USPS: Combination Carrier-Clerk Duty Assignment Cancelled
Tarzana, CA Postmaster Shawn White has notified Local APWU President Richard “Ski” Kwiatkowski that the Combination Carrier-Clerk duty assignment posted on July 27, 2010 has been cancelled:
“This is to inform you that the combination bid assignment #70445772 has been cancelled and will not be re-posted at this time.”
Previous article posted July 28, 2010:
USPS has notified a Local California APWU President of its intent ( it appears that the assignment has already been posted) to post a “combined full-time assignment” , consisting of six (6) hours of carrier duties and two (2) hours of clerk duties. The Postal Service has proposed to post this job as a City Carrier Craft assignment under the jurisdiction of NALC.
Here is a breakdown of the duties:
Manual Distribution, Breakout and Spreading: 1:59,
Office Time 1:16 and
Street Time: 4:45.
The Full-Time assignment also has a “scheme” attached along with qualifications necessary to be awarded the job.
Excerpts of the letter from USPS to the Local California President:
This is to inform you of my intent to utilize the provisions of Art 7.2A of the National Agreement to create a full-time assignment by combining duties from different crafts. The reason for establishing the combination assignment is to provide maximum full-time employment and provide necessary flexibility.
Attached you will find a copy of the combination assignment to be posted. This bid job will be designated to the NALC represented craft.
Postal Clerk Gets Prison For Embezzling $240,000
DES MOINES, Iowa — A postal clerk from Indianola has been sentenced to a year in prison after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $240,000.
The U.S. attorney says 47-year-old Kimberly Sue Nordhagen was sentenced Friday after admitting to converting Postal Service money orders and cash transactions to her own use.
Nordhagen, who worked at the West Suburban Station in Clive, admitted to stealing the money between January 2004 and March 2009.
In addition to her sentence, she was ordered to make full restitution to the Postal Service.
source: Associated Press
Two Congressional Panels Approve Bills to Continue Six-Day Mail Delivery
Two Congressional Panels Support Six-Day Service
APWU Web News Article 074-2010, July 30, 2010
Two congressional panels voted on July 29 to approve spending bills that would require the Postal Service to continue to provide mail delivery six days per week. The two bills — one in the Senate and one in the House — still have a long way to go before they could become law, however.
“These are important steps, but we must clear many more hurdles in order to stop the Postal Service from eliminating Saturday delivery,” said APWU Legislative & Political Director Myke Reid. “The full Senate and House would have to approve the bills, and then the two versions would have to be reconciled to resolve any differences between them.” Spending bills are traditionally very difficult to pass, he said.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 18-12 to approve a spending bill for Fiscal Year 2011 that would prevent the U.S. Postal Service from reducing mail delivery from six days to five. The House Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee voted by voice.
On July 28, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), a member of the Senate Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, announced that he had persuaded the members of the Senate panel to reject the USPS proposal. Sen. Tester explained the importance of six-day mail delivery to rural America.
“Folks in rural and frontier communities often rely on their Saturday mail to bring them the things they need to live. Unlike in urban areas where folks can walk down the block to the local drug store, many Montanans live long distances from the nearest pharmacy or newsstand. Getting mail six days per week is part of what keeps rural America strong and thriving.”
The bill notes the crucial role of six-day service. It says, “The Committee believes that six-day mail delivery is one of the most important services provided by the Federal Government to its citizens. Especially in rural and small-town America, this critical service is the linchpin that serves to bind the Nation together.”
PMG Potter’s Response To White House On Pilot Test For Five-Day Delivery
Excerpts from PMG John Potter letter regarding Pilot test on Five-Day Delivery:
From an operational standpoint a pilot test conducted on a regional basis would increase some of our costs in the short term. For example, we either would have to make manual changes to mail processing sorting schemes and payroll or utilize information technology to program such changes for a limited time or geographic area. We believe that our information technology programming changes, estimated to cost $10 million-$12 million for a national, full-time implementation, would grow significantly to accommodate a test, as would administrative costs if we decided to forego programming changes in favor of performing manual processing for the defined test period. We also would have to communicate the pilot’s parameters to the public and employees. During such a test we would be unable to make the permanent, necessary changes to our delivery workforce, transportation networks, and mail processing operations that would yield the projected $3.1 billion savings. The largest financial impact of a pilot would be the fact that many career employees in the pilot area would have to be paid not to work or be relocated, white many of our non-career and part-time employees would see their wages reduced or eliminated. Any savings in wages that the Postal Service would realize during the test would immediately disappear at the test’s conclusion.
