CLERK CRAFT JOB POSTING
Posting #23347 is now available for bidding by clerks at the LV P&DC.  The posting opened on Jan. 29, 2010 and will close on Feb. 12, 2010.  DO NOT wait until the last minute to place bids.  Computer systems crash and PIN numbers are forgotten.  These and any number of other troubles could arise for bidders who wait until the last day to bid.

This posting contains two jobs #70295076 (In Plant Support Clerk) and #70310838 (Expeditor - AFSM) which are restricted for sectional bidding only.  Due to past excessing from T-2, only current T-2 mail processing employees are eligible to bid upon these two jobs.  These jobs are further restricted in that T-2 clerks can only bid on jobs of the same level they currently hold.  A Level 06 T-2 Mail Processing Clerk may bid a Level 06 T-2 Mail Processing vacancy and likewise for Level 07 clerks.  If you are unsure of your status and whether or not you are permitted to bid these two jobs, contact a steward.  Once again, do not wait until the end of the posting period!

SCHOLARSHIP TIME - DEADLINES APPROACHING!
Members of the Lehigh Valley Area Local and their children have a number of scholarships available to them.  The Local offers two scholarships and others are available from the PPWU, National APWU, AFL-CIO and more.  Now is the time to start submitting applications for 2010 scholarships.  Go to the Scholarships Page to see what is available, the submission deadlines and to download applications.

LV P&DC CLERK CRAFT JOB POSTING SCHEDULE
On of the most asked question at the Lehigh Valley P&DC lately is, "When is the next job posting going up?"  The USPS has provided a tentative schedule for Clerk Craft bid postings at the Lehigh Valley P&DC for the year 2010. 

Keep in mind this is a tentative schedule and the dates are subject to change

WORKSHARING DISCOUNTS DO NOT ADD UP  - Burrus Update #23-09
A recent study by the Postal Service proudly reports the low cost of processing automated letters: just $6.17 per 1,000 pieces. What the analysis neglects to mention, however, is the wide disparity between USPS processing costs and the discounts the Postal Service grants major mailers for “worksharing.” [read the full story]

SMALL OFFICE CLOSURE "HIT LIST" REDUCE TO 168 OFFICES - APWU Web News Article #146-09
The USPS announced Dec. 14 that it has reduced the number of stations and branches under consideration for closure to 168, but cautioned that the new list does not represent a final decision on consolidation. “At this point no facility-specific final decisions have been made as a result of this initiative,” the Postal Service said in a press release.  [read the full story]

AREA INFORMATIONAL MEETING UPDATE
During the recent Area Informational Meeting several subjects were discussed that may be of value to clerks throughout the local.

• The HUB Clerk Agreement, signed in 2003 by National Clerk Director Jim McCarthy, was envisioned as a way for PTFs in small offices to supplement their hours by volunteering to work in other offices.  The downside to the agreement is that management can assign PTF who do not volunteer to work other offices.  With HUB Clerk assignments happening more frequently today, there are some questions that keep coming up:

  • Can they force a PTF to work in another office?  Yes.  Management can assign a PTF to work in an office within 50 miles

  • Can a FTR volunteer to work other offices?  No.  The HUB Clerk agreement only applies to PTFs.  Assigning a FTR to another office would be a form of excessing.

  • Do I get paid travel time?  If you report to your home office and are told to go to another office you may be entitled to travel time.  If you report directly to the other office, you will not get travel time.

  • How is mileage reimbursement calculated?  Subtract the mileage driven from your house to home office from the mileage from your house to the new office.  If the result is a negative, you get no mileage reimbursement.

    • Example: I travel 10 miles to work but am assigned to an office 40 miles away.  I get 30 miles of reimbursement.

    • Example: I travel 30 miles to work but am assigned to an office 10 miles from my home.  I get no reimbursement.

  For more information on the HUB Clerk Agreement, read the HUB Clerk Questions & Answers MOU  

• PTF Pool:  Can a clerk only work offices within their "pool group"?  The PTF Pool is not part of the HUB Clerk Agreement, it is something that management has devised to assist them with their scheduling.  There is nothing in the contract that limits a clerk to working offices within their "pool group".  If you wish to work an office outside your group, we suggest you contact the postmaster of that office and let him/her know you are available and looking for hours.

