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APWU News

APWU President William Burrus has asked the Wachovia Bank Corp. to stop airing a television commercial which strongly suggests that home mail delivery is the primary cause of identity theft.

“The 700,000 employees who operate the most efficient, reliable and cost-effective mail service in the world object to your characterization,” Burrus wrote in a May 30 letter to G. Kennedy Thompson, the bank’s CEO.

The ad shows an unidentified person driving up to a curbside residential mailbox, taking mail out, and pulling away. The commercial then goes on to tout Wachovia’s commitment to helping customers recover from identity theft.

“The ad’s implication is clearly unfounded,” the union president said in remarks the following day. “Only a miniscule portion of identity theft occurs through the mail.”

The Federal Trade Commission identifies six principal methods that identity thieves use to gather personal information from their victims:

• Skimming credit card numbers from transactions
• “Dumpster diving” for carelessly discarded personal and financial documents
• “Phishing” for personal information via e-mail
• Submitting fraudulent change-of-address forms
• Stealing wallets or bribing people with access to private information
• Using false pretenses to obtain private and financial information

In addition to the work postal employees perform sorting and distributing America’s mail, Burrus told Wachovia, “We are also consumers of goods and services in each community throughout the country.” When APWU members select the banks they will use, they will choose institutions that show appreciation for the services we provide the American people, he warned.

“We respectfully request that Wachovia stop airing the advertisement or modify it to afford our nation’s postal system the respect it has earned through more than 220 years of service.”

Postmaster General John E. Potter criticized the ad as well. In remarks at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on May 30, he said, “I have no problem with competition…. All I ask for is a little honesty when you’re doing it.”

“To me it’s absurd that the bank is pointing to the mail when we know that [the Web] is like the Wild Wild West,” Potter said.

Glover/Albrecht v. Potter

U.S. POSTAL SERVICE AGREES TO LARGEST EVER DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION SETTLEMENT - $61 MILLION

(Press Release) Under a class action settlement announced today, the United States Postal Service will pay $61 million to resolve the workplace disability discrimination claims of over 7500 current and former postal workers. Over $53 million will be distributed directly to the workers, the balance represents attorneys fees and expenses of the attorneys who have been litigating the case over the last 14 years.

The case, Glover/Albrecht v. Potter, involves denial of promotion and advancement opportunities to U.S. Postal Service employees with workplace disabilities who had been placed in dead end “rehabilitation” positions. Nearly a third of the employees in rehabilitation positions since 1992 will recover under the settlement. The recovery is by far the largest in a disability discrimination employment class action.

Under an Initial Settlement announced in 2004, the discriminatory policy was ended, and over 10,543 of the more than 25,000 rehabilitation workers filed claims of disability discrimination. After review, 3057 of the claims were dismissed, leaving 7512 claims to be resolved. After extensive mediation, the Postal Service and the attorneys for the workers reached this Global Settlement, which was preliminarily approved by a federal administrative judge on May 23, 2007. Formal notice will be sent to the class members by June 22, and the judge must review any objections to the settlement and then approve it before it becomes final.

Under the settlement, claimants who sign a release will receive their shares by November 2007. Those who do not sign a release will receive their shares after any appeal of the approval of the settlement, which could take a year or more.

Denver attorney John Mosby, lead counsel for the class, has fought this case for over 14 years. “I am happy that a case that started out as an individual claim by one worker, has led to a measure of justice for thousands.”

Brad Seligman of The Impact Fund, a Berkeley, California nonprofit law firm that led the negotiations for the class, explained the importance of the settlement: “While disability class actions are rare, this case shows that stigmatizing employees because of their status can have enormous consequences.”

The class was also represented by Elisa Moran of Denver, and Marilyn Cain Gordon of Washington D.C.

The case arose in 1993, when Chandler Glover, a Denver Postal worker, filed a claim of discrimination. Later, Dean Albrecht of Clearwater, Florida, joined as co-class representative. The class representatives each receive $85,000 in the settlement.

Further information, including the settlement documents, may be found at www.gloverclass.com

click here for Global Settlement Agreement Docs

 Related link: His pain defeated Postal Service - Frustrated, [Dean] Albrecht filed what eventually became a class action lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service on behalf of injured employees.

by APWU President William Burrus on Contracting Out Mail Delivery

My testimony last month [PDF] before the House Oversight and Reform Committee revealed differences of opinion between the APWU on the one hand and the other postal unions and management associations on the other, regarding the issue of congressional interference in collective bargaining.

