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(Associated Press) The former head public affairs official of the U.S. Postal Service is denying charges made by the agency’s inspector general alleging improper activities ranging from overspending to excessive drinking. Azeezaly Jaffer left the agency June 30, declining at the time to discuss his reasons.

A Postal Inspection Service report dated June 19 includes accusations of Jaffer running up an excessive 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.

Jaffer sent a lengthy response denying the charges to the Postal Service dated Aug. 4.

In a response made available to The Associated Press, Jaffer said he believes the investigation was prompted by a postal employee who formerly worked for him. Jaffer said this employee had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, whom Jaffer reassigned after learning about the relationship.

Jaffer said that all expenditures questioned by the inspector general were reviewed and approved by postal officials and all were for Postal Service functions. He said he made every effort to reimburse the Postal Service in instances in which his wife accompanied him on an official function.

Jaffer also stressed that in a 20-year career with the agency no one had ever filed a sexual harassment case against him and called allegations regarding excessive drinking “similarly unfounded.”

Related links:

 IG: Former postal exec lived high life on USPS dime
(Federal Times) As a top executive at the U.S. Postal Service, Azeezaly Jaffer liked to live large. Too large, according to postal investigators. In one three-night stretch in 2004, he ran up $8,252 staying at a Washington hotel suite — less than nine miles from his home. He blew $3,486.33 in one evening for steak dinners and a bar-hopping binge for himself and other postal employees after the unveiling of the new Ronald Reagan commemorative stamp in 2005.He tipped two lucky waiters $1,511.66 following a seafood dinner for 20 employees and business partners in 2003. An inspector general report into the conduct of the Postal Service’s former vice president for public affairs and communications details more than $46,000 in questionable spending, along with numerous accusations of sexual harassment, intimidation and improper conduct. A female postal employee told IG investigators that top postal officials turned a blind eye to Jaffer’s behavior for years.USPS OIG Report (PDF)

 ( NALC Press Release) A Florida letter carrier who took his airboat and headed to Louisiana a year ago to help rescue Hurricane Katrina victims, was named today as National Hero of the Year by the 300,000-member National Association of Letter Carriers.

NALC President William H. Young will present the National Hero of the Year award to Jim Osborne of Port St. Lucie, Fla., and five other awards for heroism and humanitarian efforts at a special ceremony Sept. 7 at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Osborne, 48, a member of NALC Branch 1690 in West Palm Beach, Fla., who put aside delivering mail on Florida’s East Coast to help rescue victims of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana with his airboat, was selected by a panel of independent judges.

Osborne knew that the airboat in his driveway would be invaluable in Louisiana and did not hesitate to put together a 10-boat convoy of members of the South Florida Airboat Association to make the trip of mercy. His colleagues back home first learned of his heroic activity when Osborne’s rescue efforts were mentioned on National Public Radio. Osborne said he rescued about 20 people and his Florida group altogether saved more than 175 people from flood waters. (more…)

CHARLESTON, W.Va- The U.S. Postal Service is expanding a facility in Charleston as it takes over the work of a similar facility in North Carolina. The Charleston Remote Encoding Center will take over processing mail from North Carolina and South Carolina that currently is handled by a similar facility in Fayetteville, N.C., which will be closed in March, the Postal Service said Tuesday. The Charleston facility, which employs 350 workers who manually read addresses that automated machines cannot read, will hire more than 100 new workers. Nearly 190 workers are employed at the North Carolina facility. “It’s going to be a significant number of people, and it’s going to have a significant impact on our area,” said Michael Thompson, manager of the Charleston facility. “It’s good news.” The Postal Service said it also plans to close a postal center in Tampa, Fla., in March. The agency has closed 43 of its 55 remote encoding centers since 1999 because of improvements in technology. Automated equipment can now read more than 90 percent of mail.

source: Associated Press via Fayetteville Online

Union Seeks ‘Fair and Rewarding’ Agreement

(APWU News Bulletin) Negotiations for a new national agreement between the Postal Service and its largest bargaining unit — the American Postal Workers Union — began Aug. 29 at a hotel near Capitol Hill in Washington. Both sides said they hoped to have a signed agreement by Nov. 20, the expiration date of the 2000-2006 APWU-USPS contract.

“These negotiations are our opportunity,” APWU President William Burrus said in his opening statement [PDF], “to restore some semblance of stability and predictability to [union members’] lives, and to compensate them for their extraordinary efforts.” (more…)

Burrus Update - An editorial by Gene Del Polito, president of PostCom, has been widely distributed in the postal community, and has elicited a range of commentary. I have responded directly to the initial editorial [letter to PostCom - PDF] and intend to include my response in the next issue of the APWU bimonthly magazine. But it is important that I also explain to the membership the logic behind the APWU’s general position on labor/management/mailer issues.

