Letter Carriers mobilize to oppose FERS bill
Feb. 6, 2012 — On Jan. 24, Rep. Dennis Ross, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service, and Labor Policy, introduced H.R. 3813, the Securing Annuities for Federal Employees Act. But it probably comes as little surprise that Ross’ measure, were it to become law, would in fact threaten the retirement benefits of federal workers—including postal workers.
Ross’ proposal calls for entirely eliminating the defined benefit component government workers receive under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). Instead, under the Ross plan, FERS annuitants would be entitled only to the benefits earned through both Social Security and the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Read more
NALC: GOP playing politics with federal employee pay
February 01, 2012
Today, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on H.R. 3835, a bill introduced by Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) to extend for another year the freeze on federal employees’ pay. This legislation would freeze federal pay for federal employees and members of Congress for a third consecutive year. President Obama’s fiscal year 2013 budget includes a small increase for federal employees, a modest 0.5 percent.
The legislation takes advantage of members of Congress who support federal employees. Member of Congress who vote to increase the pay of federal workers will be forced to vote simultaneously for a pay increase for themselves.
On Tuesday, a “Dear Colleague” letter was circulated by Democrats in the House. It calls out the political pandering of the GOP, as H.R. 3835 “inappropriately groups Members of Congress who earn $174,000 per year with the men and women of our federal service. While we are not opposed to a freeze on Members’ pay for fiscal year 2013, we will not support a pay freeze for federal employees for a third consecutive year.” And in its closing, the letter suggests what the GOP should do to reduce the deficit, raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and not freeze the wages of middle-class workers.
Source: NALC Activist Alert
NALC Opens Its Archive For Research
The National Association of Letter Carriers has made its voluminous records archive available to the public at the Walter P. Reuther Library Collections at Wayne State University. The records have now been catalogued and there are descriptions available for each part of the NALC Collection. Read more
America’s message to Congress: We want first-rate mail delivery service, six days a week
Yesterday, NALC President Fredric Rolando formally welcomed members of both chambers of Congress back to Washington for the second session of the 112th Congress. Both the House and Senate have legislation pending before them that could shape the future of the United States Postal Service.
The American people want Congress to take action to save the service network. As President Rolando states in his letter, Congress should take action to “strengthen and build the Postal Service, not weaken and slowly destroy it.” As Congress debates the future of the Postal Service, it should pause and take into account the will of the people. More than 1 million Americans signed an open letter to their senators and representatives urging them to preserve six-day mail delivery service. Read more
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
NALC: Congress postpones USPS pre-funding payment for 8-months
Over the weekend, Congress approved an omnibus spending bill to keep the government operating through September that included a provision to again move the deadline for the Postal Service’s 2011 future retiree health benefits pre-funding payment for another eight months, to August. The spending measure also included language to keep the Postal Service delivering mail six days a week, rather than slashing service when the Postal Service needs to grow.
NALC applauds Congress and President Obama for acting swiftly, for avoiding partisan bickering and for not shutting the government down. We are enthusiastic that Congress chose not to make unwise decisions that could bankrupt the Postal Service.
While this bill is a temporary victory, Congress can still take legislative action through other bills next year to shutter post offices, end Saturday delivery and layoff hundreds of thousands of valuable employees.
So NALC’s work is far from over. As members of the House and Senate plan to move legislation that would damage the Postal Service, they seem thus far uninterested in addressing the unique and unfair burden that they created in 2006: that the Postal Service pre-fund its future retiree health benefits.
source: NALC Activist Alert
NALC: Extension of payroll tax holiday should not be paid for on backs of federal workforce
As the House of Representatives prepares for a final vote on the payroll tax holiday extension later today, the Republican majority has once again turned to federal employees to foot the bill for it. NALC has weighed in over and over with Congress on the inappropriateness of treating federal workers as the cash cow or “pay-for” for programs that most Americans are able to enjoy. NALC fully supports the extension of the payroll tax holiday while the economy continues to struggle, but certainly not on the backs of the federal workforce.
H.R. 3630, the “Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011,” extends the current 2 percent payroll tax cut for one year. The bill offsets the costs of these extensions in part by freezing federal employee pay for an additional year through 2013, and it would increase federal and postal employee pension contributions by 1.5 percent over three years, starting in 2013. It would kill the retirement supplement that is paid to federal workers in lieu of Social Security for those in FERS who retire before age 62. This would affect those FERS employees retiring in 2013 or after. New employees hired in 2013 with less than five years of previous federal employment would be hit even harder, paying 4 percent of salary toward retirement benefits instead of the current 0.8 percent while slashing benefit levels by up to 44 percent. (This is achieved by reducing the “years of service” credit from 1 percent to 0.7 percent per year and by basing your annuity on your highest five years of salary instead of the currently used highest three years of salary.)
