Letter and Rural Carriers Collect One Million Signatures to Save 6-Day Delivery
In October, members of the National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association were asked to collect signatures in support of protecting the future of the United States Postal Service—and you have delivered.
From active and retired letter carriers, from big cities to small towns, more than 1 million signatures have been collected.
The message is clear: Americans support first-rate mail delivery service, six days a week, and they will do everything they can to protect it.
By reaching this goal, it is our hope that it will help prevent passage of two major bills pending before Congress that are designed to dismantle the Postal Service—H.R. 2309 and S. 1789. Read more
OMB Responds to Rural Letter Carriers Petition To Save 6 Day Delivery
Official Office of Management and Budget Response to Preserve 6 Day Mail Delivery
A Balanced Approach to Reforming the Postal Service
Thank you for signing a petition about the U.S. Postal Service. We appreciate your participation in the We the People platform on WhiteHouse.gov and your concerns about the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) in a challenging economy. The Postal Service is vital to the Nation’s commerce and communications, which is why we must act quickly to make the changes necessary to ensure its viability for years to come.
Postal volumes have dropped precipitously in recent years due to longer-run shifts in communication technologies and other economic factors. As a result, USPS accrued losses of $8.5 billion in 2010, and faced financial insolvency on September 30th. Without reform it is forecast to sustain greater losses this year and next.
However, the Postal Service needs more than just short term financial relief at this time; it needs a comprehensive plan for reform to ensure that it can be flexible and competitive in a changing marketplace. There are multiple ways to provide relief and reform, but the Administration’s proposal in The President’s Plan for Economic Growth and Job Creation [PDF] represents a balanced approach for postal workers, USPS, consumers, and taxpayers.
More specifically, the proposal includes a set of near-term financial relief measures that will provide the Postal Service with the time necessary to restructure its operations and take advantage of flexibilities in the proposal, such as the ability to cooperate with state and local governments and modest pricing flexibility.
In the longer term, we are proposing to help the Postal Service reduce its excessive operating costs by providing the flexibility to gradually move to 5-day delivery, beginning in 2013. Under USPS’ plan for how it would use this authority, post offices would still remain open on Saturdays, Express Mail deliveries would still be made 7 days a week, post office box deliveries would still be made on Saturdays, and USPS would continue to make Saturday deliveries in the busy weeks leading up to the winter Holidays. These and other cost structuring actions will ensure that the Postal Service remains viable for the medium- and longer-term.
We believe USPS’ financial situation demands such reforms and the Administration’s package includes provisions to reduce the impact for USPS workers and customers. We share petitioners’ concern for the health and viability of the USPS and developed this plan with the best interest of this vital institution in mind.
As we work to get our Nation back on a sustainable fiscal path, the Administration is making tough choices across the Federal government and asking everyone to do their fair share. These shared sacrifices are not easy, but together with investments in our economic growth and job creation [PDF], they will make us stronger and more competitive for the future.
Dana Hyde is Associate Director for General Government Programs, Office of Management and Budget
Statement from Rural Carriers Union On 21st Century Postal Service Act
Filed under: NRLCA, postal, postal news, press releases, usps
NRLCA President Jeanette Dwyer Issues Statement on 21st Century Postal Service Act of 2011
Alexandria, VA, November 2, 2011—NRLCA President Jeanette P. Dwyer has issued the following statement responding to legislation introduced in the United States Senate, the “21st Century Postal Service Act of 2011.” The bill was introduced by Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-ME), along with Subcommittee Chairman of the Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security Tom Carper (D-DE) and Ranking Member Scott Brown (R-MA). The postal legislation would affect rural mail delivery nationwide. Read more
NRLCA Elects Jeanette P. Dwyer as First Female National President
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct 11, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Jeanette P. Dwyer, a 30-year career postal employee, has been elected the first female national president in the 108-year history of the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA). The election was held during the union’s 107th National Convention in Savannah, GA.
