From Postal Reporter News Blog:
January 24, 2012 by Lu
Yesterday, NALC President Fredric Rolando formally welcomed members of both chambers of Congress back to Washington for the second session of the 112th Congress. Both the House and Senate have legislation pending before them that could shape the future of the United States Postal Service.
The American people want Congress to take action to save the service network. As President Rolando states in his letter, Congress should take action to “strengthen and build the Postal Service, not weaken and slowly destroy it.” As Congress debates the future of the Postal Service, it should pause and take into account the will of the people. More than 1 million Americans signed an open letter to their senators and representatives urging them to preserve six-day mail delivery service.Not only do Americans value affordable mail delivery six days a week, but so does a majority of representatives! In the House, there is now a bipartisan majority of co-sponsors to House Resolution 137, which expresses support for keeping six-day mail delivery.
All eyes are watching Congress: Will it take a proactive and sensible approach to return one of America’s most trusted agencies to financial solvency? Or will it instead take draconian measures to reduce service standards and phase out door-to-door mail delivery, all without addressing the root cause of the financial crisis facing the USPS?
Welcome Back Letter from NALC President Fredric Rolando
Dear Representative,
On behalf of the nearly 300,000 men and women who comprise the National Association of Letter
Carriers (NALC), I would like to formally welcome you back, and give you a brief update on letter carriers’ actions in the field over the last six weeks. Given the gravity of pending legislation in both the House and Senate, our members are understandably engaged and are reporting overwhelming support from your constituents.
In fact, since beginning a petition drive in support of protecting 6-day mail delivery late last year, our members have gathered over 1 million signatures from Americans who oppose eliminating a day of delivery. Various bills making their way through both houses of Congress would eliminate this unique 6-day service, making it more difficult for the Postal Service to remain competitive and offer essential services to customers in every community, including hundreds of thousands in your district. I urge you to reject those proposals in lieu of legislative solutions that strive to strengthen and build the Postal Service, not weaken and slowly destroy it.
Again, I am pleased to welcome you back, and look forward to working together for the remainder of the session to ensure a competitive and financially viable Postal Service.
In Solidarity,
Fredric V. Rolando
President
The APWU is warning union members of risks associated with a management campaign to encourage career Clerk, Maintenance and Motor Vehicle Craft employees to volunteer for reassignments to the Letter Carrier Craft.
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In a letter dated Jan. 3 [PDF], management notified the union that it will mail a letter to all career employees in the three APWU-represented crafts (and employees in the Mail Handler Craft) touting the benefits of voluntary reassignments to the Letter Carrier Craft.
But there are disadvantages to the voluntary reassignments — which management is not Continue Reading
I have added another page. This page will have information on issues that are being addressed at either the State or National levels that will affect Working Families – the 99%. I will do my best to keep you informed. If you read something that you feel is incorrect or inappropriate, please don’t hesitate to contact me @ dbal1672@yahoo.com. I hope that at least a few of you will read this page from time to time. There is a link is on the top and the right side of this web site – just click on one of these links and it will take you to the page.
There is NO question that postal employees have a constitutional right, protected by the First Amendment, to participate in public meetings, make public statements opposing the closure or consolidation of postal facilities, and speak out against the reduction of postal services — because those actions by the Postal Service are matters of public concern.
“I urge our members to circulate petitions, attend meetings, and call and write legislators,” Guffey said. “Do these things on your own time, but do them!”
Postal managers on official time, or using their official authority, may not work for or against our efforts on behalf of the Postal Service. If any postal manager uses his or her official position to attempt to influence your work on these issues, please contact the APWU national office.
I have added a new page, and with the help of the Florida AFL-CIO, we will all be able to see brief but important videos of what is going on in Tallahassee during the 2012 Legislative Session. Just go to the PAGES link on the right and click on “FLORIDA AFL-CIO: ARE FLORIDA REPRESENTATIVES LOOKING OUT FOR WORKING FAMILIES?” Once you open the page, you will find links to videos for each week of the 2012 Legislative Session. These videos are brief, but they will give you a little insight of what happens each week without having to watch for more than a couple of minutes.
Please check this out, and educate yourself and your family. Florida is were we live, and we should care about what happens here before it is too late. Here is the video from the first week of session:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kOHZGe7GRY
I was sent an e-mail this weekend saying, “I don’t know how to contact my US Representatives and there may be other members who don’t either. Can you help with that by providing any information you have?” I have attached the link below that will take you right inside of the ‘Legislative and Political’ tab within the APWU’s National website.
There are 5 boxes on the top of the tab once you click on the link above. There is a wealth of information here for you, regardless of where you live. This is so very easy to follow and it is of paramount importance to start contacting your legislators right away…..OUR futures are at stake!
In Solidarity,
Joe Paul
Clerk Craft Director
CFAL and APWU of Florida
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I would like to start by apologizing for not keeping this site updated as regularly as I would like. 2011 was a difficult year for many of you, and myself included. I normally do not make new year resolutions, but 2012 is a new year of many resolutions for me. I guess I am making up for all of the years that have gone by without any. So, in regards to this site, I have made a resolution to post something or make some kind of change or update, at least twice a month. When there is a hot and heavy issue, I will be updating daily if there is something to report. If anyone would like to submit an article to me for the website, I would appreciate the help. Just send your article to dbal1672@yahoo.com with the subject line – Website article from (your name and office). I will review it as soon as possible, and will send you a response. It would be nice to get articles from members in other offices, instead of all of you having to read what I have to say all of the time. If you have a topic that you would like me to cover, please don’t hesitate to Continue Reading
Click on the link below to read about how the APWU Healthcare Plan can help you and your family without taking a huge chunk out of your paycheck.
