March 29, 2007-

March 27, 2007-

March 25, 2007-

St. Charles at odds with the postal service over slow mail delivery  |

March 24, 2007-

APWU: Postal Service Continues Plans to Close AMCs
"As part of an ongoing effort to outsource postal work, the USPS recently outlined management's continuing plans to eliminate Air Mail Centers across the country. Two letters to the APWU provide additional details about plans management announced over the summer. In a letter dated March 14, 2007 (PDF), the USPS notified the APWU that management will continue to consider outsourcing operations at 14 of 43 facilities management identified in July 2006. "This decision continues a disturbing trend of replacing good-paying union jobs with low-wage non-union workers," APWU President William Burrus said. The majority of workers affected by the closing of AMCs will be Mail Handlers, but some Clerks also will be reassigned."  |

March 22, 2007-

USPS OIG Report on Delivery and Retail Standard Operating Procedures (PDF)
The report summarizes an OIG review of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for City, Rural Delivery operations and Function 4 operations in nine USPS areas.  According to the report in part:  In the Houston District the OIG observed carriers retrieving mail from the staging area before the supervisor could record mail volume which created the potential for mail volume distortion. "The condition existed because the supervisor's primary focus was getting the carriers to the street, not following the SOP for measuring mail volume. "  |

Postal Clerk Sues USPS Over Forced Lunch Break

(Florida) Kenneth M. Fox says his painful arthritis requires him to keep moving, but his bosses are forcing him to take lunch breaks. Fox, a 55-year-old military veteran from Pinellas County, is suing the U.S. Postal Service under the Americans with Disabilities Act, claiming the mandatory lunch breaks are a violation of his rights under the law. Fox has worked since 1997 as an automation clerk at the airport postal facility, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court. The lawsuit, which asks for an injunction and attorneys fees, says allowing Fox to work through lunch is a “reasonable accommodation” required under the ADA. Fox to work through lunch is a “reasonable accommodation” required under the ADA. Fox also asserts in his suit that  other postal facilities "permit employees to choose whether or not to utilize the offered lunch break."  |

Forever Stamp Debuts At National Postal Forum March 26
"Monday: The Forever Stamp is unveiled for the first time. The value on these stamps will always be the one-ounce letter rate and can be used for any future one-ounce letter mailing without extra postage. Tuesday: John E. Potter, Postmaster General, and Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP, address the Forum. Sessions on the newly established rates and a discussion on the new postal law will be held. Wednesday: Why mailboxes around the country were dressed up like R2D2 will be revealed with a new stamp unveiling." National Postal Forum.   |

Postal worker faces charges in identity theft

(PA) Kim McKnight Jimenez, 48,a passport clerk at the Gus Yatron GMF in Muhlenberg Township unlawfully obtained 18 credit cards by using postal customers’ names and Social Security numbers.. Jimenez surrendered to authorities Wednesday to face 18 counts of identity theft, police said. According to investigators: A mail clerk alerted Deborah Beatty, branch supervisor, that credit cards in other people’s names were being mailed to the three post office boxes and Jimenez’s home address.   |

EEOC Brief: A Postal Employee alleged that he was subjected to harassment based on his sex when his supervisor used the word "ladies" when addressing all of the window clerks, including the employee and when supervisor addressed the employee as "Ma'am." The EEOC found that "a reasonable fact-finder could not conclude that the challenged incidents, taken together, were sufficiently severe or pervasive to establish a hostile work environment." Therefore, the EEOC affirmed dismissal of the Postal Employee’s claim. Salisbury v. Potter  |

March 21, 2007-

Misdelivered mail sparks fraud fears
"The pink plastic card that arrived in her neighbor's mailbox Saturday underscores Jeanne Sidler's complaint with her mail service. The card, a note to the carrier from a supervisor, reads, "Misdelivery problem here Verify mail before deliveryi (sic) Customer is very upseti (sic) Do not deliver this card. "Not only did they deliver it, but they delivered it to the wrong house," Sidler said.  |

North Carolina: Two Postal facilities among safest in U.S

Al Gore to Deliver Postcards to Capitol Hill

Courteous postal clerks  |
Would-be postal thief caught in the act

Elderly woman drives into post office

The mail keeps coming late  |

Comply or face regulation, says DMA chairman  |
Postal Service looks at delivery change after shooting of death of carrier  |

Former postal worker denies trying to arrange wife's murder

Canada Post turns to US counterparts in medal theft
 

March 18, 2007-

Today In Postal History

The Strike That Stunned The Country

- The Great Postal Strike - March 18, 1970, thousands of New York City postal workers walked off the job in protest. At the time, postal workers were not permitted by law to engage in collective bargaining. Postal workers felt wages were very low, benefits poor and working conditions unhealthy and unsafe. The U.S. Post Office Department's management was outdated and, according to workers, haphazard. Informal attempts by workers to obtain higher pay and better working conditions had proven fruitless. Within days, they were joined by over 200,000 others in 30 major cities. Mail service ground to a halt and the plight of postal workers was brought to the public's attention. On March 25 President Richard Nixon called out 24,000 military forces to begin distributing the mail. But the military proved ineffective at the task. The strike was soon settled, with Congress approving a 6 percent wage increase. The strike led directly to passage of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, which  provided for collective bargaining for postal workers.  |

