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TOP NEWS STORIES |
Postal Service uses more walking routes
"Because a one-cent increase in the price of fuel raises USPS
costs by more than $8 million per year, the postal service is
exploring options such as increasing walking routes, bicycle
routes and fuel-efficient vehicles to reduce its energy
consumption. "There are a lot of different elements that we're
trying, none of which by themselves sound like an awfully big
savings," said Gerry McKiernan, USPS spokesman in Washington,
D.C., "but when it's accumulative, and when you take into
account that we have 195,000 vehicles in America's
neighborhoods six days a week, even a small savings on one
route can add up." -
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Burrus to VER-Eligible Employees: 'Don't Go'
"An employee who retires after 25 years of service can
expect to receive an annuity of less than half of the average
basic salary of the last three years," Burrus said. He noted
that this would exclude most of the time period covered by the
2008 upgrade and the September 2008 Cost-of-Living Adjustment,
which is expected to be over $1,000 - one of the largest in
postal history. "Employees who can work for another 15 years
before reaching their annuity maximums can expect pay hikes
over that time equal to the nearly $18,000 in raises over the
past 15 years," Burrus said of the increase from $34,000 to
September's $52,000." OPM Approval
Letter (PDF) - Blog: Will remaining
employees be forced to work more OT after VER? -
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Catalog Choice Service Putting a Dent in Catalog Mailings
According to Catalog Choice's Website "the Catalog Choice
community is presently 949,452 persons strong, having already
opted out of 12,634,515 catalogs." The catalog service was
mentioned in the May 2008 AARP Bulletin. -
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USPS Wants Quality Over Quantity
"After years of managing volume, the U.S. Postal Service
wants to instead manage mail quality, according to Hamilton
Davison, executive director of the American Catalog Mailers
Association. "The post office is not just making sure that
mailers get stuff delivered, it's making sure that the mail is
really wanted," Davison said during a session Thursday at the MeritDirect Business Mailers Co-op and Conference. Davison's
information stems from discussions with Postmaster General
John E. Potter during ACMA's National Catalog Advocacy &
Strategy Forum last month.
Potter suggested then
that the USPS may soon become a much smaller organization that
would not longer be handling more than 200 billion pieces a
year, including 50 billion flats." -
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Denver postal workers tired of violence in the workplace
"About 50 letter carriers walked the picket line Thursday to
get their message out. "We demand a safe and harmonious
workplace, that's our right," said Mike Williams, president of
the local Branch 47 of the National Association of Letter
Carriers. Union employees want to see improvements in how
management treats them, both mentally and physically. Union
representatives claim there have already been over seventy
grievances citing abusive management filed in the metro area
this year." -
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Post office to cut 20K employees
"On Wednesday, Freda Sauter, a Postal Service spokeswoman
for the Eastern Region, said the OPM approval allows for the
development of an early retirement program, a process that
postal officials said would offer no incentive package. The
Eastern region -- nine Maryland counties on the Delmarva
Peninsula and a part of Anne Arundel County -- employs 1,296
workers. Postal officials say it is too soon to determine the
impact on the region that includes Salisbury's close to 40
postal clerks among an estimated 150 workers." -
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APWU Meets With USPS, Seeks Bargaining Over Early-Outs
"APWU President William Burrus met with postal officials July
8 regarding USPS plans to offer early-retirement opportunities
to 40,000 employees. "I conveyed our strongly-held belief that
the Postal Service is required to bargain with the union over
Voluntary Early Retirement opportunities," Burrus said... "We
do not oppose Voluntary Early Retirements," he explained, "but
we do object to any plan to offer them selectively and exclude
some employees from eligibility," he said. "We also believe
that for this VER, which is not the result of contract
negotiations, severance pay must accompany an offer of early
retirement." -
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Burrus: High Gas Prices Are No Justification for Five-Day Mail
Delivery
"Since there is little direct connection between demand
and the ridiculously high gas prices, how can we account for
the spate of recent proposals to reduce mail service from six
days per week to five? Unfortunately, the suggestions are
merely a smokescreen designed to lead to the demise of mail
delivery by the USPS. Throughout our history there have been
forces who have attempted to profiteer in the performance of
public services." -
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Cleveland Hopkins airport post office may Close
"Cleveland's airport post office branch - where customers can
deposit their packages and envelopes with a clerk until
midnight - may close by year's end. Closing of the branch,
whose official name is the Cleveland Airport Mail Center, is
being considered as part of an overall streamlining plan, U.S.
