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Manzullo Hails USPS Decision to Keep Northern Illinois Mail Processing Operations in Rockford   

[Press Release]  Calling it a “colossal victory for the people of northern Illinois,” Congressman Don Manzullo (R-IL) today announced the U.S. Postal Service has decided against a plan to transfer mail processing operations from Rockford to Palatine. As a result, residents and business owners in zip codes starting with 610 and 611 will continue to receive our nation’s best postal service through the Rockford facility.

Manzullo, who made the announcement during a Rockford news conference today, received a letter this morning from the USPS announcing the termination of the consolidation study. A copy of the letter is attached.

“This is a colossal victory for the people of northern Illinois and the hard-working Rockford postal employees whose jobs were threatened by the consolidation plan,” Manzullo said. “I want to thank U.S. Postmaster General Jack Potter and his staff for hearing us out and recognizing that this plan was a bad move, despite the fact that the USPS is under heavy pressure to reduce costs in this electronic information age. I want to thank Rockford Postmaster Ron Calloway for his leadership in running one of the most efficient postal operations in the nation, a major reason why the postal service terminated the consolidation plan.

“I also want to thank Gregg Voiles and his postal union colleagues, all the municipal and county officials who sent us resolutions of support, and all the northern Illinois residents and business owners who showed up in force June 6 to help us convince postal officials to terminate the consolidation study. This is a tremendous victory for those of us in northern Illinois who will continue to receive our nation’s best postal service from the tremendous workers and management at the Rockford postal facility.”

Last December, the USPS launched a study to measure whether it could save money without reducing service by transferring mail processing operations for eight counties (Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson, JoDaviess, Carroll, Whiteside, Ogle and Lee counties) from Rockford to Palatine. The Postal Service was scheduled to announce its decision in January, but Manzullo intervened and convinced the U.S. Postmaster General to delay the decision and re-do the study with public input.

At the public forum in June, Manzullo assembled a group of area business owners, Rockford postal workers, local government officials, and citizens to help make the case why sending the mail through Palatine instead of the extremely efficient postal center in Rockford would cause significant delivery delays in northern Illinois. More than 500 concerned residents attended the public forum.

At the June public forum with USPS officials, Manzullo’s staff submitted several documents for the record, including petitions signed by 5,598 residents and business owners supporting continued mail processing in Rockford. The documents also included 36 resolutions of support Manzullo received from local governments in the region.

 APWU News  - The Postal Service was forced to acknowledge in testimony to the Postal Rate Commission (PRC) in July that nearly a year ago it had compiled a list of 139 facilities that were being considered “potential candidates” for consolidation. The USPS provided the list to the PRC on July 25.

David Williams, who coordinates the Area Mail Processing program at USPS headquarters, revealed the existence of the list during cross-examination on July 19. He testified that the list of facilities was part of the Evolutionary Network Development (END) initiative, and was generated in September 2005. It identified facilities that postal headquarters wanted regional managers to consider for possible inclusion in the program, he said.

Under the Postal Reorganization Act, the Postal Service must obtain an opinion from the PRC about network realignment plans that would have a “substantially nationwide” affect on mail service. The USPS notified the PRC of plans to realign the postal network on Feb. 14, 2006.

But until July 25, 2006, the Postal Service had failed to provide a comprehensive list of sites under consideration for consolidation. The USPS announced the consolidation of some operations at 10 facilities on Oct. 19 and Nov. 1, 2005; since then, the USPS has notified the APWU of approximately 40 additional AMP “feasibility studies.” Most of those are included among the 139 facilities.

“This list is further evidence of the Postal Service’s stubborn refusal to share its plans for the nation’s mail network with the American people,” said APWU President William Burrus. “The union has repeatedly asked the USPS to provide an overview of their plans, as have numerous elected officials.

“But the Postal Service continues to do everything possible to hide its intentions, to keep workers in the dark, and to exclude citizens and small businesses from providing input about how the changes would affect them,” he said. An April 2005 report to Congress by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the USPS consolidation plan lacks “clarity, criteria, and accountability.”

Under the terms of an extension of the union’s Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Postal Service, the USPS was required to supply the APWU with its plan to consolidate facilities in December 2002. The Postal Service failed to meet that requirement, and did not brief the union on its plan until Feb. 14, 2006, the same day it notified the PRC. The Postal Service denied the existence of a list of facilities being considered for consolidation at the briefing, as it had for more than three years.

