"...Burrus reminded delegates that the next round of contract negotiations is set to begin just days after the conclusion of the convention, and said the union’s goals are to restrict excessing, gain access to information from the Postal Service without cost, win more opportunities for upward mobility, limit subcontracting, and increase wages.
While 2010 bargaining will be difficult, Burrus assured delegates that the union expects to achieve more gains in these negotiations.
“We expect a contract that adequately rewards members for maintaining the best postal system in the world.”..."
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
APWU Convention and Contract Update
Monday, August 23, 2010
Salvatore Bagarozzi Mailman Dealing Drugs, Says USPS
"...Accused of selling crack cocaine on his route, Bagarozzi..."
U. S. Postal Service Up To $4.2 million in OSHA Safety Violation Fines?
"...The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) slammed the Postal Service with $350,000 in fines for exposing employees to electrical safety hazards at the Portsmouth, NH Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC)...."
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Boycott on“Voice of the Employee” Surveys
"... The APWU is asking union members to boycott USPS “Voice of the Employee” surveys in order to prevent management from manipulating the results to undercut the union during upcoming contract negotiations.
The results of the survey are likely to be misrepresented by the Postal Service in an effort to reduce employee wages and benefits, APWU Director of Industrial Relations Greg Bell wrote in an Aug. 6 letter to local and state union presidents...."
Monday, August 16, 2010
Fire Destroys Healdsburg’s Post Office Annex
Fire Destroys Healdsburg’s Post Office Annex Article Title: Fire destroys downtown landmark Article Snip: Lead and asbestos filled smoke scorched the air in an acrid lung-piercing plume as firefighters worked to contain the blaze to the United States Postal Service lot. Reference: yourtown.pressdemocrat.com
Friday, August 6, 2010
OSHA fines USPS $3.7 million plus
"...withdraw flawed management orders and instructions regarding safe electrical work practices. “The Department of Labor motion to consolidate the cases would merge these similar complaints so that the result of any litigation or, settlement discussions would be applied to every postal facility where APWU members are exposed to electrical hazards,” said Greg Bell, APWU Director of Industrial Relations. “It would provide a uniform remedy and prevent the Postal Service and OSHA from negotiating separate, individual settlements at different locations.”..."
Post Office Loses $3.5 Billion
"...relief may come with the proposed price increase for mail delivery requested in July, which would raise the price of a first-class stamp from 44 cents to 46 cents. The post office says the proposed increase, which would go into affect on Jan. 2, 2011, would raise $2.3 billion during its first nine months...."
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Major Mailers Make Billions, But Demand Postal Worker Pay Cuts
"... In their ongoing effort to shift wealth to the richest Americans...continually attack the pay and benefits earned by average workers. Over the past 20 years, the transfer of wealth has been dramatic. Despite significant increases in productivity, workers’ real wages have declined, while salaries, bonuses, dividends and “golden parachutes” for executives have skyrocketed.A recent glaring example was the demand that auto workers agree to lower their wages — which were established over 50 years of often turbulent struggle..."
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Bond denied for suspect in Atlanta postal stabbing
"...A man charged with stabbing a supervisor at a bulk mail center has been denied bond. ..."
Monday, July 26, 2010
National Reassessment Process
If you are looking for more information on the National Reassessment Process, take a look at this forum and view
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Bomb Squad Detonates Pipe Bomb Found In Welch
"...Post Office worker delivering mail noticed some boys gathered around the device. He took the device in order to keep the boys from danger, brought it to the Welch Post Office..."
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Postal workers picket to preserve Saturday service
"...While it might seem logical that the unions’ opposition to five-day-delivery is motivated by job preservation, Smith said most contracts include language preventing employee layoffs. Union members were given that assurance in exchange for their not being allowed to strike, he said...."
CPI-W June 2010
"...The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers
(CPI-W) increased 1.4 percent over the last 12 months to an index
level of 213.839 (1982-84=100). For the month, the index fell 0.1 percent prior to seasonal adjustment...."