Postal Service spokesman David Van Allen said Monday." -
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Hidden camera crew trails 'contracted' letter carrier
"The unions also make the point that the "contractors"
couldn't be trusted with the mail the way regular Letter
Carriers are trusted. To prove the case, NALC's national
office decided to hire a film crew to document the struggle
against postal privatization. Their work will be shown at
NALC's July 21-25 convention in Boston. Last year, as part of
a union contract settlement, USPS declared a moratorium on
further subcontracting, but that expires July 31. The camera
crew first traveled to Miami in late May, where they filmed
one side of postal privatization - worker exploitation. They
followed a poorly paid Haitian-born legal immigrant as he
drove his postal route, all over town. Hansen said the
Beaverton case shows another side of privatization: Waste,
inefficiency, and possibly nepotism." -
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National Early Outs for Craft and
Supervisors Coming Soon
"The USPS is currently waiting for OPM approval to offer
early outs to craft employees and supervisors. Proposed VER
date for clerks, mail handlers, and supervisors will be Dec.
31, 2008. City carriers, rural carriers and maintenance will
follow." Memo (PDF)
APWU to Meet With USPS Over Possible
'Early Out' Offer
The Postal Service is experiencing serious revenue shortfall
as a result of the slumping economy. Mail volume is down
significantly, and revenue is not keeping pace with inflation.
What was touted as "a new business plan" in the Postal
Accountability and
Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) serves only to place a cap
on rate increases in response to the mail-volume loss.
Excessive workshare discounts and the increased focus on
contracting postal activities generate budgetary losses that
cannot he recovered through internal efficiencies. It is
within this environment that the postal monopoly and six-day
delivery are being re-evaluated, which guarantees we will be
seeing proposals for revolutionary change." -
NAPS.org Forum: No Incentives, ETs Excluded
- OPM:
Voluntary Early Retirement Authority -
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Postal Service plans to overhaul delivery network, close
facilities
"The U.S. Postal Service plans to close dozens of facilities
across the country as part of a major reorganization, a move
that could save millions of dollars and create a more flexible
postal network. But the plan is certain to spark a fresh round
of bickering with the agency's strong labor unions. Last month, the agency released a plan for overhauling its
delivery network. The so-called network report calls for
closing airport mail facilities, consolidating bulk mail
centers and streamlining the computer software that maps
postal routes. The closures could lead to the elimination of
hundreds of jobs and more outsourcing. Postal officials say
the changes will help revitalize a decades-old network." -
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Mike Causey's Federal Report: Don't Go Postal Over This
"I thought this might be a good time to run this column
again. Keep in mind that the Post Office this week announced a
major reorganization. Wonder why? Although many rank-and-file
feds don't know it, employees at a number of agencies,
especially those that regulate banks, march to a different
drummer. That drummer, in most cases, pays better than regular
federal agencies. Examples include the Federal Reserve,
Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC. But the biggest
independent of all, and the one agency that touches nearly all
our lives, is the U.S. Postal Service. And while the USPS is
composed mainly of relatively low-paid clerks and letter
carriers, its officer corps does fine." -
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Postal Service Announces Reorganization
"The Postal Service on Monday announced a reorganization that
officials expect to streamline agency operations. The change
will create two "focal points" for the agency, one to deal
with shipping and mailing services and the other to work with
customers and others outside the post office. Robert F.
Bernstock has been hired as president of the newly created
Shipping and Mailing Services Division, Postmaster General
John Potter said. Bernstock has served as president and chief
operating officer of Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., senior vice
president and general manager of the Dial Corp., president and
chief executive of Atlas Commerce and executive vice president
of Campbell Soup Co." USPS: Key Organizational Changes -
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