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House Also Passes Thrift Saving Plan Reforms

From The National Association of Postmasters of the United States (NAPUS)

On Wednesday evening, the House of Representatives passed legislation that would enable Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) employees to credit their unused sick leave towards retirement. Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) employees already have this option. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) added the FERS provision to H.R. 1108, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act – Waxman is the author of H.R. 1108.Chairman Waxman also inserted in bill a number of provisions to modify the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). H.R. 1108 passed by an overwhelming 326-102 majority.

The Waxman FERS provision differs from H.R. 5573, FERS sick leave introduced earlier this year by Rep. Moran. H.R. 5573 would have provided a lump-sum payment of 15% of the amount of accumulated sick leave exceeding 500 hours, not to top $10,000. Instead of providing a lump-sum payout, the Waxman provision would credit unused sick leave towards the FERS annuity. Specifically, FERS employees who retiree within three years after enactment would be credited for 75% of unused sick leave, and employees retiring after the three years would get full credit, similar to CSRS employees. The credit, however, would not be able to be used to determine retirement eligibility.

H.R. 1108 also includes the text of H.R. 6500, the Thrift Savings Plan Enhancement Act. Chairman Waxman introduced the bill, and Committee Ranking Republican Tom Davis (R-VA) and Federal Workforce and Postal Service Subcommittee Chair Danny Davis (D-IL) cosponsored it. H.R. 1108 would provide for automatic TSP enrollment for new employees, permit the TSP Board to designate a fund other than the G Fund as the default investment fund, create a Roth IRA option, and give the TSP Board the authority to a add additional, self-directed investment options. A number of employee organizations have raised concern about this enhanced Board authority.

The FERS and TSP provisions are linked for budget reasons. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that H.R. 6500, which includes the Roth IRA TSP option, would increase federal revenue by about $1.3 billion over the next decade. This revenue would offset the increase costs associated with the FERS sick leave provision.

H.R. 1108 faces an uncertain future in the Senate, primarily due to the tobacco provisions, which are controversial. Also, there is a narrow legislative window. This weekend, Congress plans to recess for the summer, returning in September for only three weeks, before hitting the campaign trail. In addition, the White House has threatened to veto the measure. NAPUS will be monitoring the bill and pushing for consideration of the measure.

Source: NAPUS

Employees covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) would receive credit for unused sick leave towards their retirement annuities under a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last night. Added as a provision of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, HR 1108, the bill would treat unused sick leave similarly to that of employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS).

Introduced by Rep. James Moran, D-VA, long a champion of retirement fairness for FERS employees, the bill would provide credit towards retirement annuities for 75% of sick leave for those retiring within the first three years of enactment, and full credit for those retiring after three years. “Our current use-it-or-lose-it sick leave system for FERS employees hurts productivity and increases training costs,” said Moran. As passed last night, the bill is more generous than Moran’s previous proposal, HR 5573, which would have paid FERS employees a lump-sum upon retirement for unused sick leave up to $10,000.

The bill, which faces a veto-threat from President Bush, was passed by a veto-proof margin of 326-102 (find out how your Member of Congress voted here). It now heads to the Senate, where a spokeswoman for Sen. Edward Kennedy said “We’re hopeful it’ll move in the fall,” after Congress returns from its August recess. However, the current Senate bill does not contain the FERS sick leave provision, and the ultimate fate of the provision may be decided in a House-Senate conference committee if the Senate is able to pass its version of the bill.  

 read full article from National Association of Letter Carriers

Potential McCain VP Pick Fred Smith: Bad For America, Bad For Workers

WASHINGTON, DC July 30, 2008 - The following is a statement from Change to Win Chair Anna Burger regarding recent speculation that union-busting FedEx CEO Fred Smith is on presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s short list for vice-presidential picks:

“Recent reports that FedEx CEO Fred Smith is being considered by John McCain as a potential vice-presidential pick are beyond disturbing. As a well-known lifelong union buster, Smith has a disgraceful record of stripping workers of their most basic rights to organize and fight for a living wage. It is disheartening, although not surprising, that John McCain would consider picking such a notorious enemy of hard working men and women to be his running mate.
 
