NPMHU Local 317 - Alabama
Official Site of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union Local 317. Postal News for NPMHU 317 members. We consist of branches in Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, and Montgomery.
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| NPMHU 2015 Year in Review |
"...According to AL.com, demographers project Huntsville – with a population that has been trending up for years and some recent huge wins on the economic development trail – will eclipse Mobile in two years, Montgomery in four years and Birmingham by 2022..."
Reference: www.bizjournals.com
"...'Alabama is a hot spot for us right now, as we near the end of 2015 and gear up for aggressive expansion in the coming months,' said Greg Courchane, Valpak's director of franchise sales..."
Reference: www.al.com
The Huntsville Branch Union Meeting is Saturday, December 5, 2015 at the Madison China Buffet on Highway 20 at 11:00 AM. The State President and Local Branch President will be in attendance.
"...Arbitrator Shyam Das ruled on Dec. 3, 2015, that the American Postal Workers Union and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union may now go forward with their Step 4 grievances challenging the Postal Service’s decision to close or consolidate approximately 82 mail processing facilities starting January of 2015. The grievances had contended that the consolidations violated the PO-408 Handbook, Closures and Consolidations Area Mail Processing (AMP) Guidelines..."
Reference: www.apwu.org
"...The U.S. Postal Service turned an operational profit of $1.2 billion in fiscal 2015, marking the third consecutive year its revenue exceeded its controllable costs..."
Reference: www.govexec.com
"...Open Season, which begins November 9 and runs through December 14, will give Federal employees and retirees the opportunity to review the 2016 rates and benefits of their current plans and those of competing plans. During the Open Season, FEHB enrollees can change their health-care coverage; employees who are not enrolled, but eligible to participate, may elect coverage.
The upcoming Open Season will be the first opportunity for enrollees to select a Self Plus One enrollment in the FEHB Program. For over 95% of enrollees, the enrollee share for Self Plus One will be lower than the enrollee share for Self and Family in their current plan. However, it is possible that some plans will have higher enrollee shares for Self Plus One enrollments than for Self and Family enrollments. Therefore, enrollees are encouraged to carefully review their choices before making a change; switching to Self Plus One is voluntary.
The upcoming Open Season will also give employees and retirees the chance to select supplemental dental and/or vision coverage. In addition, Federal employees can elect to participate in a tax-deferred Flexible Spending Account (FSA) for health care and/or dependent care.
Established in 1960, the FEHB Program..."
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| Bernie Sanders wants to save the Postal Service |
Effective November 14, 2015 the basic annual salary for each grade and step of Table One and Table Two shall be increased by an amount equal to 1.0% of the basic annual salary for the grade and step in effect on February 15, 2013.
Private sector jobs seem to continue to rise, yet craft employee wages with the USPS continue a trend of near stagnant wages as health insurance continues to outpace any pay increases by far. On the average, health premiums will rise on the average of about 7.4%, far above increases for working class Americans. According to Mercer's 2014/2015 US Compensation Planning Survey, the average raise in base pay for U.S. workers is expected to be 3.0% in 2015. In comparison, USPS workers are being left far behind while pay raises for U.S. employees continue to grow steadily. While Mail Handlers take the brunt of negative economic impacts by being forced to relocate, often more than the contractual 50 mile limitation, during the USPS consolidations and closures.
We can only hope that the upcoming National Contract negotiations will garner more realistic wage increases. The Postal Service is doing exponentially better in its profitable parcel business and employees should realistically expect our employer to share some of this profit. That may or may not be the case. If the higher waged APWU employee contract negotiations are any sign in an 'apples to oranges' comparison of negotiations, things may look as gloomy as they have the past.
Most employers outside of the Postal Service have come to realize that large wage increases equate to higher productivity.
