Archive for September, 2007
From APWU’s Industrial Relations:
The APWU sent a letter to the Postal Service raising concerns about a draft notification to supervisors and managers instructing them how to apply employees’ rights under the Supreme Court’s Weingarten decision. The Postal Service’s instructions were finalized on a laminated, wallet-size card which was mailed to supervisors and managers, as well as other PCES and EAS employees it determined have a need to know about employees’ Weingarten rights. The union’s specific concerns are set out in detail in the letter, and the Postal Service’s response will be made available upon receipt.
Paragraph 1 states that if the employee requests a union steward at any time, before or during the interview, or in any way indicates that he/she wants representation, the supervisor must do one of three things: “(1) you must provide a steward, or (2) you must end the interview, or (3) you must offer the employee the choice of continuing the interview without a steward, or of having no interview at all and therefore losing the benefit that the interview might have given to him or her.” [emphasis added]
Our concerns about this instruction is that it improperly gives supervisors and managers the false impression that they (1) have the right to deny employees’ request for union representation to which the employee is entitled, and (2) they have an option of not conducting a pre-disciplinary interview to which employees are also entitled.
Notwithstanding an employee’s Weingarten Rights, it would be a violation of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement not to grant an employee’s request for union representation to assist and participate in investigatory interviews that the employee has a reasonable belief may lead to discipline. Additionally, separate from Weingarten, not only would it be a violation of our collective bargaining agreement, but it is also unconstitutional for management not to conduct a pre-disciplinary interview. Thus, the reference to “having no interview at all and therefore losing the benefit that the interview might have given to him or her” is not appropriate. I suggest, therefore, that this phrase be eliminated and replaced with a simple statement that the employee has “a choice of continuing the interview without a steward orending the interview.”
Click here for a copy [pdf] of the APWU’s letter detailing concerns about the Weingarten wallet card.
On Wednesday, October 3, 2007, in room 2154 Rayburn, the House Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia will hold a hearing entitled, “Will Increased Postal Rates Put Mailers out of Business.
The following witnesses are expected to testify at the hearing:
Panel I Mr. James C. Miller, III Chairman, Board of Governors, United States Postal Service
Mr. Steve Kearney, Vice President of Pricing and Classification, United States Postal Service
Mr. Dan Blair, Chairman, Postal Regulatory Commission
Panel II
Mr. Steve Stallone, President, International Labor Communications Association
Mr. Victor Navasky, Publisher Emeritus, The Nation and the Columbia Journalism Review
Mr. Jeff Hollingsworth, Vice President, Eagle Publishing
Mr. Max Heath, Vice-President of Postal/Acquisitions, Landmark Community Newspapers
Mr. Hamilton Davison, Executive Director, American Catalog Mailers Association
Mr. David Straus, Counsel, American Business Media
Panel III
Mr. James O’Brien, Vice President Distribution & Postal Affairs, Time Inc.
Mr. Mark White, Vice President Manufacturing, U.S. News & World Reports
Mr. Joseph Schick, Director Postal Affairs, Quad/Graphics Inc.
Mr. Brad Nathan, President, Quebecor World Logistics
Mr. Jerry Cerasale, Senior Vice President Government Affairs, Direct Marketing Association
Mr. Clay Hall, Chief Executive Officer, Aspire Media
source: House of Representatives
(Press Release- Sept. 20, 2007) The Executive Committee of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, committed today to make priorities of rebuilding America’s failing transportation system and infrastructure, stopping outsourcing at the United States Postal Service, and protecting the income and retirement security of public transit workers.
The United States Postal Service is jumping on the outsourcing and privatizing bandwagon at the expense of good jobs, safety and security, and reliable delivery of basic services.
According to a new USPS program, all new mail delivery locations will be considered for outsourcing to companies that often provide low wages, no benefits, and have no equivalent background check requirements. This program and other attempts to outsource core mail handling functions violate the spirit of the policy established by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, which reinforced collective bargaining obligations. In its effort to employ fewer union workers, the USPS is opening its doors to a far less accountable workforce.
“In this post-Anthrax era, it is counterintuitive that the USPS would entrust any portion of its service with unscreened subcontractors,” Wytkind said. “Mail can be sensitive cargo, and Americans expect first-class service for their bills, ballots, and prescription drugs, not to mention their identity protection.”
As Congress struggles to fund our nation’s mass transit systems, cuttinq employee pay and limiting pension programs should not be conditions for financial support. Legislation to fund Washington, D.C.’s mass transit system has been amended to cap overtime pay and exclude overtime pay from pension calculations. Management and workers agree that the real culprit of excessive overtime is inadequate staffing levels.
“Arbitrary limits on overtime pay do nothing to fix the problem, and they also run roughshod over collective bargaining agreements,” Wytkind said. “Congress should not micro-manage labor-management relations, but instead, allow employers to focus on inadequate staffing levels by hiring enough employees to meet scheduling and service requirements.”
For the full policy statements on each of these issues, please visit http://www.ttd.org/.
