From NALC President William Young:
In last year’s postal reform bill, we secured our collective bargaining rights. The ability to form a union and to negotiate collectively ensures workplace fairness and a decent standard of living. Every American worker should have that ability. It is especially important to letter carriers that workers from competing delivery companies have that ability – if they work for low wages and receive few benefits, our position at the bargaining table is damaged.
Unfortunately, tens of thousands of Federal Express workers are effectively denied the right to organize a union because of a loophole in the law that permits FedEx to classify its delivery workers as “airline employees,” even though they never go close to an airport. As such, they are covered by the Railway Labor Act (RLA), which makes organizing a union almost impossible – you have to win a national ballot instead of building a union location by location, as permitted by the National Labor Relations Act (NRLA). Workers at the Postal Service, UPS and other delivery companies are covered by the NRLA.
But we can do something about this injustice today. Sen. Tom Harkin, who has led the battle against contracting out our jobs, has introduced an amendment to the pending Labor-HHS appropriation bill to require that all express delivery workers who do not work at or near airports be covered by the NLRA, not the RLA. This weekend the Senate is working on that appropriations bill. (more…)
The Los Angeles District has received approval from OPM to offer Early Out opportunities to “CLERKS ONLY” beginning early 2008. This is a result of planned excessing of over 250 clerks from the Los Angeles District. Below is the text of the letter sent out by Yolanda Elders, President, Los Angeles APWU Local #64 to eligible members advising them of this opportunity.
Update: Mike Causey from Federal News Radio posted this message on his site:
Postal Buyout Rumor
Postal clerks in the Los Angeles area are being given the option to retire early. But the American Postal Workers Union says no financial incentives, such as a buyout or an enhanced retirement formula, go with the deal. This may be the source, at least this year, of the SuperBuyout Rumor in yesterday’s column.
From National Public Radio- All Things Considered
The United States Postal Service says that, since being ordered by Congress to break even, it can no longer afford to subsidize the nonprofits’ shipping costs through M Bags. M Bags are large duffel bags that nonprofit organizations use to bulk-ship textbooks overseas to impoverished regions around the world.
Postal Service Ends M Bag Subsidy - National Public Radio
White House order giving federal employees the day off doesn’t include postal employees
The Executive Order President Bush issued yesterday excusing executive branch employees from duty Monday, Dec. 24, does not include postal employees. The day is to be treated as a normal business day for USPS.
Office of Personnel Management Director Linda Springer said the Executive Order “does not affect Postal Service workers, nor does it include Executive Branch employees whose agencies determine they cannot be excused for reasons of national security, defense or other essential public need.”
Click here to read Springer’s statement.
source: USPS
From NEW JERSEY POSTAL AND RURAL NEWS
SPECIAL BREAKING NEWS: INTEREST ARBITRATION ISSUE
INTEREST ARBITRATION AWARD ISSUED
The link below is to the Award issued by the interest arbitration panel chaired by Arbitrator Herbert Fishgold as well as to the separate statement from NRLCA Arbitrator Dennis D. Clark. The Award sets the terms of the 2006-2010 USPS-NRLCA National Agreement.
Click here to view the Award and the separate statement from Arbitrator Clark
Highlights:
A- Salary increase effective 11-25-2006 1.2% increase in each step level
effective 11-24-2007 1.5% increase in each step level
The 2006 and 2007 step level increases will be paid as soon as practible.
effective 11-22-2008 1.5% increase in each step level
effective 11-21-2009 1.5% increase in each step level
B- Four year contract.
C-Cash payment of $686.00 for each regular carrier and proportional cash payments for other employees.
D-COLA roll-in base May 2007 with COlA roll in for RCAs February 2011
E- EMA $ 38.5 and increase of $ 07.5 over three years broken down as follows: 3 cents in January 2008, 2 cents in October 2008 and 2.5 cents in October 2009.
F- An additional 15,000 employer provided vehcles.
G- Change of address credit of 15 seconds.
H- TRC cap of 15% for each area level.
I- Employee health plan contributions will see a 2% increase in employee paid contributions for 2009, a 1% increase in 2010 and another 1%increase in 2011.
Archive: USPS, Rural Carriers Tentative Contract Agreement
USPS Press Release
Contracts Now in Place With All Four Major Postal Service Unions
A three-member arbitration panel led by neutral chairman Herbert Fishgold issued its award today, establishing the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement between the Postal Service and the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA). The award establishes a four-year contract (from Nov. 20, 2006 to Nov. 20, 2010), affecting approximately 68,000 career employees and 55,000 non-career employees who deliver mail to residences and businesses on rural delivery routes.
“We are pleased to have contracts in place with all four of our major unions, bringing the 2006 labor negotiation process to an end,” said Doug Tulino, Postal Service vice president, Labor Relations.
The Postal Service and the NRLCA reached a tentative four-year contract agreement in Dec. 2006, in collective bargaining negotiations, but the two parties entered the arbitration process after the union membership failed to ratify the agreement.
Post Office: Pigeon Forge, Tennessee 37868
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