The PMG, in video after video, continues to inform employees how great our employees are doing and how great our customer service scores are. We can only hope these accomplishments, born through mail handlers doing more with less, will be appropriately rewarded. Our National Union has a strong team to lead us into the future and we are in hopes we will reap the benefits of our sacrifices and our families sacrifices of forced moves, fewer employees and little information being shared about our futures. - Chief Steward, Huntsville, AL
NPMHU Prepares for National Negotiations
As health plans rise an average of 7.4% and postal wages stagnate, this is the time to reevaluate your health, dental and vision plans. The OPM site we reference HERE allows you to review plans via zip code, plan name or plan code. Remember Open Season is right around the corner. Open Season runs Monday, November 9, 2015 through Monday, December 14, 2015. Also, remember this year you have the option to add a Self Plus One enrollment type.
Reference: NPMHU Local 317
"...Captain Brad Mason said investigators said they found three pounds of pot worth $28,000 on the driver's truck. A tip about Witherspoon's involvement in the marijuana shipping scheme led to Thursday's arrest, Mason said..."
Reference: www.wvtm13.com
"...The eternal premise that “all men (and women) are created equal,” the battlefield promise that this would be a land “of the people, by the people, for the people,” the pledge of “liberty and justice for all,” has been replaced by a call from a campaign donor to a pliant politician. The shift in our politics and our governance has yielded broken trade policies, bailouts for bankers and corporations, wage stagnation and income inequality..."
Reference: www.truth-out.org
"...While on the campaign trail, Bernie Sanders has touted a number of ways the United States can expand universal services, including for the U.S. Postal Service, which is suffering from budgetary challenges. In an interview with Fusion published Tuesday, the Vermont senator said he would turn U.S. post offices into banks..."
Reference: www.ibtimes.com
September 17, 2015: Earlier today, Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), who serves as the Ranking Member on the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, introduced a bill that seeks to address and reform several key components of the operations and finances of the United States Postal Service. While the Carper bill, which is called the Improving Postal Operations, Service and Transparency Act of 2015 (iPOST), addresses numerous important provisions -- many of which have evolved over several years of discussions among various postal stakeholders -- the NPMHU nevertheless views this proposed legislation as a work-in-progress.
"...were arrested Tuesday in Hartselle after Morgan County Drug Task Force agents reportedly intercepted them picking up a mail package holding three pounds of high-grade marijuana. (Morgan County Sheriff's Office)..."
Reference: www.al.com
"...But the surprises kept coming in the mail. Days later, checks arrived in the mail. Romero is a cautionary tale. She watches her accounts, doesn't shop online, and yet this still happened to her..."
Reference: whnt.com
"...A 13% growth rate in packages is elevating the U.S. Postal Service's top line results, but is presenting it challenges in its Southern Area of operations. According to a report released by the USPS Office of the Inspector General, package deliveries per route in the region averaged 720 last year, 15% ahead of the national average and 8% higher than the next busiest region, Capital Metro. The Southern Area comprises Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas...."
Reference: www.dmnews.com
"...Fire investigators determined that something accidentally caught fire on a conveyor belt, causing smaller fires as the belt moved through the building, Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans said in a news release. “As the belt continued traveling through the facility, pieces fell from it and..."
Reference: www.dallasnews.com
"...Last winter an energetic team of Tieton entrepreneurs and artists offered to replace the rotting siding fronting the local post office with a gorgeous $48,000 façade for the ages, in perdurable glass-tile mosaic. It would be what the project’s prime mover, publisher and artisan-business impresario Ed Marquand, calls “the crown jewel” in a series of glass-mosaic signworks – co-funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and created right there in Tieton..."
Reference: crosscut.com
"...A lack of properly trained cybersecurity workers and a comprehensive cyber strategy were major reasons why the U.S. Postal Service experienced a data breach late last year, a new report found...."
Reference: www.fiercegovernmentit.com
"...Cissy Cartwright, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Postal Service in Hope Hull, thought it was unlike Tommy Hope, 66, to not check his mailbox for several days, Post Master Sherry Hughes said..."
Reference: www.nbcnews.com
"...TALLADEGA COUNTY, Ala. — A U.S. Postal Service truck overturned this morning, losing its load and tying up traffic. The accident happened on I-20 westbound between the Eastaboga and Lincoln exits..."
