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Sunday, July 31, 2011

Blogging Mailman Fired for Being an ‘Injustice,’ Whatever That Means

 Blogging Mailman Fired for Being an ‘Injustice,’ Whatever That Means

"...Bradford's received a hand-delivered letter from the U.S. Postal service charging him with "unacceptable conduct/failure to follow instructions." The list of offenses Bradford's committed include..."

Reference: gawker.com 

Raymond Santoro became a mail handler 17 years ago

  Cartoonish horror trilogy is his ode to Super 8 film"...he ultimately decided that he didn't like the instability of making movies so he joined the U.S. Postal Service in 1994. "It pays great, and I get a lot of vacation time," he said...." Reference: azstarnet.com 

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

New post office study list released today

 Expanded Access study list


Huntsville, AL - Today, the USPS announced a new Expanded Access study list. The specific link for Alabama can be found at: http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/expandedaccess/states/alabama.htm. The listing was part of an announcement Tuesday that also introduces a new retail-replacement option called the Village Post Office, calling it an option for communities. The USPS says, "Village Post Offices would be operated by local businesses, such as pharmacies, grocery stores and other appropriate retailers, and would offer popular postal products and services such as stamps and flat-rate packaging." With the announcement, the concept of privatizing the postal service is reinforced by offering a link entitled Opening a Village Post Office, where Business establishments interested in applying for a contract with the Postal Service to start a Village Post Office in their local community can learn more about doing so. The USPS press release can be found at: http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2011/pr11_089.htm


Reference: usps.com 

Mail handler craft is down 20 percent

 Postal clerks bear the brunt of USPS downsizing "...The number of city carriers and mail handlers was down 20 percent, postmasters..." Reference: federaltimes.com 

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Postal Service Consolidating in Huntsville

  Postal Service Consolidating in Huntsville "...The transition is expected to be completed by January 1, 2012. The Postal Service says some employees may be reassigned to the Birmingham processing and distribution center or to other vacant positions. ..." Reference: www.waaytv.com

Monday, July 11, 2011

Notice of Nomination Meeting for NPMHU Local 317


Local 317 will be conducting a nomination meeting for the election of Local Officers for 2011:
  1. Local President and National Delegate (part-time)
  2. Vice President and Alternate Delegate
  3. Recording Secretary
  4. Treasurer
  5. State Executive Board Member
  6. Branch President(s)

The Local will conduct the nomination meeting as follows:

DATE OF NOMINATION MEETING: July 23, 2011

TIME OF NOMINATION MEETING: 12:00 p.m.

PLACE OF NOMINATION MEETING: 216 N. Oporto-Madrid Blvd., Birmingham, AL 35206

Each regular member in good standing has the right to make a nomination at the nomination meeting and/or make such nomination via by mail at: P.O. Box 610250, Birmingham, AL 35261, no later than July 23, 2011 at 10:00 a.m.

Each regular member in good standing shall only nominate one (1) candidate for each office.

Fraternally I am
[signed]
Kendrick Shaw

Judge of Election

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Secure that load! It's required.

  Use shoring straps with each dispatch Shoring straps secure mail in vehicles by preventing containers and pallets from shifting or breaking during transit. When used improperly — or worse, not at all — trailer doors can be damaged and employees opening them hurt by falling mail or rolling equipment.

Currently, some facilities are experiencing a shortage of shoring straps — jeopardizing the safety of personnel and the mail. Others have more than they need.

To help alleviate the shortage and keep personnel and mail safe, every vehicle dispatch must include shoring straps — even if the vehicle is making a trip without a full load. For every dispatch:

Insert 12 shoring straps, guaranteeing a set of two is available for every 10 feet.
Keep shore straps with vehicles at all times to make sure each vehicle leaves a facility with the required number of straps.

Facilities with a surplus of serviceable shoring straps are encouraged to place the equipment — in addition to the required 12 shoring straps — with outbound vehicles.