Open Season 2012: Nov. 14 – Dec. 12 – Benefits to Enhance Your Lifestyle.
On November 9th, a Senate Committee approved the 21st Century Postal Service Act (S 1789), by a vote of 11 to 6. This bill will give short-term relief, and in the process will eliminate hundreds of mail processing facilities, and thousands of post offices, stations, and branches. This bill will also allow the Postal Service to eliminate Saturday mail delivery.
Yes, the bill will return the approximate $7 billion in over-payments to the Federal Employees Retirement System, but it WILL NOT RETURN the $50-75 billion in over-payments to the Civil Service Retirement System.
Postal Employees are urging everyone across the country to contact their Senators and ask them to VOTE NO TO THE 21ST CENTURY POSTAL SERVICE ACT (S. 1789), because this bill only provides short-term financial relief while dismantling the retail and mail processing networks. Tell them that REDUCED CUSTOMER SERVICE AND A CHANGE IN THE CURRENT MAILING STANDARDS, is not an option.
To read more click on the link: Short-Term Relief, Long-Term Damage: Senate Panel Approves Postal Legislation.
Beginning Nov. 23, 2011, mandatory overtime will end for many APWU-represented employees.
In accordance with the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement, full-time regular career Clerk Craft and Motor Vehicle Craft employees who work in an installation and functional area with Non-Traditional Full-Time assignments cannot be required to work overtime (except in an emergency), unless they are on the Overtime Desired List. If just one clerk in any station or branch occupies a NTFT duty assignment, clerks working in Function 4 throughout the installation cannot be required to work mandatory overtime unless they are on the OTDL. If only one clerk in mail processing occupies a NTFT duty assignment, then no non-OTDL clerks in Function 1 can be required to work mandatory overtime.
There is no “December exception” for this mandatory overtime prohibition.
“Emergencies” are defined in Article 3 as, “An unforeseen circumstance or a combination of circumstances which calls for immediate action in a situation which is not expected to be of a recurring nature.”
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
If you are a Daytona Beach employee who was detailed to another office when the plant was shut down, this is an important message for you. Your union has filed travel time grievances for all of you, and in order to get paid, we need Continue Reading
Any employee who has Veteran’s Preference and does not want to be forced into a lower level job must contact the Merit Systems Protection Board to file a complaint. The website address is www.mspb.gov.
This issue is one that the APWU cannot handle and must be addressed through MSPB. Please file your compaint as soon as possible. Time is of the essence, so do it today if you are planning on doing so.
Employees of Postal and/or Federal Agencies classified as “preference eligibles” are governed by the Veterans’ Preference Act of 1944 which provides as follows: Continue Reading
President Guffey is asking APWU members to collect signatures on a petition to Congress urging senators and representatives to oppose USPS plans to close post offices, shutter mail processing facilities, and drastically degrade service to the American people.
In a letter to state and local presidents dated Oct. 26, 2011, President Guffey wrote, “It is urgent that we bring as much political pressure as possible to bear against the Postal Service’s plans to dismantle its network of processing, distribution and retail facilities.”
In addition to the petition, the letter includes Continue Reading
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I am sorry for the delay of posting these results on the website, but unfortunately I have been having some health issues that have been plaguing me in an uncontrollable way for the past couple of months. I am sure that you all know me well enough to know that if there was anyway I could have posted these on here sooner, I would have. I hope you will accept my apology. The links below should take you to the sheets with the information for each craft. If you have any problems accessing these, send me an email to dbal1672@yahoo.com, and I will forward them to you.
With Sincere Apologies for delay and Solidarity Always No Matter Where You Are Sent,
Kathy Pogas
Daytona Maint EXCESSING REASSIGNMENT SHEET OCT 2011
Daytona Clerk EXCESSING REASSIGNMENT SHEET OCT 2011
1. The ‘new’ Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) will probably be out in 3-4 weeks and they are going to be red.
2. As we speak the JCIM is still being worked on since there may be many more questions that need addressing due to the Non-Traditional Full-Time (NTFT) assignments and a few other contractual ‘new’ issues arising. The anticipated date for these to be coming out is in early spring of 2012.
3. Industrial Relations Director, Mike Morris, stated that we will soon Continue Reading
Anyone out there trying to bid? Those of you who already bid and were awarded jobs cannot bid this round. Those of you who have not, I am under the understanding that you can. The only jobs available seem to be ones between 50-100 miles. If you live somewhere north of Ormond Beach, and you don’t mind driving to Jax, I believe there are some Jax NDC jobs left to bid. Just thought I would put this out there.
As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. KP
Daytona Beach is currently going through the excessing event. Everyone received generic, all inclusive letters, whether they were impacted or not. This local put forth arguments about the lack of time given, the way the letter was written, the fact that employees do not know if they are impacted or not, and Continue Reading
For all employees who have 1723s that expire today, please continue the same schedule that you are currently on, through next week. You should be notified were to report starting the next pay period which is Saturday October 8th.
If you have any questions, call the union room at 274-4023 and leave a clear detailed message, and please include your phone number.
