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Solidarity Action Alert: Operating Engineers Need Our Help!

Thu, 06/08/2017 - 12:31pm

APWU Wins Another National Level Arbitration Award Arbitrator Goldberg found USPS violated ‘POStPlan’ MOU

Thu, 06/08/2017 - 10:24am
WEB NEWS ARTICLE #: 
57-2017

06/07/2017 - The APWU scores another victory today, defending postal employees in the union’s bargaining unit. Arbitrator Goldberg issued an award in a national-level case over what remedy was due for the Postal Service’s failure to staff ‘POStPlan’ offices following an original award on September 5, 2014 and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) negotiated afterward.

The APWU and the Postal Service agreed that after December 22, 2014, the ‘POStPlan’ Remotely-Managed Post Offices (RMPOs) open 4 or 6 hours a day would be staffed with bargaining unit clerks, as well as replace Postal Support Employees (PSEs) in Level 18 offices with career employees. Long after the agreement, Postmaster Reliefs (PMRs) were still working in 4 or 6 hour RMPOs across the country and Level 18 offices reported still using PSEs instead of career employees.

 

Postal Reform Scored by Congressional Budget Office Reports a Positive Financial Impact of H.R. 756 on Federal Budget

Thu, 06/08/2017 - 10:22am
WEB NEWS ARTICLE #: 
56-2017

06/02/2017 - Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published its report on Postal Service Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 756). It is standard practice for the CBO to “score” pending legislation introduced into Congress in order to report its impact on the federal budget. They estimate that H.R. 756 would result in a savings of $6.2 billion over the next ten years.

These savings are technically “off-budget” because the USPS’ cash flow is recorded in the federal budget (in the Postal Service Fund) is classified as “off-budget.” The cash flow for the Postal Service Retirement Health Benefit Fund (PSRHBF) is classified as “on-budget.” The net “on-budget” cost of the legislation is only $0.2 billion.

 

White House 2018 Budget Proposal Targets Postal Workers and Postal Services

Tue, 05/30/2017 - 5:30pm
WEB NEWS ARTICLE #: 
53-2017

05/26/2017 - This week the White House released their budget proposal for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018, as they do every fiscal year. There are a number of disturbing provisions which will directly affect postal workers and postal services for the American people.

The White House’s budget proposes $46 billion in “savings” to the Postal Service by a reduction in the methods of delivery. This could include cutting the number of delivery days and a further reduction in service standards.

The budget further calls for an increase of 6% employee pension contributions into the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) - 1% a year for each of the next six years. This would result in a pay-cut of thousands of dollars a year for each FERS postal employee.

The budget also proposes eliminating Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) on FERS retirement benefits, reducing COLA on current civil service retirees and a change in calculating future retirement benefits from the current “high three” average to a “high five” year formula. In addition, the proposal advocates doing away with the social security supplement currently covering the gap in FERS benefits for those who retire before they are eligible for social security benefits.

Each of these proposals would be to the severe detriment of hard working postal employees, both active and retired.

 

Benefits of Being Union

Wed, 05/17/2017 - 1:00pm

(This article first appeared in the May-June 2017 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

By Organization Director Anna Smith

Sometimes, we forget why we are union members. We may fall into a trap of feeling as if we solely pay dues.

Too often, I hear members say, “I just pay my dues, and the union never does anything for me.” I recently spoke to a member who was employed for 30 years and is now nearing retirement. She said, “I have never used the union.”

Is that really true? Let’s be honest with ourselves.

We do not have to work where we do. Some people are forced to have a job that pays minimum wage, with no vacation time, no holidays and no protections against the employer. Many work for an “at will” employer, meaning the employer could fire us for any reason, without cause and without warning. I do not think most of us would choose to have one of those jobs, if offered.

The reality is, we all benefit every day from being union.

USPS employees enjoy union representation for your needs, including in contract negotiations and the grievance process. Other benefits include an effective grievance procedure to adjudicate disputes with management; protections against unjust discipline, including termination; prohibitions against unilateral actions by our employer, and provisions for safe working conditions (with union safety representatives to enforce them).

Help the NALC Stamp Out Hunger on May 13

Thu, 05/11/2017 - 2:53pm
WEB NEWS ARTICLE #: 
44-2017

05/06/2017 - Saturday, May 13, 2017 marks the 25th annual National Association of Letter Carriers’ (NALC) Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. President Dimondstein encourages all APWU members to get involved:

“This year is a milestone for our NALC sisters and brothers, and I encourage each APWU member to make a donation,” he said. “We appreciate our sister postal union’s leadership in coordinating this generous drive year after year.”

Support the Drive

Donate
Postal customers across the country are asked to put non-perishable food donations in a sturdy bag and place the bag near their mailbox prior to their regular mail delivery on Saturday, May 13. Letter carriers will collect the donations as they deliver mail. Many USPS worksites also set out containers to collect contributions.

Volunteer
Volunteers are needed to organize donations as they come in; help transport contributions to local pantries; place posters and flyers about the food drive in public places; spread the word to family and friends, and share on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. If you want to volunteer, contact your local or state union representative.

Last year, carriers collected more than 80 million pounds of food, well above the previous record of 77 million pounds.

 

Tue, 04/11/2017 - 2:36pm

URGENT Action Needed,

This Thursday, April 13th, the Florida House will be voting on HB 5007, a bill that puts the retirement security of over a million workers in our state at risk.

Extremist house members are playing a dangerous game with the Florida Retirement System by attempting to hold hostage a typically non-controversial funding bill and forcing the Senate to accept changes to the retirement system.

The House wants to force new employees into the riskier 401k type plan as opposed to the traditional pension, a change no one but Wall Street wants.

Will You Get Involved This Year? We Need Everyone to Be a Union Activist!

Tue, 03/07/2017 - 1:17pm

(This article first appeared in the March-April 2017 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

By Vice President Debby Szeredy

In 1970, members on the workroom floor walked off the job and took a stand to fight back, risking it all for a better career. Are workers today willing to walk off the job and to stand up and fight back? 

 


The success of the recent contract is due to the coalitions built on the
workroom floor during the 2015 Good Service, Good Jobs, Good Contract campaign.
Pictured are members from the Omaha Area Local wearing their union gear.

 

We are heading into difficult times that call for strategic actions. How important is it to you to keep your wages, rights and benefits? Are you willing to forfeit all the gains previous postal workers fought for? We need to prepare now for the attacks various local, state and the federal government bodies are planning to launch on the working class.

Postal Service Reform Act of 2017

Thu, 02/09/2017 - 6:08pm

The Postal Service Reform Act of 2017
A Positive Step Forward

 

On Tuesday, February 7, a hearing was held before the full House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the Postal Service Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 756).

The bill addresses two serious key issues of concern: the pre-funding mandate and increasing postage revenue. In the article on the APWU webpage President Dimondstein said, “This legislation is a necessary step to solving the disastrous pre-funding mandate that is dragging down the Postal Service."

To read more on H.R. 756, please click here.

Employees will not be able to bid until after 6 a.m. Tuesday, February 21, 2017.

Mon, 02/06/2017 - 3:43pm

Manual Bid sheets will NOT be accepted for this period of outage.

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