This bill is irresponsible and unfair to federal workers. Please call your member of Congress as soon as possible — click here for a contact information list — and urge him or her to vote NO on H.R. 3630. Also, click here to read a Federal-Postal Coalition letter that was sent to Congress on this last week that provides more information.
The payroll tax holiday should not be paid for by federal employees!
In Solidarity,
Fredric V. Rolando, President
National Association of Letter Carriers
NALC contract talks extended again until Dec. 16th
Dec. 7, 2011 — NALC President Fred Rolando and USPS Postmaster General Pat Donahoe announced on Wednesday, Dec. 7, that the parties’ 2006-2011 National Agreement has been extended a second time—to midnight Dec. 16, 2011—to give the parties additional time to negotiate the provisions of a new contract. The 2006 agreement had been set to expire at midnight Sunday, Nov. 20.
“We have been working in good faith to hammer out a new contract and we hope that this extension will lead to an agreement that our members can enthusiastically ratify,” President Rolando said.
The entire NALC Executive Council and the USPS negotiating team were sequestered at a hotel in Washington for the seven days leading up to the initial Nov. 20 deadline to work around the clock on the terms of a new National Agreement. As teams continue to work on the terms of a new contract, council committees chaired by the union’s resident national officers have engaged management counterparts in intensive discussions on the full range of contract issues affecting working conditions and workplace rights during daily negotiations that often stretched late into the night.
President Rolando has coordinated the work of all the committees and has taken the lead on the key economic provisions of the contract, including pay, health benefits and other matters such as the structure of the city carrier workforce. As the expiration date approached, the focus shifted to finding innovative ways to reduce the cost of employee health care while preserving and protecting the benefits of NALC’s members.
The 2011 round of bargaining kicked off in August at a time of extreme challenges for the Postal Service, as the congressional mandate to pre-fund future retiree health benefits has crippled the agency’s finances. Over time, the talks have gathered momentum. In the end, the parties agreed that more time could help the talks succeed.
“We remain committed to negotiating a fair contract that will advance the best interests of the nation’s city letter carriers,” Rolando said.
source: NALC – National Bargaining – Bargaining Home.
NALC: Reduced delivery standards will harm USPS
Reduced delivery standards will harm USPS: NALC President Fredric Rolando responded to the Postal Service’s announcement that it plans to reduce delivery standards with the following statement. “We are very concerned about the proposal to reduce delivery standards. High-quality service is essential to preserving the value of our networks and to any future growth strategy. Degrading standards not only hurts the public and the businesses we serve, it’s also counter-productive for the Postal Service because it will drive more people away from using the mail. Changes in service need to be part of a coherent business plan that takes advantage of new opportunities, such as delivering the items people increasingly order online. We urge the Postal Regulatory Commission to review the proposal carefully and act to protect the long-term viability of America’s Postal Service.”
source: NALC
Can Letter Carriers deliver mail in the dark?
Filed under: letter carriers, mail delivery, NALC, postal, postal news
From NALC Branch #1100 in California
Well winter is here and it is getting dark early. Which means you could be expected to work in the dark. This causes issues every year. The rule to keep in mind is that if it is safe you are to deliver the mail. So what is safe? Safe depends on you and your route.
Arbitrator’s have ruled that darkness in and of itself is not unsafe. Darkness can contribute to an unsafe situation. For example you are on a walking route, it is not well lighted, you trip over a crack in the side walk and a few feet later you stumble over something else. You may want to declare that swing as unsafe and move to the next swing. As you deliver on the next swing the same rule applies. If it is well lighted then deliver the mail. If you stumble due to poor lighting then stop. Move to the next swing.
There are several things you can do to keep safe while delivering when it is dark. If you are on a walking route and it is not well lighted then you don’t cut lawns. You want to walk where it is safest. This is normally the driveway and sidewalk. If the area is not well lighted then you probably can not finger the mail while walking since you may not be able to see the addresses well enough. Additionally if it is not well lighted you cannot see where you are walking with your peripheral vision so you actually need to watch where you walk.
With FSS everyone is delivering in the dark and too many hours. Everyone needs to case in the dog warning cards. It becomes more difficult to tell where the barking dog is when it is dark. If you choose to bring back the mail let your manager know. At some point it is unsafe to be out late, it may be unsafe to be on someone’s porch at 8 or 9 pm. Remember with the exception of the month of December, Letter Carriers cannot be required to work in excess of 12 hours per day. Regardless of the month, Letter Carriers cannot be required to work in excess of 60 hours per week. You are the only one that can keep yourself safe. This article is not to supersede any past practices in your city nor any local agreements. Several of our cities have agreements regarding delivery cutoffs.
See full article from NALC Branch #1100 -California