The long-standing APWU position is that mandatory subjects of collective bargaining are best left to the parties for resolution, even when bargaining has not achieved the desired results. I believe the danger of Congress determining conditions of employment for postal employees far outweighs the possibility of short-term success in specific areas.

Having begun my postal career during the era when all postal matters were decided on Capitol Hill, I vividly recall congressional decisions that restrained our wages, benefits, and conditions of employment to the point where many postal employees actually qualified for Welfare. Requesting congressional re-intervention carries enormous risks and threatens all of the gains that we have made over the past 37 years.

The concept of petitioning Congress to declare that mail delivery can be performed only by career postal employees is much more complicated than it appears at first glance.

The first issue to be resolved is whether or not the ban should extend beyond delivery. Are there other postal functions that require limitations? Obviously, the APWU would make a valid argument on the numerous and varied activities that are best performed by career clerks, maintenance, or motor vehicle employees. But even within the single function of delivery, significant questions would have to be resolved.

If delivery by non-career employees is banned, does that include delivery to post office boxes? Is mail deposited in a lock box deserving of less government protection than mail delivered door-to-door? And if the answer to this question is in the affirmative, how does delivery to cluster boxes differ from box delivery? Apartment buildings and large commercial establishments also pose questions that would be open to varying interpretations.

These are issues best reserved for the parties who understand the nuances and distinctions. And, should bargaining fail, we can each make our case before a neutral arbitrator who has the authority to settle disputes.

Progress in negotiations on the central subject of subcontracting is never as rewarding as employees would like. As postal employees, we know that we are more trustworthy and more committed to serving the public than a casual workforce, and we know that we perform at a higher level. Career postal employees have made ours the best postal system in the world, and it is frustrating to witness an erosion in service due to the quality of the workforce.

But collective bargaining was never intended to guarantee specific results. Through our unions we are guaranteed the opportunity to continue to try.

Related Link :Harkin Inroduces Senate Bill to Outlaw Contracting Out

Photos from Flickr taken outside Main Post Office, New York City. Click picture for larger view

 Postal Service Police Minivan

Postal Service Police Sedan

Postal Service Police SUV

Yoda defeated Darth Vader in voting to choose which “Star Wars” character would get a stamp released independently of the group featuring his co-stars, the U.S. Postal Service said Friday.

With about half a million votes cast, the diminutive force for good topped the evil Lord Vader by about 10,000 votes, postal officials said. The Yoda stamp will be re-issued later this year as an individual stamp.

“NALC’s Letter Carrier Statue in Plankinton Square dedicated at the Centennial Celebration in Milwaukee, WI  on August 30, 1989.”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/retinalfetish/515120078/

Young Praises Move to Protect Letter Carriers

(NALC Bulletin) Sen.Tom Harkin (D-IA) on May 23 introduced in the U. S. Senate legislation to protect city and rural letter carriers from having their work contracted out by the U.S. Postal Service to private firms and individuals.

The bill, S. 1457, is titled the “Mail Delivery Protection Act of 2007” and would forbid the Postal Service from entering into any contract “with any motor carrier or other person for the delivery of mail on any route with 1 or more families per mile.”

The only exceptions allowed are contracts in effect atthe date of enactment of the bill which could continue untilterminated under the terms of such contract, or could be renewed, and also service on a rural route may be converted to contract delivery service when such route no longer serves a minimum of 1 family per mile.

NALC President William H. Young said the Harkin bill would bring a halt to the Postal Service’s drive to privatize mail delivery.

“Every active and retired letter carrier in the nation, and their families, should thank Senator Harkin for taking this courageous stand against those forces that would destroy the U.S. Postal Service,” Young said.

“At the same time, it is now critical that the other members of the Senate hear one loud voice from our members—by letter, phone, email, personal offi ce visit —to bring about a groundswell of support for S. 1457 that will ensure its swift consideration in the Senate and eventual enactment by the 110th Congress,” Young said.

Joining Harkin as early co-sponsors of the bill were: Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Robert Casey (D-PA), John Kerry (D-MA), Jon Tester (D-MT), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Patty Murray (D-WA).

In introducing the legislation, Harkin said outsourcing mail carriers jeopardizes the reliable and secure delivery of mail because independent contracting fi rms do not use the same extensive recruiting and screening processes the USPS does in hiring and training mail carriers.

“Outsourcing mail delivery to people who have not undergone the Postal Service’s extensive screening and training process leaves open the possibility that convicted felons, identity thieves, or other undesirable workers could have access to the sensitive materials that pass through the mail on a daily basis,” Harkin said.