“It’s one thing for a private enterprise to make business decisions behind closed doors,” Burrus said. “But that is simply unacceptable for a public institution like the Postal Service.” The union president warned that the network realignment is expected to continue for several years, and that the list of 139 should not be considered a final list of potentially affected facilities.

In April, the union filed a lawsuit alleging that the Postal Service had begun its consolidation program nationwide without first obtaining an opinion on its plan from the PRC. The complaint also charges that the plan ignores potentially adverse effects on service and fails to consider the opinions and needs of people affected by the changes.

The Postal Service response to the complaint admits that its plan considers only costs, but points to the ongoing proceeding before the Postal Rate Commission, in which service impacts are being considered. The Postal Service continues to claim it has a right to implement its plans without waiting for a Rate Commission opinion.

“The USPS consolidation plan will degrade mail service for citizens and small businesses,” Burrus said. “We will make sure that the plan is brought into the light of day, and that the people have an opportunity to be heard.”

USPS July 25, 2006 Response to PRC identifying 139 facilities as “Potential Candidates” for consolidation

Related Links: 

USPS Cancels Consolidation Plan for Rockford Facility Postal Service changes in Yakima (Wash.) put on hold

Jim Lawhorn, Secretary-Treasurer, Cumberland Area Local APWU, AFL-CIO

As the Founding Fathers deliberated over the wording of our nation’s Constitution, they were careful to highlight the importance of reliable postal communications. Article 1, Section 8, clearly expresses the need to establish post offices across the new nation. For over two centuries, that ideal has held true - every single American citizen benefits from the same reliable mail service.

All too soon, though, the benefit of prompt and reliable postal delivery could be coming to an end for the citizens of Cumberland, if Washington has its way. The fact is, our area’s postal service is under attack; the United States Postal Service has announced a plan to consolidate our local postal facility and move operations all the way to Frederick.

Over a year and a half ago, the USPS told the Cumberland office that all the mail was going to be moved to Frederick. The USPS said it was not a matter of “if” but rather of “when.” The time is rapidly approaching when that process will begin.

What does the impending consolidation mean for the citizens of Cumberland? It means serious disruptions to the mail service we rely on. We will likely see mail being collected earlier and arriving later in the day, even into the evening or night. It means probable delays of up to a week in the time it takes to send and receive our mail. Checks and important medications may not reach their destination when they are needed; credit ratings will feel the brunt of late bill payments and birthday cards and gifts will arrive late.

This consolidation plan will also negatively affect Cumberland’s local economy. By shutting down parts of our local mail sorting facility and moving operations so far away, we will likely see the loss of up to 40 local jobs. In addition, small business owners will suffer from slower and less reliable mail service. In order to compete with large companies and producers, smaller companies must be able to provide customers with expedient and reliable services. Week-long delays will limit the ability of small business owners of our area to compete.
more from The Cumberland Times-News

 by Bill Lewis, APWU President Trenton Metro Area Local #1020 

The first round of in section bidding has concluded.  This restricted bidding will go on for many months before every one is in place.   The award notice is posted on the web site.

The excessing to the needs of the installation is on hold; no one has been excessed to the mail handler’s craft.  The potential for excessing still exists, since management has never withdrawn their notification.   I have requested that the USPS withdraw it’s excessing notification in writing.  We await their letter.

Many members have approached me with concerns about excessing to the needs of the section.  I will try to answer your questions and concerns about this troubling issue.  First, we need to clarify one very important allegation, it is not the union who gave away our work and it is not the union who wants to abolish your jobs and excess you out of your section.  It is the employer, the USPS, who should get the credit for this. Your supervisor.  I realize this is hard for anyone to affix blame on your supervisor, it’s much easier to blame the union. (more…)

Postal worker forced to disrobe settles lawsuit
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/15146560.htm
A postal worker who was forced by an angry co-worker to disrobe and walk around an Akron mail office settled her lawsuit today against the man.

Karen Smith’s lawsuit was being heard in Summit County Common Pleas Court by visiting Judge Peggy Foley Jones and a jury. She was seeking more than $100,000 in damages.

Smith was suing former postal worker Lonnie Wilson, who was five days from retiring as a revenue assurance analyst when he assaulted her.

