May 29, 2007-

Burrus: Congressional Intervention Would Interfere With Collective Bargaining

"My testimony last month  before the House Oversight and Reform Committee revealed differences of opinion between the APWU on the one hand and the other postal unions and management associations on the other, regarding the issue of congressional interference in collective bargaining. The long-standing APWU position is that mandatory subjects of collective bargaining are best left to the parties for resolution, even when bargaining has not achieved the desired results. I believe the danger of Congress determining conditions of employment for postal employees far outweighs the possibility of short-term success in specific areas."   |

PRC recommends temporary rate relief

May 28, 2007-

NALC, USPS Disagree Over Handling of On-Roll Sexual Offenders

Last year, Fox 4 News reported finding several sexual offenders delivering mail in the Dallas area. In this follow-up, Fox 4 News in Dallas reported that NALC is "not making it easy" for the USPS to remove registered offenders from their mail routes. USPS filed a lawsuit in District Court to overturn an arbitration decision returning a letter carrier to his route after admitting he is a sex offender to a news reporter. USPS stated in its lawsuit that the arbitrator did not take into account  the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. However, USPS withdrew the lawsuit several days after its initial filing.  Last week the Postal Service released a new reporting policy for employees who are registered sex offenders. Note: The Dispute Resolution Team ruled that the letter carrier should be returned to his route --USPS failed to comply with the DRT's decision which led to the arbitration case . |

NAPUS: Mandatory Stand-Up Talk Issued on Workplace Violence Prevention

"With what has been happening this past year; new rate case; critical public comments; high stress on Postal employees; complement shortages; budget shortages; and the list goes on, the likelihood that you would be assaulted in the workplace is small, but there is a remote possibility that it could happen. To minimize even that small chance, paying attention to warning signs can help us keep a potentially bad situation under control."  |

May 27, 2007-

USPS Weighing A Vanity Zip Code Program

Vanity ZIP codes could be a gold mine for USPS - Just days after upscale department store Sakes Fifth Avenue convinced the USPS to give it a vanity ZIP code for its shoe department, the always cash-strapped postal service said it was exploring the idea of using vanity ZIP codes as a way to generate additional income. You can just imagine the legions of corporate marketing managers planning to adopt a ZIP+4 code for their businesses.  |

Yoda Tops Darth Vader in Stamp Voting

Belt-tightening at Postal Service worries Alaskan villagers

May 26, 2007-

Letter Carrier Honored for 50 Years of Service
Stolen mail won’t be delivered any time soon

18 years to life for murder of letter carrier
 

May 24, 2007-

Ex-postal union chief accused of embezzling to live high life

A postal-workers' union president from Pacifica was indicted today on charges that he embezzled more than $170,000 and then fudged union and Labor Department records to cover it up. Graham Paul Vane, 49, was president of the San Mateo-based NALC Branch 1280 from January 2002 through 2006, and allegedly used a union-issued credit card and 10 personal credit cards to rack up massive personal expenses such as dining, family travel, spa treatments, satellite television and pay-per-view movies, jewelry, wine, pet expenses, personal utility bills, groceries and gas. He then paid the credit-card bills -- as well as his wife's cell-phone bills -- with checks drawn on the union's account, court documents claim.   |

ELM Revision: Reporting Requirements for Sex Offenders
Effective May 24, 2007, Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM) 665, Postal Service Standards of Conduct, is revised by adding 665.17, Reporting Requirements for Sex Offenders. The language contained was established to identify current Postal Service employees required by any jurisdiction to report their status as sex offenders. This language creates the requirement that any Postal Service employee required to register as a sex offender with any governmental entity must notify the appropriate Postal Service management official as described. Postal Bulletin 5/24/07 Issue |

May 23, 2007-

Postal Service investigating delay in delivery of mail

A Beaufort-based Postal Worker is under investigation for not delivering mail on time, according to authorities. The Campaign adviser for South Carolina state Rep. Catherine Ceips said Tuesday that he became concerned when several voters complained that they had received campaign mail asking them to vote in the May 1 primary a week late. Wally Olihovik [ former NAPUS president??], a spokesman with the Office of Inspector General, in charge of Postal Service employee investigations, said the investigation would determine if the misstep will be categorized as theft or delay and destruction.  |

