PostalReporter.com Blog

New Shipping and Mailing Services, Customer Relations groups created

The Postmaster General today announced several key Headquarters organizational changes designed to “strengthen our position in an extremely competitive marketplace,” he said.

PMG Jack Potter said USPS is currently in a very dynamic environment, and competition is intense. “We are operating under a new law with 90 percent of our revenues capped at the rate of inflation,” he said. “At the same time, the new law provides us with pricing and product flexibility — tools that are intended to make us more competitive. In response to these challenges and opportunities, we are adjusting the organizational structure to better position ourselves to compete.”

Potter said with growth as a top priority, the Postal Service is bringing together product management, product development and commercial sales in a new Shipping and Mailing Services division. Robert Bernstock has been named division president. “He is a respected and effective growth leader with more than 30 years of experience,” Potter said. Bernstock, who has an MBA from Harvard University, has held senior positions with some of the best-known consumer-product companies in America, including Campbell Soup, Dial and Scotts Miracle-Gro Co.

The Shipping and Mailing Services division will take on a broader product responsibility and is expected to influence pricing, operations, service enhancements, partnerships and investment activities. “The goal of this group is to assure all product lines are successful and contribute to a positive net income,” Potter said.

The group will include a new senior VP of Mailing Services, David Shoenfeld. “David’s more than 30 years of leadership experience includes VP of Marketing at NextEngine and over 20 years at Federal Express, where he rose to Sr. VP of Worldwide Marketing,” the PMG said. The group also includes Expedited Shipping VP Gary Reblin, Acting Ground Shipping VP Jim Cochrane and Sales VP Jerry Whalen.

“As we work to bring more value to our customers in a changing business environment, we are centralizing into a single division key consumer and business customer relationships, external and internal communications, as well as integrating pricing,” Potter said. Customer Relations will be led by a new senior VP, Steve Kearney.

The goal of Customer Relations is to provide the communication links between the organization and its customers and employees. Reporting to Kearney will be VP of Business Customer Relations Susan Plonkey, Consumer Advocate and VP Delores Killette, Acting Corporate Communications VP Mitzi Betman and a new vice president of Pricing, Maura Robinson.

“Our ability to compete in the future relies on the generation of information about mail,” Potter said. “The key to modernizing our products while satisfying this need for data is the Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB).” The PMG said the IMB will become the foundation of mail operations: verification, acceptance, payment, processing, diagnostics, routing, transportation and delivery.

“We are consolidating all IMB activities under the direction of DPMG and Chief Operating Officer Pat Donahoe,” Potter said. Tom Day, Sr. VP, Intelligent Mail and Address Quality, will be supported by a new VP of Business Mail Entry and Payment Technologies. Pritha Mehra has been named to that position. To round out the team, Chief Information Officer Ross Philo will designate dedicated resources to support the IMB objectives.

Employees who support all these groups will begin transitioning during the next few days.

Potter said the changes will improve our focus, increase our effectiveness and enhance the value and attractiveness of our shipping and mailing services, for existing customers as well as new ones. “These changes are vital to our future growth and prosperity,” Potter said. “They will protect our ability to provide affordable service to every family and business in America.”

Washington, Jun 25 - The House Appropriations Committee today approved an amendment offered by Congressman Jack Kingston (R/GA-1) that would require the United States Postal Service to study the cost-effectiveness and fuel consumption of a five-day delivery system and consumer demand of Saturday postal delivery.

“I’ve been trying to get the postal service to end Saturday delivery for years,” Congressman Kingston said.  “It’s a perfect example of government waste that is driving up the price at the pump.  I can’t think of the last time I got anything but a bill in the mail and, frankly, those can wait until Monday.  Now my kids get all of their bills by email.  What other way can the government immediately save 20.8 million gallons of gas thereby reducing consumption and gas prices?”

According to the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) website, the service uses 121 million gallons of gas each year.  At approximately 400,000 gallons per day, the service would conserve 20.8 million gallons with an estimated cost savings of $84.7 million.