Reference: www.wvtm13.com
"...President Obama has a plan for the 2016 fiscal budget and the USPS that would potentially save $36 billion over the course of 11 years. The plan is similar to a bill introduced by Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) and former Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), previously killed in Congress. For starters, Saturday delivery would be cut. This would be implemented when volumes drop to the predicted amount in late 2018. It would also replace door-to-door service with a centralized or curbside delivery service. This would perhaps ultimately be safer for mailmen and mailwomen. The plan offers the idea of “increasing revenue by providing postal management with more flexibility in creating new business opportunities, as well as boosting cooperation with state and local governments to offer services at post offices.”..."
Reference: lawstreetmedia.com2016 Postal plans
A Union Meeting was held with the Huntsville Local Branch of NPMHU 317. The State Presidentwas in attendance. Information relating to the 'cancellation' of AMP 2 was discussed among other subjects.
Reference: npmhu317.blogspot.com
Do unions do anything for today's worker? The biggest complaint heard amongst union members and non-members who leach off of benefits garnered by the unions, is that the union doesn't do anything for me. I'm just wasting money paying for the benefit and I get nothing in return. It is understandable that many people feel this way in the anti-union labor climate we live in today. It seems that with watered-down enforcement from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a President that won elections twice, largely based on talk of strong support of unions, has failed to provide that support, and union reps that have been beat down by members, non-members and managers. Sometimes it just seems there is no justice in the workplace anymore. If you are a postal worker, you truly feel this impact more than many with the closure of mail processing plants and post offices across the nation and a much smaller workforce. Workers are frustrated with unions that contractually protected them against being forced to relocate more than 50 miles, only to have their National Union Offices agree with the postal service to force relocations of 100 miles or more. Disrupting family, as well as communities. 
"...Mollica was rearrested last week and charged with lying to postal inspectors about packages sent to witnesses and government personnel involved in her case. Items in the packages included drugs stuffed in a dog statue, "thank you" notes, gift cards, and digital scales like drug dealers use. ..."
Reference: www.al.com
"...The only work that has been done so far is to dry the building out and clean up some of the debris including wood, brick, sheetrock and ceiling tiles. Despite the storm damage, Town Creek Post Office Box customers can pick up their mail at the Courtland Post Office, Monday through Friday between the hours of 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m..."
Reference: www.wtvm.com
"...On June 2, 2015, the Union recieved the Postal Service's determination of craft jurisdiction for employees operating the Small Parcel Sorter System (SPSS), which is currently deployed in five pilot test locations, and will be deployed shortly in twenty-six other facilities around the country. As set forth in the captioned letter, the Postal Service has determined that "the primary craft for all duties associated with the operation of the SPSS is the Mail Handler Craft." Follow this link to read the NPMHU notification to Local Presidents and USPS jurisdictional craft determination letter. (pdf) ..."
Reference: www.npmhu.org
May 22, 2015- The USPS announced significant changes to the Phase II-2015 USPS Network Rationalization Consolidation initiative. With the exception of the Houston P&DC and Queens P&DC, the USPS has suspended all remaining closures and consolidations to a date to be determined. The National Office of the NPMHU has requested a meeting to discuss the implications of this decision. Additional information will be disseminated as it becomes available.
"...The senators pressed Brennan to better document the money the agency says it is saving by closing processing plants, claiming that the savings have so far come in less than postal officials estimated. They also reiterated their request to Brennan to slow the closure of 82 plants scheduled to shut their doors this year...."
Reference: bangordailynews.com
"...save the Postal Service," and he has spoken out against job cuts at the agency, arguing that "good-paying postal jobs" can help protect the middle-class in local economies... Federal retirees would also..."
Reference: The Federal NewsGroup
"...The most popular fund in the Thrift Savings Plan would become “virtually worthless” as an investment option under a proposal in the House budget, a TSP spokeswoman said. ..."