Wilson was upset that his wife, also a postal employee, was bypassed by Smith for promotions. On Jan. 27, 2003, he berated Smith in an office and then threatened to harm her if she did not disrobe.

Wilson pleaded guilty to sexual battery and served eight months in prison before being released.

USPS Board of Governors Chairman Miller Joins Law Firm

Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP said Thursday that James Miller, former director of the Office of Management and Budget and former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, joined the firm’s Washington office as a part-time senior adviser. A nationally recognized economist, Miller will focus primarily on commercial issues, including litigation, the firm said in a release.

Miller is chairman of the board of governors of the U.S. Postal Service and serves on the boards of Washington Mutual Investors Fund, the Tax-Exempt Fund of Maryland, the Tax-Exempt Fund of Virginia, the J.P. Morgan Value Opportunities Fund, Independence Air and Clean Energy, the release said.

Blackwell Sanders and Polsinelli rank fourth and fifth, respectively, on the Kansas City Business Journal’s list of top area law firms

http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2006/07/24/daily39.html?surround=lfn

Letter Carriers at a California Postal Facility are fed up with staff shortages and overtime. Read more on story this weekend. 

United Parcel Service Vows to Kill Bill Over Single-Piece Parcels

National Association of Postmasters of the U.S.

Ben Franklin would not have signed the U.S. Constitution had he known that it bestowed United Parcel Service with veto authority. Just to make sure such a power was not snuck in, NAPUS scoured the document and its 26 Amendments; we found no UPS veto power. Yet, this week UPS warned Congressional postal reform advocates that it would use its imagined authority to kill H.R. 22, unless a provision that protects rural and residential communities is stripped from the bill. USPS data reveals that residential and rural parcel customers would suffer a 40% rate increase if Congress kowtows to the UPS threat.

Over the decade-long tortuous history of postal reform, UPS has periodically employed bullying tactics to prevent postal legislation from reaching the House floor.

Ask former House Government Reform Chairman Dan Burton (R-IN) and former Postal Subcommittee Chairman John McHugh (R-NY). It was hoped that this year, UPS would be mollified by generous accommodations imparted by Chairmen Tom Davis and Susan Collins, and others. Sadly, these postal reform heroes may have misjudged UPS motives and notorious lobbying tactics. Last week, as reform advanced, UPS retreated to its dusty old legislative playbook and threatened to derail legislation that does not meet its narrow anti-postal goals. Apparently, providing residential and rural postal customers with protection against discriminatory parcel rates, and safeguarding universal parcel post is incompatible with UPS’ corporate philosophy.

more from NAPUS

White House, Mailer and UPS Demands Threaten Postal Reform 

National Association of Postal Supervisors

     Postal reform’s fragile footing in the Congress edged perilously closer to failure this week, due to White House, mailer and UPS pressures that threaten the viability of a final postal overhaul bill.  Administration and mailer insistence on the inclusion of the Senate-passed ratemaking exigency language, along with UPS threats to oppose any bill that doesn’t open-up competition on single-piece parcels, have dramatically complicated the outlook for postal reform, with relatively little time remaining in the session.    
 
      These developments cast increasing doubt whether a final postal reform bill can earn the support of the Postal Supervisors and other postal employee groups, should House and Senate leaders bend to the demands of the White House, mailers and UPS.  Assessing the situation, National Association of Postal Supervisors President Ted Keating said, “We always have supported sensible postal reform that assures the long-term viability of the Postal Service, but we will never support reform simply for the sake of reform.  NAPS members should remain on alert to help defeat any short-sighted postal measure that could arise.”            
 
     Conference talks between House and Senate delegations have still not officially begun, but discussions over past weeks between the Administration and the “Postal Big Four” Congressional leaders – Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), Representative Tom Davis (R-VA) and Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) — have attempted largely to shape a final bill. 

more from NAPS: White House, Mailer and UPS Demands Threaten Postal Reform (doc)

APWU News Bulletin - The APWU is taking its grassroots campaign against USPS “network realignment” to a new level by airing radio and television ads that warn of week-long delays in mail delivery.

Broadcast advertising began July 26, with radio and television commercials running in Beaumont (TX), Bloomington (IN), Cumberland (MD), St. Petersburg (FL), and Yakima (WA), cities where APWU activists have already taken steps to inform citizens about the negative effect USPS network consolidation plans will have on mail service for individual postal customers and small businesses.