Post office employees honor memory of co-worker

USPS reaches key milestone in green purchases

APWU: Wisconsin-to-Minnesota Consolidation Study Halted

TSP to mail annual statements to participants

Growing postal fees stick it to businesses

Chicago Tribune offers catalogers alternative delivery

Intended target testifies about killing of postal worker

US Postal Service Goes Digital to Promote New Star War Stamps

Greco: DM needs 'positive, coordinated responses'

May 21, 2007-

Third shift created at USPS center to improve mail service

 "A third shift is now working at the U.S. Postal Service Processing and Distribution Center in El Paso, expanding operations there to 24 hours a day. Because of the extra shift, 15 new employees are being hired. The extra shift has been created to improve mail service in Las Cruces and El Paso. The new workers added to the El Paso center come on the heels of the decision by USPS officials to hire an addition 75 employees to work in the processing and distribution center in Albuquerque, to improve mail service to central New Mexico.." Post Office Fix In Southern New Mexico On The Way? | New Mexico Senators: More workers could improve mail delivery |

BOG Member Barnett Implicated in Rove's Plan to Keep Minorities Off Voter Roles -  "Evidence is mounting that local Repub political operatives Pat Rogers and Mickey Barnett were, in essence, part of an organized effort in New Mexico to pressure Iglesias to help carry out Rove's strategy. Barnett was once a legislative aid to Sen. Domenici and was his pick for a slot on the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors. A former NM Senator, Barnett has also lobbied on behalf of the payday loan industry, Corrections Corporation of America and gambling interests. |

Court Affirms Enforcement of Unfair Labor Charges Against USPS

National Labor Relations Board sought enforcement of an order issued against the  Postal Service for violations of the National Labor Relations Act at three facilities within Albuquerque, New Mexico's main post office. Albuquerque VMF APWU craft director John Orlovsky was subjected to nine retaliatory disciplinary actions, including discharge. After Orlovsky's discharge, the postal manager held a mandatory meeting with all VMF employees at which he compared postal employment to participating in a lifeboat. He told employees in a lifeboat situation, participants have “limited alternatives of appropriate behavior available to them. The employees testified they understood the manager's lecture to be a warning that "rocking the boat," or engaging in union activities, could lead to termination. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals court ruled that NLRB's cease-and-desist order should be enforced.  |

Rural Carriers Negotiations Update

From PostalReporter Forum:  "Since the last Negotiations Update, there have been numerous efforts to move the negotiations process forward, and while some meetings have been productive, no agreement has been reached. Accordingly, the National Board requested that the Postal Service bargaining team return to the main table for three additional negotiations sessions. The dates of those meetings are June 6, 7, 8, and they will likely be held at the NRLCA National Office. Absent a breakthrough on key issues, it is likely impasse will be declared on or before June 8. Thereafter, the parties would immediately begin to finalize interest arbitration arrangements, including the selection of a neutral arbitrator."  |

May 20, 2007-

Chicago, You've got mail carriers

Postal service adds 200 new mail carriers in the city to remedy nation's worst service ranking.  |

Rankled police, fire associations take aim at Postal Service

On the Monday after the May 12 election, more than two-thirds of the groups’ 3,325-piece bulk mailing was found in a sack awaiting delivery by postal employees. The mail was identified as “political in nature” and was processed as standard bulk mail.  |

Retired postman: Alamo post office must do better

Man accused in death of mail carrier to go on trial

May 19, 2007-

eNAPUS: Congressional Objection to Contract Delivery Services Growing (PDF) - NAPUS is attentive to the growing Congressional interest in this issue because CDS relates to contract carrier recruitment, qualifications, and accountability. Postmasters would be concerned if the USPS is seeking to address current carrier understaffing with a privatized workforce. Postmasters would also be concerned about their lack of input into the decision as to whether it makes sense – from a service standpoint – to conscript private messengers, rather than recruit professional letter carriers. Finally, Postmasters would be anxious about the accountability of subcontractors signed up by contractors who were not selected by the local Postmaster, but by someone up the food chain who does not touch the mail or manage a post office. |

Post Office Box rent hikes part of postal rate increases
"Less publicized than the increase in stamps and postage was a nationwide adjustment in the cost of Post Office Box rental. According to Manchester Postmaster Kathleen Murphy, the increased rates are based on the commercial real estate values of each post office building, using a 'value-based pricing algorithm' determined by higher-ups in the USPS." |

The rarest stamp is one attached to a real letter

Mailman Celebrating 50 Years On The Job

APWU: Transportation Workers, Unions Declare: 'Enough is Enough'

Beaumont Encoding Center Employees Trying To Save Their Jobs

May 18, 2007-

USPS Gets Favorable Reviews Despite Higher Price of Stamps - Despite its designation as deliverer of "snail-mail" and another increase in the price of stamps, the Postal Service is viewed favorably by 64% of American adults. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 20% hold an unfavorable view. A plurality of Republicans believe service would be better with a private company in charge. Democrats are evenly divided and a plurality of those not affiliated with either party believe service would decline with private company management.   |

Postal clerk accused of stealing gift cards

Will Increased Postal Rates Hurt eBay?
Mail carrier honored for helping an injured woman get help.

