NALC Charges USPS With Failure To Provide Mandatory Retirement Counseling For Latest VER Offer
The NALC has filed a national-level interpretive dispute with the Postal Service, charging it failed to provide mandatory retirement counseling prior to the June 19 irrevocable decision date for the latest Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) offer extended to letter carriers.
“A lot of our members did not get the help they needed to make a proper and informed decision about whether they should accept this latest earlyout,” said Executive Vice President Gary Mullins, who headed the union’s Contract Administration Unit when the agreement was reached.
Letter carriers who applied for the VER and requested retirement counseling but did not receive it prior to the deadline should get in touch with their region’s National Business Agent for more information.
“Our NBAs also need to hear from any carriers who withdrew their application for an early out because they couldn’t get counseling prior to the irrevocable date,” Mullins added.
Twice in the past year, the Office of Personnel Management approved Postal Service requests to offer earlyouts as a way to reduce operational costs by cutting from its payroll older, higher-paid workers who were close to retirement. The VER was extended to carriers who were at least 50 years old and had at least 20 years of service, or to carriers of any age with at least 25 years of service. There were no financial incentives to take either VER offer.
This national-level grievance only applies to letter carriers who were in line for the second VER with the June 19 deadline.
Local grievances that have been filed regarding retirement counseling for this latest VER are held in abeyance until the national-level dispute is resolved.
source: NALC
Burrus: USPS Initiatives Are Acts of Surrender
Station and Branch Closures, Five-Day Delivery:
Acts of Surrender, With the Battle’s Outcome in Doubt
Closing stations and branches and reducing mail delivery to five days per week “will unquestionably have a negative effect on the postal monopoly,” APWU President William Burrus told a House subcommittee at a hearing July 30. Such actions “will impede the Postal Service’s ability to compete” when the economy rebounds, he said.
“These are acts of surrender — when the outcome of the battle is still in doubt,” Burrus said.
“These are acts of surrender — when the outcome of the battle is still in doubt,” Burrus said.
The Postal Service provided the panel with a list of 677 stations and branches [PDF] in Level 24-and-above post offices identified to date for possible closure or consolidation. The stations were selected from 3,243 on a list provided to the union in mid-May. Further review could result in some of the 677 stations remaining open, a management representative told the committee, and additional stations and branches could be targeted for closing.
Management expects to complete the review by Oct. 2, so that closures could be implemented at the start of the new fiscal year. The USPS is also seeking the right to eliminate Saturday mail delivery; current law requires deliveries to be made six days per week.
The actions are in response to a severe financial crisis caused by the nation’s economic downturn and by a provision of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, which requires the Postal Service — but no other federal agency — to pre-fund its retiree healthcare liability. Currently this burden is nearly $8 billion per year — with more than 10 cents of every dollar of revenue going toward retiree health benefits and prefunding.
“We must vigorously protest the closure or consolidation of stations and branches,” Burrus said after the hearing. “Many locals have already notified their communities, their legislators, and the media about the possibility of station closings,” he said, “and opposition in those areas has been strong.”
Burrus told the House subcommittee that the Collective Bargaining Agreement says that “The parties agree that all existing retail operations will remain within the installation of which they are a part and all future retail operations established within the jurisdiction of an installation shall become a part of that installation.”
“I expect that postal management will fully comply with this contractual agreement,” he added.
The national union also has been seeking legislative relief from the financial crisis, and many locals have assisted in that effort.
A Senate bill (S. 1507) would have provided financial relief, but was amended to include an anti-worker provision so devastating to collective bargaining that the APWU has launched a campaign to defeat the bill. (See APWU News Bulletin #01-2009, July 31, 2009.)
The national union also has intervened in a proceeding by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), which is preparing to issue “an advisory opinion” on the station-and-branch initiative. At a preconference hearing on July 30, the APWU requested a discovery period of approximately six months, an on-the-record hearing that would enable the APWU to cross-examine postal witnesses, and if necessary, the opportunity to submit rebuttal testimony.
The APWU also suggested that the commission conduct field hearings to get input on this national initiative from the public.
The national union is seeking information from locals to assist in the proceeding before the PRC, and has prepared guidance for locals, which is available from their regional coordinators or national business agents.
Text of Bill For Letter Carriers To Serve As Census Counters
Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) introduced legislation for the U.S. Postal Service to team up with Census Bureau. The letter carriers will help with the once-a-decade count of how many people live in America. Below is the text of the legislation introduced July 10, 2009. So far the bill has nineteeen co-sponsors.
