PostalReporter.com Blog

From USPS Newslink:

NEW POSTAL LAW
Continuation of pay waiting period

The Facts

Employees who experience a disabling on-the-job injury must now wait three days before receiving continuation of pay under the new postal law. During those three days, annual leave, sick leave or leave without pay are to be used.

If the disability exceeds 14 days or becomes permanent, leave used for the first three days can be converted to continuation of pay. This provision became effective the day the law was signed, on Dec. 20.

As you know, the only change in the law was for the first three days after an on‑the-job injury. Employees who are disabled from work because of an on-the-job traumatic injury are entitled to receive continuation of pay for the first 45 days after the injury. Beyond 45 days, employees may apply for compensation payments from the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs if the disability continues.

The PMG’s view

The law speaks for itself and is very clear. I expect all employees to work together to implement these changes as required by the new postal law.
 
This is the third in a series of weekly news stories featuring the Postmaster General giving his views on the new postal law and what it means to the future of the Postal Service and its employees. Employees with comments or questions about this article are welcome to e-mail them to:  postallawQ&A@usps.gov. Selected responses with answers will appear in Friday’s Link.

Thrift Saving Plan officials issued the following warning after about 25 participants had about $35,000 stolen from their accounts: 

..in late December the computers of several TSP participants were infected with keylogging software.  This software allowed criminals to record all key strokes made by the participant without the participant’s knowledge and to learn the participant’s TSP PIN and other account information.  (more…)

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Postal Service is seeking additional comments on plans to revise its mailing standards to encourage mail preparation that is compatible with improved Postal Service processing capabilities. This is the second opportunity to comment on and make suggestions for the proposed mailing standards, which have been revised as a result of comments and suggestions made during the previous comment period.

The new standards, scheduled to accompany the proposed price adjustments in May, give customers more choices in terms of shape, sorting, packaging and containers that encourage more efficient mail preparation.

Highlights of the revised mailing standards include the following: (more…)

According to APWU President William Burrus in the Jan./Feb.2007 issue of the “American Postal Worker” Magazine:

 Perhaps the most innovative aspect of the agreement is the memorandum committing the parties to develop rules and procedures for the employment of retired postal employees to perform retail services. These employees will be hired by and paid by the American Postal Workers Union, and contracted to the Postal Service. If successful this program will present an opportunity to expand retail services to locations where it is not cost-effective to open a full-service facility.

Thousands of contract stations where postal services are treated as an afterthought could be converted to official USPS facilities; these facilities could expand our outreach into commercial venues with heavy consumer traffic.

Of course, care must be taken to ensure that these new retail opportunities do not distract from official retail sites and that our career employees are not adversely affected. But this bold move provides the union and management the opportunity to form a beneficial partnership that also expands services for the American public.
 

The Memorandum of Understanding between USPS and APWU states:

Re: Retail Associate
The parties agree to convene a national task force to establish rules and procedures for the utilization of supplemental retail sales and associates. The Task Force will include consideration of a process by which the Union may provide lists of prospective workers to perform retail duties in locations identified by the parties. Such workers will not be a part of a supplemental workforce under Article 7. The meetings will begin no later than February 1, 2007 and will be concluded by May 1, 2007.

It is interesting to note that during negotiations for the contract extension in 2005, USPS and APWU explored the creation of Retail Sales Assistants “who would work in grocery stores, malls, and other venues that are easily accessible to the public. These positions would be reserved for retired postal employees, who would continue to draw their retirement annuities.”

“But union and management representatives were notified by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that such an arrangement could not be approved.”

However, last year, OPM issued regulations to amend the criteria under which OPM may grant dual compensation (salary off-set) waivers on a case-by-case basis, or delegate waiver authority to agencies. The amemded regulations would allow retired workers to return to the federal government without a paycut. OPM Proposes Rule Change to Re-Employ Retirees Without Pay Cut

The following is a letter written to Worchester Telgram & Gazette newspaper by John Flattery, APWU President of Central Massachusetts Area Local #4553:

As reported (Telegram & Gazette, Dec. 13), the American Postal Workers Union, Central Massachusetts Area Local 4553 AFL-CIO held an informational picket in front of the Leominster Post Office on Dec. 12. The purpose of this action was to bring to light the volatile situation inside the post office. The Central Massachusetts Area Local-APWU believes this hostile environment is a byproduct of Postmaster Scot Florio’s management style.

In June 2003, the T&G reported that two selectmen and one former selectman in Auburn had written to postal officials as well as federal legislators, seeking to remove Mr. Florio as postmaster in that town. Mr. Florio’s management style was among the chief concerns at that time.

The many employees who thanked us for picketing had hoped that this protest would spark interest in their problems and hopefully begin a process that would ease the tension level in this facility.
 
As this point, it seems the postal service is less interested in addressing the concerns of the dedicated postal employees who toil in this volatile environment and more interested in hoping this story just goes away. Unfortunately, problems don’t just go away, they get worse with neglect. I only hope the postal service doesn’t ignore this problem until it becomes a tragedy.

  Photos: Leominster Picket - Success

Postal Letter Carrier Ralph Trumbo is neither an athlete nor a celebrity. Nevertheless, he has a bobblehead likeness of himself sitting on his mantel. 

Ralph Trumbo poses with a custom bobblehead, which was made for him by Bryan Guise in Des Moines, Iowa (AP photo)

Bobbleheads, those shaky-headed 3-D caricatures, have jiggled free of their mass-produced roots of an earlier generation. Once merely featureless figures decked out in team colors and handed out on game day, they now depict just about anyone who wants one.