USPS tests Seamless Verification with Friend-to-Friend postcards
Mailers, USPS discuss future of flats

A solution for postal rate hikes

Postal workers deserve kudos for courtesy

May 16, 2007-

 39-cent stamp still is worth a lick, despite Fox News report

In reports aired several times Sunday, Fox News Radio told listeners to "toss out" 39-cent stamps because of the increase. The report went on to say that anything mailed over the weekend with the old stamp would not be delivered because it lacked the new stamp. |

 Humiliated, woman in wheelchair sues postal service
After enduring a "humiliating" ordeal of getting postal service at a loading dock behind the building, Andrews, 50, filed a civil rights discrimination complaint Friday with the U.S. Justice Department.   |

APWU Board Calls for Boycott of Circuit City
"The vote was in response to the company's dismissal of 3,400 workers, comprising 8.5 percent of its workforce. The firings, announced in late March, "had nothing to do with performance but were part of a larger effort to improve the bottom line" according to an article in The Washington Post. In a cost-cutting measure, the 600-store chain fired its highest-paid, most senior non-managerial workers, saying that the dismissed employees were earning more than it wanted to pay. The company, based in Richmond, VA, announced that it planned to fill most of the positions, and invited the laid-off workers to re-apply for their old jobs - at substantially lower pay - in 10 weeks." Circuit City shouldn't be calling their employees "associates." Associates are treated as members of a team. Circuit City is treating their employees like they are "disposable." |

 Stamping out junk mail
Campaign to rein in senders spurs controversy
"Catalogs. Credit-card offers. Coupon packets. Candidate fliers. No matter the shape, size or message, they arrive incessantly, adding up by pounds and tons. "This is a symbol of unnecessary waste," said Todd Eklof, pastor of Clifton Unitarian Church, who recently carted 50 pounds of the stuff -- a year's worth -- to a Louisville postal branch as a protest. "Nobody likes junk mail. In many ways, it seems to be an invasion of our privacy."  |

No consolidation of Gaylord postal facility

Man buys $8000 worth of stamps to use forever  |

Six family members of contract worker charged with stealing mail   |

Editorial: In Filing for Disability Retirement, Remember the Basics

May 15, 2007-

Growth now, mail routes later

Artist stamps his mark on forever
Post office robbery leads to chase, arrests

PRC Chairman Blair Explains New Postal Rates

Time has come to stamp out the Postal Service's monopoly

May 14, 2007-

APWU: News Reports Paint Misleading Picture of Postage Increase
"News sources report postage costs as though the 80-percent labor cost is directly related to negotiated union contracts. Accurate reporting would reveal that the APWU bargaining unit expenses comprise only 26.2 percent of USPS expenses; city letter carriers comprise just 22.2 percent; and total expenses for employees covered by collective bargaining agreements equal roughly 60.5 percent. This is a far cry from the reported 80 percent." Editorial: Sorting out the post office |

Postmaster Arrested After Entering Post Office

"A middle Tennessee postmaster was arrested for trespassing after entering her own post office. The manager at the Decherd post office in Franklin County, Tenn., had apparently told Sarah Vaughn to never set foot in the building again. However, Vaughn disobeyed the manager and entered the post office wearing all black and carrying a black. She is also accused of taking all of the phones away in the building and ordering an employee to log into an office computer. When the employee refused Vaughn's demands, she left and was later arrested and charged with aggravated criminal trespassing."  |

Editorial: USPS is no two-bit operation

The price of sending a first-class letter rises today to 41 cents. "As usual, there's some grumbling about the increase, generally along the lines of how the U.S. Postal Service ought to first do a better job of delivering the mail. Frankly, we can't work up any outrage. Truth is, even at 41 cents, a first-class stamp is a bargain. Some people complain because postage keeps going up. But what doesn't, except electronic gear? The postal service can automate only so much of its work. Mail is still a labor-intensive enterprise, because it takes a real person to deliver it to the right home, business or neighborhood mailbox — and to pick up the receiver's outgoing mail. At 41 cents, the cost of a first-class stamp — and the service that comes with it — remains a good deal." eBay, Amazon Sellers Brace for USPS Changes - Some sellers have posted their concerns that the postal clerks on the front lines may be unprepared for the changes, leading to hassles at the counter. New postage rates shaping the future of mail delivery.  |