It may be helpful for me to offer a distinct example of the internal challenges that a test would present. In City Letter Carrier operations, full -time, regular City Carriers generally are assigned to a single delivery route that they service five days per week. These Carriers are scheduled to have Sunday off as well as one other day of the week. A category of full-time Carriers, known as Carrier Technicians. also are scheduled to work five days per week; but instead of servicing the same route each day, they cover the day off- and the route–of five different carriers. The five-day delivery proposal anticipates the reduction of approximately 25,000 full-time City Carrier assignments and $2.2 billion in annual savings in City Carrier operations. The savings are generated primarily by the fact that under a five-day delivery model, regular Carriers assigned to a single route would have Saturday and Sunday off, eliminating the need for the Carrier Technician and Relief Carrier assignments. We plan to transition full-time Carrier Technician assignments into Carrier positions (that cover a single route) that become available through attrition (a significant percentage of our current workforce is eligible for retirement between now and 2014). Under a pilot test we would be unable to carry out this Carrier alignment, and during the test itself, we would have a surplus of Letter Carriers for whom we would have to find productive work within their craft, and if unsuccessful, pay them to perform no work because our contract with the National Association of Letter Carriers guarantees full-time, regular Carriers a 40-hour work week. Under our national proposal for five-day delivery we Intend to preserve the employment of our career City Carriers.
read letter from Postamaster General John Potter submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission
Nation’s oldest mail carrier retires at 91 in Tennessee
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — At 91 years old, the country’s oldest mail carrier is finally hanging up his keys after driving more than 1.1 million miles delivering mail in Tennessee.
According to the U.S. Postal Service, rural carrier Mancel Prince will make one more lap of his nearly 100-mile route before he retires on Friday in Decherd.
Georgia Congressman Says Moving Columbus To Macon Will Cause Mail Delivery Delays
Filed under: consolidations, delivery, postal, press releases, usps
Rep. Sandford D. Bishop Jr., D-Ga. , issued the following press release:
July 29 2010
Washington, DC – Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-2) today sent a letter to the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Representative Edolphus “Ed” Towns (NY-10), regarding the U.S. Postal Service operations transfer from the Columbus Customer Service Mail Processing Center to the Macon Processing and Distribution Center. In the letter, dated July 28, 2010, Congressman Bishop stated a series of concerns about the transfer and its negative effects on the Columbus area.
“Attempts by the Postal Service to improve productivity and increase efficiency have resulted in new procedures which have severely impacted postal service in the Columbus area,” wrote Congressman Bishop. “Especially impacted is mail originating from Columbus, Georgia and destined for Columbus, Georgia.”
Congressman Bishop expressed his concern that the new system will force mail to be postmarked in Macon, 96 miles away, before it can be sent back to Columbus to be delivered, adding up to three days to delivery schedules. In addition, the transfer was approved May 26, 2010 and the process was to be completed by the first of this month.
“According to conversations with mail employees at the Columbus mail facility, there have been significantly more delays with mail, even though the Postal Service study suggested there would be an improvement in service,” wrote Congressman Bishop.
While a study of mail delivery systems in the Columbus area was conducted, it did not include Fort Benning, which is scheduled, under the BRAC process, to greatly increase in size. This increase in population, combined with the 96+ miles of mail travel distance will only further mail delivery delays.
“It appears that the Macon facility, which now has idle equipment, cannot deliver mail to Columbus in a timely fashion,” added Congressman Bishop
Rep. Chaffetz Introduces Bill Designating 12 Postal Holidays To Reduce USPS Operating Costs
Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) issued the following press release:
Washington, DC—Today Congressman Chaffetz introduced HR 5919. This bill would grant USPS Postmaster General the authority to implement up to twelve “postal holidays” per year in order to reduce USPS operating costs. The Postmaster General would select days in which delivered mail volume is historically lower than normal. By reducing the number of delivery days, USPS will be able to achieve savings by reducing work hours.