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Hazmat team responds to Springfield USPS facility
"...A fire department spokesman says six postal workers had to be decontaminated Sunday after an unknown substance spilled out of a parcel at the U.S. Postal Service’s Bulk Mail Distribution Center...."
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Postal worker found dead in trash was slain
"...post office employee who vanished at work and turned up dead at a dump hours later ..."
Connolly: U.S. Postal Service in a death spiral
"..."instead of reducing service from six to five days a week, the Postal Service ought to be looking at a 24-hour model like the competition," Connolly said.
He said looking at creative ways of expanding customer service is how USPS will be able to stay competitive. ..."
Thursday, July 8, 2010
FedEx, UPS send out fleet of lobbyists to shape labor law
"...FedEx and its voluble anti-union chairman, Fred Smith, have spent the past year attacking the proposal as a "brown bailout" for UPS and the Teamsters. FedEx, based in Memphis, has more than doubled its lobbying budget during the campaign, to about $1.5 million a month, disclosure records show. ..."
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Stamp prices going up again - 46-cent rate asked
Stamp prices going up again - 46-cent rate asked Read our latest posts! .
"...Under the proposed increases, in addition to the 46-cent rate for the first ounce, the cost for each additional ounce would go up a penny to 18 cents. The cost to mail a postcard would go up 2 cents to 30 cents...."
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Oldest Postal Worker Retires
"...a mail-handler forklift operator. He worked in the same position until his last day of work Tuesday. "I've never really given it a thought (about retiring earlier), to be honest with you. My old supervisor would ask me, `Chester, when are you going to retire?' and I would tell her, `It's none of your business, you know," he said laughing. ..."
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Ex-Postal Employee Pleads Guilty in Check-Theft Scheme
"...Shareen Wilson, 42, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of theft of mail by a U.S. postal employee for her role in a scheme to steal ..."
Friday, June 18, 2010
“This will not be a giveback contract,” APWU President Burrus
"...“We expect management to make many concessionary demands,” Bell said. “But we must fight to improve the wages and working conditions of postal employees.” ..."
Postal Service worker stabs boss with scissors at Kennedy Airport
"...Cops quickly collared Barnett, a 10-year employee of the Postal Service, and charged him with assault, possession of a weapon and attempted murder...."
Acting Postmaster charged with obstructing mail
"...a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service based in Maine, said an “officer in charge” is an acting postmaster. “It’s the temporary head of that facility while there is a search going on for who will take over as the permanent postmaster of the facility,” he said...."
Monday, June 14, 2010
Military service and FERS
"...What are my best options for retiring at age 55? Also, would it still be to my advantage to buy back my military..."
Postal Service needs makeover, not to be shunted aside as obsolete
"...“The USPS is anything but an anachronism on a slow march to oblivion. It is a national treasure that provides an immense and irreplaceable social service. … We must recognize that the Postal Service can and must remain public if we are to maintain the essential infrastructures of democracy.”..."
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Shelter Animal stamps no longer rare
"..."All Huntsville Post Offices have (animal stamp) supplies in stock," Joseph Breckenridge of the U.S. Postal Service communications department for Alabama and the Florida panhandle wrote in an e-mail. "The stamps were flying out the door, but supply has now caught up with demand." ..."
Friday, June 11, 2010
Capital area chief Lane leaves Postal Service after assault allegation
"...Lane, based in Gaithersburg, visited the Dulles Processing and Distribution Center in Sterling on June 1 and allegedly argued with the center's manager, Kathleen J. Michaels. The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office responded to a 911 call at the building..."
Seattle man charged in suspicious mailings to Republican senator
"...Writing the court, a Seattle-based postal inspector said the U.S. Postal Inspection Service launched an investigation following a May 8 incident in which a postal employee's face was dusted with the white powder while handling Howe's letter to DeMint. Postal inspectors opened the letter two days later...."
Monday, June 7, 2010
Going postal -- the violence continues
"...Robin Quintin Parks, who was laid off from the U.S. Postal Service last December, went on a bizarre alcohol-induced shooting rampage from his car early Sunday morning in Lakeland, reports the Orlando Sentinel...."