APWU activists in these cities have enlisted support from elected officials, community organizations, commercial enterprises, and individual citizens.

The radio and TV ads are only the opening salvo in what promises to be a long campaign,” said APWU President William Burrus. “The USPS plan was created without any input from the American people, whose mail service will deteriorate. The plan is the result of an effort by big mailers to reduce their own postage costs at the expense of all others. (more…)

The postal worker, a preference eligible PS-05 Maintenance Mechanic in North Houston, Texas  was removed from his position for making threatening remarks against a supervisor in the presence of two co-workers. The Postal Service charged him with “Improper Conduct/Violation of the Zero Tolerance Policy on Violence in the Work Place (PDF).”  

The incident leading to his removal occurred after the postal worker attended a meeting with postal management regarding his alleged harassment of a female supervisor..  At the meeting, the management instructed  employee to stop giving the Supervisor gifts and to leave her alone.   The postal workert allegedly left the meeting and said in the presence of two co-workers that he felt like “getting [his] gun and shooting up the place.”   He also allegedly stated to another employee, “I am not going to let some woman make me lose my job and I feel like killing her.”  

The postal worker challenged his removal claiming the evidence did not show that the individual that heard the statements felt threatened or that he intended to harm anyone. The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) found that the “Zero Tolerance Policy” only requires that the employee utter an “actual, implied or veiled threat, made seriously or in jest,” not that any listener actually felt threatened. The MSPB concluded that the employee’s statements constituted a violation of the policy and affirmed the Postal Service’s removal finding it to be within the bounds of reasonableness.  Wiley vs. United States Postal Service, July 11, 2006

Related link:

Joint Statement On Violence and Behavior in the Workplace - NALC, other postal unions, (note: American Postal Workers Union was not a party to the signing) the Postal Service three postal supervisors’ organizations created and signed the Joint Statement on Violence and Behavior in the Workplace in February, 1992. They drafted the statement at a meeting of NALC, other postal unions, USPS and three postal supervisors’ organizations held in the wake of tragic shootings of postal workers in Royal Oak, Michigan in November 1991.

Postal Worker Awarded $70,000 in Compensatory Damages – The postal worker alleged that she was discriminated against on the basis of disability when the agency sent her home and gave her leave without pay on several occasions due to lack of work within her restrictions. The EEOC Administrative Judge found discrimination and awarded the employee $70,000 in non-pecuniary, compensatory damages. The EEOC affirmed the Administrative Judge’s decision, finding substantial evidence that there were vacant full-time positions to which employee could have be reassigned to provide accommodation to her medical restrictions which would not create undue hardship to the agency. The EEOC also concluded that the award of $70,000 was appropriate for the emotional harm caused by the agency’s discriminatory conduct. Miller v. Potter  

Postal Service says some upstate mail lost in highway collapse - (Syracuse, N.Y.-AP, July 26, 2006 9:35 AM) _ The U.S. Postal Service says some certified mail sent from parts of central New York to Connecticut was lost in last month’s massive flooding. Post office officials say the mail was being transported in one of the two trucks that plunged into a chasm that opened across Interstate 88 in Delaware County during late June’s torrential rains and severe flooding.

The American Council on Exercise recently published a study on the number of steps taken by people from 10 different occupations. Secretaries took the least number of steps, an average of 4,327 (1.7miles); lawyers took 5,062 steps (2.0 miles) and police officers took 5,336 steps (2.1 miles). At the other end of the spectrum, postal workers took 18,904 steps (7.5 miles), followed by custodians (12,991 steps, 5.2 miles) and restaurant servers (10,087 steps, 4.0 miles).

Post office information official departs

“Azeezaly Jaffer, the Postal Service’s top public affairs spokesman, has left the agency under a cloud.”

“Jaffer left his post unexpectedly June 30. He has declined to discuss his reasons for leaving or accusations against him.”

“A Postal Inspection Service report dated June 19 includes accusations of Jaffer running up an excessive $8,252 hotel bill at a three-day event in Washington, of bypassing the Postal Service travel agency in order to obtain travel promotional benefits and spending extravagantly on meals and drinks.”

“The report also included allegations of excessive drinking, using crass language in mixed company and commenting on the appearance of female co-workers.” Haloscan comments

 more via Yahoo News

Related link:

USPS Communications VP Azeezaly Jaffer Resigns