"The Postal Service is requiring managers at sites that use Voyager credit cards to update the profiles of their drivers in the Fleet Commander Online (FCO) system. Incomplete FCO driver profiles will be deactivated, and the drivers’ fuel card PINs will no longer work after Aug. 3. ..."
"...after contract talks between UPS and the union representing 340,000 of its workers broke down, UPS said it will begin training nonunion employees in the U.S. to step in should there be a strike, which the union has vowed to do if no agreement is reached by the end of this month. ...the Teamsters said Friday. “UPS should stop wasting time and money on >b?training strikebreakers and get back to the negotiating table with a real economic offer.”..."
"...The mediation period for collective bargaining between the Postal Service and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) will end on July 19. ...NALC represents more than 200,000 employees nationwide."
"The International Brotherhood of Teamsters have vowed to strike Aug. 1, after their current contract expires, if an agreement isn’t in place by then. Negotiations over economic items like pay and benefits recently hit a roadblock. No single carrier can absorb all of UPS’ volume in the event of a disruption..."
"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night can keep a mail courier from their route. But, as it turns out, hawks can. ...It's one of several recent hawk attacks in Central Texas. ...Wildlife Department receives several calls — typically regarding territorial red-shouldered hawks — each year."
"You don’t want your final resting place to be a dead letter office, but unfortunately that’s where 452 people have found themselves, spending eternity as undeliverable mail with the U.S. Postal Service. ...The USPS is the only legal way to ship cremated remains. At least in theory, the USPS has strict procedures for handling such sensitive and irreplaceable packages. Remains must be shipped via Priority Mail Express and have a giant orange sticker attached to the side of the box (the sticker used to be teal). They are also supposed to be handled differently than other Priority Mail Express packages. However, the OIG report found some or all of these procedures are not done between 28 and 50 per cent of the time, which could go some way towards explaining how 452 cremated remains boxes ended up in the USPS’s warehouse for lost packages. ..."
"Jeffrey Harris, who works at the Washington Street Station in Hartford, was handling a large pickup of packages when the customer told him he was looking to reduce shipping costs. After getting the customer’s contact information, Harris submitted a lead. ..."
"UPS workers, as evidenced by a 97 percent strike authorization vote last month, are ready to fight. But that is the last thing that the Teamsters bureaucracy, led by General President Sean O’ Brien, wants. ...the bureaucracy is working desperately behind the scenes in order to get a sellout deal done. One of the clearest indications of this is the Teamsters’ constant promotion of the “support” from Congress, which voted last year to ban a strike by 120,000 railroaders and impose a pro-company contract. ...mostly members of the Democratic Party, voted in favor of House Joint Resolution 100 to ban the strike on the railroads. ... The Teamsters did not inform workers that Khanna voted against the rail strike, nor did it feel compelled to admit that within the last year, per Capitol Trades, Khanna had purchased between $32,000 and $130,000 in UPS stock. Khanna is one of the most prolific stock traders in Congress. ...Democratic Socialists of America members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman (New York), Cori Bush (Missouri) and Greg Casar (Texas). All these fake socialists voted with right-wing Republicans to ban the rail strike."
"On Wednesday, the Teamsters said UPS "walked away" from negotiations over a new contract. ..."I don't have any information on increased administration involvement, but certainly we remain in contact with both parties," Jean-Pierre said. ...Su recently helped negotiate a crucial contract deal between U.S. West Coast seaport employers and a union representing 22,000 workers."
"...The Postmaster General replied that “it’s our position that the Postal Regulatory Commission has overstepped its authority” — which, in a nutshell, is the argument put forth in the Postal Service’s motion opposing the public inquiry (more on that here and here). The PMG went on to make this comment: “We’re an independent organization, and we are charged with the mission of saving the organization, not the Postal Regulatory Commission. The Postal Regulatory Commission sat over and watched the destruction of the organization over the last fifteen years and actively participated in the destruction of the organization over the last fifteen years. What we’re trying to do is save the organization. What goes on and why they do the things they do I am yet to figure out, and I’m a pretty smart guy.”..."
"Starting Sunday, the cost of the first-class “forever” stamps will jump from 63 to 66 cents. The latest price comes just months after forever stamps climbed from 60 to 63 cents in January, following a series of similar increases in recent years. When announcing its intention to raise forever stamp prices to 66 cents earlier this year, the USPS cited rising “operating expenses fueled by inflation” and the impacts of “a previously defective pricing model” — noting that changes to mail service costs “are needed to provide the Postal Service with much needed revenue.”..."
"In a decision that many residents and former post office owner Jeff Nichols described as shocking for the affluent and growing area, the United States Postal Service will allow the downtown post office to close. ...Most downtown Franklin businesses have P.O. boxes in the post office, Nichols said. Families have used the post office in the city-owned Five Points building — which was built in 1924 — for generations. Nearly 800 boxes were in use, he said, when the facility closed last month. ...The statement did not answer Tennessean questions asking why the Postal Service chose not to pursue another lease. ..."