Friday, June 4, 2010
Bernstock Resigning from USPS
"...The president of shipping and mailing services for the U.S. Postal Service, Bob Bernstock, will resign his position on June 4. Bernstock is currently under investigation for awarding about $5.8 million in no-bid contracts to his former business associates...."
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Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Postal Voluntary Early Retirement Offer Again?
Take a look at the FederalSoup forum (page 38) for the latest "early out retirement offer rumor" ...this one claims a July 2010 announcement. Additionally, the individual claims that the PMG was at their plant and spoke of it, along with other interesting information found in the post. Take a look!
Rumor
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Burrus Criticizes Exclusion Of Postal Unions from OIG Workshare Audit
"... APWU President William Burrus has criticized a decision by the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) to exclude postal unions from providing input into a recently-announced audit of postage workshare discounts. The OIG plans to interview a range of “stakeholders,” including mailers’ representatives — who are the beneficiaries of the discounts — Burrus noted.
In a May 21 letter to the Inspector General, Burrus said that he did not believe the exclusion of the unions was an oversight, since the announcement of the audit followed so closely a May 12, 2010, House Subcommittee hearing on the subject of workshare discounts. During the hearing, the APWU criticized postal management and the OIG “for turning a blind eye to the abuses,” he wrote...."
Unions, Management Reach Settlement of Unions’ Privacy Lawsuit
"...In accordance with the agreement, the Postal Service and its agents must present a “HIPAA letter” to healthcare providers before asking them to disclose any health information about employees. The letter must include a description of the information sought and a statement demonstrating how it is relevant to a legitimate law enforcement inquiry. The letter also must instruct healthcare providers to provide only information that is relevant to the investigation of the employee’s alleged violations of law...."
Monday, May 24, 2010
IRS may get access to TSP accounts of tax-delinquent feds
"...gives IRS the upper hand in its push to seize TSP accounts in the same way it can seize private-sector 401(k) accounts. IRS can already seize federal employees' wages to repay tax debts under the Federal Payment Levy Program...."
Could US Postal Service be key to investigating Landis allegations?
"...the United States Postal Service. As a Government agency, it is reasonable to assume that it will be interested in finding out what happened to its money once it was paid to Tailwind Sports, the company that owned and ran the team. When the United States Postal Service terminated its nine-year sponsorship of the team at the end of 2004, it was reported the agency's commitment had risen to around $8m a year....."
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Major Mailer Discounts at the Expense of the Average American Customer?
"... Bernie Madoff Would be Proud
“This is a PONZI-like scheme Bernie Madoff would be proud of,” he added in oral comments. The Postal Service diverts mail volume to the private sector, using an exaggerated per-piece cost to set postage discounts. At the same time, discount-funded private mail processing plants are opened, while more efficient USPS processing centers are consolidated, he said.
“The results benefit major mailers, while making the USPS less efficient and more expensive,” Burrus said...."
FBI investigating four packages sent to Toyota
"...Toyota had received three packages since Friday and a fourth was intercepted at a post office in Princeton, Indiana, near a Toyota manufacturing plant, all from the same sender, Toyota spokesman Mike Goss said...."
Monday, May 10, 2010
Postal Service won't have enough money to make payroll...
"...By fall, the Postal Service won't have enough money to make payroll, Potter predicts. But big customers, regulators, lawmakers and organized labor still have to be won over. ..."
Friday, May 7, 2010
USPS loses another $1.9bn
"...reduced work hours by 12.7% in mail processing and 11.6% in customer services. For the year to date, overall expenses have been reduced $1.4bn or 3.8% below the previous year. “Despite aggressive efforts to reduce costs, including the reduction in full-time equivalent employees by more than 120,000..."
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
USPS Broke? More Big Mailer Discounts
SUMMER SALE
PRC ACTION CLEARS THE WAY
Read our latest posts! .