• Schedule Guarantee vs Call-Back Guarantee:  Under normal circumstances a PTF who is scheduled to work is guaranteed two (2) hours.  However, there is another type of guarantee, called a "Call-Back" guarantee under which clerks are guaranteed four (4) hours of work.  The Call-Back guarantee applies to any employee who has worked on a given day, completed their tour and clocked out.  If management calls you and tells you to return to the office, you are guaranteed four (4) hours.  This applies to any employee who has clocked out.  Even if they stop you in the parking lot on your way home, it is still considered a "call back".

• Clerk A/L vs. Postmaster A/L:  The language on this is clear and there is no dispute.  Postmasters cannot deny clerk A/L requests simply because they, themselves, want the day off.  Postmaster, or OIC, leave has absolutely no effect on craft A/L provisions.

CHANGES AT APWU HEADQUARTERS
National Secretary / Treasurer Terry Stapleton will be resigning from office and from the APWU.  Terry has been offered the position of Chief Budget Officer for the AFL-CIO.  The timing of this offer will not permit Terry to finish out his term of office.  The Lehigh Valley Area Local would like to thank Brother Stapleton for all the help he has given this local over the years.  We wish him all the best in his new job.

        Northeast Regional Coordinator Liz Powell will fill the vacancy for the remainder of the term.  Ms. Powell was nominated by APWU President Burrus and unanimously confirmed by the National Executive Board.  Taking over as Regional Coordinator will be John Dzirzuis, the current local President of the Greater Connecticut Area Local.

CLERK CRAFT JOB POSTING OPEN UNTIL OCT 27th
Posting #20809 opened on October 13, 2009 and will close on October 27, 2009.  There are two jobs not listed on the posting that the APWU believes should be included.  We are investigating the situations involving those jobs.  Clerks can bid jobs using the phone, kiosk or the computer.  Click the posting link (left) to view the jobs.

APWU ISSUES CHALLENGE TO PMG POTTER TO PUT UP OR SHUT UP
Outsourcing and "workshare discounts" are nothing new to industry.  We have seen hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of good jobs shipped overseas for the sake of cheap labor.  At a time when the USPS is trying to be more "business-like" every day they certainly make poor business decisions when it comes to workshare discounts.

 The National Agreement and the Postal Accountability & Enhancement Act indicate that the USPS should offer discounts only if the discount is smaller than the costs avoided by doing work in-house.  The USPS, contrary to all wisdom, has done just the opposite.  The USPS routinely gives discounts greater than costs avoided.  For instance, a recent study by the APWU found that it costs the USPS 2 cents to sort and process a letter.  By outsourcing sortation of that letter the USPS saves 2 cents, yet they are giving a discount of 10.5 cents per letter!

To understand the scope of problem you must realize that the USPS has single-handedly created the presort industry.  Prior to the 1990's mail presort houses didn't even exist.  Once the USPS began offering excessive discounts presort houses began appearing around the country.  Today, presorting is a multi-billion dollar industry reaping profits at the expense of the USPS and postal workers. 

PMG Potter, several congressmen, mailer's groups and the media have all suggested that craft employee salaries and benefits are the cause of the USPS' problems.  The reality is, that if APWU were paid to do what the pre-sort houses do, at the rate they are paid, we would earn much, much more than our postal salaries pay.

 To that end, APWU President William Burrus has thrown down the gauntlet and issued a public challenge to USPS PMG John Potter.  End the excessive discounts, bring all presort mail back into the USPS for processing, and pay the APWU 10.4 cents for each letter or flat sorted.  More. . .

FERS FLU VACCINE SPEEDING THROUGH CONGRESS
On October 7, 2009 the House/Senate Conference voted to pass the 2010 Defense Authorization bill.  The bill contains a provision which would allow FERS employees to get credit for unused sick leave upon their retirement.  This benefit is already enjoyed by CSRS employees.  The Conference version of the Defense bill was approved by the House of Representatives on October 08, 2009.  The Senate is expected to take action soon.

One potential roadblock to passage of this legislation could be a filibuster attempt by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK).  Senator Coburn threatened to filibuster an earlier bill which contained a FERS Flu cure and the FERS provision was ultimately withdrawn from consideration.  You'll remember Sen. Coburn is the same Senator who forwarded the poison pill amendment in S.1507 which would allow arbitrators to lower postal workers wages.  Senator Coburn is also known to postal employees for telling federal employees that, "there is no guarantee to your federal pension...If you think it is guaranteed you have another thought coming."

