission Report

If you go to the APWU website, there is a huge downloadable file available if you'd like to view the video. For a more practical alternative, you may want to visit Lu's News and Views where the video has been converted to a PDF file. It is still a large download, but nowhere near as time consuming as the MPG version at the APWU website.

In the video, President Burrus addresses the committee's recommendations for a two-tiered pay system, elimination of the no lay-off clause, outsourcing work to "private sector" workers, altering health and retirement benefits, and reduction of window clerks.