What's behind the postage hike

In 2006, 78.6% of the agency's expenses went to compensation and benefits, compared with just 59.7% for United Parcel Service and 42.9% for Federal Express. The vast majority of postal employees are union members, and average annual pay and benefits for them was $62,348 last year. .The Postal Service has been trying to trim labor spending, dropping 96,000 employees from its payroll since 2001, entirely by attrition. Still, compensation spending has risen every year for the last four years.  Potter said the old Post Office Department — the agency the Postal Service replaced in 1971 — had nearly as many people as today's organization but handled less than half as much mail. If not for improved mail handling, today's Postal Service would have 1.8 million employees, the postmaster general said.  |

May 13, 2007-

The Post Office is Pricing Itself Out of Business  |

Way Over the Line: We are all being gouged

Postal Service Collects Tons of Food | Photo: Postal Charity |

19 Bravest hurt in Bronx postal fire
 

May 12, 2007-

Former postal planner predicts annual stamp rate hikes

- The stamp-price increase to 41 cents marks the first of what may become annual rate hikes, according to Charles Guy, the former director of the Postal Service's Office of Economics and Strategic Planning ( and now with Lexington Institute) . To Guy, potential solutions include greater labor flexibility for postal managers; the phasing out of contractual no-layoff provisions; greater pay flexibility, including the introduction of market wages rather than premium wages for new hires; and pay scales that take into account regional differences in the cost of living. Postal management has blamed the latest increase on higher fuel prices, but Guy says they're not the real culprit. Labor accounts for 80 percent of the agency's costs, while transportation is just 8 percent.  |

May 11, 2007-

House Bill Would Set Timetable for Consolidation Studies
A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would establish firm deadlines for Area Mail Processing surveys and would prohibit the USPS from removing equipment or reducing the workforce in affected facilities during AMP studies.  |

Clearing up some myths about the Postal Service

"In a recent reprint of an editorial from the Providence Journal, your paper criticizes the Postal Service for an alleged decision to remove all clocks from the nation's 37,000 post offices. No such decision has been made. Before 2000, the postal service produced "century countdown" clocks, featuring pictures of stamps and a countdown to the new millennium. As those clocks outlived their usefulness, many post offices removed them. In addition, many post offices never had clocks in their lobbies and still don't. Removing clocks is a local decision, based on available space and individual office needs."   |

GAO: Diversity in Senior Levels of USPS (PDF)
Data in the Civilian Personnel Data File and provided by the U.S. Postal
Service show that as of the end of fiscal year 2006, the overall percentages of women and minorities have increased since 2000 in both the federal career SES and the developmental pool for potential successors and the Postal Career Executive Service (PCES) and the developmental pool of potential successors (EAS levels 22 and above) since 1999. A specific provision was also included in recent postal reform legislation related to tracking diversity in the Postal Service’s executive and administrative schedule management positions.  |

 Alaska bush communities get a break on postal rate

U.S Sen. Ted Stevens has convinced the U.S. Postal Service to ease up on cost increases that would have made living in rural Alaska far more expensive. There will still be increases. They will just be smaller.  |

Postal service tries to stamp out dog bites

May 10, 2007-

 Los Angeles Mail Delivery is Slow But Improving

A three-month investigation by the Inspector General of the U.S. Postal Service concluded that the Los Angeles Processing and Distribution Center has slashed backlogs by more than half - particularly for first-class, priority mail and packages. But while auditors praised the facility for "significant improvements," they also called for action in fixing the still-plagued standard mail and periodical deliveries. Investigators primarily blamed the closing of a Marina Del Rey processing center that displaced workers and created an overflow of mail to the Los Angeles center. The other culprit was retrofitting of mail-sorting machines that caused machines to be taken out of service. The report came after months of complaints from local residents and demands for action by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles. On Wednesday, Waxman said he remains concerned about the quality of mail service. OIG Report (PDF)   |

Josephine Baker Unfit for the Mail? (It Wasn’t Even a French postcard)

Postal service hiring casual carriers

Postal rate increase prompts second look at online banking

USPS Renews Contract With Convergys

Postal Bulletin: Mailbox Improvement Week, More...