On April 10, 2015, the USPS announced its latest list of last minute “public” changes to the Phase II-2015 USPS Network Rationalization Consolidation list. This is the second consecutive week that the Postal Service has made last minute modifications to the Network Rationalization Consolidation list – affecting a large group of postal facilities including: Duluth P & DF, Toledo, OH, Cape Girardeau, MO , Erie PA, Gulfport MS Paducah, KY, Augusta, GA (again), Tulsa, OK and others. The listed facilities have had their move dates changed to “To Be Determined” (TBD) or “Not Applicable” (N/A) or a new move date was published. This public list is the most current information available, but of course is subject to further change. The National Office of the NPMHU is seeking clarification from the Postal Service on this new list to establish exactly what this means for the "move dates" for employees in impacted plants. Additional information will be disseminated as it becomes available.
On April 3, 2015, the USPS announced its latest list of last minute “public” changes to the Phase II-2015 USPS Network Rationalization Consolidation list. These changes affect a host of processing facilities, including many in the Southern Region and several in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Approximately 15 facilities have had their move dates changed to “To Be Determined” (TBD) or “Not Applicable” (N/A). This public list is the most current information available, but of course is subject to further change. The National Office of the NPMHU is seeking clarification from the Postal Service on this new list to establish exactly what this means for the "move dates" for employees in impacted plants. Additional information will be disseminated as it becomes available.
Effective November 14, 2015, the basic annual salary for each grade and step of Table One and Table Two shall be increased to an amount equal to 1% of the basic annual salary for the grade and step in effect on February 15, 2013.Table One and Table Two
"... JEFFERSON COUNTY - AL - The U.S. Postal Service's Alabama District is selling envelopes to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery march for civil rights. ..."
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| Chart from OPM |
"... “This is a manual hub operation. It involves manually re-containerizing and loading onto trucks mail that has been processed in Cleveland for delivery in the ‘448’ ZIP code area,” Van Allen said. ..."
Reference: www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com
Alabama politicians love to tout that Alabama is a right-to-work state when it comes to luring large corporations and businesses to the state. Even many workers are lured into a false impression that right-to-work laws are a good thing for workers, especially non-unionized workers. The term itself, right-to-work, gives a feeling of giving you the right to work. Yay! You can't stop me from working. The fact of the matter is, a careful study by Lonnie K. Stevans of Hofstra University says, "Findings are that the number of businesses and self-employed are greater on average in right-to-work states, but employment, wages, and per-capita personal income are all lower on average in right-to-work states."
"...Potential vendors are set to descend on Washington, D.C. to meet with the postal service’s leadership and bang out the details, where bids will also be put in. The winning bidders will be chosen this summer, and the contract will ultimately be awarded in 2017 after a year of testing. Automotive News says that the contract will be huge — encompassing more than 180,000 vehicles that would cost between $25,000 and $35,000 per vehicle, ultimately making the contract worth as much as $6.3 billion. ..."
Reference: wallstcheatsheet.com
On Thursday, February 5, 2015, National President John Hegarty delivered his 26th and final report to the attendees of the Semi-Annual Meeting of the Local Unions (SAMLU). At this meeting in San Francisco, as customary, the President’s comprehensive report focused on the activities of the National Union since the previous meeting of Local Presidents... As part of his report to the SAMLU attendees, President Hegarty announced his plans to retire from his position as National President on May 1, 2015.
On January 27, 2015, a Bi-Partisan group of House members signed on in support of H.Res. 54. The Resolution was introduced by Republican Congressman McKinley (WV). Members from both sides of the aisle are joining their colleague expressing the sense of the Congress that the USPS needs to use all means possible to return to the service standards in effect as of July 1, 2012.
Follow link to read the resolution.
"..."We could sell the entire building and lease space back from the new owners, or we could sell the building and relocate the post office to another nearby site," Walton wrote in an email message. "Nothing is off the table at this point." The Nandino processing and distribution center opened in 1973. ..."
Reference: www.kentucky.com
"..."He does love his employees and he does love the Postal Service and his customers," Martin said. Mary Sullivan, the Postal Service's district manager for Alabama, praised Watts for his life's work. "He left a very strong legacy in the Postal Service and in his family," she said. ..."
Reference: www.al.com
Postal Items Found on Amazon Today "...Postal related items found on Amazon. Books, toys, signs, clothing, stamp collecting, ......
