PostalReporter.com Blog

According to Stamp Collecting Round-Up :

Linn’s Stamp News reports that the United States Postal Service will no longer issue aerograms when the supply on hand is gone.

David Failor, executive director of stamps services for the Postal Service is quoted as saying, “Demand for these has been next to nothing for the past five years.”

An aerogram (or aerogramme) is a thin piece of foldable and gummed paper for writing a letter for transit via airmail. No enclosures are permitted in these letters, which can be sent internationally at a special rate.

National Association of Letter Carriers [NALC] News Bulletin 

NALC’s opening economic proposal calls for a seven-year agreement which would include a continuation of existing cost-of-living adjustments, with no changes; general wage increases of 3 percent in each year of the agreement; and a pay upgrade of one grade for all letter carriers. The union also proposed significant changes in the ways routes are evaluated and designed, and that the letter carrier craft be converted to a 100 percent all-regular work force. In addition, NALC offered creative suggestions for reducing the ever-increasing costs of health benefits without reducing the Postal Service’s share of the cost of premiums.

Improved Labor Relations

Young noted at the opening of the session that labor relations have improved dramatically during the current contract term despite multiple challenges and that the Postal Service has been able to improve service and maintain a strong financial footing.

“It has earned billions in profits and has been able to completely eliminate its outstanding debt, which at one time exceeded $11 billion,” he said.

Although major strides have been made to change the adversarial culture of labor relations at the national and regional levels, Young said “the traditional paradigm of adversarial confrontation at the workroom floor level remains.”

 “This situation is no longer acceptable,” Young told USPS negotiators. “A dramatic shift in paradigm to a cooperative relationship on the workroom floor must be driven by a commitment not merely to the survival of the Service, but to its revitalization as an essential and dynamic element of the domestic and commercial service sectors of our society.”

 

Recently William Burrus, President, American Postal Workers Union sent out the following letter (PDF) (via APWU Steward Frank Wilson, Chicago Postal Worker) denying that it’s trying to “raid” NPMHU members.

The National Postal Mail Handlers Union has responded (via APWU Steward Frank Wilson, ChicagoPostalWorker.com) to APWU’s alleged “raid” activities. A few excerpts from the scathing letter (PDF):

We are writing to all Mail handlers to respond to recent letters that have been circulated by the American Postal Workers Union in many postal facilities across the country. In those letters, APWU President Bill Burrus tries to entice individual Mail Handlers to join efforts aimed at merging the Mail Handler craft into a “combined organization” with other postal employees. Burrus can try to package his “non-hostile” outreach letter to Mail Handlers however he likes and call it whatever he wants, but the distribution of these letters must be viewed by your NPMHU National Leadership as the opening salvo in an attempt by the APWU to raid the membership of our great Union, pure and simple. If these activities continue, they will be met by an increasing level of resistance by the NPMHU and its members. For now, we simply urge you either to ignore these efforts, or to reject them outright. And, although we are taking this “raid” talk seriously we have too many critical issues facing our Union right now (including national bargaining) to pay too much attention to this desperate *power-grab* by Burrus and company. (It is noteworthy that many APWU local officers and representative have not succumbed to pressure from APWU headquarters, and they have had the good sense to refuse to circulate these letters in their facilities. Those brothers and sisters are to be applauded. They clearly are not interested in supporting Burrus’ personal political agenda, and in causing a further division between the officer and members of our respective unions,)

Ironically, it is Bill Burrus and the National Office of the APWU that is blocking some of the key ways in which unions can work together for a common purpose. It is no secret that the NPMHU has been seeking to re-affiliate with the AFL-CIO since our international parent body decided to disaffiliate from that federation this past June. AS many of your know, the NPMHU has been a member of the AFL-CIO since 1937, and we have been seeking to revive that relationship during the past few months. But Bill Burrus has been personally delaying that re-affiliation effort. The sad truth is that he is working behind the scenes to try an agreement between the NPMHU and the AFL-CIO to re-establish their seven-decade relationship. The AFL-CIO Constitution contains a provision, in Article XX, prohibiting any member union of the AFL-CIO from raiding another member union.

…..We didn’t come looking for a brawl, but we certainly will not walk away from this one.

….The NPMHU will continue to fight for Mail Handlers. The APWU is hereby advised that it should stop sticking its nose where it does not belong.

note: links added by PostalReporter.com

“For a decade, he has worked for the U.S. Postal Service, delivering mail and collecting paychecks as Matthew Thompkins. But on the streets, he was known as ‘Knowledge.’ That’s where authorities say Thompkins really made his name — and his money — running a stable of dozens of prostitutes, some as young as 13, whom he shuttled between Atlantic City, Las Vegas and New York to keep clients satisfied and the cops at bay.”

“A New York mailman [Matthew Thompkins] admitted yesterday that he ran a sprawling multimillion-dollar network that shuttled prostitutes as young as 13 from Atlantic City to Las Vegas and cities in between. An employee of the Postal Service since 1994, Thompkins agreed to resign as part of his plea. He was promoted to letter carrier about six years ago, though it was not clear when he stopped delivering the mail. Richardson, the prosecutor, said the postal service wanted to fire Thompkins years ago, but couldn’t serve him with termination papers because they couldn’t find him.”