“This is just one way to bring down the cost of fuel,” said Congressman Kingston.  “While some oppose this idea, this study will at least give us hard numbers on which we can make an informed decision.”

The study was approved unanimously by the committee and must now be taken up in the House and Senate before being signed into law by the President.

 http://kingston.house.gov/

Description fom the Smithsonian Institution: This city letter carrier posed for a humorous photograph with a young boy in his mailbag. After parcel post service was introduced in 1913, at least two children were sent by the service. With stamps attached to their clothing, the children rode with railway and city carriers to their destination. The Postmaster General quickly issued a regulation forbidding the sending of children in the mail after hearing of those examples

APWU News

The APWU will conduct new elections for two National Business Agent (NBA) positions to resolve an investigation by the Department of Labor, union President William Burrus has announced. The two elections to be re-run are the Clerk NBA “A” race in the Dallas Region and the Motor Vehicle Services NBA election in the Southwest Sub-Region. The races were initially contested in 2007, as part of the election of more than 80 national officers.

The new election in the MVS race will be conducted prior to Oct. 5, 2008. New nominations will be held for the clerk position, and balloting will take place prior to Nov. 30. Union members will be notified when a schedule has been finalized.

The elections will be conducted under the supervision of the Department of Labor, in accordance with Title IV of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. President Burrus has appointed Tony Turner to serve as the APWU Election Committee chairperson.

The Department of Labor sought a new election in the Clerk NBA race because of concerns about local endorsements in that contest. The losing candidate is no longer eligible to run for office, so new nominations will be held.

The new election in the Motor Vehicle race is necessary because some eligible voters initially received the wrong ballots. Although corrected ballots were mailed to all affected voters, some did not cast new ballots.

“We will do everything we can to protect the integrity of our election process,” Burrus said. “The direct election of officers is a hallmark of our union’s democracy, and we will take all necessary steps to ensure that our elections are conducted properly.”

From NALC Bulletin

NALC President William H. Young announced June 13 that he has obtained agreement from the Postal Service to extend the moratorium on delivery subcontracting called for by the Article 32 Committee Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in the National Agreement through September 30, 2008, the end of the USPS Fiscal Year.

The moratorium applies to city carrier offices not covered by the National Agreement’s life-of-the-contract ban on CDS routes in offices that employ only city carriers.

The NALC and the Postal Service, meanwhile, continue to update the list of city carrier offices covered by the MOU on Subcontracting. That MOU prohibits any outsourcing of delivery in covered offices for the life of the contract. Young said another list of affected CDS routes that will be converted to regular delivery in June will soon be released. The extension of the moratorium on subcontracting in offices where letter carriers work side by side with rural carriers and CDS contractors will permit the Article 32 Committee to complete its work, as outlined in the MOU contained in the 2006-2011 contract.

Young applauded the continued cooperation of Postmaster General John E. Potter and Vice President for Labor Relations Doug Tulino on the issue of the moratorium.

 In Solidarity with UNITE-HERE Workers Locked in Contract Dispute

WASHINGTON – The National Association of Letter Carriers union announced today that it has cancelled all food service for its 66 th Biennial NALC Convention July 21-25 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center (BCEC) due to the contract dispute between Local 26 of the UNITE-HERE union and Aramark Corporation, which handles food service at the convention site.

The NALC convention is the largest of any AFL-CIO-affiliated union, with more than 8,800 members already registered to be voting delegates, representing union local branches in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and other jurisdictions.

NALC President William H. Young advised the union’s 302,000 members that the opening reception, scheduled for July 20 at BCEC on the eve of the first general session, also has been cancelled. He said all breakfast functions scheduled for the convention center – many with hundreds of reservations – will also be cancelled or moved to other venues.

“I regret having to make this announcement, but this is what the labor movement is all about – solidarity with our brothers and sisters in their time of critical need,” Young said. “Our members could not enjoy their bacon and eggs, sandwiches and sodas knowing that the workers serving them were being denied basic workplace benefits accorded similar workers in others parts of Boston.”