If signed into law the FERS provision would allow retiring employee to credit their unused sick leave towards service time for retirement computations. 

Another provision of the bill would allow federal agencies to rehire retired employees on a temporary limited time basis without affecting their annuity.

APWU PRESIDENT BURRUS WILL NOT SEEK ANOTHER TERM
APWU National President William Burrus has announced that he will not be seeking re-election in the upcoming 2010 National Officer Elections.  Unlike NALC President Bill Young who resigned his positions in July 2009, President Burrus has committed to serving out the remainder of his term in office which runs through December 2010.  The decision not to run for re-election will mark an end to Burrus' 53-year career, 37 years of which were spent at the representing members at the Executive Level.  The announcement was made during a speech at the All Craft Conference last week.  In his speech Burrus laid out his vision for the future of the APWU and challenged the officers and members to be strong and see that course through.  more...

USPS AND APWU NEGOTIATE ONE-TIME RETIREMENT INCENTIVE PACKAGE FOR ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEES
Under the agreement, eligible APWU represented employees would receive as much as $15,000 pay in two installments of $10,000 in 2009 and another $5,000 in 2010. Full time employees will receive the full $15,000 while Part Time employees would receive a prorated amount based upon hours worked. Eligible employees will have thirty (30) days from August 24, 2009 to decide whether or not to accept the retirement offer. Unfortunately, some employees have been excluded from the offer. Use the links below to find out more.

• More details at APWU.org

• Read the entire agreement

MORATORIUM ON EXCESSING

A byproduct of the Early Retirement MOU is a moratorium on all excessing for the next two months. All Excessing impacts will be put on hold during the period of August 24 through October 09, 2009. After that the parties will review each impact and determine what, if any, affect retirements have had on excessing.

LOCAL MEMBER'S CHILD WINS PPWU SCHOLARSHIP

The winner of the 2009 John T. Boxler Scholarship, awarded by the Pennsylvania Postal Workers Union,  is Kelsey Bonsell, daughter of Rick Bonsell. Rick is the Lead Mechanic at the Lehigh Valley VMF and a member of the Lehigh Valley Area Local. Kelsey graduated from Parkland High School and will be attending Penn State in the fall. Congratulations Kelsey, we wish you all the best in the future!

HOUSE GOP LEADERSHIP WANTS TO CUT YOUR RETIREMENT BENEFITS!

House GOP Leaders John Boehner - OH and Minority Whip Eric Cantor - VA have presented President Obama with a budget proposal that would see $375 billion in cuts over five years.  Several of the cuts involve federal employees and would negatively impact their retirement benefits.  Among the changes proposed by Boehner and Cantor are:

• Changing the High-3 formula used to calculate CSRS annuities to High-5.  This would lower CSRS retirement annuities by $1.2 billion over five years.

• Raise the minimum retirement age of certain federal employees from the current age of 56 years.

• Change CSRS and FERS annuity system to ensure that no federal employee receives any retirement benefits until reaching the age of 62. This would save approx $1.3 billion by taking six year of retirement benefits out of your pocket!

          This is what the Republican Leadership in the House of Representatives thinks of you!  If they had a majority, or the White House is this the type of legislation we could expect to see?  

Thankfully, proposals such as these have been considered and rejected in the past, in a bipartisan fashion.  It is unlikely that President Obama or the rest of Congress will support these proposals.

S/L CHANGES FOR FERS EMPLOYEES SNUFFED OUT BY SENATE REPUBLICANS 

By a vote of 67-30 the US Senate passed HR 1256 giving the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products.  Attached to the bill were several amendments affecting postal employees.  The first brings about changes to the TSP plan including automatic enrollment and a Roth IRA option.  The second amendment, proposed by Senator Joe Lieberman - CT, would have provided a Sick Leave benefit for FERS employees similar to that enjoyed by CSRS employees.  The amendment would have allowed FERS employees to apply unused S/L towards their service time at retirement.   Republican Senator Jim Demint - SC objected to the Lieberman amendment and successfully blocked it from being added to the bill.

The House version of the bill does contain the S/L amendment but it will have to survive hearings to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions.  Supporters of the Lieberman Amendment are not hopeful of the amendment's chances to survive reconcilement.