Post Office Doesn't Deliver for It's Own Employee
Leroy Hall spent 37 years sorting mail at Chicago's main post office. So he should have known better, he said, than to drop his retirement application in a Chicago mailbox. Hall, 61, said he sent the paperwork by Express Mail on Dec. 27, but Postal Service officials say they have no record of it arriving at the retirement processing facility in Greensboro, N.C.

May 09, 2007-

DYMO Stamps Gives Consumers Its Two-Cents With Free Postage

Postmaster: 'I'm living my dream job'

Mail practices sent into flux

Residents in tiny Lakeville plead: Send us our mail!

Postal software ready; Standard flats still unknown

Hawaii: Rural carrier sent to prison for stealing mail
Former Postal Worker convicted of OWCP fraud sentenced to 5 months

May 05, 2007-

Oldest Postmaster in the Nation at  91

Verna Naylor is 91. The one-room Adams County post office where she serves as the oldest postmaster and the oldest female postal employee in the United States. She could become the oldest member of the Postal Service's staff of 700,000. A recent database search by the post office gave that title to 92-year-old Chester Reed, a mail handler in San Bernardino. Maybe he'll take an early retirement.  |

Retired Postal Worker Pickets Against Postmaster

Gary White, a retired 29-year veteran of the U.S. Postal Service, was found Tuesday afternoon outside the Elizabethton Post Office protesting the USPS reneging on an Equal Employment Opportunity settlement from last July. White's argument is with Postmaster Bruce Range, who he says is responsible for having the settlement discharged so he cannot draw benefits for injuries he sustained while working for the Postal Service. Archive: State says it cannot prosecute postmaster  |

Postal Window Clerk Gets Praise from Brooklyn postmaster

Calling the local post office is no longer the same   |

MD: Cumberland Mail Processing Center Won't Be Moving

eNAPUS: One Last Bite of the Apple (PDF)

May 04, 2007-

Burrus: Contracting Out - Does Opposition Depend on Who Is Affected? The APWU has consistently fought subcontracting. Recent battles have focused on excessive worksharing postage discounts, which are just another form of contracting out. Excessive discounts reduce USPS revenues; they hamper the Postal Service ability to serve the public; and leave management with less money to compensate postal employees and operate the postal system. We have fought this battle alone, with virtually no support from the postal community. Burrus noted NALC president submitted  testimony to the President's Commission on the U.S. Postal Service Feb. 20, 2003: "It is for this reason that the NALC endorses work sharing and thus work sharing discounts when they are appropriate."|

Ex-postmaster admits misusing postal funds

A former Dover postmaster pleaded guilty today in federal court to embezzling $16,500 from the U.S. Postal Service through various schemes during a three-year period. Phillip L. Hall, 51, of East Orange, became the third person snared in a federal investigation that previously led to an indictment in February of former Newton postmaster John Balliro.. Hall's misdeeds included having postal employees renovate the Effort, Pa., home of his ex-wife, who also is a postal employee; falsifying records of employees who "donated" two months' worth of vacation time to her; and steering postal plumbing work to a contractor in Effort at inflated prices in return for cash payments, authorities said.  |

Editorial: We can do better communicating DMers’ needs to PRC - "Mr. [BOG Chairman James] Miller and a couple of the governors seemed very knowledgeable on issues facing the postal service... a couple of the governors on the panel seemed clueless regarding questions raised about the postal service...." "to some there appears to be a full-fledged food fight going on between the heads of the two largest postal unions. ..Clearly something is brewing here." It would appear that Mr. Burrus, having lost almost 50,000 members through automation since 2002, is stirring the pot."  |

Ask the President Burrus Are We Keeping Up with the Cost of Living ? - Does the recent contract take back more than we get during the life of the contract? Where do we stand relative to real wages and benefits compared to 10 years ago?    |

May 03, 2007-

USPS Reports Net Loss of $925 Million for Second Quarter

During yesterday's meeting of the USPS Board of Governors, Chief Financial Officer H. Glen Walker reported that a $925 million net loss was recorded during the second quarter of the fiscal year (Jan. 1 – March 31) due largely to expenses relating to the implementation of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, signed into law on Dec. 20, 2006. Revenue for the second quarter totaled $18.5 billion, a decrease of 0.8 percent from the same period last year. The decrease was driven by a 0.6 percent decrease in mail volume for the second quarter. Expenses totaled $19.4 billion; an increase of $1.6 billion, or 9.2 percent, over last year’s second quarter expenses. The Board of Governors also approved funding to purchase additional Delivery Bar Code Sorter equipment for sorting letter mail in the sequence in which carriers deliver it. The purchase consists of 110 new machines as well as 394 stacker modules for existing Delivery Bar Code Sorters.  |