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3167
To allow mail carriers to serve in temporary enumerator positions in connection with the 2010 decennial census.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 10, 2009
Mr. CHAFFETZ (for himself and Mr. LYNCH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
——————————————————————————–
A BILL
To allow mail carriers to serve in temporary enumerator positions in connection with the 2010 decennial census.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that–
(1) the United States Postal Service–
(A) has more experience than any other organization in locating and delivering services to households in the United States; and
(B) is therefore uniquely qualified to assist the Bureau of the Census to achieve a complete and accurate enumeration of the population;
(2) due to reduced mail volume, the United States Postal Service has a surplus of employees; and
(3) allowing mail carriers to serve as enumerators in the 2010 decennial census will help the Government to realize a net reduction in costs by obviating the need to hire non-Federal personnel for temporary enumerator positions.
SEC. 2. TEMPORARY ENUMERATORS.
(a) In General- Before resorting to non-Federal personnel for service in temporary enumerator positions in connection with the 2010 decennial census, the Secretary of Commerce shall, with the agreement of the Postmaster General, utilize the services of mail carriers to the maximum extent practicable.
(b) Limitations- Any agreement under this section shall include provisions for the selection of mail carriers who will serve as temporary enumerators, except that, under such provisions, a carrier selected to serve as a temporary enumerator–
(1) shall not be required to perform any postal duties on a day on which such carrier is serving as an enumerator; and
(2) shall not be required to serve as an enumerator–
(A) more than 1 day a week; or
(B) after the services of letter carriers under this section are no longer required, as determined by the Secretary of Commerce.
Union Calls for Campaign To Defeat Anti-Postal Worker Senate Bill
APWU News
APWU President William Burrus has called on APWU locals and state organizations to organize opposition to a Senate bill that contains a provision that would be devastating to postal workers. The Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Funding Reform Act of 2009 (S. 1507) was intended to provide temporary financial relief to the cash-strapped Postal Service, but an amendment to the bill has rendered it unacceptable to postal workers.
Because a vote on the bill is expected early next week, before the Senate adjourns for its August recess, local and state activists must move quickly, Burrus said. The national union will hold a teleconference for local and state leaders on Monday, Aug. 3, at 2 p.m. EDT, to discuss the issue.
“I call on every APWU local to generate messages to their senators based on a 1 to 5 ratio of their members,” Burrus said. “If the bill passes as written, it will destroy collective bargaining for postal workers.”
The amendment would require arbitrators ruling on postal contracts to take into account the “financial health of the Postal Service.”
“Given the severity of Postal Service’s financial crisis, if this bill passes, we can anticipate that in the next round of negotiations, many of the things our members take for granted — such as cost-of-living increases, raises, and protection against layoffs — will be at risk.” Under current law, arbitrators must consider the “comparability” of postal wages to employees in the private sector who perform similar work.
“In fact, arbitrators routinely consider the Postal Service’s financial status as part of the context of negotiations,” Burrus said. “However, to attach this specific requirement to the law leaves workers at a severe disadvantage.
“By singling out this one factor, the amended bill would give the Postal Service’s short-term financial conditions supremacy over all other relevant considerations. It will make the bargaining process subject to all-out manipulation.
“The APWU supported legislation that would have provided the Postal Service with relief from its financial crisis,” Burrus noted, citing the union’s support for H.R. 22. “But relief cannot be on the backs of postal workers who would be forced to accept wages and working conditions commensurate with the USPS deficit.”
Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) and Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) — the APWU has supported both in the past — favored the amendment, and voted with committee Republicans for its adoption on at a meeting of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on July 29.
“We are deeply disappointed that lawmakers voted for this reactionary amendment,” Burrus said. “We will do everything we can to defeat it. We must start by generating 50,000 contacts from postal employees to their U.S. senators.”
Teleconference:
Monday, Aug. 3, 2009
2 p.m.
Local and state presidents that plan to participate in the teleconference should call 202-842-4250 for the phone number and access code.
Messages to Senators:
For sample messages to senators, visit http://www.capwiz.com/apwu/home/
PRC Issues Review of USPS Retiree Health Benefit Fund Liability
Press Release
July 30, 2009
Washington, DC – The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) today submitted to Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia its Review of Retiree Health Benefit Fund Liability as Calculated by Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG). This review was requested by Subcommittee Members Stephen Lynch, John McHugh and Danny K. Davis in a June letter to the Commission.
The report examines valuations by both OPM and OIG of the Postal Service’s liability for pre-funding retiree health benefits. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) established a payment schedule for the Postal Service to prefund these liabilities through FY 2016. The subcommittee asked the PRC to review the two separate valuations which differed by $57 billion.
The Commission found that the two valuations were both reasonable in meeting the different purposes for which they were designed. However, the Commission suggests an alternative calculation which produces a long-term liability that could result in lower payments than current law requires.
