Union Notified of New Developments in USPS Data Breach

  Union Notified of New Developments in USPS Data Breach
December 18, 2014 – In a new development on the earlier data breach at the Postal Service, USPS has now sent individual letters to another group of employees who may have had personal information compromised. USPS informed us that a large number of Workers Compensation records were “possibly” compromised, in some cases including not only personal identifying information (such as social security number), but certain medical information and bank routing information as well. Further, these types of records go back many years, as opposed to the earlier reports related to records back as far as May 2012.

All affected employees and former employees should begin receiving letters this week from the Postal Service, alerting them to this possible breach, and recommending actions they should take to protect themselves.

If you are not sure whether your OWCP claim is one of those affected, or if you wish to speak with someone directly about your situation, you are encouraged to contact the USPS Human Resources Shared Service Center 1-877-477-3273 and choose option 5 (option 1 for TDD/TTY), Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. eastern time.

In an on-line story posted on our web site on November 19, 2014, we provided links to some helpful web sites that provide more information on data breaches, and how to protect yourself against adverse consequences. In addition to credit monitoring, some of these sites suggest that individuals consider protecting themselves against “existing account fraud” by placing a fraud alert, a freeze, or both on their credit report. In many states, victims of a data breach can freeze their credit for free, but be aware that such a freeze may be inconvenient if you are trying to obtain credit, such as applying for a new credit card, buying or renting a place to live, etc. We encourage you to review this information carefully to decide how best to protect yourself going forward, as the NPMHU National Office continues to do everything in its power to address this breach, and to prevent future breaches that may affect employees, retirees, and others at the Postal Service.


Reference: www.npmhu.org

Senator Tester Sends Clear Message to PMG and Congress

  Senator Tester Sends Clear Message to PMG and Congress

NPMHU

(U.S. Senate) December 4, 2014 – With the Postal Service and some members of Congress giving the green light to closing more mail processing facilities, Senator Jon Tester is sending a clear message: stop digging the hole deeper.

Tester today led a group of Senators to the Senate floor to tell Postal Service leadership and Congress that as long as the Postal Service continues to close area mail processing facilities, it is shooting itself in the foot as it strives to improve its finances.

“There are a lot of folks around here who’d love to see the Postal Service go out of business. But the Postal Service – whether in urban America or rural America – delivers the goods Americans need,” Tester said. “All the Postal Service doing with its short-sighted cuts is weakening trust in the Postal Service. Essentially, they are digging their fiscal hole deeper.”

Starting in January, the Postal Service plans to eliminate overnight delivery in most of the country and close 82 mail processing facilities. These facilities route mail around the country so that letters, packages, medicine, equipment – and, yes, holiday gifts – get where they need to go. Closing the facilities would also cost up to 15,000 jobs.

Tester and his colleagues are pushing for a moratorium on processing facility closures while Tester and Congress work on a balanced reform bill. Tester said previous reform efforts do not preserve needed mail delivery standards or the future viability of the Postal Service.

“A proposal we’re working on will give the Postal Service the flexibility to raise new revenue while reducing the costly mandate to pre-fund retirement benefits,” Tester said. “We are trying to reform the Postal Service without putting the burden on rural America. But in the meantime, there’s no reason to make our work harder and hurt regular American families.”

The Postal Service is struggling financially in part due to the 2006 law – enacted before Tester was a member of the Senate – that requires the Postal Service to prepay retirement benefits of postal employees at a rate higher than necessary.

Tester is a member of the Senate’s Governmental Affairs Committee that oversees the Postal Service. He has previously criticized the Postmaster General for taking steps to privatize the agency and opposed the Committee's postal reform bill because it did not preserve strong enough mail delivery standards in rural America or adequately support postal workers.

Watch Senator Tester's speech in its entirety at this link.


Reference: www.npmhu.org