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TOP NEWS STORIES |
National League of Postmasters: 'Won't Give Up Their Raises'
"While the management associations are committed to
helping the Postal Service find its way out of the predicament
in which it finds itself, taking a pay raise away from
Postmasters and supervisors is not the right thing to do. It
is the position of Naps, Napus, and the League that the U.S.
Code prevents the Postal Service from unilaterally opening pay
consultations, and we have informed Postal Headquarters of our
opinion. I absolutely don't foresee Postmasters and
supervisors giving up their raises." -
NAPS and Postmasters Say "No" to Pay Concessions
- Minutes of Meeting Between USPS and
Management Associations
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Postmaster Gives Performance the Stamp of Approval
"The Postal Service had positive net incomes until a law was
passed in 2006. It requires the Postal Service today to pay
approximately 10 percent of every dollar we take in toward
retiree health benefits. There are two facets of those retiree
health benefits. We pay approximately $2.3 billion as the
employer share of health benefits for those who are currently
retired. In addition to that, we pay approximately $5.4
billion into a fund for future retirees' health benefits."
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Tight Times Strain Postmasters
"Postmasters across the country are facing the fallout from
tight budgets and hiring freezes. Charles Mapa, who heads an association of postmasters, said
many postmasters are short of employees and haven't been able
to hire new mail handlers, letter carriers and other
employees. But the mail has to be delivered one way or another, so many
postmasters are personally sorting and delivering mail,
helping members of the public, and in some cases, mopping the
floors in between managerial duties, Mapa wrote in an article
in the October issue of the Postmasters Advocate, the magazine
of the National League of Postmasters."
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NALC-USPS Reach New Agreement on Expedited Route Adjustments
(PDF)
Contract Delivery Halted - New Work for City Carriers -
Moratorium on Contracting Out
"The new MOU on Interim Route Adjustments will expedite the
route adjustment process - in fact, most routes will be
adjusted by early January, 2009. Additionally, NALC will gain
a formal role in the process and the USPS will discontinue all
unilateral processes like the "routers-streeters" proposal
raised by some high-level managers."
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Rumor mill: USPS freezes PCES pay, seeks to do the same for
Postmasters, EAS?
"A message supposedly sent by League of Postmasters
President Charley Mapa claims that postal executives have
"given up" their annual pay raises, and that the USPS is
seeking to re-open talks with the management associations with
the aim of eliminating increases for Postmasters and EAS
employees as well. According to the message, the management
associations balked, and are considering legal action should
the USPS pursue a pay freeze." NAPUS
President says 'NO' to pay freeze for postmasters -
Flashback: Big pay increases approved for top Postal Service
officers
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USPS Headquarters to Reduce Complement
"USPS is facing one of the most difficult challenges in
its history. There has been a continual decline in First-Class
Mail volumes over the past decade. The current economic
downturn has led to an even greater decline in volume with the
loss of more than 9 billion pieces this past year alone. All
Headquarters Officers have identified opportunities to
streamline staffing by matching current workforce with the
workload. As a result, complement in all Headquarters and
Headquarters-related units has been reduced - some vacant
positions have been eliminated, while other occupied positions
are impacted. Starting this week, employees occupying impacted
positions will be notified and given information and guidance."
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Burrus: An Open Letter to the Postmaster General
"No institution can survive through cost cutting. When you
choose to measure efficiency by the number of work-hours
reduced, you have failed before you begin. Progressive and
vibrant organizations have business plans that promote growth,
not cuts. Work-hour reduction- plans and consolidations are
measures of desperation that ultimately will lead to
bankruptcy."
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Ask President Burrus: Incentives to employees who are offered
early-outs?
"The union's effort to require the payment of an incentive to
employees who opt to retire early will not be resolved in the
near future, as it is expected that we will be forced to refer
the issue to an arbitrator for a final ruling. We have
requested that all employees who retire early be provided
severance pay, as required by the contract, and, if we
prevail, employees who retire under the VER offer will receive
payment."
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Less mail, ailing economy have postal workers
"Through creative business solutions, we have been able to
reduce costs $1 billion or more for each of the past seven
years," said Raymond V. Daiutolo Sr., a Postal Service
spokesman. "And we have absorbed more than $700 million in
fuel costs over the last year. We do not pass those costs onto
customers in fuel surcharges like other companies." Gina Meade
has seen absorption of another kind. As the head of the local
American Postal Workers Union, she speaks for a shrinking
number of clerks and maintenance and motor vehicle workers in
Harrisburg and 120 associate offices."
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Top Federal Postal Cop Retires in Wake of ABC News
Investigation
"Two weeks after being questioned by ABC News about his travel
expenses and gambling habits, the head of the US Postal
Service's Inspection Service abruptly announced his
retirement. Alexander Lazaroff announced his retirement
earlier this month saying, "after 37 years of federal service,
I feel that it's time for me to begin a new chapter in my
life." He made no mention of the ABC News questions nor of an
ongoing investigation of his travels by the Postal Service's
Inspector General." -
Potter Names
Gilligan Acting Chief Postal Inspector
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Problems in FSS Program? (PDF)
A USPS OIG audit report on the Flats Sequencing System (FSS)
has identified risks for the program in regards to mail
volumes (workload) being below the assumptions, increasing
the risks of lower than
expected financial returns. Among the OIG recommendations: "Reassess
forecasted mail volumes at sites listed on the current
deployment schedule. If mail volume is below expectations,
identify the impact of lower mail volumes on savings projected
in the Decision Analysis Report and reexamine the number of
Flats
Sequencing Systems currently scheduled for deployment."