“In the 35 years that Fred Smith has been the CEO of FedEx, he has repeatedly fought against workers joining together to have a voice on the job, openly stating that he ‘doesn’t intend to recognize any unions at Federal Express.’ Less than 2% of the 200,000 American workers at FedEx are in a union. In contrast, UPS unionized workers make nearly 30 percent more than they non-union counterparts at FedEx. Despite organizing efforts, FedEx has filed appeal after appeal to deny their workers the right to bargain collectively, and has sought national legislation to thwart union organizing.
 
“Americans have already suffered through seven years of a White House that places corporate interests before the interests of America’s working families and we’ve seen the results - millions of homeowners facing foreclosure, gas prices at record levels, and skyrocketing health care costs. Workers cannot afford another lobbyist-dominated administration. A vice-president Fred Smith would be bad for America, and bad for workers. Working families need leadership in the White House that will help them reclaim the American Dream, not a third Bush term.”

About Change to Win
Seven unions and six million workers united in Change to Win to build a new movement of working people equipped to meet the challenges of the global economy and restore the American Dream in the 21st century: a paycheck that can support a family, affordable health care, a secure retirement and dignity on the job. The seven partner unions are: International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Laborers’ International Union of North America, Service Employees International Union, UNITE HERE, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, United Farm Workers of America, and United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.

SOURCE Change to Win

APWU News

 The Postal Service is unable to demonstrate that it saves money by outsourcing, according to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, because it has no comprehensive mechanism to measure savings.

“Without cost-savings data, postal managers, stakeholders and Congress cannot assess the risk and value of outsourcing,” the GAO concluded. Nonetheless, the USPS will continue to “explore outsourcing opportunities” and is considering another major outsourcing initiative involving its bulk mail processing network, the report noted.

The GAO recommended that the Postmaster General establish a process to track the results of outsourcing activities that are subject to collective bargaining and report the results to Congress. Although the Postal Service generally agreed with the report’s findings, the USPS disagreed with recommendation to provide Congress with the information about the results of outsourcing.

In its study, Data Needed to Assess the Effectiveness of Outsourcing [PDF], the GAO cautioned that the inability of the USPS to provide accurate data could make it difficult “to generate support for future outsourcing efforts.”

Read Full Article

From the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC)

President Young told delegates at the NALC Convention in Boston last week that “very little has been decided” about the possibility the Postal Service will extend to city letter carriers its pending “Voluntary Early Retirement” program for clerks, mail handlers and their supervisors. Young, who is in close contact with USPS on the issue, emphasized that if there is an “early out” offer to city letter carriers, it would be limited and not likely to occur before 2009. Even with the advent of flat sorting equipment and the decline in volume, he reminded the delegates there are still 145 million delivery points that need service by carriers. If any substantial information becomes available, members will be notified promptly, President Young said

 USPS Press Release

IRVINE, CA —The U.S. Postal Service plans to identify new, more environmentally friendly vehicle technologies that are less dependent on petroleum-based fuel sources to replace the 195,000 neighborhood delivery vehicles of its total 220,000 vehicles, the world’s largest civilian fleet. Today’s announcement came during a ceremony in which General Motors presented a Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell electric vehicle to the Postal Service for testing in a mail-delivery environment.

“We are looking for a vehicle that operates from a fuel source that reduces—or eliminates—our dependence on petroleum products, that is good for the environment, good for our customers and good for the Postal Service,” said Walter O’Tormey, vice president, Engineering, as he accepted the keys to the Equinox Fuel Cell that will be tested in Irvine, CA.

Moving forward with non-petroleum fueled vehicles is more important to the Postal Service than ever, O’Tormey said, since a one-cent increase in a gallon of fuel adds $8 million annually to Postal Service expenses. Fuel costs last year were $1.7 billion and are expected to increase this year by $600 million. 

“The Postal Service has been an invaluable partner, and they put our fuel cell vehicles through some tough, daily workouts,” said Mary Beth Stanek, director of energy and environmental policy & commercialization at General Motors. “We are gaining valuable insight on how these vehicles perform in demanding, real-world situations. By participating in Project Driveway, the Postal Service also is demonstrating the need to develop a hydrogen infrastructure to support fueling these vehicles.”

