USPS Issues Final Decision on Postmaster Pay Package
Filed under: pay, pay info, postal, postal news, Postmasters, usps
for Fiscal Years 2011-2015. Postmaster Salary Range Increase of 6.5% from January 2013 through January 2016.
“Severe Financial Difficulties” Cited, as PFP Salary Rating Applications are Suspended for FY 2011 and FY 2012.
After 4 months of pay talks between representatives from both Postmaster organizations and the Postal Service, today the Postal Service issued a final decision concerning changes in pay policies, schedules, and fringe benefit programs for Postmasters.
Below is a jointly released statement from NAPUS President Bob Rapoza and League President Mark Strong, both leaders expressed disappointment that many of the proposals they presented were not included in the pay package.
“During the past four months, NAPUS and the League have been engaged in pay talks with the Postal Service. During this time we presented our case and put forth our best arguments to no avail due to the current financial condition of the postal service Today we received the final pay package delivered to our offices..”
“At the beginning of Pay Talks the postal service had projected a loss of $8.5 billion and now, 120 days later, the projected loss is $10 billion. This financial crisis we are in is through no fault of the more than 26,000 Postmasters who work extremely hard to manage the postal services most critical operations and provide universal service to the American public. While realizing that the financial condition of the Postal Service dictated the tone of the pay talks process, we believe that some of our recommendations could have been included in the package without adding significant costs to the program.”
“The Pay Package includes a 6.5% increase in the minimum and maximum salary ranges of the EAS pay schedule from January 2013 through January 2016. However, PFP Program ratings will be suspended and not be applied to salaries for FY 2011 and FY 2012. A determination as to whether PFP ratings will be applied to salaried for 2013 through 2015 will be based on the economic condition of the Postal Service during those years.”
“The Performance Evaluation System (PES) is discontinued and a joint work group will be established by the Postmaster associations and the Postal Service, to determine how to incorporate the compensation portion of the discontinued PES into the NPA component of the PFP Program.”
“It is not just Postmasters that will have to manage without a pay raise in 2011 and 2012. The entire federal work force is in the same boat and there are a lot of people around the country who’ve lost their jobs, and others who seen a decline in wages.”
For more information on changes to leave and health benefits contributions, please click Pay Package 2011-2015 to see the entire EAS Pay Package for Postmasters (FY 2011-2015.)
Charlie Moser
November 9, 2011
California Postmaster Arrested for stealing more than $23,000 from Rural Post Office
SACRAMENTO, CA (AP) – Federal prosecutors say they have arrested a postmaster for stealing more than $23,000 from a rural post office in Northern California.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento said 38-year-old Kristina Michelle Morris was arrested Thursday for felony embezzlement, theft of cash and theft of money orders. She was released on $10,000 bail and has not entered a plea.
Morris is suspected of stealing from the post office in Bieber, a Lassen County town about 100 miles east of Redding. Prosecutors say the thefts occurred between October 2010 and May.
She faces a maximum prison sentence of 25 years and a $750,000 fine. Her public defender, Dennis Waks of Sacramento, says it’s too early in the legal proceedings to make a statement.
Postmasters Request Meeting With USPS to Discuss RIF Avoidance Strategies
On Monday, League President Mark Strong and NAPUS President Bob Rapoza sent a joint letter to USPS Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President, Megan Brennan, requesting a meeting to discuss the impact that the Retail Access Optimization Initiative (RAOI) may have on Postmasters whose offices are on the study list. Specifically, the leaders of the two Postmaster organizations are asking to meet with members of the Postal Service senior management team to discuss minimizing or avoiding the impact that RIF may have on Postmasters whose offices may be discontinued.
RIF Avoidance and minimization strategy actions listed in the ELM 354.23 include voluntary early retirements, voluntary early retirement incentives, voluntary reassignments and other actions that can be considered for impacted employees. The two presidents reminded Ms Brennan that Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said that he would work with the Postmaster organizations as he had worked with other RIF impacted employees. For more information on this and other important news from President Rapoza, click here http://www.napus.org/president-rapozas-updates/.
We have received several inquiries from Exempt status Postmasters who lost employees as a result of Delivery Unit Optimization (DUO) and are re-classified to non-exempt if they manage less than two full-time equivalent employees, but the Form 50 isn’t processed to change them to the correct status for several months. Listed below is the USPS Headquarters response to the FLSA status question and their response on when salary protection begins for Postmasters who are downgraded as a result of DUO.
When staffing conditions in a Post Office do not meet criteria for FLSA-exempt status, the Postmaster’s FLSA status becomes non-exempt. If the FLSA status of the job changes, this should be brought to the attention of the appropriate management authorities promptly so that FLSA status may be adjusted timely, within one or two pay periods of the Postmaster no longer meeting the criteria of an exempt status. We recommend that Postmasters coordinate closely with their supervisors to ensure that work beyond 40 in a pay week is authorized expressly. This will help prevent potential problems. Postmasters should document overtime hours they work since DUO implementation. They should also document the dates such hours are worked, and they should furnish this material to local management for review and determination if there are concerns about pay.
Salary protection for DUO impacted Postmasters begins on the Form 50 effective date of the downgrade.
Next week, members of the two Postmaster organization pay talks teams will resume discussions with Postal Service representatives. The meetings will include discussions on pay, benefits, leave and changes to the ELM that may impact Postmasters. The Postmaster organizations and the Postal Service agreed to extend the October 5, 2011 deadline.