“USPS is experiencing severe financial pressures due to competition from the Internet, reduced demand due to the recession, and large unfunded liabilities for retiree healthcare,” said Chaffetz. “While my bill will help to reform its dire financial situation, there is no silver bullet that will solve the Postal Service’s financial problems. Postal holidays are one of many steps needed to reform the Postal System. I am also supporting efforts to consolidate postal facilities by replicating the successful BRAC process that was used to close surplus military facilities.”
• In past three years, USPS has lost $12 billion and is expected to lose about $7 billion this year.
• At the end of FY 2009, USPS was $10 billion in debt and is expected to reach its maximum debt limit of $15 billion in 2011.
• USPS Postmaster General John Potter has stated that USPS could lose $238 billion over the next ten years unless significant reforms are implemented.
• The USPS retiree health benefit plan was $52 billion underfunded at the end of fiscal year 2009.
USPS Freezes Hiring, Promotions at Headquarters, Areas and Districts
From the National League of Postmasters:
We are in receipt of a July 28, 2010, letter from Postal HQ stating effective immediately, all hiring, promotions and placement of non-bargaining employees at Headquarters, Areas and Districts are suspended until further notice. Selections received by COB 07/30/2010, will be processed by HR Shared Services but the postings have been placed on hold. We are communicating with Headquarters for more information, updates will be provided as they become available.
see National League of Postmasters
OSHA Fines USPS Mail Facility in Vermont $420,000
OSHA Fines USPS Mail Facility in Vermont $420,000
Federal labor officials say they’ve cited a Vermont postal facility for a half-dozen safety violations and will seek $420,000 in fines.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration says worker complaints at the U.S. Postal Service’s processing center in White River Junction led to an inspection in January that found employees were exposed to deadly electrical hazards.
OSHA says untrained or unqualified workers did work on live electrical equipment without proper safety measures
EEOC Annual Report On USPS Workforce Fiscal Year 2009
From EEOC: This report covers the period from October 1, 2008, through September 30, 2009 and contains selected measures of agencies’ progress toward model EEO programs.
Targeted Disabilities
As of September 30, 2009, USPS employed 5,372 (0.76%) Individuals with Targeted Disabilities (IWTD). In order to have met the federal 2% participation rate goal, 14,158 IWTD were needed. This represents a decrease of 482 employees from FY 2008 and a decrease of 794 employees since FY 2005. The participation rate for FY 2008 was 0.77% and for FY 2005 was 0.88%. Over the 5-year period USPS had a net decrease of 0.12% in employees with targeted disabilities.
EEO Complaint Processing
I. Counseling
USPS timely processed 99.5% of the 17,054 pre-complaint counselings (without remands) completed in FY 2009.
II. Bases of Complaints Filed
The bases of alleged discrimination most often raised were: (1) Reprisal; (2) Disability (Physical); and (3) Age. Of the 5,659 complaints filed at USPS, 1,283 contained allegations of race (Black/African American) discrimination, 570 contained allegations of race (White) discrimination, 128 contained allegations of race (Asian) discrimination, 17 contained allegations of race (American Indian/Alaska Native) discrimination, 757 contained allegations of color discrimination and 2,533 contained allegations of disability discrimination.
III. Complaint Processing Times
Of the 3,014 completed investigations, 99.2% were timely. USPS’ average time for completing an investigation was 113 days. Of the agencies completing 25 or more investigations, the Tennessee Valley Authority had the lowest average of 100 days.
USPS’ average processing time for all complaint closures increased from 238 days in FY 2008 to 243 days in FY 2009. The government-wide average was 344 days.
IV. Costs
USPS agreed to pay $840,044 for 4,584 pre-complaint settlements, of which 433 were monetary settlements averaging $1,940. USPS expended a total of $4,541,324 for 3,014 complaint investigations, for an average expenditure of $1,507.
USPS agreed to pay a total of $5,631,795 plus other benefits for 598 complaint closures through settlement agreements, final agency decisions, and final agency orders fully implementing AJ decisions. For complaint closures with monetary benefits, the average award was $9,418.