Other NALC convention workshops will continue as scheduled in the convention center, but without any food or beverages, such as coffee, juice, soda, bottled water or pastries.

“Delegates, guests and speakers will have to do without food and drink from convention services during the sessions and workshops,” Young said. “But, we’ll make it through

source: NALC Press Release 
 

APWU discovers a partner in USPS Shipper Program is named ‘Goin’ Postal

APWU News

When the APWU objected to an E! Entertainment Television series titled Going Postal: 15 Shocking Acts of Violence last month, APWU President William Burrus expected support from the Postal Service, he said recently.

“The title of the series is an affront to more than 700,000 hard-working postal employees who are stigmatized by the cruel stereotype that suggests that postal workers are violent sociopaths,” Burrus noted in a May 13 letter to Brian L. Roberts, Chairman and CEO of Comcast [PDF], which owns E! “Of course, statistics show that postal employees are no more likely to engage in acts of violence than the public at large.”

But after Burrus sent a copy of his letter to Postmaster General John E. Potter, he was puzzled by management’s reaction: Silence.

“Frankly, I was surprised,” said Burrus. “In December 2003, when FOX-TV broadcast a promotional comedy skit that mocked postal workers and portrayed them as violent, USPS management took the initiative to protest and asked postal unions to join their effort,” he noted. The Postal Service withdrew $200,000 of holiday advertising from FOX and instead ran commercials on NBC, he said.

But perhaps the Postal Service’s recent reaction isn’t so surprising after all.

The union has learned that the Postal Service has designated a franchise business called — you guessed it — Goin’ Postal as a partner in the USPS Approved Shipper Program. The national union learned about the partnership from local editors Mike Mazurkiewicz, (Saint Paul’s Postmark) and Cathy Hanson (Minneapolis’ Northern Light), who ventured into a Goin’ Postal outlet in their area. When they identified themselves to a manager as postal workers offended by the company’s name, they were informed that the company plans to open 4,000 stores nationwide.

Burrus has written to the Postmaster General [PDF] inquiring about the relationship between the USPS and Goin’ Postal. “The postal community has rejected the use of the phrase ‘going postal,’ which demeans and stigmatizes more than 700,000 dedicated postal employees,” he wrote on May 30. “I am unable to reconcile our collective disdain for this cruel stereotype with management’s partnership with a company using the same name.

“I would be pleased to be informed of the rationale.”

He has also written to the CEO of Goin’ Postal [PDF], expressing the union’s objections and informing him that the APWU plans to take all appropriate legal steps to inform the American public that the term does not reflect postal workers or the services we perform.

William Young, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, has joined the APWU’s efforts, writing to the president of E! Networks to object to the series’ title, as have numerous APWU members.

Neither Comcast nor E! has replied to Burrus’ letters.

From the National Association of Letter Carriers

All signs point to Arizona Sen. John McCain being anointed as the Republican nominee for president at the GOP convention in September. All signs point to something else as well—a McCain presidency would simply parrot the economic policies found in the script followed by George W. Bush.

The evidence is littered all along McCain’s campaign trail. In January, with the housing crisis intensifying, the price of oil climbing toward record highs, economic growth slowing and workers’ real income dropping, he told Lou Dobbs on CNN that the “fundamental underpinnings of our economy are strong.”

This judgment comes from a veteran lawmaker who had told reporters in December 2007 that “the issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.” McCain added, though, “I’ve got Greenspan’s book.” Perhaps he’s finished reading it.

In the Arizona senator’s view, the economy has been doing so well since 2001 that he has voted time and again to make Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy permanent.Perhaps more alarming to middle-class families, however, McCain has promised to slash corporate taxes even more and cut government “people programs” to cover the cost.

Like Bush, McCain favors more deregulation—even though the deregulation of the financial industry is widely regarded as the culprit for the home financing disaster that finds millions of people at risk of foreclosure.

