PostalReporter.com Blog

Postal Workers Feel Heat After Cooling Malfunction

(North Carolina) “Imagine working inside during the summer heat with no breeze or air conditioning. Some postal workers say that those are the conditions in their office every day. Several Zebulon postal employees, who all wanted remain anonymous, contacted WRAL to report safety concerns about working in the hot building. One claimed two pregnant employees were told they must come to work despite the heat, or they would be suspended.”

“We do have two pregnant ladies, and they will be told that if they think it’s unbearable, then they need to stay home,” said [Postmaster Billy Hales.

Hales said crews installed several portable air-conditioning units and fans, but said it’s still pretty hot inside.

“We bought a bunch of Gatorade, Popsicles, water and ice, and any time the people need to take a break, we tell them to go ahead and take a break,” said Hales.

(PostalReporter) Should Post Office shut-down until the air-conditioner is repaired/replaced or keep it open?

source: WRAL-TV

Related Link:

Postal Facility Regulations for Heating & Cooling Temperatures

(Govexec.com) Negotiations have stalled over House and Senate legislation to overhaul the U.S. Postal Service following a meeting with White House officials, mailing insiders said. 

At issue is the Postal Service’s labor costs, which consume 80 percent of the agency’s budget. In the most recent negotiating meeting last week, White House officials called on Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., to “bring [Postal Service] labor costs more in line with the federal government,” said Ben Cooper, who represents direct mailers at Williams & Jensen.

Cooper said that proposal could be possible through negotiated service agreements or an expansion of work sharing, but he added that political considerations make such a move unlikely.

“Postal Service employees make up a third of the workforce and are in every congressional district,” he said. “It’s an awkward and difficult time right now.”

Bob Levi, a spokesman for the National Association of Postmasters of the United States, said, “if the White House is pushing any provision that would undermine labor’s collective bargaining, the bill goes down.” William Burrus, president of the American Postal Workers Union, said he is “outraged” at the White House proposal on mediation, calling it a “hijacking of the legislative process.” read complete article

(CBS4 News)HOLLYWOOD, FL. Two U.S. Postal Service workers were sent to the hospital Monday morning after they came into contact with an unknown crumb-like powdery substance.

According to postal officials, the two workers encountered the substance while handling what’s believed to be a magazine at a post office located at 5771 Johnson Street in Hollywood.

Both workers were taken to Memorial Regional Hospital where one was treated for swelling of the hand and the other victim for numbness in a hand. The victims’ names have not been released. Full Story

Vogel named senior vice president and managing director, Pajunas to serve as vice president, Network Operations
 
Postmaster General Jack Potter has announced that a new Global Business organization will be created and Paul Vogel has been named its first senior vice president and managing director. Potter also has selected Anthony (Tony) Pajunas to serve as vice president, Network Operations.
 
 “The new Global Business group will build on the successes of International Business VP Jim Wade, who is retiring in August,” said Potter. “Under Jim’s leadership, we built an environment that contributed to solid growth for our global package products,” said the PMG, noting that International Business added $1.8 billion to USPS revenue last year.
 
Paul Vogel, top, has been named senior vice president and managing director of the Postal Service’s new Global Business organization. Tony Pajunas is appointed vice president, Network Operations.
 
Vogel will create and lead Global Business to manage USPS worldwide business with a focus on international business management, international financial and business analysis, global network strategy and technology, international relations, and international operations, including the Postal Service’s five International Service Centers. A 37-year postal employee, he most recently served as vice president, Network Operations Management, since October 2000. He began his Postal Service career in 1969 as a clerk/carrier and has held numerous management positions in Operations and Logistics.
 
In his new Network Operations role, Pajunas is responsible for the national network of 350 mail processing and distribution centers, as well as the transportation infrastructure that supports nationwide movement of the mail. He also will continue transformation plan efforts to create a more flexible mail processing system, based on changing customer needs and the introduction of new technologies. A 33-year postal employee, he has served as manager, Logistics, since 1999.
 