“Once an imposing 350 pounds, Thompkins had shed nearly a third of his weight when he was led into court yesterday wearing a brown prison jumpsuit, handcuffs and ankle shackles.” Full Story at The Star Ledger (New Jersey)

US Department of Justice Press Release - New York Man Enters Guilty Plea to Operating an Interstate Organization Using Children for Prostitution

Sargeant, Minnesota — population, 76 — were worried about losing their post office. But effective Oct. 28 the 40-year old post office located in a mobile home is history. Postal Officials say the post office is it isn’t safe anymore

According to the Star Tribune:

 It must be one of the few post offices around with a bathtub and shower. They’re not operational, however, and as of today, neither is the post office the in tiny southeastern Minnesota city of Sargeant.

The U.S. Postal Service issued an emergency order closing the office, notifying residents in September that the 40-year-old mobile home was a safety hazard with sagging floors, a deteriorating roof and walls in danger of rotting away.

There will still be delivery, to street-side mail boxes and to a new multiple box installed this week outside the post office. Customers can do all their business through the rural carrier, postal officials said.

The National Association of Postmasters of US Executive Director Ken Engstrom (NAPUS) reports:

One of the most frustrating issues a Postmaster has out in the field during a rate change is the non-information we receive. Customers and mailers know about proposed rates and changes before we do. On September 27 the USPS proposed rules to provide the mailing standards that would accompany the new prices if R2006-1 is adopted. In the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers report it spells out all the new changes. Some of them are very different from what the Postal Employee is used to seeing.

 APWU Initiates Dispute Over Changes to USPS Handbook AS-805, Information Security

(Oct. 25, 2006) The APWU initiated a national dispute over the Postal Service’s announcement of revisions to the AS-805 handbook governing Information Security. The revised handbook restricts employees from bringing personal information resources (e.g. laptops, notebooks, PDAs, handheld computers and USB port devices such as flash memory sticks) into postal facilities. The union is concerned that the new restrictions may adversely impact the union’s ability to perform its duties.

The issues and facts involved in this dispute are as follows:

In Postal Bulletin 22190 (Sept. 28, 2006), the Postal Service announced revisions to USPS Handbook AS-805, Information Security. These changes directly relate to wages, hours or working conditions within the meaning of Article 19. However, the union was not provided any notification of these changes and only discovered the changes because they were published in the Postal Bulletin. (more…)

 Taking it to the (Post Office) Streets

 In a nationwide day of picketing Oct. 26, APWU locals across the country protested Postal Service policies that put the demands of corporate advertising mailers ahead of the needs of individual postal customers and small businesses.

The picketing was part of the APWU’s campaign to expose the poorly conceived — and often well-hidden — network realignment plans and the serious negative impact they would have on mail service for consumers’ and small businesses.

Speaking at a rally in Baltimore, APWU President William Burrus said, “Locals around the country — along with a host of community leaders and elected officials — are taking part in this nationwide day of picketing to send a clear message to the Postal Service: We will not accept any more attacks on the nation’s mail service. It’s time to stop catering to the interests of big corporate mailers.” (more…)

 The following is a recent editorial by Federal Disability Attorney Robert R. McGill, Esquire. Mr. McGill specializes in representing Federal and Postal Employees, to obtain disability retirement benefits through the Office of Personnel Management:

“A man who acts without knowledge is a man who merely acts.” — From “Compendium of Sage Verses”
 
    I am receiving too many phone calls from people who have been fooled by his/her Agency that they have been “accommodated”, and therefore they cannot file for disability retirement. From Federal Workers at all levels who are told that they can take LWOP when they are unable to work, to Postal Workers who are given “Limited-Duty Assignments” — all need to be clear that your are NOT BEING ACCOMMODATED, AND THEREFORE YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO FILE FOR DISABILITY RETIREMENT. Let me clarify this issue by first discussing the important case-law of Bracey v. Office of Personnel Management, 236 F.3d 1356 (Fed. Cir. 2001). Bracey was, and still is, a landmark decision — one of those cases that pushed back the attempt by the Office of Personnel Management to create a broad definition of what “accommodation” means, and thereby try and undermine a Federal and/or Postal Employees’ right to disability retirement. (more…)

(USPS Press Release) WASHINGTON — Marvel Comics, the art of Disney, Ella Fitzgerald, the settlement of Jamestown, Jimmy Stewart, Mendez v. Westminster, vintage mahogany speedboats, lighthouses and those stunning polar lights are just a sampling of diverse icons in the U.S. Postal Service’s 2007 commemorative stamp program lineup.

“Once again, the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee has delivered a powerful stamp program that reflects the American experience and highlights our values, heroes, history, achievements and natural wonders in an artistic collection of colorful postage stamps,” said Postmaster General John E. Potter.

The downloadable stamp images and release are located at USPS 2007 Commemorative Stamps