For information about how to properly insert shoring straps, go to the Logistics Order Policies and Standard Operating Procedures website. From the home page, click on “Properly Restraining Mail Containers.” Reference: usps.gov  

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Attack on Postal Service and Postal Employees

  Attack on Postal Service and Postal Employees "...On June 23, 2011, Republican Representatives Darryl Issa (R-CA), who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Dennis Ross (R-FL), the chair of the Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and District of Columbia, introduced their version of a postal reform bill. As introduced, H.R. 2309 would deprive postal employees of the freedom to bargain collectively, would cut the pay and benefits of current and future postal employees, and would hinder (and reduce) USPS service by expediting the closing of postal facilities and establishing a new bureaucracy to oversee the Postal Board of Governors. Within years, the bill likely would lead to privatization, or total collapse of the Postal Service.

The crux of this misguided bill is to blame the workers who provide an invaluable service to the American people, while trying to absolve the Congress from its responsibilities for the recent financial decline of the Postal Service. The principal cause of the USPS deficit over the past four years has been a yearly $5.5 billion payment mandated by Congress to pre-fund future retirees’ health benefits. Without these payments, the Postal Service would have operated at a surplus over those four years. The bill introduced by Congressmen Issa and Ross has ignored this problem, as well as billions of dollars in USPS overfunding of the CSRS program ($50 to $70 billion) and the FERS program ($6.9 billion).

Instead, the bill is aimed at the destruction of collective bargaining between the Postal Service and its unions. It would establish a new, politically-appointed governing body, called the Postal Service Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority, each and every time that the Postal Service were late in any payments owed to the federal government for more than 30 days. Under certain circumstances, this “Authority” could require the immediate renegotiation of an existing collective bargaining agreement, and also could reject, modify, or terminate one or more terms of an existing collective bargaining agreement. In particular, the bill as drafted states that, “[n]otwithstanding any other provision of law,” the Authority could require the renegotiation of an existing collective bargaining agreement “to achieve specific economic savings and workforce flexibility goals.” The bill goes on to state that, “after meeting and conferring with the appropriate bargaining representative,” the Authority may reject, modify, or terminate the terms or conditions of an existing collective bargaining agreement if the Authority concludes that a prompt and satisfactory agreement is unlikely, and that the rejection, modification, or termination is reasonable and necessary for the Postal Service to be a financially viable provider of universal postal service to the Nation and is designed to achieve the specific economic savings or workforce flexibility goals (as the case may be) that were set by the Authority. In short, the bill would decimate collective bargaining, and replace bargaining with the unilateral imposition of wages, hours, and all other terms and conditions of employment.

In addition, if ever adopted, the bill would lead to the wholesale downsizing of the Postal Service. The USPS would reduce to a 5-day delivery schedule, and would require the Postal Service to close retail and mail processing facilities and thereby force savings of more than $2 billion per year. The bill also includes a proposal initiated by Senator John McCain (R-AZ), to increase each employee’s contribution to the cost of health care and life insurance premiums.

“This bill is not the serious legislative effort that is needed to rescue the Postal Service,” said National President Hegarty. “It ignores the major financial issues that have been identified by most postal observers, and instead reads like an anti-worker and anti-union position paper written by ideologues. At a time when bi-partisan support is coalescing around Representative Stephen Lynch’s bill (HR 1351), the NPMHU had hoped that committee leaders would stop playing politics with the Postal Service, its workers, and the communications network that is so valuable to the nation.”
The NPMHU will be joining with other postal unions and other stakeholders to oppose this misguided effort at “reform,” and will continue to press for meaningful changes in the law to allow the Postal Service to prosper through and after the current economic downturn. ..." Reference: National Postal Mail Handlers Union, www.npmhu.org  

“credence” to the belief the Postal Service makes decisions “without considering public comments

  Editorial: USPS Error Gets Ross’ Attention "...In his letter to Postmaster General Patrick Donahue, Ross said the letters give “credence” to the belief the Postal Service makes decisions “without considering public comments.” In fact, he said, it appears “the only error was in the premature sending of the letters.”..." Reference: www.swtimes.com