A hydrogen fuel cell vehicle is twice as efficient as an internal combustion engine and is unique in that the fuel cell emits only water vapor which doesn’t harm the environment. Hydrogen’s greatest advantage as a fuel is that it can be made in many ways using both traditional and renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar and biomass energy.

“We are very encouraged by GM’s fuel cell technology,” O’Tormey added. “We also want to explore other options, such as hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid and other ‘green’ vehicles that will help us continue to provide our customers with reliable service while protecting the environment.”

The Postal Service leads the federal government in the number of alternate fuel vehicles it uses. More than 43,000 can operate on hybrid-electric, electric, compressed natural gas, liquid propane gas, ethanol  (E-85), biodiesel and hydrogen fuel cell. 

Press Release from the National Association of Letter Carriers

Approves Motion by ‘Honorary Member’ Hillary Clinton

Delegates to the 66th Biennial Convention of the National Association of Letter Carriers, acting on a motion by “Honorary NALC member” Hillary Rodham Clinton, voted enthusiastically today to endorse Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) for president in this fall’s general election.

The 303,000-member NALC was one of the first unions to support Senator Clinton’s presidential bid last September and was at the forefront of a nationwide grassroots mobilization on her behalf throughout the primary campaign.

In an address to over 8,000 convention delegates just before the endorsement vote, Clinton urged the NALC members to work hard to elect Obama as president this fall.

“I believe this country is worth fighting for and I believe firmly that the best way to continue this fight is to elect Sen. Barack Obama as President of the United States,” she said.

“I have seen his passion and determination, his grace and his grit,” Clinton added. “He has lived the American dream. And he can, with your help, become the president who will once again put that dream within the reach of all of our children and grandchildren.”

Immediately after her address, the delegates unanimously made Clinton an honorary NALC member and a delegate to the convention. In turn, she moved a resolution to endorse the Illinois senator which was adopted unanimously by a rousing voice vote.

NALC President William H. Young said Obama stands with letter carriers on every issue important to them including legislation to ban contracting out of letter carrier jobs, support of the Employee Free Choice Act to help workers obtain union protection, and opposition to Do-Not-Mail registries that threaten affordable postage for most Americans.
“Senator Obama has clearly shown he can mobilize this country for change and he has demonstrated a remarkable level-headedness about the war in Iraq from the start,” Young told the convention. “The NALC will do everything in its power to make him the next President of the United States.”

On the contrary, Young said Republican candidate John McCain has routinely opposed letter carriers’ interests and “has been consistently hostile to working men and women.”
Obama had been invited to address the convention, but was unable to appear due to his current trip overseas to U.S. war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The NALC represents all city delivery letter carriers employed by the U.S. Postal Service in all 50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and Guam. The biennial convention, which continues through Friday, is the largest convention of any AFL-CIO union.

On Thursday, July 24, 2008, at 2:00p.m. in room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia will hold a hearing entitled, “The Three R’s of the Postal Network Plan: Realignment, Right-Sizing, and Responsiveness.”

The hearing will examine the Network Plan’s potential impact on the public, the postal workforce, the mailing industry and the future economic health of the Postal Service.

For further information regarding the hearing, please contact the Subcommittee Clerk, Marcus A. Williams, at ext – 65845.

WITNESS LIST

PANEL I

Mr. Phillip Herr
Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues, United States Government Accountability Office

Mr. David Williams
Inspector General, Office of Inspector General, United States Postal Service

PANEL II

Mr. Patrick Donahoe
Deputy Postmaster General, United States Postal Service

Mr. John Waller
Director of the Office of Accountability and Compliance, Postal Regulatory Commission

PANEL III

Mr. Michael Winn
Director of Postal Operations, Association of Postal Commerce

Mr. Robert E. McLean
Executive Director, Mailers Council

Mr. Jerry Cerasale
Senior Vice President – Government Affairs, Direct Marketing Association, Inc.