“I’m confident Paul will continue the success of our growing presence in the important global delivery marketplace, and Tony has contributed significantly to a more efficient alignment of our transportation resources with our operational requirements,” said Potter. “With our full support and cooperation they will both help move the Postal Service forward in these key leadership positions.”

source: USPS News Link Extra

Postal Service transforms human resources  to meet the demands of the information age

Quick, easy and convenient not just for customers anymore 

(Press Release) The U.S. Postal Service focus of using the latest technology to make customer transactions quick, easy and convenient is now being extended to its employees. The Postal Service is replacing its existing outdated human resources technology with a fully-integrated system to streamline, standardize and automate HR processes. Once fully implemented, the new system—called PostalPEOPLE—will be the largest of its kind anywhere.

 PostalPEOPLE replaces a system that consisted of over 3,800 Postal Service HR professionals relying on more than 200 processes and some 70 systems to support nearly 700,000 employees and facilitate millions of personnel transactions each year. Many of these old systems were at maximum capacity.

“PostalPEOPLE is helping to increase efficiency, reduce costs and provide employees with individualized attention and access to their personnel files and other HR-related information 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Anthony Vegliante, Chief Human Resources Officer and Executive Vice President for the Postal Service.

When the Postal Service Transformation Plan was announced in 2002, Postmaster General John E. Potter outlined how the Postal Service would streamline and standardize its operations to improve performance and manage costs. The HR department took a visionary approach and developed a cutting-edge solution built around total employee self-service. The result was PostalPEOPLE, designed to meet the new demands of the information age and a proven success in the initial roll-out sites. (more…)

Postal Worker Dies Under Subway - A 20-year Postal Worker who worked as an administrative support employee for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service died July 13, 2006.  Grace Coughlin, 53, was struck by a midtown Manhattan subway train.  A motorman operating the southbound E train told investigators that Coughlin jumped in front of the train as it approached the platform at West 34th Street and Eighth Avenue at around 10 a.m., police sources said. Although Police are calling the death an apparent suicide, Police spokesman Detective John Sweeney said there has been no official determination of the cause of death. “The matter is still under investigation,” Sweeney said. Mrs. Coughlin’s husband, Michael Coughlin, said he was told his wife’s death was accidental. Though she usually worked at the Brooklyn office, Mrs. Coughlin was scheduled to work in Manhattan yesterday. more from Staten Island Advance

NALC President William Young Says Postal Service ‘Misguided’ In Contracting Out of Air Mail Centers

Top postal management has informed our sister unions who represent mail processing workers that it is considering plans to subcontract work now performed by bargaining unit employees at more than half the nation’s Air Mail Centers.

President Young urged the Postal Service to reconsider the wisdom of contracting out the tender and receipt of mail at these facilities.

“I believe the USPS would make a serious mistake if it goes through with these misguided plans,” Young said. “Contracting out almost always costs more money than keeping the work in-house.”

He noted that vendors “routinely low-ball their bids, seek and obtain renegotiated fees, and pursue profits by skimping on service while employing low-wage, unproductive and unstable workforces.”

The move by postal management comes at a time when concern about airport security is at an all-time high. more from  NALC News Bulletin (PDF)

OSHA’s Requirements for “First Aid Kit” in the Workplace  
APWU has received requests for explanations and information regarding OSHA’s requirements for “First Aid Kits” in the workplace.  The information on the following page is designed to provide assistance in understanding the requirements for compliance with OSHA regulations.

“The Postal Service is required to maintain one or more adequately stocked first aid kits at the workplace.  When selecting a first aid kit please keep in mind that the implementation of Federal OSHA regulations for first aid will vary based upon the type of workplace.  The information below is applicable and should assist you in determining if your facility is in compliance with OSHA’s first aid requirements.”  more OSHA Requirements

ATHS Work Task Change - Changing Label Roll Supply The task of changing the label roll on the ATHS has been assigned to the Maintenance Craft. Please refer to the USPS letter [pdf].