Another sign the script would be the same in a McCain White House is his stand on Social Security reform. In his 2008 State of the Union address, Bush once again trotted out “personal accounts”—the first step on the slippery slope to privatization—as a “fix” for Social Security. McCain’s campaign website reiterates the candidate’s support for “supplementing the current Social Security system with personal accounts.” Never mind that investing Social Security tax money in the private equity market would expose citizens’ retirement benefits to the wild gyrations of the stock market.

According to the script, there is some good news: private accounts could generate billions of dollars—in commissions for brokers and bankers.

McCain is also in lockstep with Bush on privatizing government jobs. In 2006, he voted to approve a measure that included, among other things, the outsourcing of 350 maintenance jobs at Washington’s Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The result was a horrifying decline in living conditions for severely injured Iraq and Afghanistan vets.

And some final food for thought: Bush has recklessly spent hundreds of billions of borrowed dollars, driving up the national debt. McCain, however, has not shown much inclination to impose fiscal discipline, aside from erasing “earmarks” that amount to less than 1 percent of the annual deficit. This is from a recent newspaper editorial:

“Regrettably, Mr. McCain’s entire balanced-budget fiscal policy, such as it is, almost certainly is built on smoke and mirrors…. [W]e also understand arithmetic, and we’re concerned that Mr. McCain does not…. His math doesn’t add up. Mr. McCain needs to provide much more detailed information about how he intends to balance the budget.”

That harsh assessment was not penned by the editorial board of The New York Times. It appeared in the April 18 issue of the deeply conservative Washington Times. It seems everyone has something to worry about if the Bush administration goes into reruns with McCain at the helm.

Effective May 28, 2008, US District Court Judge Joel A. Pisano issued his decision regarding enforcement of the American Postal Workers Union/United States Postal Service pre-arbitration Settlement Agreement, dated October 28, 2005, for AFSM staffing at the Trenton P&DC. 

Judge Pisano stated, “The Settlement Agreement provides for the clerk craft to have primary jurisdiction over the positions on the AFSM-100 machines and that, in the event work requires less than six employees to staff the machines, the remaining positions on the machines will be staffed by clerk craft only.  Thereby, if there is a ‘reduction in work [,]’ then clerks only operate the machines.  Although the Settlement Agreement does not define ‘reduction in work [.]’ the terms of the Agreement do not limit the method by which the reduction in work may occur.  That is, the Agreement sets forth a staffing procedure invoked by a ‘reduction in work’ irrespective of how that reduction in work takes place. 

In this instance, the modifications to the AFSM-100 resulted in a ‘reduction in work.’  The addition of the AI and ATHS automated features caused ‘a reduction of the AFSM[-]100 operating crew, [a] decrease[] in operation run times, and efficiencies in the preparation activities.’  (Lewis Aff. II Ex. B).  As a result, the ‘reduction in work’ caused by enhancements to the AFSM-100 machine trigger the Settlement Agreement’s staffing reduction procedure. 

Thus, pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, the clerks maintain jurisdiction over the stations in the AFSM-100 machines in the Trenton facility, irrespective of the

enhancements.  Accordingly, the Court holds that there is no dispute of material fact that the Settlement Agreement covers the dispute of which Trenton Metro now complains-whether clerks or mail handlers have jurisdiction to operate the AFSM-100 machines-and is ‘sufficiently specific as to be capable of implementation.’  Consolidation Coal, supra, 666 F.2d at 810.  The Court further holds that the Settlement Agreement is entitled to enforcement. 

Pursuant and in accordance with the Judge’s order, the APWU expects immediate staffing of the three FSM 100 machines with the clerk craft. 

The APWU will monitor USPS compliance with the Judge’s order and pursue appropriate pay remedies for all work performed by the Mail Handler craft on the AFSM 100’s commencing today.

Bill Lewis, President, APWU Trenton Metro Area Local

See court decision