Dwyer, a native of Waccamaw, NC, leads a union with more than 106,000 members who serve as post offices on wheels. Rural letter carriers perform the same work as city letter carriers, but in their own vehicles from which they sell postal products. They also work under a different collective bargaining agreement that requires annual route examinations to ensure rural carriers deliver the maximum amount of mail each work day. Read more
Postal Supervisors will join unions September 27, 2011 in effort to save USPS
Filed under: NALC, NAPS, NPMHU, NRLCA, postal, postal news, postal reform, usps
The leadership of the National Association of Postal Supervisors (NAPS) has agreed to join forces with the four postal unions representing employees of the Postal Service to designate September 27, 2011 as a day of action to Save America’s Postal Service.
Together, NAPS, the American Postal Workers Union, the National Association of Letter Carriers, the National Postal Mail Handlers Union and the National Rural Letter Carriers Association will rally in every congressional district in the country to concentrate our efforts to build support for H.R. 1351, a bill introduced in the House by Representative Stephen Lynch (D-MA). Read more
Postal Unions Join Forces To Save America’s Postal Service
Rallies Set for Sept. 27 in Every Congressional District
The APWU has joined forces with the three other postal unions to designate Sept. 27 as a day of action to Save America’s Postal Service.
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Together, the APWU and the National Association of Letter Carriers, the National Postal Mail Handlers Union and the National Rural Letter Carriers Association will rally in every congressional district in the country to build support for H.R. 1351, a bill introduced in the House by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA).
“With the USPS’s dire financial situation making headlines, and a battle raging in Congress over what to do about it, postal workers must take action now,” said APWU President Cliff Guffey. “I urge APWU members to work with our brothers and sisters in the other postal unions to organize the rallies. We must let every U.S. representative know that we need their support.”
The Lynch bill would prevent the financial collapse of the USPS — without closing thousands of post offices, eliminating hundreds of mail processing facilities, delaying mail delivery, laying off 120,000 workers, cutting postal workers’ pay, or ending collective bargaining rights. It would allow the Postal Service to apply billions of dollars in pension overpayments to the congressional mandate that requires the USPS to pre-fund the healthcare benefits of future retirees. No other government agency or private company bears this burden, which forces the Postal Service to fund a 75-year liability in 10 years — at a cost of more than $5 billion annually. Without the mandate, the USPS would have shown a surplus of $611 million over the past four fiscal years. Read more
Report: Rural Letter Carriers Union Passes New National Steward System
From PostalReporter.com reader:
Today at the National Rural Letter Carriers Association (NRLCA) national convention the delegation passed the proposed national steward system.
Posted: 18 Aug 2011 at 4:25am
Basically, State, Assistant state, and Area stewards will become employees of the national association and will be trained and paid by national. They will represent the postal districts that they are in, instead of the states. State stewards will become district representatives, asst.’s will become asst. district representatives, and area stewards will become area district representatives. Locals will stay the same, although they will be trained by the nat’l association I believe (probably by the District Representative like it is now). Dues will go up in some states, depending on how much of their budget they spend on the steward system. National will spend alot more but the state organizations will not have to spend money on the steward system anymore. In my state, dues will go up only about $4/ pay period. Some states less, others more.
Federal-Postal Coalition Letter Urging President Obama To Reject Deficit Commission Proposals
As Federal News Radio reported today, a coalition of 15 Federal and Postal organizations sent a letter to President Obama calling on the White House to reject proposals by the Deficit Commission that would cut federal civilian retirement and health benefits, freeze federal pay and reduce the federal workforce by 10 percent. National Deficit Commission Proposed Big Hits on Feds and Postal Workers, Retirees
“The letter, which was signed by employee and management groups alike, asks the president to reject these proposals and exclude them from the Fiscal Year 2012 budget proposal. The letter refutes each proposal, explaining why such actions would be harmful to the federal workforce and agencies’ ability to accomplish their missions.”
“For example, proposed changes to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program would guarantee “additional cost-shifting onto an enrollee population that has suffered major increases in premiums over the past several years,” the letter states.”
“Additionally, “Cutting the federal workforce by 10 percent is more about politics than good human resource management,” particularly when 60 percent of all federal workers will be eligible to retire in the next five years, the letter says.”