USPS Board Approves Lower Priority Mail Flat Rate Box Price

The Priority Mail Flat Rate Box price will be $8.95 instead of the price originally recommended by the Commission — $9.15. The 17-cent First-Class Mail nonmachinable surcharge now applies to all First-Class Mail nonmachinable letters — not just to those that weigh 1 ounce or less. |

USPS Licensee Offering 30 Edible Stamp Images

Good Fortunes, a Postal Service licensee, is offering more than 30 delectable stamp images to help thank and celebrate mom. Flowers, the popular Love stamp series, teddy bears and candy hearts are available to adorn the tops of cookies.   |

Photo: A Very Unusual Looking Mobile Post Office

APWU Web Site 'De-Links' Locals During Union Election Period

Contract postal unit worker charged with theft of $58,000  |

FederalNewsRadio Audio: Ask the CAO - USPS (DPS Flats, More...)

Postal hike will burden reading program

Gaylord: Grievance settlement a good omen

Mail carrier's SUV burns mail cargo  |

Mailbox Deadline Pushed Back for Manistee Residents

Pit bulls' presence halts postal delivery
Dog Attacks Prompt Letter Carriers' Plea
Chicago's Mail Delivery 'Worst in Nation'
Editorial: Neither sleet, nor snow, but maybe postal rates

May 02, 2007-

Potter: Postal Reform Act  is no fix for broken USPS model

"Mr. Potter said because the USPS has little control over some major costs, including fuel and employee retirement and health benefits, it must maintain an intense focus on managing other costs. “Keeping our rates under the cap and being able to pay our employees a fair wage requires us to find ways to remove an additional $1 billion in costs each year,” he said. “One way is through the expansion of contract delivery services. It is not our intention to take existing work from our letter carriers or to lay any carriers off. That is something I pledge not to do.” |

USPS asked to delay increase in Standard Mail flats

Gaylord, MI:  Postal jobs welcome news
Chicago USPS poor mail delivery at issue

Pitney Bowes Needs Postal Reform - Does Postal Reform Need Pitney Bowes?

May 01, 2007-

Federal Trade Commission studies USPS unfair advantages

the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act "requires the Federal Trade Commission to prepare and submit to the President, Congress, and the Postal Regulatory Commission a comprehensive report by December 20, 2007, identifying Federal and State laws that apply differently to the United States Postal Service with respect to the competitive category of mail and to private companies providing similar products. To help prepare this report, the Commission is requesting public comment on several issues." From reader: “This was one of the provisions in the PAEA that APWU President Burrus warned about. A comprehensive report by the FTC identifying USPS advantages over private companies will lead to more regulation of the USPS.” “I’m surprised that the NALC President failed to get language in the PAEA restricting contracting out, at least for his members |

USPS OIG Hiring Workers Compensation Analysts (WCAs)

"Workers Compensation Analyst (WCA) Program Management Services: Manage all stages of the Workers Compensation Analyst (WCA) program for the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPSOIG) - conducting surveillance activities and videotape activities of suspect claimants and analyzing data from employment, medical, Office of Workers Compensation Programs (OWCP) files, and other pertinent sources for indications of possible loss."  |

Editorial : Postal unions picketing to charge more for stamps

by Robert R. Schrum research fellow at the Lexington Institute , a right-wing think-tank - It’s understandable that union leaders would view private contractors unfavorably. After all, they don’t pay union dues and work for lower wages than federal postal employees do. .."with (USPS) labor costs hovering around 80 percent of total expenditures -- compared with about 50 percent in the private sector -- USPS management would be wise to take advantage of the cost-cutting opportunities that private contractors provide. Postal Service employees enjoy a 20 percent to 30 percent wage premium over their private-sector counterparts." But by leading the pickets earlier this month, Young and other union leaders weren’t just protesting private contractors. They were also protesting lower prices for consumers.  |

Postal Clerk Sues NY Transit Authority for negligence
Michael Steinberg who survived a power saw attack in the New York subway has forgiven his assailant, but is suing the city Transit Authority for letting it happen.   |