Charlie Moser
October 5, 2011
source: NAPUS
Postmasters President Tells PRC Closing Rural Post Offices Will Not Help USPS
Filed under: NLPM, post office closings, postal, postal news, Postmasters, press releases, usps
National League of Postmasters President Mark Strong Tells Commission that Closing Thousands of Rural Post Offices Will harm Economy of Rural America and Not Help Postal Service.
Closing 3700 Rural Post Offices Would Save Less Than 3/10s Of One Percent Of USPS Operating Budget.
ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA – In Testimony submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission, earlier this week, National League of Postmasters Mark Strong said that the Postal Service’s small rural post office closing initiative will harm “the level of services presently provided to small and rural communities, will hurt their economies and social structure, and does not even provide a corresponding benefit to the Postal Service.”
“The Postal Service is considering closing thousands of rural post offices throughout the country.If they close all that they are proposing to close, they will save less than three-tenths of one percent of their operating budget,” said Strong. Read more
USPS Saying Rural America Will Be Served Better After Post Office Closings Is Truly Nonsense
Filed under: NLPM, post office closings, postal, postal news, Postmasters, usps
The National League Of Postmasters filed the following testimony with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) addressing the USPS Retail Access Optimization Initiative.
Highlights of the testimony:
…. the minimal imagined savings to the Postal Service are a critical factor in evaluating a proposal that essentially produces a drastic reduction in availability and service. I know that the Postal Service has said that they will be able to serve rural America just as well if not better once all these post offices are closed, but that is truly nonsense. I suggest that the real proposition here is that the Postal Service is under financial stress and its urban-based leadership wants to back off from providing rural America the type of service it provides today, in order to concentrate its focus on providing service to large urban and suburban areas. Read more
USPS Responds to NAPUS on DUO, RIF and Staffing Issues
Postal Headquarters officials met with NAPUS leaders to respond to questions concerning Postmaster FLSA status when they are downgraded as a result of DUO implemetation. The meeting also included discussions on RIF procedures for Postmasters who may be impacted by the discontinuance study process and questions about PSE staffing issues. Listed below are the questions and notes taken on the response from USPS officials: Read more
Postmaster to PRC: Financial Challenges That USPS Face Today Are Manufactured
Filed under: politics, post office closings, postal, postal news, Postmasters, PRC, usps
The following are excerpts of comments submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission regarding the Retail Access Optimization Initiative:
The financial challenges that face the Postal Service today are, at heart,manufactured, the result of dysfunctional Congressional oversight and a myopic postal management that seeks at every turn to undermine the very basis for its existence. The postal network we have developed over generations provides not only mail delivery but an essential governmental presence in every community and corner of the nation. This
network, which should be viewed as an asset rather than simply as overbuilt industrial capacity, truly has served to bind the nation together. Dissolving and dismantling this important piece of our national infrastructure would be a tragic mistake. Read more
League of Postmasters Calls on Congress to Stop Closing Post Offices
Filed under: postal, postal news, postal reform, Postmasters, press releases, usps
and to Let USPS Pension Overpayments Prefund Retiree Health Benefits
USPS Pension and Retiree Health Benefits Payments Should be Realigned;
USPS Should Not Withdraw from the Federal Retiree Health Benefit Plan.
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 6, 2011— “Enough is enough. Congress must act. The time to act is now and the action to take is to allow the Postal Service’s pension overpayments to be transferred to its retiree health benefit fund,” said LEAGUE President Mark Strong in a Statement submitted today in the Senate hearing on the Postal Service Crisis. “This would allow the Postal Service to stop closing rural post offices and stop devastating thousands of small rural communities,” he added. Read more
NAPUS: Postmaster Pay Talks Continue; PSE Staffing Issues On Agenda
Filed under: postal, postal news, postal support employee, Postmasters, usps
September 2nd, 2011
Representative from NAPUS and the League met with USPS Headquarters officials for the third time yesterday to discuss pay, benefits, ELM changes, and leave for Postmasters. The next meeting is scheduled for the end of this month and future meetings are planned for early October. Details cannot be provided until the pay talks are completed. See this and other information on the President’s Update on the NAPUS website.
The NAPUS National Office continues to receive questions about coverage for retail operations in EAS 15-18 offices with less than 3 clerks and have been assigned PSEs who are not permitted to work the window. Coverage for PTF clerk positions is problematic because PSEs aren’t contractually allowed to perform the window duties in these offices and Postmasters are limited on the amount of bargaining unit work they can perform. This issue has been placed on the agenda for the upcoming NAPUS/USPS Consultative Meeting at the NAPUS National Convention next week.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe is scheduled to address Postmasters at next week’s convention and his remarks will be posted on the NAPUS website.
Charlie Moser
Postmasters allege USPS closing POs on Saturday to ‘skew’ numbers to support 5-day delivery
Filed under: post office closings, postal, postal news, Postmasters, usps
About 40 postmasters from throughout Northwest Missouri gathered at the Old School House in Cameron, Mo., to discuss the proposed closings, what the postal service is doing wrong and what they suggest be done.
Unlike the public Postal Service meetings occurring throughout the state this month to discuss rural post office closings, the meeting consisted only of postmasters. Due to what they described as intimidation tactics from the U.S. Postal Service, no one outside of two people wished to be identified to the News-Press. One of them that did made sure to be vocal for those who couldn’t speak.
Alleging the Postal Service was intimidating employees and closing offices on Saturday to skew future numbers to pass on to Congress to allow offices to move to a five-day work week, Kelly McCartney, vice president of the National League of Postmasters, stated what other postmasters were already saying — closing rural offices would be an ineffective cost-saving measure.
source: Tempers flare at meeting – Postmasters, lawmakers discuss possible post office closures - News Press Now, St, Joseph, MO