“Our analysis of the two valuations should prove helpful in informing the debate as Congress considers measures to provide financial relief to the Postal Service,” said Dan G. Blair, Chairman. “The Commission appreciates the cooperation of the OIG and OPM in the preparation of this report.”
An executive summary of the report is attached. The report is available, in its entirety, on the Commission’s website at www.prc.gov.
Executive Summary
The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC or Commission) has undertaken an analysis of the different approaches employed by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to calculate the present value of the Postal Service’s obligations related to the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund (Fund). The analysis was requested , by the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives. The request was received on June 15, 2009.
The Commission contracted with Mercer Health and Benefits LLC (Mercer) for actuarial assistance on the determination of the reasonableness of the OIG and OPM assumptions and accompanying results produced by the two entities. Commission staff along with Mercer representatives met with actuaries and staff at OPM, OIG and the Hay Group, reviewed industry best practices, and analyzed data provided by OPM, OIG and the Postal Service.
The Commission finds that the two valuations were developed for different reasons and both were reasonable. The OPM estimate serves to meet an annual financial reporting requirement. In contrast, the OIG estimate is designed to estimate the funded status of the Retiree Health Benefits Fund as of 2016. The estimates differ by $57 billion in terms of full liability, and support different actuarial payment schedules.
From these differing perspectives, the two estimates assumed different health care inflation trend rates although both OPM and OIG used static trend rates rather than the more commonly used graded trend rate to arrive at their estimates. In addition, the two valuations use different estimates regarding the Postal Service workforce. Finally, the OPM and OIG estimates reflected different rates of return on assets.
Commission findings and recommendations:
•A graded trend rate is preferable because it reflects current expectations of health care inflation while recognizing the issue of how much of the national GDP will be consumed by health care costs in the future. (See page 4.)
•The OIGs assumption of a declining workforce is more appropriate for the purposes of estimating the liability as of 2016 because it more accurately reflects the current workforce trend and Postal Service intentions. (See page 11.)
•The OIG rates of return on assets assumption are reasonable for determining the fund assets as of 2016 because they provide a better short-term estimate than the OPM assumption. (See page 14.)
•Under either estimate, funding of the Retirement Health Benefits Fund exceeds that of private and public sector funds. (See page 15.)
•Using the Commission’s assumptions results in a lower liability and could lead to lower payments than the OPM valuation as shown in the table below and discussed on page 17.1
1 Using OPM’s current valuation and the scheduled payments into the fund required by the PAEA results in a funded status of 73% in 2016.
When the valuation is required to be revised under PAEA, Congress may want to request a Postal Service specific valuation that reflects use of Postal Service demographics apart from the overall Federal government population to better determine actual costs for the Postal Service. (See page 16.)
Burrus: Postal Decision-Makers Are Off the Mark
Saying that he has long been “skeptical” about whether the increased use of electronic communication is to blame for the Postal Service’s economic woes, APWU President William Burrus told lawmakers July 29 that “It is imperative that postal decision-makers correctly identify the cause of the reduction in volume and the trends that will drive future communication.”
“Too often,” Burrus told members of the House subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, “decisions are being made with scant appreciation of what will cause volume to increase or decrease.”
The USPS must respond to the troubled economy, the union president testified [PDF], but the cost-reduction programs the Postal Service is pursuing, such as closing facilities and reducing the number of days of delivery, will leave the Postal Service unable to compete when the economy recovers and mail volume returns. Postal executives are making decisions based on an analysis that mail volume will never again reach previous levels, he said.
“It is important to note,” Burrus said, “that our nation’s mail volume was highest in 2006,” when the economy was strong and the use of electronic communication was already widespread. Of the 213 billion items mailed that year, 190 billion pieces involved business communication, and only 2.9 percent, or 19.4 billion pieces, was sent from one household to another, he noted.
The union president cautioned that strategies based “on the premise that the conversion of hard-copy mail to electronic communication was the cause of declining volume” don’t take into consideration the impact of the economy. “We must keep in mind that the mail stream is — and will continue to be — dominated by business-related communication, which is especially sensitive to the economic environment.”
“The diversion of hard-copy communication has been less affected by electronic conversion than by corporate marketing strategies that focus on the nation’s economic downturn,” he said.
full article: http://www.apwu.org/news/webart/2009/09-087-testimony-090730.htm
USPS VP Says Only 1,000 Post Offices Considered For Closure
Jordan Small, acting Vice President, Network Operations, today testified before the House Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia on station and branch optimization and delivery route adjustments.
Small appeared on a panel with John Waller, the Director, Office of Accountability and Compliance at the Postal Regulatory Commission and Phillip Herr of the Government Accountability Office.
