APWU and USPS Sign Agreement to Restore Retirement Counseling
APWU Web News
The APWU and USPS signed an agreement Aug. 4 requiring the Postal Service to restore individual and group retirement counseling, which management had discontinued. The counseling sessions were suspended beginning in April 2005, when management applied the Human Resources Shared Services program to retirement and separation activities. Under the Shared Services plan, personnel activities were moved from local postal facilities to a centralized site in Greensboro, NC.
According to the settlement [PDF], previously established local counseling methods will be reinstated. The settlement is in accordance with provisions of the Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM), which outlines management’s obligation to provide retirement counseling to employees.
According to the ELM, “District managers are responsible for ensuring that at least one group retirement counseling seminar is held each fiscal year for employees within 3 years of optional retirement eligibility.” [Sections 569.141, 589.132] On request, interested employees must also be given individual pre-retirement counseling. [Sections 569.123, 589.123]
“Retirement decisions are among the most important choices employees make,” said APWU President William Burrus. “In the Postal Service’s zeal to ‘consolidate,’ employees have been given short shrift. The APWU has been adamant that management must adhere to its obligation to provide workers with these important resources.”
January 4th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Help, my cousin, who retired in August, is not equiped mentaly to negotiate his own pension. he was advised by his now estranged sibling as to his pension. i don’t know what he has re Rx, health care etc and he has asked me to find out for him. Between his pension questions and all the AARP mailings i’m in a maze. i don’t know enough about pensions/soc sec and the like to figure out where to begin. Any phone numbers or starting point information would be greatly appreciated.
January 24th, 2007 at 7:22 am
Our PM told us we don’t get counseling in our district. Spokane wa.