PRC ACTION CLEARS THE WAY
"...The incentive program offers a 30 percent rebate to eligible mailers for Standard Mail letters and flats volume above a predetermined threshold — 5 percent over each mailer’s volume for the same period in 2009. ..."
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Train vs FedEx Truck Accident
"...the incident involved a light rail vehicle on the T-Third line and a FedEx truck.
Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Crash-delays-T-Third-line-92132819.html#ixzz0mJeIi4l8
..."
Monday, April 26, 2010
Postal workers wondering about wiggling package bound for Puerto Rico find ferret
"...Postal workers contacted a postal inspector after they spotted the wiggling package...."
National Veterans Outreach Program Wins USPS Contract
"...The United States Postal Service (USPS) recently issued the contract award to the National Veterans Outreach Program (NVOP) of the American GI Forum for the tray production. The NVOP operate the VETS facility which is a corrugate box manufacturing plant located in San Antonio, Texas. USPS contracted the NVOP to create and implement production of One Million Two hundred Nighty-Six thousand (1,296,000) corrugate mail tray units. Once the corrugated trays are manufactured and assembled, the units will be shipped to USPS facilities in Chicago, Philadephia, Des Moines, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Jacksonville and Dallas. ..."
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Portland police say they're investigating a postal service burglary scheme
"...still investigating the scheme in which Larson was allegedly using information from a postal service employee to target homes where the residents were on vacation. “I believe he had access to a postal employee,” ..."
Friday, April 23, 2010
Arbitrator: OIG Agents Intended to Make a Grievant’s Life a Living Hell
"...The conduct of the OIG was motivated by malice, the arbitrator concluded. “The OIG Special Agent pursued a path to ‘criminalize’ a decent man and a three-decade employee of the Postal Service with an impeccable record,” he wrote. “By its actions, the OIG sent a message to Management that it will second guess its decisions, even in trivial matters such as this.”
Finally, the arbitrator wrote, “Consequently, it is not unreasonable to assume that the purpose of seeking and serving the indictment was, as stated by the Union, done with malicious intent; and with the desire to make the Grievant’s life a living hell, for however long.”
The arbitrator granted the employee back pay for missed overtime and night differential..."
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Cleveland postal workers sentenced on drug charges
"...Seven of them worked at the mail distribution center at 2400 Orange Ave., where agents confiscated crack, PCP, prescription painkillers, marijuana and a loaded handgun in June. The agents, part of the U.S. Postal Service's Office of Inspector General, said drug deals occurred at..."
This Article is From: blog.cleveland.com
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Alabama Crimson Tide National Championship Limited Edition Commemorative Cachet
U.S. Postal Service offers commemorative in honor of Crimson Tide's national football championship
"...each envelope has a section printed on silk and stamped with crimson foil. The University of Alabama postage stamp will be canceled with a special dated April 17 stamp featuring the championship crystal trophy. Each cachet will cost $10 and can be bought at the Tuscaloosa Post Office..."
This Article is From: blog.al.com
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Postal Service ends contracts tied to top official
"...In addition to approving no-bid deals, the Washington Times has reported, Bernstock earned more than $270,000 in cash and other compensation in 2008 by serving on the boards of two private companies...."
This Article is From: voices.washingtonpost.com
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Postal Service must do better job when screening applicants
"...After reading the U.S. Postal Service investigation on Mark Lamberson, a registered sex offender, it makes me wonder if the government is properly doing its job...."
This Article is From: www.thecalifornian.com
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Monday, April 19, 2010
APWU Set to Begin Contract Negotiations on...
The American Postal Workers Union Appoints Rank-and-File Bargaining Advisory Committee
This Article is From: www.apwu.org
Read our latest posts!
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"...Contract negotiations are set to begin Sept. 1. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires on Nov. 20, 2010.
The Rank-and-File Bargaining Advisory Committee provides input to the union’s National Negotiating Team, which has full authority to negotiate the terms of a new collective bargaining agreement. The committee must approve any tentative agreement before it can be sent to APWU members for a ratification vote...."
This Article is From: www.apwu.org
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