In his testimony, Small reminded the committee of the difficult financial situation the Postal Service faces and reviewed the steps USPS has taken to cut costs. He noted that the Postal Service is currently delivering less mail to more addressees while earning less revenue. He said USPS has joined with the National Association of Letter Carriers to evaluate and adjust more than 93,000 delivery routes.
In his discussion on the station and branch optimization initiative, Small advised the committee that even though the USPS review began with evaluating 3,200 locations, “less than 1,000 will be considered as viable candidates for further study.” He concluded his prepared statement with a look at the Postal Service’s five-day delivery proposal and a request for Congressional support of the cost-saving measure.
Click here to read Small’s testimony.
source: USPS News Link
NALC’s President Rolando Cautions Congress Against Harmful Changes by Postal Service
Press Release
Letter Carriers’ union President Fredric V. Rolando urged Congress today to ensure that structural changes being made in U.S. Postal Service operations due to the nation’s current economic crisis do not cause more harm than good over the long term to its mission of delivering mail to the American people.
Rolando, who assumed the presidency of the 300,000-member National Association of Letter Carriers (AFL-CIO) on July 4 following the retirement of past President William H. Young, cited a current study by the Postal Service of reducing mail delivery to five days a week, and also its ongoing postal branch and station optimization program.
“Down-sizing to meet depression-level demand without considering the long-term impacts on the ability of the Postal Service to meet new demands when the economy recovers, would be short-sighted,” Rolando told a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia.
“Short-term savings that undermine the Postal Service’s capacity to offer new services and to take advantage of future growth opportunities such as Vote by Mail, e-commerce deliveries, and other potential uses of our incomparable delivery network would be self-defeating,” Rolando added.
Rolando emphasized the NALC’s long history of working with postal management to improve efficiency and adjust to change, including a new dispute resolution process, health and safety initiatives, and the automatic sequencing of letter mail. He noted that the union and management are currently engaged in a joint process to adjust delivery routes in response to the steep decline in mail volume resulting from the current economic crisis.
Rolando said the Postal Service and Congress must look ahead to new ways of boosting postal revenue, using its unmatched delivery network to expand a whole range of valuable services, including everything from Vote by Mail elections to a recent Congressional proposal to use letter carriers to conduct the next Census.
“That is why we must be careful with branch and station consolidations and reject drastic proposals like the elimination of Saturday delivery,” Rolando added. “The cost of lost opportunities from service cuts and other operational changes must be recognized.”
He said Congress can help in the short term by reforming the way the Postal Service prefunds its future retiree health benefits and noted that the current prefunding provisions are both “unaffordable and unreasonable,” costing the Service billions of dollars annually.
“Overhauling the prefunding policy and reforming the OPM’s (Office of Personnel Management) policies with respect to the Postal Service must be a part of this reform if the Postal Service is to continue to provide affordable, universal postal service,” the postal union leader concluded.
The NALC represents active and retired city delivery letter carriers of the U.S. Postal Service in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions.
APWU Slams Postal Service on BMC Name Change
APWU Slams Postal Service on BMC Name Change
APWU Web News Article #086-09, July 29, 2009
In a letter to USPS management [PDF], APWU President William Burrus admonished the Postal Service for failing to officially notify the union that the Bulk Mail Center network has been renamed the Network Distribution Center network.
“We have negotiated contractual provisions specifically applicable to the BMC and must discuss the ramifications of the change to contractual provisions,” he wrote on July 24. “I am disturbed that the union has not been officially notified of the change and I demand a full explanation.”
The APWU became aware of the official name-change when it came into possession of a copy of a notice to USPS officers informing them of the change.
The union received official notification [PDF] on July 28.
APWU: Amendment to Senate Postal Bill Hurts Workers
Lieberman, Carper Join Republicans to Support Changes
APWU News
An amendment to a bill to provide temporary financial relief to the cash-strapped Postal Service was adopted by a Senate committee July 29, rendering the bill unacceptable to the APWU.
“We oppose, on principle, legislation that interferes with the collective bargaining process,” said APWU President William Burrus.
The amendment to the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Funding Reform Act of 2009 (S. 1507), offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), would require any binding arbitration in the negotiation of postal contracts to take the financial health of the Postal Service into account. Under current law, arbitrators must consider the “comparability” of postal wages to employees in the private sector who perform similar work.
“In fact, arbitrators routinely consider the Postal Service’s financial status as part of the context in which negotiations are conducted,” Burrus said. “However, to attach this specific requirement to the law leaves workers at a severe disadvantage, and makes the bargaining process more subject to manipulation.”
Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, and Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), chairman of the subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government information, Federal Services and International Security, supported the amendment, and voted with committee Republicans for its adoption.
“We are deeply disappointed that lawmakers we have supported voted for this reactionary amendment,” Burrus said. “We will do everything we can to defeat it.”