Early Retirement Rumors: Again, APWU Says: Don’t Go!
Burrus Update
Rumors about Voluntary Early Retirement offers are once again circulating throughout the Postal Service, and employees are evaluating the possibilities.
Let me state plainly:
* There have been no discussions with postal management about offering new monetary incentives as an enticement for retiring.
* If incentives are contemplated at some future date, the law says they must be negotiated with the union.
* Any rumor that monetary incentives are under consideration is false.
In recent years the Postal Service has offered Voluntary Early Retirements (VERs) — without monetary incentives — without the union’s involvement. Management may do so again in the future.
The APWU has challenged these VER offers in the appropriate forums. As we noted in grievances protesting non-incentive VERs, the National Agreement requires the payment of severance pay to employees who voluntarily terminate their employment through early retirement.
We await final disposition of the dispute. In the meantime, it is very likely that postal management will pursue further reductions in the employee complement through Voluntary Early Retirement offers.
The union repeats the advice we offered regarding prior VERs without incentives: Don’t Go!
William Burrus
President
Update: USPS To Offer Early Out Retirement To Employees In San Francisco and Bay-Valley Districts
Clerks, Mail Handlers, Custodians, Maintenance Operations Support Clerks and EAS in Select Offices to Receive Early Out Notices
Bay-Valley District -OaklandFor the following offices only: Oakland P & DC, SF NDC, District Cusotmer Service, Antioch, Berkeley, Brentwood, Carmel, Concord, Cupertino, Danville, El Cerrito, Fairfield, Hayward, Hollister, Lafayette, NAPA, Newark, Oakland PO , Pittsburg, PLeasanton, Richmond, Salinas PO, San Leandro, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Union City, Vallejo, Walnut Creek and Watsonville.
San Francisco District: This week, April 5 – 9, annuity estimates and Voluntary Early Retirement (VERA) offers are being mailed to approximately 1,000 VERA eligible employees in the San Francisco District. The notices are being sent ONLY to Clerks, Mail Handlers, Custodians, Maintenance Operations Support Clerks and EAS employees who are domiciled south of the Golden Gate Bridge. North Bay and Northern California employees WILL NOT receive a VERA offer in the mail.
USPS has announced that it is offering early out retirement only to employees in selected offices. Postal facilities on the list have been notified and will schedule a stand-up very soon with employees.
VER is being offered to Clerks, Mail Handlers, Custodians and EAS employees.
You may retire if you meet the age and service requirement shown below:
- Age 50 with 20 years of Service
- Any age with 25 years of Service
Shared Services will be mailing out letters and annuity estimates from April 5-13 to VER-eligible employees. VER retirement application deadline and irrevocable date will be May 21, 2010. The effective date is June 2010. There is no incentive with this early out retirement offer.
Civil Service Retirement system (CSRS): Your annuity benefit will be reduced by 2% for each year (1/6% per month) that you are under age 55 on date of retirement and the reduction is permanent.
Federal Employees Retirement System: If you meet the above requirements, your annuity benefit will not be reduced with age. Special Retirement Supplements are payable until age 62 when you reach the minimum retirement age (55-57). Social Security benefits begin when you reach age 62.
Copy oif Notice from San Francisco District
Union Address Concerns About USPS Retirement Incentive Offer
Burrus Update 15-2009, Sept. 22, 2009
The union has received inquiries about the possibility that some applicants for the $15,000 retirement/separation incentive may be excluded because the agreement negotiated by the union limits the number of recipients to 30,000. This concern is especially troubling for employees applying for Voluntary Early Retirement (VER), because the right to revoke applications will expire on Sept. 25, before employees know whether they will receive the incentive.
To date, fewer than 21,000 employees have applied for the incentive or expressed interest, so there may be no reason for concern; however, in the event that the number of applicants reaches 25,000, pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding between the APWU and the USPS, the union and management will meet at the national level to decide the distribution of the remaining 5,000 slots between Mail Handler applicants and APWU-represented employees.
If it is anticipated at that time that the 30,000 limit will be reached, we will also decide who among the eligible employees will receive the incentive. Included among the options for consideration will be increasing the number of employees who will receive the incentive or permitting employees to cancel their retirement.
Employees should not be concerned that they will have committed to retire without assurance that they will receive the incentive.
William Burrus
President
APWU: Effective Dates of Retirement, Separation Limited
APWU News
The USPS and APWU have agreed that employees who as of Aug. 24 had a scheduled retirement date of Sept. 30 or earlier will be permitted to retire or separate on the date they selected, and will be eligible to receive the $15,000 incentive negotiated by the union and management. All other employees not identified above who elect to retire or separate in order to receive the incentive will be assigned a retirement or separation date of Oct. 31 or Nov. 30. Agreement may be made at the local level to permit employees to select either of the two dates. The change in the effective dates was agreed to because Shared Services is unable to process the necessary paperwork for the expected number of applicants.
Click here to read about questions and answers concerning the incentive program
“We created a new, signed document to respond to the questions,” APWU President William Burrus said, “because it is essential that the union and management provide the same information to employees who are faced with a short time period to make important life-altering decisions.”