March 15, 2007-

PMG Potter Airs Reservations on Postal Reform Law
.."the nation’s 72nd postmaster general made clear that he has some serious concerns about how the Postal Service will operate under the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act.  "I'm bullish about the mail," Potter continued. "I'm not saying we cannot be successful going forward." He added, however, that the future of the mail might now be in the hands of Dan Blair, head of the newly empowered Postal Regulatory Commission."  |

APWU: Contract provision offers additional protection against excessing

 The union’s new contract permits full-time employees who the Postal Service identifies as “excess” to remain in the craft and installation as part-time regulars |

March 14, 2007-

NALC Young: It’s time to stop the ‘run amok’ OIG

The OIG has run amok in recent months, unleashing a reign of terror on letter carriers in dozens of post offices across the country. Time and again, overzealous agents have swooped into stations and placed groups of carriers on emergency suspensions pending removal—all for activities and work methods long approved by their supervisors or local postmasters. Like a bunch of fanatic Barney Fifes, OIG hotshots have seized dozens of carriers on dubious charges without proper investigations or respect for our members’ due process rights. They also have routinely ignored the Postal Service’s obligations to consult and inform the NALC on matters involving discipline set out in our National Agreement.   |

Predictability, flexibility key issues at USPS/PRC regulatory summit
Bookspan CEO Markus Wilhelm aid the flexibility might mean that the USPS can offer seasonal rates. We all know that we all mail heavily at the end of the year and in January,” he said. “So, if everybody wants to mail in January, does it make sense to have the same prices that you have during the rest of the year, or do you offer incentives to get companies to mail other times of the year?” This concept could work for offering incentives to mail different days of the week. “From my own experience, Tuesday is the busiest day of the week for the postal service,” Mr. Wilhelm said. “But we could enable the postal service to become more efficient and adjust their prices to allow us to deliver on different days of the week.   |

Minnesota: Letter carrier dies after postal truck hits trees  |

Rude postal clerk  |

USPS to downsize Clinton facility

Chicago Mayor Daley on mail: Feds are 'dysfunctional'   |

Spring Valley Post Office welcomes area postmaster to help out
Dunn Postmaster Addresses Mail Problems

PRC chairman seeks mailer feedback on rulemaking

March 11, 2007-

Postal Carriers Protest "Hostile Work Environment" in Brick, NJ -

Postal workers from throughout New Jersey picketed in front of the Brick post office in "protest to what they perceive as ongoing managerial abuses by Postmaster Thomas Wagner. Demonstrators totaling 120 came from other post offices, including Edison, Toms River and Trenton, where Wagner had been in charge, and joined the Brick workers, according to union employee officials." "He created a hostile work environment for everybody here in Brick,'' said Ed Decker, president of the NALC Local 5420 in Brick. Wagner has a controversial history in his postal management career, attracting complaints and news coverage, but getting promoted and reassigned, the union said.  |

March 07, 2007-

USPS Became 'Welfare Job' During the 1990s?

According to the President of a Direct Marketing Firm " ...in the 1990s, the Clinton Administration was busy eliminating welfare. While the smoke and mirrors appeared to be successful, the reality was that welfare was simply transferred to a full employment program in the federal government. The USPS, IRS, Social Security Administration and a host of other agencies all swelled and absorbed a large number of the nation’s unemployed. Now, 15 years later, it’s time to fund the pensions of all those people, along with the legions of baby boomers who are calling it quits, and the pension funds are – surprise – unfunded. Postal reform demands funding of those pension benefits, and you are looking at an unending future of increased postage as far out as you can see."  |

Burrus: Union mail works

In a letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, American Postal Workers Union president William Burrus wrote: "The Trib's editorial "Perverse 'solution'" (March 1 and PghTrib.com) can only be described as a "cheap shot" at the U.S. Postal Service and postal employees. It concludes that a recent ruling on a proposed rate increase "is a victory for union wages and benefits." The American Postal Workers Union is indeed proud that we were the only organization to suggest that the postage increase for individual citizens and small business should be limited to 2 cents -- rather than 3 cents as the Postal Service requested. We are pleased that we were able to persuade the Postal Regulatory Commission of the soundness of our reasoning."  |

March 06, 2007-

APWU: Retroactive Pay to Be Issued May 18 - The USPS has notified the APWU that it expects to disburse back pay for the period from Nov. 25, 2006, through Feb. 2, 2007, in paychecks dated May 18 (Pay Period 10-2007). The retroactive pay will reflect a 1.3 percent raise for five pay periods (Pay Period 25-2006 through 03-2007).The 1.3 percent raise was negotiated for all APWU-represented employees as part of the 2006-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Mailing industry urges "en masse" response to halt increases in catalog rate - A list industry veteran is calling for action over the catalog rate increases recommended late last month by the Postal Regulatory Commission. In an urgent message sent March 5 to all MeritDirect customers, Ralph Drybrough, CEO of MeritDirect List Brokerage Services, White Plains, NY, said that the PRC-proposed flat rates would increase rates by about 20 percent, rather than the 9 to 11 percent increase proposed by the U.S. Postal Service." - Postal Rate Crisis: Industry finding 'devil in the details'   |