RE: U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Groff v. DeJoy (pdf)
On Thursday, June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in the lawsuit Groffv. DeJoy.
The case was brought by Gerald Groff, who delivered mail as a Rural Carrier Associate (RCA) from 2012 to 2019 in central Pennsylvania. Groff is a Christian who observes Sunday as the Sabbath. Citing those religious beliefs, Groff consistently refused to work on Sundays. For several years, Groff and the Postal Service attempted to find workarounds, such as having volunteers take over his Sunday slots. Eventually, however, the Postal Service began disciplining Groff for his refusal to work on Sundays, and in 2019, Groff resigned. After resigning, Groff sued the Postal Service. He argued that under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act , the Postal Service was required to reasonably accommodate his religious beliefs by exempting him from Sunday work.
Before turning to the specifics of the Court's decision, we note at the outset that the Court's decision leaves in place the longstanding recognition that it would be an "undue burden" to provide an accommodation that would violate a seniority system in a collective bargaining agreement, like the National Agreement between the NPMHU and the Postal Service.
The Court's decision did proceed to answer two principal questions:
On the first question - whether the Court should disapprove the "more than de minimis cost" test for determining whether a religious accommodation was an undue hardship - the Court disapproved of the "more than de minimis cost" language. In its place, the Court held that an employer can show that a religious accommodation creates an undue hardship under Title VII if that accommodation causes a substantial burden in the overall context of the employer's business. The Court held that this is a fact specific inquiry. "Courts must apply the test to take into account all relevant factors in the case at hand, including the particular accommodations at issue and their practical impact in light of the nature, size, and operating cost of an employer."
As to the second question - whether an employer may demonstrate undue hardship under Title VII by showing burdens on co-workers - the Court held - using language consistent with the position the NPMHU took in its amicus brief to the Supreme Court, that impact on coworkers is relevant to the extent those impacts affect the conduct of the business. The Court acknowledged that "an accommodation's effect on co-workers may have ramifications for the conduct of the employer's business, but a court cannot stop its analysis without examining whether that further logical step is shown in a particular case."
The Court concluded by sending the case back to the lower court to consider Groff's claim in Iight of the standard described above.
As we wrote to you previously, the NPMHU supports employees' rights to receive reasonable accommodations for their religious beliefs and practices, and will continue to urge the Postal Service to provide those accommodations consistent with the terms of the National Agreement.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the National CAD.
"...Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, an EV advocate, approves of the plan and will monitor how the USPS uses its funds. “I have long pressed the Postal Service to purchase more American-made and union-made electric delivery trucks, and I applaud today’s announcement that they will acquire new safe and efficient electric trucks that will be built by the Ford Motor Company and members of the United Auto Workers,” he said in a statement...."
"...The Postal Service recently expanded a pilot program offering in-person identity proofing services for Login.gov at more than 18,000 Post Offices across the United States.
USPS began the pilot in February 2022 in seven locations in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC.
Login.gov is a shared service used by several federal agencies, including USAJobs and the Small Business Administration.
When using a Login.gov account, users can access applications from participating agencies. ..."
"...These discussions have resulted in an initial Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) “Re: General Principles on Sorting and Delivery Centers.” The MOU, dated June 20, 2023, was signed by Deputy Postmaster General Doug Tulino and APWU President Mark Dimondstein. The MOU makes it clear that no retail operations (window or box sections) will be reduced or closed due to the implementation of management’s S&DC plans and confirms that customers will still be able to pick up their certified mail, held mail, etc. at their local post offices. In addition, the MOU clarifies that distribution duties in the S&DCs will be categorized as function 4 operations. ..."
'...the letters containing a suspicious white powder appeared to be targeting GOP officials. ...Carrie Rahlfeldt, the communications director for the Kansas Speaker of the House, told local news station KMBC that several members of the Republican caucus received letters containing the suspicious powder. State Sen. Molly Baumgardner told the station she received a letter. "We're using our finest resources and it's being squandered because someone - or a group of people - are very deliberately trying to make a point...'
"Postal Service retail locations will be closed, and there will be no regular mail delivery except for holiday premium Priority Mail Express on Monday..."
"...The Border Patrol’s Santa Teresa Station Anti-Smuggling Unit received a tip about the plan, with agents and state troopers stopping vehicles, two of which were outfitted to look exactly like typical white FedEx vans. Officials arrested four smugglers involved in the scheme, as well as apprehending the 26 migrants, who were from Mexico and Guatemala, on June 8. Border Patrol sources told The Post there is a FedEx facility very close to the border in Santa Teresa, New Mexico..."