The Iowa senator said that last year, when the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act became law, the House of Representatives explicitly and overwhelmingly rejected contracting out mail delivery. He said despite that clear Congressional guidance, the USPS has nonetheless begun an aggressive program of placing the responsibility for residential mail delivery in the hands of the lowest bidder in states across the country.

“We cannot allow the Postal Service’s management to jeopardize the safe and reliable delivery of mail to our homes.” said Harkin. “This bill will ensure that the quality mail service Americans depend on continues.”

163 Back H.Res. 282

In the House of Representatives, 163 Members of Congress have already joined Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ) as co-sponsors of H. Res. 282, which would express the sense of the House of Representatives that the Postal Service “should discontinue the practice of contracting out mail delivery.

source: NALC Bulletin- May 24, 2007(pdf)

Related link: Harkin Works to Protect Postal Service, Stop Outsourcing of Mail Delivery

From USPS 

Thirty years ago today, a film premiered in just over 30 theaters across the country. Not the biggest first-day showing a movie has ever had, but the ripples from those select theaters sent shockwaves across the cinematic universe still being felt today.

Star Wars — the movie, the cult phenomenon, the biggest grossing film series in history — hits the streets today as 15 stamps honoring characters from the film go on sale at Post Offices nationwide. The buzz for these stamps has been building since March, when the first R2-D2 wrapped collection boxes began appearing on street corners across America and at military bases here and abroad.

It’s expected the Star Wars stamps will be as popular as the movie. To make sure there are enough of them, USPS has printed 30 million sheets. That’s a total of 450 million Star Wars stamps for fans to collect.

A special first-day-of-issue ceremony is being held in Los Angeles tonight, but you don’t have to wait until then to purchase the stamps. They may come from a galaxy far, far away — but they’re available now at a Post Office close, close to you.

“The Greater Seattle Local, American Postal Workers Union recently called upon Congressional Representatives Jim McDermott [1] (D-WA-7), Jay Inslee [2] (D-WA-1), Adam Smith [3] (D-WA-9), Dave Reichert [4] (R-WA-8), Rick Larsen [5] (R-WA-2) and Norm Dicks [6] (D-WA-6) to institute an impeachment investigation in the House of Representatives into the actions of Bush and Cheney, and to support the resolution already introduced by Representative Dennis Kucinich [7], (D-OH-10) H Res 333 [8].”

A CALL FOR AN IMPEACHMENT INVESTIGATION INTO THE ACTIONS OF PRESIDENT BUSH AND VICE-PRESIDENT CHENEY

WHEREAS, there is a high probability that the Bush Administration has committed impeachable offenses, including the following: justifying war with false and misleading statements in an effort to deceive the people of the United States and the U.S. Congress; undermining the rightful authority of Congress to declare war; directing or authorizing the National Security Agency and various other agencies within the intelligence community to conduct electronic surveillance outside of the statutes Congress has prescribed as the exclusive means for such surveillance; allowing and condoning the use of torture; and issuing over 1200 signing statements declaring the President’s right to interpret laws passed by Congress as he sees fit, and

WHEREAS, in all of this, the President and Vice-President have acted in violation of their oaths of office and the U.S. Constitution, and

WHEREAS, Congress has a solemn duty to provide oversight of the executive branch on behalf of the American people, and failure to investigate impeachable offenses will establish a precedent of no accountability for similar actions by any future administrations, and

WHEREAS, The U.S. Constitution provides for a means for the American people through their Congressional or State representatives to call for investigations of improper or illegal actions committed by the executive branch, therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the Greater Seattle Local, American Postal Workers Union call on Congressional Representatives Jim McDermott, Jay Inslee, Adam Smith, Dave Reichert, Rick Larsen and Norm Dicks to cause to be instituted in the House of Representatives proceedings for an impeachment investigation into the actions of President Bush and Vice-President Cheney, and/or to support House Resolution 333, which calls for impeachment proceedings against Vice-President Cheney, and be it further

RESOLVED, that this resolution be forwarded to the Martin Luther King Jr. County Labor Council and the Washington State Labor Council for action by those bodies.

Nation Gets Sneak Peek of Air Force One, Marine One Stamps
Stamps to Go on Sale June 13

From USPS

Two of the world’s most recognizable aircraft that fly as icons of freedom and democracy will appear on postage mid-June when the U.S. Postal Service issues the Air Force One $4.60 Priority Mail and Marine One $16.25 Express Mail stamps. The stamps were previewed today during opening ceremonies to launch one of the world’s most spectacular air shows — the Joint Service Open House located outside of Washington, D.C., at Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, Md.