Deputy PMG Outlines USPS Early Out Incentive Option
TO HELP EMPLOYEES MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS
DPMG OUTLINES EARLY OUT INCENTIVE OPTION
In this week’s Field Updates, DPMG and COO Pat Donahoe outlines the 2009 Early Out Incentive Option and discusses the issues employees should consider before accepting the offer.
The incentive — extended to employees represented by either the American Postal Workers Union or the National Postal Mail Handlers Union — provides $15,000 to be paid out over two years and will be available to the first 30,000 employees who accept the offer to retire or resign.
Interested employees must take action to let USPS know they want to be part of this incentive. Most employees must opt in by Sept. 25, 2009. For full details, including timelines, employees should access the 2009 Early Out Incentive Option website on blue.usps.gov or liteblue.usps.gov.
Donahoe explains that eligible employees should pay close attention to the materials mailed to their home address, review retirement information available online, and follow the processes outlined in the instructions.
“The decision to retire is one of the most difficult decisions any of us can make,” says Donahoe, who encourages employees to consider their financial security and life beyond the Postal Service, and to consult with their family and friends to make an informed decision.
Click here to view the latest Field Updates video.
To read the PMG’s Aug. 25 letter to employees explaining the incentive, click here.
source: USPS News Link
Union Negotiates Monetary Incentive For Postal Retirements-Separations
APWU-represented employees who retire or separate on or before Nov. 30, 2009, will receive a monetary incentive of $15,000, in accordance with an agreement negotiated by the union. The incentive will be paid in two installments to eligible employees. “This agreement achieves a long-standing objective of the APWU,” said union President William Burrus. The incentive will be offered to eligible career full-time employees who terminate their service through regular retirement, Voluntary Early Retirement, or voluntary separation. (Eligible PTR and PTF employees will receive proportional percentages of the incentive.) [full story]
Editorial: Postal Early Retirement Incentives
The US Postal Service last year failed to promote the unique advantages of VERA to FERS employees. Attached is an actual offer from USPS of voluntary early retirement to a FERS employee that was age 56 with less than 25 years of service. Normally he would need 30 years of service to get an unreduced annuity. In a VERA that was reduced to 20 years. The VERA offer and annuity estimate he received did not mention or include his monthly FERS retirement supplement–an omission of roughly $1,000 per month!
Postal employees in the post-1983 retirement system, FERS, get three incentives to retire early in a VERA. The oft-heard complaint about a “penalty” for retiring early in a VERA applies mainly to the dwindling number of older CSRS employees. They make up less than 20% of the USPS workforce today. FERS employees enjoy these advantages in a VERA:
First, their Basic annuity is not reduced regardless of age (this is the VERA annuity estimate that USPS automatically provides).
Second, and often overlooked, they receive an extra monthly payment called a “FERS annuity supplement” between Minimum Retirement Age (MRA is about 56) and age 62 (the USPS does not provide this information automatically). The FERS annuity supplement normally applies after MRA and 30 years of service. In a VERA, however, the minimum years of service to qualify for the FERS annuity supplement is reduced to 20. Few people appear to be aware of how substantial this amount is.
Third, many FERS employees have large sums in their Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) accounts due in part to matching funds from the USPS. This money can be withdrawn as an annuity at any age without an early withdrawal penalty. See “Important Tax Information About Payments From Your TSP Account” at http://www.tsp.gov/forms/octax92-32.pdf . Lump-sum withdrawals can be made without an early withdrawal penalty after retirement and age 55.
VERA flopped in the USPS because eligibles in FERS only received an estimate of their Basic annuity. They also needed to know what their FERS annuity supplement would be after MRA and the possible annuity from their Thrift Savings Plan. The USPS did not provide retirement counseling before the VER deadlines. So why would a low response rate be a surprise?
Don Cheney
Auburn WA
doncheney [at] live.com
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
Fewer Than 2 Percent Of Postal Employees Take Latest Early Retirement Offer
From Federal Times
Fewer than 2 percent of U.S. Postal Service employees who were offered a chance at early retirement last month accepted the offer — far less than postal management expected. The Postal Service offered early retirement to 147,937 employees; they were required to make a decision by June 16, with their retirement beginning no later than July 31. Just 2,505 employees accepted the offer — about 1.7 percent.
That’s down slightly from the last round of early retirements, which concluded in February. About 2.3 percent of the 22,381 eligible employees accepted the offer.
And it’s well below what Postmaster General John Potter expected: In a March interview, Potter said he expected between 10,000 and 15,000 employees to accept the offer.
Full story: http://www.federaltimes.com/index.php?S=4174122
USPS Clarifies Some Early-Retirement Deadlines
APWU News
The Postal Service has informed the APWU that the deadline for eligible employees who wish to apply for Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) effective June 30 or July 31 is June 19. The USPS has also designated June 19 as the “irrevocable” date, by which employees who have applied for retirement but wish to withdraw their applications must do so.
Employees who wish to apply for VER effective May 31 must do so by May 15; the irrevocable date for May 31 retirements is May 15 as well.
An April 20 letter [PDF] to APWU President William Burrus noted that a previous correspondence contained the deadlines for May 31 retirements only