Even Trumbo, a Des Moines, Iowa, letter carrier. For Trumbo, it’s a kick to own a miniature version of himself, sitting there for all to see. From his postal uniform to his glasses and wedding ring, it’s a perfect match. “It’s one of a kind,” he said.

source: North County Times

see more photos

“Legendary US actor Humphrey Bogart is pictured on a US Postal Service stamp. He was kind of short, not very handsome and spoke with a lisp. But half a century after his death, Bogart still reigns as the revered embodiment of Hollywood toughness and cool.”(AFP/File)
Issue Date: 7/31/1997 
Issue Series: Legends of Hollywood 

Postal workers should oppose Bush’s treason

Postal Workers United

is a group of American postal workers of all crafts committed to exposing the crimes of the Bush administration, specifically as they relate to his unlawful surveillance of innocent Americans without warrants, including the opening of our mail.

The blog was created by Jeff Richardson, a Tacoma, Washington letter carrier, a trade unionist, a peace activist, and a populist progressive with big dreams for America.  According to his blog “He devotes much of his time helping to rebuild the American Labor Movement through his work with America in Solidarity and the Pierce County Central Labor Council.”

U.S. Postal Service loses at least $251,011.90 in scheme

US DOJ, U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release

Baltimore, Maryland - Julie Hoffman, age 32, of Lonaconing, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to counterfeiting metered postage, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

According to the statement of facts presented to the court, Hoffman owns and operates Hoffman Candles and Hoffman Mailing Solutions in Lonaconing, Maryland, mailing about 1000 envelopes and packages daily for several individual customers and businesses. Hoffman advertised that she could mail any item from Hoffman Candles to anywhere in the country, regardless of the weight or size of the item, for 20 cents.

In 2003, Hoffman began to counterfeit metered U.S. postage by printing a legitimate set of postage from Stamps.com and Endicia.com, and then making copies of this postage on her own adhesive backed labels. Hoffman provided her employees with this counterfeit postage to use in mailing packages and letters, but did not tell them that the postage was counterfeit. Within a couple years, she was counterfeiting almost all of the postage in her business. As a result of the scheme, the Postal Service lost at least $251,011.90.

Hoffman faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis has scheduled sentencing for April 6 , 2007 at noon.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised the investigative work performed by the United States Postal Inspection Service. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kwame J. Manley, who is prosecuting the case.

APWU News Bulletin #02-2007, Jan. 12, 2007

APWU members ratified a four-year Collective Bargaining Agreement by a vote of 84,486 to 12,016, in balloting that concluded Jan. 12. The new National Agreement, which is retroactive to Nov. 21, 2006, will expire Nov. 20, 2010.

“I consider this contract to be among our union’s strongest achievements,” said APWU President William Burrus. “Wage increases, upgrades, and Cost-of-Living Adjustments were secured, and ‘no-layoff’ protection and other benefits were continued.”

The agreement provides for a 1.3 percent wage increase, effective Nov. 25, 2006; upgrades for all APWU-represented employees, effective Feb. 16, 2008; a 1.2 percent raise, effective Nov. 21, 2009; and two Cost-of-Living Adjustments each year.

New contract language will result in the conversion of approximately 10,000 part-time flexibles, and will eliminate Clerk Craft PTFs as a workforce category in offices of 200 work-years or more, effective Dec. 1, 2007. (A list of offices of 200 work-years or more will be posted at www.apwu.org as soon as it is provided by the Postal Service.) The agreement also will change the restrictions on the use and number of casual employees.

The Postal Service will pay 95 percent of healthcare premiums for employees enrolled in the APWU Consumer Driven Health Plan, effective in 2008. The employees’ share of healthcare premium costs in other plans will increase 1 percent each year in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.

In accordance with Article 13.9.C of the APWU Constitution, members of the Rank-and-File Bargaining Advisory Committee unanimously approved the agreement before it was mailed to union members for ratification. The mailing took place Dec. 18-20, 2006.

More than 215,000 ballots were mailed to union members covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. In addition, in an unprecedented organizing effort, non-members were invited to vote, provided they completed union sign-up cards enclosed in their ratification packets.

In a letter accompanying the mailing to non-members, Burrus wrote, “The stakes are too high for you to defer to others the decision on your future. The only way you can have a voice in whether or not the changes to the National Agreement are enacted is by becoming a union member.” More than 700 non-members did so.

“We are very pleased that so many new members joined the APWU as a result of this process,” Burrus said. “This is the most successful short-term organizing effort in union history.”

Participation among members was above 40 percent, which is a significant improvement over previous balloting. Nevertheless, Burrus said that he had hoped for a higher level of membership involvement in the vote.

“APWU-represented employees have made substantial progress,” the union president said. “That is what the negotiation process is all about.”

The next step, he said, is to convert the agreement into contractual language. “Once that is done, the Postmaster General and I will affix our signatures to the official document.”

The vote count occurred Jan. 12, under the supervision of the American Arbitration Association. Members of the Rank-and-File Committee monitored the vote count. Princella Vogel, chairperson of the committee, announced the results at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, shortly after the counting of ballots was complete.

Results showing the voting by individual locals will be posted on the APWU Web site as soon as they become available. The local-by-local count is expected to take several weeks.

An Open Letter to the Union Membership

Burrus Update #01-07, Jan. 12, 2007

The membership of the American Postal Workers Union has decided the outcome of the 2006 contract negotiations and has resoundingly approved the tentative agreement.

A total of 96,502 votes were cast by the members, which included 727 postal employees who joined the APWU to participate in the referendum voting. Unfortunately, a majority of the members did not exercise their right to express their approval or disapproval of the negotiated provisions that will affect their lives over the four-year term of the agreement

The dates of the retroactive pay and the identification of the 200 work-year offices are expected to be available within the next 14 days and will be published as soon as they are known.