USPS, Unions Announce Separation Bonus Plan

In what could save the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) $500 million next year, USPS is offering $15,000 bonuses to eligible employees who elect to retire or separate before the end of Fiscal Year 2009, the Postal Service announced Aug. 25. USPS negotiated the separation incentive plan with the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union as part of an effort to accelerate staffing reductions for employees represented by the unions. As many as 30,000 employees could take advantage of the incentive offer, USPS said. Advances in mail processing technology and the continuing recession have led the Postal Service to reduce hours in mail processing facilities, where the majority of employees eligible for the incentive work. Letter carriers represented by the National Association of Letter Carriers and the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association were not extended the offer. Under the terms of a memorandum of understanding, eligible employees must notify USPS of their desire to retire, and take a voluntary early retirement package or voluntarily separate before Sept. 30. They also must have a final departure date on or before Nov. 30. The incentive will be paid in two installments: $10,000 to be paid during the first three months of Fiscal Year 2010 and a second $5,000 installment paid in October 2010. “This agreement achieves a longstanding objective of the APWU,” said union President William Burrus. “Excessing and work-hour cuts cause severe hardships for our members, so finding a way to make voluntary complement adjustments became an urgent matter.”
To see more, go to: www.apwu.org/news/webart/2009/09-099-retirement_incentive-090825.htm, 
www.npmhu.org/Pubs/UPDATE/2009/up090801.asp or www.usps.com/news.

APWU of Maine Executive Board meets 6/28

The State Executive Board met on Sunday, June 28th in Brewer.  The meeting followed a training session hosted by the Bangor Area Local and NBA Tom O’Brien.  Training focused on Article 1.6.b issues which deal with management performing bargaining unit work.  This is a hot issue in the State as the Service attempts to downsize and steal our work and our jobs.  Members in the area were invited to attend.  Similar training will be offered at the upcoming National Presidents Conference in October and all APWU members are welcome.  A notice will be sent to all MALs and Locals.  The Presidents Conference will be held at the Eastland Hotel in Portland the weekend of October 24th.

Following the training, the Executive Board met and discussed several items, including updates to the members regarding Legislative issues, communication issues, and Article 1.6.b concerns. 

A newsletter will be published in August.  The Executive Board will meet again prior to the NPC and will assist the Portland Local during the Conference. 

In the absence of Dan Clark, Bangor Local President Rich Reed was appointed as the Area Vice President (MAL) (A).

Key House Panel Passes HR 22

(06/24/09) A House subcommittee has approved an amended version of H.R. 22, legislation that would provide temporary relief from a provision of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act that requires the Postal Service to prefund the healthcare benefits of future retirees. The funding obligation — combined with the nation’s sharp economic downturn — has brought the USPS to the brink of insolvency.

APWU on Five-Day Delivery: Don’t Do It!

(06/22/09) The APWU has given a straightforward response to a USPS request for input regarding five-day mail delivery: “Don’t do it!” “The American Postal Workers Union submits in the strongest possible terms our insistence that the Postal Service refrain from conversion to five-day delivery,” APWU President William Burrus wrote on June 18. “The consequences of the proposed change far outweigh the expected monetary benefits associated with delivery reduction.”

APWU Locals Lead Protests

Of USPS Consolidation Plans

(06/16/09) The controversy over USPS efforts to cut the nation’s mail processing and distribution network has been rekindled in recent months, following a rash of announcements that the Postal Service is seeking to consolidate operations in many locations. Workers, owners of small businesses, and other concerned citizens have been speaking out against USPS plans.

Leading Economists: Employee Free Choice Key to Rebuilding Economy

by Seth Michaels, Feb 25, 2009

In a statement delivered today to Capitol Hill and published as a full-page advertisement in The Washington Post, more than three dozen of the nation’s top economists call on Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to help restore an economy that works for everyone, built on a sustainable, wage-based growth.

The statement, signed by 39 of America’s top economists, including two Nobel Prize winners, points to the failure of U.S. labor laws to protect employees’ freedom to form a union and bargain as a major factor in our economic crisis.