LV P&DC CLERK JOB POSTING

You may have noticed that there is active job posting for clerk craft employees at the Lehigh Valley P&DC.  You may have also noted that those jobs are not posted here on the website.  The Local has raised several very serious concerns with regard to this posting, not least of which is the jobs were posted four days after the official "opening date" thus reducing the bid period from the required 14 days to 10.  There are other aspects of the posting that the Local believes should be corrected.  To avoid confusing potential bidders, the local has decided not to show the jobs here until they have been verified as accurate.

When the corrected job list is posted it will be made available here.

TOUR COMPRESSION - WEEK ONE

The USPS Tour Compression initiative went into effect on Saturday, June 06, 2009 with former T-2 clerks reporting to their new assignments.  There have been some minor issues that have come up, which is to be expected, but we hope to work through these problems.  There is, however, one aspect of the change over that cannot go unmentioned.  That is the attitude of the employees involved.  Despite a major shake-up to their jobs and lives, these people continue to perform their duties in a responsible and professional manner.  The local is proud to have members like this and they should be commended for their dedication.

LOCAL PREVAILS IN ARBITRATION

Arbitrator Irene Donna Thomas has ruled in the LV Locals favor in a case involving the changing of drop days on two vacant positions.  In April 2009, management posted two bid jobs which had the days off changed from weekends to weekdays.  The APWU complained that the changes had not been discussed prior to posting which is required by the LMOU.  Management argued two points.  First that the APWU had been shown a copy of the posting, with the job changes prior to posting.  Secondly, management claimed it had previously informed the union that it would be scrutinizing the days off of all future vacancies.  Management posed that since this "game plan" of desired staffing had been discussed with the union, future discussions of changes were not necessary.  The Union countered these discussions were general in nature and no specific jobs were discussed.

The Arbitrator ruled against management indicating that prior discussions of a general nature did not satisfy the requirements of the LMOU.  Arbitrator Thomas wrote, "As Mr. Friel correctly pointed out, this prior notice of a 'game plan' did not relieve management of the obligation to consult with the union before actual changes were made."  The arbitrator also found that by simply showing a copy of the job posting the union was deprived an opportunity for input before the decision to change the jobs was made.  The arbitrator ruled that the jobs must be reposted with the original days off restored. 

Good win for the Local!  Great job by Bernie and Fran in preparing the grievance and by NBA Jeff Kelhert who argued the union's case before the arbitrator!

HERSHEY PARK PICNIC - JULY 12, 2009

Join us for a day of fun, food, and fellowship at the Lehigh Valley Area Local Annual Summer Picnic on July 11, 2009 at Hershey Park.  We will, once again, be in the Tidal Grove with food service from 12:00 - 4:00 pm.  Information about the picnic will be included in the upcoming newsletter, or you can click the link (right) to download an order form.  The deadline to order tickets in Monday, June 29, 2009

The Local has also contracted with the Holiday Inn in Grantville, PA for reduced room rates for any members interested in staying overnight.  The rates are good from July 11th through the 13th.  For more information click the Hotel Info link (right)

NDC TRANSITION TESTING BEGINS FOR LEHIGH VALLEY OFFICES

After two years of trying to contract out Bulk Mail Center (BMC) work, the USPS finally decided it had no choice but to keep the work in house.  The declining volume has left many of the 21 BMCs with reduced workloads and half-empty trailers.  The USPS has made the decision to convert the BMCs into Network Distribution Centers (NDC).  The 21 BMCs would become one of three types of NDCs.  Tier 1 NDCs will only process destination mail.  All outgoing mail will be shipped to the nearest Tier 2.  Tier 2 NDCs will process both destination and outgoing mail.  They will also serve as a hub for Tier 1 NDCs combining the loads together to maximize trailer space.  Tier 3 NDCs will serve as hubs for less-than-full trailers from Tier 2 facilities to, once again, maximize trailer space.  There will be 11 Tier 1 facilities (Philadelphia BMC included), 10 Tier 2 NDCs (including New Jersey BMC) and 4 Tier 3 NDCs (Pittsburgh BMC included).

AT THE ASSOCIATE OFFICES - This change means you may have to pre-sort your bulk mail parcels into one of several containers.  Level 18 and above office must perform this pre-sorting which could result in more clerk hours.  Level 17s and below are not required to pre-sort, but management will push them to do it anyway.

AT THE PLANT - The changes brought on by the NDC conversion will mostly affect the dock operations and should not bring about changes inside the building.  On the dock, workers will unload containers from one truck and load them directly onto another (known as "cross-docking").  If containers are not full they will be combined with others to maximize container space.  Every container must be scanned as open and scanned again when closed.

