PostalReporter.com Blog

GSA has increased the mileage reimbursement rates for federal employees who use privately owned vehicles while on official travel. The rates for the use of these modes of transportation, effective February 1, 2007, are as follows

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Privately owned automobile…………………   \1\ $0.485
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According to Postal Contract Agreements any change in the GSA standard mileage rate for use of a privately-owned automobile will be put into effect by the USPS within sixty (60) days of the effective date of the GSA change.

 High-visibility gear not subject to OSHA Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) standards

Excerpts from OSHA 2006 decision dismissing complaint against the U.S. Postal Service

On November 13, 2003, at twilight, Evelyn Medeiros, a United States Postal Service employee, was struck by a car while crossing the street at a stop sign while delivering mail on her postal route in Fall River, Massachusetts. After the accident, the driver told Ms. Medeiros that he didn’t see her. At the time of the accident, Ms. Medeiros was wearing Postal Service issued bomber jacket and rain pants. Five days after the accident, a formal complaint was filed with OSHA on the behalf of letter carriers in Fall River, Massachusetts alleging that the USPS required employees to deliver mail after dark without supplying them with reflective clothing that made them easily visible in the dark to vehicular traffic. (more…)

Dorgan Requests GAO Investigation

Press Release (WASHINGTON, D.C.) — U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) is objecting to a proposed $25 fee the Postal Service intends to charge to accept applications for the “passport card” Americans will need sometime in the next two years to enter the United States from Canada.

He says the $25 fee is excessive, particularly since the Departments of State and Homeland Security, which will process the application and provide the passport card, intend to charge only $20 for adults and $10 for kids.

Dorgan has asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the Postal Service estimate that an additional $25 fee is required to cover its costs. “It shouldn’t cost more to slide an application across the counter than it does for another agency to process it and provide the actual passport card.” Dorgan said. (more…)

KEYT 3 (Santa Barbara, CA.) reports

It’s been nearly a year since a deadly shooting rampage in Goleta shattered a community. Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of the tragic Goleta postal shooting massacre that left eight people dead.A somber private ceremony to remember those killed will be held Tuesday afternoon at the Goleta postal facility where the shooting occurred.Olive trees will be planted, each honoring a life lost.

L-R:: Charlotte Colton, 44, Ze Fairchild,37, Nicola Grant, 42, Maleka Higgins,28 Dexter Shannon, 58, and Guadalupe Swartz,52.

Related link: News stories on 2006 Goleta postal shootings

U.S. Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), new Chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, has scheduled a hearing for next Wednesday, on the issue of President Bush’s signing statements. These are the documents the president has claimed give him the power, as a commander-in-chief, to ignore laws duly passed by the Congress.

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE Oversight Hearing on:

“Presidential Signing Statements under the Bush Administration: A Threat to Checks and Balances and the Rule of Law?”

10:15 a.m., Wednesday, January 31, 2007, Room 2141 Rayburn House Office Building

As readers will recall Bush’s signing statement to Public Law 109-435 (Postal Reform Act) created a firestorm over what mail can be opened without a warrant.

Postal Carrier delivering mail in St. Petersburg, FL

Photo below shows Postal Truck advertising Snowflake Stamps and E85 alternative fuel. Note: E85 is a term for motor fuel blends of 85 percent ethanol and just 15 percent gasoline.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mulad/372238326/

This postal cartoon is by Mark Logue, Boston, MA. NALC Branch 34 member. Logue won ‘Best Cartoon or Photograph’ during the NALC Publications workshop at the 65th National Convention (2006) in Las Vegas.

According to Govexec.com: The Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to federal employees’ immunity from on-the-job lawsuits.

In a 7-2 decision last week, the high court ruled that the government can insert itself as the defendant in lawsuits against federal workers who claim innocence, even if the alleged act was not part of the accused employee’s job description.

“It would make scant sense to read the [law] as leaving an employee charged with an intentional tort to fend for himself when he denies wrongdoing,” Justice Ruth Ginsburg said in the majority opinion for Osborn v. Haley. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented.

Under the 1988 Westfall Act, federal employees are immune from suits so long as the Attorney General certifies that they were doing their job when the incident in question occurred. The government then substitutes itself as the defendant.

Related link: Supreme Court To Decide If Federal Employees Can Be Sued

While Mail Handlers and Rural Carriers were the only two bargaining unit groups that had a significant increase for 2006

Clerks down by 8,354 (211,991), City Carriers 2,399(224,218), Mail Handlers increased by 1,376 (57,261) and Rural Carriers 1,996 (66,977). Casuals increased by 3219 (17206).The Postal Inspection Service is down by 687 (2837) and The Office of Inspector General increased it staff by 272 (1132). Total workforce complement was down 7,921 –compared to 3704 at the end of 2005.

Complement Stats From Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) “On-Roll and Paid Employee Statistics (ORPES)”