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USPS Planning 'Aggressive' Tactics for Delivery Cost Savings (PDF)
A USPS presentation obtained by NALC Branch 709 sheds new
light on Postal Service intentions to aggressively find new
efficiencies and savings in delivery operations. Among the
items found in the presentation are new details on the 'Casers
and Deliverers' concept and a GPS vehicle tracking system
currently installed on 500 vehicles in Chicago. On Spring
route inspections, the USPS plans to aggressively "pursue
national union negotiations (from a position of strength) and
potential Article 19 eliminating the requirement for current
route inspection data and same carrier on route."
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The Two Tour Initiative
"The entire nation is expected to move to a 2 tour
operation, while still protecting service. Given the continued
workload decline and recent RPG scenarios, the NYMA agrees
with moving towards a 2 tour operation because of the
economies of scale that it would provide. The first step in
this process is moving to a 2 8-hour tour automation operation
(AFSM and APPS/SPBS operations to follow)... We are working
towards an early January 2009 implementation date."
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Next step for USPS: Layoffs?
"The Postal Service has already extended early-retirement
offers to more than 156,000 postal workers - roughly 20
percent of its work force. And the postmaster general, John
Potter, told the largest postal union that the agency has
identified as many as 16,000 employees who can be laid off
without the need for collective bargaining because they lack
seniority. Last month, nearly 3,700 employees had accepted
early retirement offers in the first of three rounds of
early-retirement offers." - So far, 3,685
Have Accepted Early Out - Post Office
Woes
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NALC President Young Denounces Postal Management Video About
Street-Only Work (PDF)
"NALC will not accept any concept developed unilaterally by
postal management developed outside the route inspection task
force, much less a contract-violating "full-time street"
concept like the one proposed by the Deputy Postmaster General.
"I urge all members to remain calm," President Young said. "NALC
is proceeding with the negotiations with the Postal Service
through our task force and we expect to reach win-win
solutions on the issues of route evaluations and inspections."
See Full-Time Street Concept -
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APWU Activists Work to 'Defend Our BMCs'
"The APWU "Defend Our BMCs Committee," which was established
to combat USPS attempts to privatize work at the nation's 21
Bulk Mail Centers, has made its first inroads into the
legislative arena, meeting with aides to both of New Jersey's
U.S. senators in early October. The committee was formed at a
BMC Conference just prior to the National Convention in
August, and held its first meeting, via teleconference, in
late September. On Oct. 2, BMC committee members met with
aides to New Jersey's U.S. Senators, Robert Menendez and Frank
Lautenberg." -
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Mail Handlers Update: USPS Faces Economic Difficulties
"The National Office is hearing all kinds of stories from
the membership and the Local Union officers, mostly concerning
over-reactions to this drop in volume by local management,
including threats to cut entire tours from an installation, to
excess and/or abolish jobs, and to close down entire
buildings. Another postal union even has indicated that
layoffs might occur. Representatives of the NPMHU have met
with officials at postal headquarters on these issues, and
they assure us that there are no blanket orders to eliminate
tours, or to take any drastic action if it does not make
business sense. Layoffs, moreover, would be absolutely a last
resort." -
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Arizona City residents win fight for street delivery of mail
"Arizona City residents on Monday won their long fight
with the United States Postal Service for street level mail
delivery. Residents in the growing town of about 8,000 people south of
the Valley have spent several months gathering petition
signatures and putting out questionnaires to lobby the U.S.
Postal Service to drop the long-established post office box
system of mail delivery in favor of carrier delivery routes." -
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Mail Carriers Disciplined
"Mail carriers are being singled out by the Meriden Post
Office for disciplinary action because they can't finish their
expanded routes in the allotted eight hours. Several carriers,
unable to officially comment because of contractual
restrictions, said their colleagues are receiving letters of
reprimand from post office management. Some of these carriers
have been delivering mail without problems for decades, said
Paul Daniels, president of the National Association of Letter
Carriers, Connecticut Merged Branch 20, which represents
them." -
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At the Postal Service, Talk of Layoffs
"Here's another sad sign of our economic times: Never
before has the U.S. Postal Service laid off workers. Now, it's
a real possibility. "For the first time in history, that is
being considered," said Gerald McKiernan, a USPS spokesman.
Already, the Postal Service is not hiring because it simply
doesn't move as much mail as it once did. E-mail has taken an
increasing amount of its business. McKiernan says mail volume
dropped 11 percent in fiscal 2008, which ended Tuesday. That
resulted in the service spending $2.3 billion more than it
took in." - APWU: USPS Financial
Difficulties And the Possibility of Layoffs -
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Full-Time Street Concept to Start Next Year for Letter
Carriers?
"USPS Chief Operating Officer Pat Donahue says a "casers and
deliverers" strategy could be implemented starting in early
2009. The plan would be to have about one caser per five
routes. The "casers" (perhaps T-6s) would report early in the
morning and prepare the mail for delivery on the five routes.
The "deliverers" would report later, get their mail
and keys, load
up, and deliver mail for seven hours and forty-five minutes or
more. It's part of a three-point strategy to reduce delivery
costs that also includes Spring and Fall route adjustments,
minor route adjustments based on COR data and goals for
district managers to eliminate one out of every twenty
routes." (Source: USPS-TV. See video at
LetterCarrierNetwork.info - scroll down and see $1 Billion
Cost Reduction Strategies by Pat Donahue.) -
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