Sincerely,
American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
Federal Aviation Administration Managers Association (FAAMA)
Federal Managers Association (FMA)
Federally Employed Women (FEW)
International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF)
Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA)
National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE)
National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC)
National Association of Postal Supervisors (NAPS)
National Association of Postmasters of the United States (NAPUS)
National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA)
National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU)
Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS)
Professional Managers Association (PMA)
Postal Letter Carriers and Mail Handlers Get Wage Increase
Filed under: APWU, NALC, NPMHU, NRLCA, pay, postal, postal news, usps
The last general wage increase under the 2006 National Agreement for the National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU) and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) became effective on November 20, 2010.
NPMHU represented employees will receive a 1.2% increase. NALC represented employees will see a 1.85% raise in their paychecks. Both raises will be reflected in the paychecks issued on December 10, 2010.
APWU and Rural Carriers represented postal employees received their last wage increase under the current contract in November of 2009.
U.S. Postal Service Labor Negotiations Fact Sheet
Filed under: APWU, contract, NALC, NPMHU, NRLCA, postal, postal news
Overview
* The Postal Reorganization Act authorizes collective bargaining on wages and working conditions, generally under laws applying to private industry. As the Postal Service is an essential service to the nation’s economy, Congress mandated that employees represented by unions cannot strike. Impasses in collective bargaining negotiations may ultimately be resolved through arbitration.
Current Operating Environment
* Mail volume peaked at 213 billion in 2006. Since 2007 mail volume plummeted 35 billion pieces — 20 percent. By 2020, mail volume is expected to decline to 150 billion.
* Many mail processing plants previously operated three, eight hour shifts, seven-days-a-week. Today, many facilities have reduced operations to two eight-hour shifts operating five- or six-days a week.
* Seventy-eight percent of Postal Service costs are linked to wages and benefits.
* To remain relevant while meeting today’s changing mailing trends, the Postal Service must manage its labor costs by matching workforce to workload.
* The Postal Service’s goal is to negotiate a contract that’s fair to its customers and its employees while meeting its financial and operational needs.
Negotiations Process
The collective bargaining process for the Postal Service may entail a three-step process: negotiation, mediation and interest arbitration. The parties may negotiate a contract at any of the three steps in the process.
Step 1: The negotiations period begins approximately 90-days prior to the expiration of the contract. During this time, the parties try to reach agreement themselves. If they reach a tentative agreement, it must then be ratified by a vote of the union membership.
Step 2: If they cannot reach agreement, a federal mediator is appointed by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), unless both parties waive mediation. If no agreement is reached with the mediator, or if the parties waive mediation, the contract goes to impasse.
Step 3: The impasse proceeds to final and binding interest arbitration. In interest arbitration the dispute goes before a three-member panel. The panel consists of a neutral arbitrator serving as chairperson and two arbitrators representing each party. The neutral arbitrator may be selected by agreement of the parties, or from a list provided by the FMCS.
Employee Unions
Most hourly employees are represented by four unions. The American Postal Workers Union AFL-CIO (APWU) represents employees who work as clerks, mechanics, vehicle drivers, custodians and some administrative positions. Employees represented by the National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO (NALC) deliver in metropolitan areas; National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA) employees deliver primarily in rural and suburban areas; and, employees represented by the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, AFL-CIO (NPMHU) work in mail processing plants and Post Offices.
Union Employees Contract Expiration
APWU 211,000 midnight, Nov. 20, 2010
NALC 207,000 midnight, Nov. 20, 2011
NRLCA 67,000 career
48,000 non-career midnight, Nov. 20, 2010
NPMHU 49,000 midnight, Nov. 20, 2011
In addition to the four major unions, five other bargaining units collectively cover more than 1,100 employees representing nurses, police officers, Information Technology and accounting services, headquarters maintenance employees and machinists.
Contract negotiations for the NRLCA begin Sept. 13, 2010. The NALC and NPMHU begin negotiations next year approximately 90-days prior to the contract expiration date.