XATA Rolls Out Nationwide
The XATA system offers several different capabilities, but as far as we know, none of the trucks is going to utilize Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation at this time. The navigation system is a possibility down the road, however, and the trucks can be retrofitted for it The XATA system is not supposed to track vehicles while they are on the street. Instead, the information should be retrieved once the vehicle has returned to the terminal

Unfortunately, we are hearing reports from the field that once again the Postal Service — or the individuals training the bargaining unit employees on XATA — are claiming that the national union has “bought into” the XATA program. Your national officers did not buy into any XATA technology, nor did we give it our blessing. Where APWU Stands

NALC to Oppose Postage Rate CPI Index; Mailers, White House Insist on ‘Hard Cap’

(NALC News Bulletin) NALC’s support for comprehensive postal reform legislation is now cast in doubt after key mailers walked away from an effort to find a reasonable compromise on the issue of price indexing that lies at the heart of the legislation languishing in Congress. The mailers abandoned negotiations with pro-reform employee groups, including NALC, and lined up behind the Bush Administration’s demand for the inflexible, “hard price cap” included in the Senate-passed version of the bill.

The demand is just one of many damaging anti-labor proposals being pushed by the White House, including one to interfere with our collective bargaining by tilting the interest arbitration process in favor of postal management and another to saddle the USPS with military pension obligations.

NALC President William H. Young announced July 13 that NALC will oppose a CPI-based limit on postage hikes if a compromise is not reached on so-called “exigency” language contained in bills set to go to a House-Senate conference to work out a compromise bill.

Flexibility is Answer

Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, indicated her willingness to seek a compromise between the exigency provisions contained in the House and Senate bills, and urged employee groups and major mailers to work with her to find a reasonable compromise. NALC and its allies crafted two possible alternatives, but the mailers rejected them and refused to offer a counterproposal.

Instead, they have backed the White House demand for an unacceptably inflexible index. They sent a terse letter to Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, on July 11 calling on him to simply drop the flexible exigency language drafted by a bipartisan group in his committee — himself and Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA), John McHugh (R-NY), and Danny Davis (D-IL) — in favor of the Senate language, a demand which NALC finds wholly unacceptable. NALC and five other employee organizations sent a letter on July 12 urging Chairman Davis to reject the mailers position.

Joining in the letter with NALC were the National Rural Letter Carriers Association and National Postal Mail Handlers Union and all three postal management associations — the National Association of Postmasters, the National League of Postmasters and the National Association of Postal Supervisors. Full Story (PDF)

Related Links:

NPMHU: Postal Reform Takes Dramatic Turn For The Worse

eNAPUS Legislative Newsletter: Postal Reform Tripartite (PDF)

(American Postal Workers Union News) Concerned about pending decisions before the National Labor Relations Board that could take away the collective bargaining rights of millions of workers, APWU officers and staff joined more than 1,500 labor activists at a spirited rally July 13 in Washington, DC. In a gathering at NLRB headquarters a few blocks from the White House, the APWU joined teachers, miners, nurses, municipal employees, and others in denouncing recent actions by the board and in urging the panel to protect workers’ rights to be represented by a union.In a gathering at NLRB headquarters a few blocks from the White House, the APWU joined teachers, miners, nurses, municipal employees, and others in denouncing recent actions by the board and in urging the panel to protect workers’ rights to be represented by a union.

The board is expected to make rulings this summer on important cases that have been pending for five years. Yet the NLRB has refused to hear oral arguments — a fundamental part of due process — since the Bush administration began. Speaking at the rally, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson asked: “How can this board make a decision that affects us without listening to all sides?”