Mr. Del Polito confuses the role of a labor union with the responsibilities of management and the large mailers that dominate the mail stream. The American Postal Workers Union is responsible to its membership — period. We are conscious of and concerned about decisions that affect service and cost, but that is not our charter, and nowhere in our constitution do we address the satisfaction level of large mailers. (more…)

Young Optimistic in Reaching a Settlement

 (NALC Press Release) The head of the National Association of Letter Carriers urged the U.S. Postal Service today at the opening of contract negotiations to build on an improved labor relations climate and reward letter carriers with a “fair” wage increase and continued benefits for helping it become a profitable and productive government agency.

NALC President William H. Young noted that the Postal Service has eliminated the debt of $11.3 billion it had in 2001 when the current contract began. The Postal Service has turned an $8.4 billion profit over the past three years, he added.

“Letter carriers expect to be rewarded for their contributions to the success of the Postal Service,” Young said.

Young said he and the entire 28-member NALC executive council were committed to negotiating a contract “that is fair to the nation’s letter carriers, fair to postal management and fair to the American people.”

“We are ready to get to work on building a better workplace for our members and finding mutually acceptable solutions to matters affecting the city carrier workforce through a new National Agreement,” he said.

Young was “very optimistic” about prospects for reaching a negotiated settlement, pledging to work with Postmaster General John E. Potter and USPS Vice President-Labor Relations Douglas Tulino “in a spirit of good will to seek a mutually acceptable National Agreement.”

The current five-year contract covering 224,411 city letter carriers in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions expires Nov. 20. (more…)

As reported in June , Home Depot paid $75 million this month for the U.S. Postal Service’s defunct Marina del Rey, California Processing and distribution center. Home Depot beat out roughly 40 bidders and ending the federal agency’s nearly one-year search for a buyer.

“The prime parcel has been the source of widespread speculation since the Postal Service announced plans last year to shut down the Marina [del Rey] plant and transfer operations to a center in South Los Angeles.”

“The $75 million sale to Home Depot dwarfed early predictions — the Postal Service last year estimated the land could command $35 million or more.”

Home Depot acquires property near Playa Vista (Daily Breeze)

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — The United States Postal Service will close a facility in Fayetteville in February 2007, eliminating 189 jobs.The Remote Encoding Center opened as a temporary site in 1994. At the facility, workers hand-read addresses that computers can’t read. However, officials said that improved technology has created mail sorting machines that can read virtually all addresses, eliminating the need for the human help.Postal officials said that because the plant was never intended to be permanent, the workers who will be laid off weren’t considered full-time postal employees. Over 50 regular postal workers will be transferred to other facilities.According to officials, there were 55 similar facilities across the U.S. All of them are now in the process of closing. WRAL-TV

Fayetteville Online reports - The postal service announced the closing of its remote encoding center to its employees on Thursday, said Tony McKinnon Sr. McKinnon is president of Local No. 984 of the American Postal Workers Union. The center’s last day will be March 2.

On Thursday, it announced it will close the centers in Fayetteville and Tampa Bay, Fla. The move should save the postal service $3.2 million in the first year after the closings.

Because the centers were meant to be temporary, the employees did not receive the same job security as the postal service’s traditional workers, Rice said.

The Tampa Bay center has 456 temporary employees and 121 traditional ones. The traditional employees will receive postal jobs that will have salaries that at least match their current jobs at the encoding center.

The temporary employees are on their own.

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Other USPS REC closures

“On August 27, The Weather Channel premieres “Postmark Katrina,” produced in association with the United States Postal Inspection Service. For the first time, the heroic efforts of this little-known agency in the aftermath of one of the most devastating natural disasters in U.S.history is told on network television. The program follows USPIS agents as they go to extraordinary lengths to recover mail from demolished postal facilities and safeguard it until it gets into the hands of Gulf Coast residents, many of them in dire need as they anxiously await their monthly checks.”

Full story from PR Newswire 

Postmaster General Jack Potter announced yesterday that Al Iniguez, recently named Executive Director, Energy Initiatives, will be retiring in October.

“Al has received numerous inquiries regarding his availability for employment in the private sector from organizations that can benefit from his experience and accomplishments,” said Potter. “After a great deal of deliberation, and considering the needs of his family, Al has decided to retire from the Postal Service effective Oct. 3 to pursue these opportunities.”

“I wish Al success as he enters the next phase of a career that has been defined by dedication, innovation and a commitment to performance,” Potter said. “He leaves a legacy of building and leading high-performing teams and a track record of solid success in numerous challenging positions.”

Julie Rios has been selected to replace Iniguez in his new post. Rios is currently completing a two-year assignment as Market and Quality Director for the International Post Corporation. Prior to that, her assignments included Product Information Requirements Manager and acting Postmaster of Columbus, OH.

source: USPS News Link