The USPS is promoting this change as "The Future of the Postal Service".  It is entirely possible that a successful launch of NDC conversion could lead to similar changes in the first class mail processing network of P&DCs and P&DFs.

 "As the Republican Party has moved farther and farther to the right, I have found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy and more in line with the philosophy of the Democratic Party"

- Senator Arlen Specter

MEET PENNSYLVANIA'S NEWEST DEMOCRATIC SENATOR - ARLEN SPECTER

29-year Senator Arlen Specter announced today that he will be running as a Democrat in the upcoming 2009 Senatorial Election.  Specter has recently come under intense scrutiny from the Republican party for supporting President Obama's Stimulus Package.  Since that vote Senator Specter has been called a traitor by the Republican National Committee, vilified by the media at Fox News, and was threatened with sanctions if he didn't get in line with the Republican agenda.  The GOP, seeking to oust Senator Specter from his seat, have put their support behind challenger Pat Toomey in the Republican Primary race.  It is extremely rare for a political party to campaign for a challenger when the incumbent Senator is also from that same party.  Apparently, Senator Specter the GOP has slapped Arlen Specter in the face one time too many.  It appears he has had enough of the GOP threats and intimidation and has decided to change affiliation.

Earlier this year, Senator Specter was a vocal supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and pledged his support for working men and women.  After the Stimulus vote, Specter was called on the carpet by the GOP Leadership.  After the meeting, Specter publicly denounced the EFCA and said he would do everything in his power to kill the legislation, including a Senate filibuster if necessary.  With the GOP no longer controlling his future, perhaps Sen. Specter will return to his former position and support the much needed worker reforms.

Specter has a long history of being a moderate Senator who has a respectable voting record with labor.  Senator Specter, you will recall, played an important role in the shaping and passage of the Postal Accountability Act.  Senator Spector voted on the side of labor on many key aspects of the bill.  He has brought many billions of dollars home to the state of Pennsylvania and is considered one of the Senate's most respected and effective legislators.  This change, along with the seating of Al Franken (MN) leaves the Democratic party only one vote shy of a filibuster proof majority.

AUTOMATED JOB BIDDING SYSTEM SHUT DOWN

The USPS has informed the union that the Automated Computer and Phone Bidding System will be temporarily down for maintenance later this week.  The system will be unavailable from Saturday, April 25, 2009 (3:00 am) until Sunday, April 26, 2009 (01:00 pm).  Manual bids will be accepted during the outage.  Once the automated system is up and running again manual bids will not be accepted. 

TOUR 2 COMPRESSION UPDATE

Management has informed the union that jobs will be posted on Friday, April 24, 2009.  The successful bidders of those jobs will be placed into the jobs effective Saturday, May 16, 2009.  The posting will consist of two separate bidding procedures.  The first will be a posting of jobs for the whole facility to bid on.  The second will be jobs remaining on T-2 that are subject to Closed Bidding.  For more details on the upcoming posting click HERE.

2008 COPA - LEHIGH VALLEY AREA LOCAL LEADS THE WAY. . .AGAIN!

The National APWU has released the final figures from the 2008 COPA campaign. It should come as no surprise that the Lehigh Valley Area Local was, once again, at the front of the pack. The LV Local ranked #1 in the country for locals with 500 - 999 members, #1 among all locals in the state of Pennsylvania, and #5 among all locals in the country (despite being much smaller than the top four locals). More...

LOCAL MEMBER HONORED WITH INAUGURAL AWARD

The Lehigh Valley Area Local's own Fran Friel has been named Labor Hero of the Year for 2008, by Democratic Talk Radio.  Fran's decision to move the 2008 PA State Convention due to labor disputes at the hotel shows that the PPWU believes in more than just talking about solidarity and brotherhood.  They back it up with actions.  The Lehigh Valley Area Local is proud to call Fran one of our own. [read the article]

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT FILING TIPS

Sandy Vito, Acting Secretary for the Department has provided us with valuable information and tips for members who, due to reductions in workhours, might find themselves applying for unemployment benefits. The fastest way to apply for benefits, according to Ms. Vito is on-line at www.dli.state.pa.us. In addition to this information, Ms. Vito has provided links and resources that will provide members with the most up to date information available. The Dept. of Labor & Industry has developed a "tip card" that you can print and carry with you. To learn more, visit the Unemployment Resources page on the PPWU website.