The cases currently pending before the NLRB could strip hundreds of thousands of current union members of their rights by redefining their jobs as “supervisory.” An Economic Policy Institute report shows that a new definition could have a particularly dramatic impact in occupations in which skilled workers occasionally direct the work of employees in job classifications that require fewer skills. Full Story and more photos

Dept. Of Labor Marketing Anti-Union Propaganda to Employees

(Excerpts of CREW’s June 22, 2006 Press Release)  Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released 108 pages of documents it received from the Department of Labor (DOL) in response to a CREW Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit over records DOL has regarding contacts between DOL and conservative lobbyist and executive director of the anti-union group Center for Union Facts, Richard Berman.

On March 14, 2006, CREW requested from DOL all records related to or mentioning Richard Berman and the Center for Union Facts, the Employment Policies Institute Foundation, and the Center for Consumer Freedom. CREW sent the FOIA request after reading a March 13, 2006 column by Al Kamen in The Washington Post reporting that Lynn Gibson, an aide in DOL’s public liaison office, sent an email to DOL employees identifying unionfacts.com as a website “dedicated to providing information on labor unions and their expenditures.” Because DOL refused to comply with CREW FOIA’s request, on April 25, 2006, CREW sued DOL for the records, compelling DOL to provide the records.

The email correspondence between DOL and unionfacts.org staff show a close and supportive relationship between the two entities. For example, the documents include correspondence showing that DOL Secretary Elaine Chao agreed to be profiled for one of Richard Berman’s many conservative organizations, the First Jobs Institute.

The documents include an email indicating that Lynn Gibson set up a meeting between Berman and DOL staff. In another, Ms. Gibson tells a CUF staff person that she will send out emails related to CUF’s website to her “network.” Additionally, the e-mails obtained by CREW and sent out by DOL staff, include an op-ed drafted by Berman, anti-union newspaper accounts as well as anti-union blogs and news releases.

source: St. Cloud, MN. APWU President Michael Kaehler via 21st Century Postal Worker
Links from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington:

CREW FORCES DEPT. OF LABOR TO RELEASE ANTI-UNION DOCS AND E-MAILS – DETAILS COZY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEPT. OF LABOR AND ANTI-UNION LOBBYIST RICHARD BERMAN

COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY JUDGMENT AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF-[pdf]

FOIA Request Response-[pdf]

(Advertising Age)  The U.S. Postal Service is proposing to ease standards for when a magazine’s circulation counts as paid, effectively permitting publishers to send out ad-heavy special editions or advertorials without running afoul of postal rules and possibly leading to more rate-cutting promos. In a filing last week with the Postal Rate Commission, the Postal Service proposed that in order for magazines to qualify for a paid-periodical rate, only 30% of subscriptions would have to be sold at the basic subscription rate, rather than the 50% required now.     Full Story

According to papers filed by USPS with the Postal Rate Commission justifying the change:

A. Beneficial to Readers
The proposed change would help provide lower subscription rates to periodicals readers, since lower rates could be offered without jeopardizing paid circulation counts. Moreover, the change would encourage start-up publications of interest to some readers. Finally, the change might avoid lost subscriptions and volume, thus relieving pressure on mailers to raise subscription prices.

B. Beneficial to Mailers
The proposed change would benefit mailers by enhancing marketing and pricing flexibility of Periodicals publications. The proposed change would allow publishers to take advantage of the elimination of a similar “nominal rate”
definition in the bylaws and rules of the national audit bureaus, the Audit Bureau International (BPA). Publishers have expressed the need for such flexibility in view of the audit bureau changes. Moreover, the change would help offset the loss of subscriptions resulting from recent sweepstakes legislation. It is my understanding that a change to the nominal rate rule could help offset some of
those lost subscriptions and volume.

C. Beneficial to the Postal Service
The proposed change might benefit the Postal Service through increased Periodicals volume and volume in other mail classes, such as renewal notices sent as either Standard Mail or First-Class Mail. The change will also reduce the disparity between the Postal Service definition of paid circulation and the definition recognized elsewhere in the industry, such as the audit bureaus.