MISGUIDED EFFORTS TO OUTSOURCE POSTAL SERVICE WORK MUST BE STOPPED (PDF)
$686 cash payment on Oct. 19, back pay on Nov. 30:
President William H. Young announced on September 26 that the lump sum payment of $686 to cash out the COLA from November 2006 through May 2007 will be included in carriers’ October 19 paychecks. The back pay for active carriers related to the 1.4% general wage increase covering the period between November 25, 2006 and the end of Pay Period 20 (September 28) will be paid in their regular paychecks on November 30
source: NALC
Projects net loss of $600 million in 2008
The Postal Service Board of Governors today approved an aggressive 2008 financial plan for the U.S. Postal Service that includes $1 billion in cost savings and puts its expense growth lower than inflation.
The Postal Service’s operating, capital and financing plans for the new fiscal year, known as the Integrated Financial Plan (IFP), project expense growth below the assumed increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the most commonly used benchmark for inflation.
Those projections do not assume any price changes for postal products and services over the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The Board of Governors has not made a decision on future prices but applauded the Postal Regulatory Commission for being well ahead of schedule with its recommendations on the new rate regulations.
The IFP projects revenue of $78.2 billion and expenses of $78.8 billion in fiscal 2008, for a net loss of $600 million. The financial plan is significantly affected by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (the Postal Act of 2006), as are finances in the current fiscal year.
2007 — One-time Costs
For fiscal 2007, the Postal Service projects revenues of $75.0 billion and expenses of $80.4 billion for a projected net loss of $5.4 billion. The net loss of $5.4 billion includes operating income of $1.5 billion and a $6.9 billion negative financial impact from the Postal Act of 2006 — which includes a $3.0 billion one-time escrow expense, which was required under the previous law, an additional $5.4 billion payment into the Retiree Health Benefit Fund for 2007, and $1.5 billion in savings from the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) relief.
“Absent the negative financial impacts from the Postal Act of 2006, the Postal Service projects operating income of $1.5 billion this year and $400 million next year,” said H. Glen Walker, Chief Financial Officer.
2008 — Expense Growth Below Inflation
Total expenses for fiscal 2008 are planned at $78.8 billion, or 2.0 percent below projected fiscal 2007 expenses. Even after excluding the $3.0 billion in one-time escrow expenses from 2007, expense growth in fiscal 2008 is projected at 1.8 percent, below the assumed growth in the CPI.
The 2008 plan predicts a record ninth consecutive year of Total Factor Productivity growth, which measures the relationship between workload and resource usage. TFP is planned to grow by 1.0 percent in 2008.
Other Business
The board also authorized funding of $107.2 million for site lease, design and construction of a new 478,800 square-foot mail processing facility in Miami, FL, to consolidate bundle and parcel processing for South Florida. That facility will house five flat sequencing sorters in support of the new Flats Sequencing System (FSS) program being implemented nationwide; each machine requires 25,000 square feet. South Florida is currently served by three processing and distribution centers, along with other leased processing space to reduce congestion at existing plants.
source: USPS
Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report : “This report provides data from the past two decades on the size of the U.S. Postal Service workforce, the number of persons employed by USPS by employment categories, and the number of persons employed by USPS under time-limited contracts. USPS employs over 784,000 persons. USPS’s workforce declined about 1% during the past two decades, and nearly 12% in the past five years. The number of career employees declined over 6% since 1986, and the number of non-career employees increased more than 62%. Clerks, who staff retail counters at post offices and manually sort mail, dropped about 26%. Rural mail delivery employees, however, grew more than 84%, and three categories of employees directly involved in the transportation of mail prior to its delivery grew between 8.9% and 26.9%.
The following is a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas:
SEPT. 21, 2007
(HOUSTON, Texas) – A federal jury has convicted a former rural mail carrier for possessing stolen mail, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.
Diana Quinones, 49, who had worked for the United States Postal Service since October 2001, was convicted of possessing stolen mail Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007. The jury’s verdict comes after three days of trial testimony and approximately three hours of deliberation.
During the trial, which began Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2007, the jury heard testimony establishing that Quinones was assigned as a rural mail carrier at the Cypress, Texas, Main Post Office, located at 16635 Spring Cypress Road and delivered mail along Route 43. Beginning in September 2006, complaints were received at the post office regarding the non-delivery of mail along Route 43. In response to the complaints, special agents of the U. S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General initiated an investigation involving the placement and monitoring of undercover test packages for delivery along Route 43. In January 2007, Quinones was observed removing a test package from the post office without authorization. Later that day, as Quinones was preparing to leave the post office for the day in her personal vehicle, agents found the same package with the contents removed. However, the item contained in the package was never recovered. Quinones was immediately relieved of duty following the discovery of the package.
Quinones was originally charged with both theft of the mail and possession of stolen mail. The jury acquitted Quinones of the theft of the mail charge alleged in the indictment.
United States District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt, who presided over the trial, has set sentencing for Dec. 17, 2007. Quinones faces a maximum of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine for the possession of stolen mail conviction. Quinones was released on bond after surrendering to federal authorities following her indictment in February 2007 and has been permitted to remain free on bond pending her sentencing.
The case was tried by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bertram Isaacs and Special Assistant United States Attorney Tammie Y. Moore.