Mr. Anthony Conway
Executive Director, Alliance of Non-Profit Mailers

PANEL IV

Mr. William Burrus
President, American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO

Mr. John Hegarty
President, National Postal Mail Handlers Union

source: Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

Two Veteran Postal Service Executives Named OfficersWASHINGTON, DC —Postmaster General John E. Potter has named Pritha Mehra vice president of Business Mail Entry and Payment Technologies and Maura Robinson vice president of Pricing. These newly created positions are the latest in the Postal Service’s reorganization efforts to leverage competitive opportunities resulting from recent changes in federal law.

On July 1, Potter announced that he had created two new divisions, Shipping and Mailing Services and Customer Relations, and strengthened another, the Office of Intelligent Mail® and Address Quality. All are intended to position the Postal Service to meet the challenges ahead.

Mehra will be responsible for an end-to-end, mail flow visibility strategy as well as for a seamless process for mail acceptance, payment, and delivery using standardized Intelligent Mail barcodes, continuous tracking, and mail-quality feedback in real time. She will report to Tom Day, senior vice president of Intelligent Mail and Address Quality.

Robinson’s duties will include pricing all postal and non-postal products and services, and providing analytical support and evaluation of all contract pricing and new product initiatives. She will report to Stephen Kearney, who was recently promoted to senior vice president of Customer Relations. Kearney served previously as vice president of Pricing and Classification.

“Pritha and Maura have both demonstrated their abilities to identify and understand the needs of our customers in a changing environment,” said Potter. “Their leadership skills will be invaluable as we continue to make the strategic changes necessary to help us improve service and increase market share.”

In her previous position, Mehra served as manager of Marketing Technology and Channel Management, where she led significant technological changes in business mail acceptance processes. She began her Postal Service career in 1990 as a computer programmer.

Formerly, Robinson was manager of Pricing Systems and Analysis, where she was instrumental in management of the Postal Service’s price changes and the transition to a new regulatory environment. She began her Postal Service career in 1998 as an economist.

American Postal Workers Union (APWU) News

The APWU filed suit against President George W. Bush and Postmaster General John E. Potter in District Court July 16 over their failure to appoint a Postal Service Advisory Council, as required by federal law.

“The Postal Service is required to ‘consult with and receive the advice of the Advisory Council regarding all aspects of postal operations,’” APWU President William Burrus wrote in an April 11, 2008, letter to the president [PDF]. That letter was a follow-up to a similar letter to Potter last September.

“Despite my entreaties, the advisory panel has not been appointed,” Burrus said in announcing the July 16 lawsuit. “So, of course, no meeting or consultation with the Advisory Council has occurred.”

The lawsuit [PDF], which names “Defendant George W. Bush [in] his official capacity as President of the United States,” notes that the purpose and makeup of the Postal Service Advisory Council was outlined in the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 (39 U.S.C. § 206), and was reconfirmed by Congress with the passage of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006.

Under the law, the postmaster general serves as chairman of the council, the deputy postmaster general serves as vice-chair, and the president is required to appoint 11 other members, including four nominated by postal labor unions; four representatives of major mail users; and three representing the public at large. The postmaster general is named in the suit because the responsibility for forming the council may have been delegated to him as chief executive officer of the Postal Service.

“As we said in April, it is critical that the Advisory Council be established,” Burrus said. “These are crucial times for the Postal Service and its employees, with ongoing realignment of the mail-processing network, evolving service standards, and implementation of new rate-setting provisions enacted by the PAEA. An advisory panel is more important now than at any time since the passage of the Postal Reorganization Act.”

The lawsuit asserts that “APWU and its members have been substantially harmed by the failure and refusal of President Bush and the Postmaster General to perform their non-discretionary duties under Section 206 of the PRA.”

Other parties interested in postal operations — particularly large mailers whose interests are often adverse to those of postal workers — have another avenue to consult with and provide advice to the Postal Service, the suit notes. Through the Mailers Technical Advisory Council (MTAC), representatives of large business mailers make recommendations to senior USPS management on postal operations, postal rates, and postal regulations; but MTAC excludes representatives of individuals and small businesses. The APWU filed a suit May 30, 2007, challenging secret policy-making by the USPS and MTAC, but the suit was dismissed March 28, 2008.

The July 16 lawsuit asks that the president and the postmaster general be ordered to perform their “non-discretionary duties” by appointing the Postal Service Advisory Council.