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Postal News.

July 21, 2004

USPS cites savings through automation

By STEPHEN LOSEY

The U.S. Postal Service on July 20 said automating letter-mail processing has saved .6 billion over the last 17 years.

Chief Financial Officer Richard Strasser told the Board of Governors that the Postal Service has installed 14,000 pieces of equipment over that time at a cost of .6 billion.

Strasser, who was speaking at the Board of Governors’ meeting in San Francisco, also said the Postal Service held expenses down in the third quarter of fiscal 2004 and is on track to hold postage rates steady until 2006. He said the Postal Service posted a positive net income of million in the third quarter, despite a slight decline in revenue from the same period in fiscal 2003.

The Postal Service brought in .6 billion in revenue in the third quarter of fiscal 2004. Strasser credited the income to increased productivity and work-force reductions.


12/60 Work Limitations and the

Appropriate Remedy for Exceeding the Ceiling


As management continues to right size our work force we will see an increase in overtime hours to cover the shortage in the workforce. Along with this increase of overtime come increasing attempts by management to deny the Bargaining Unit of its rights. Article 8 overtime provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement has been arbitrated and been put to rest, I thought… I see some of the same issues that we fought hard and long for resurfacing.

The question of working over 60 hours within a service week continues to surface even after being settled 16 years ago. The issue of 12/60 work hour limitations and the appropriate remedy when management allows you to work beyond the daily/weekly work limitation has been a problem since the 1988 settlement.

A brief history of this 12-hour daily 60-hour weekly limitation would be in order. The issue was arbitrated before Arbitrator Richard Mittenthal back in 1986 and 1987. Several questions were presented to him for interpretation.

Whether a violation of article 8, section 5G2, i.e., working an employee more than 12 hours in a day or 60 hours in a service week, justifies a remedy apart from beyond the penalty overtime pay provided by article 8, section 4C and D? If so what would be the remedy?

Mittenthal ruled in part that Article 8, Section 5G2 does establish an absolute bar against employees working more than 60 hours in a service week. The pay question was remanded back to the parties for further consideration.

Whether an employee sent home in the middle of his tour on a regularly scheduled day, because of the bar against employees working more than 60 hours in a service week, is entitled to be paid?

He additionally ruled that an employee having been sent home on his regularly scheduled day before the end of his tour on account of the 60- hour ceiling and having experienced no temporary change of schedule, must be paid for the hours he lost that day.

Whether management may ignore the pecking order in a holiday period scheduling, as established by article 11 section 6B or a local Memorandum of understanding in order to avoid payment of penalty overtime pay under article 8?

Management may not ignore the “pecking order” in a holiday period scheduling under Article 11, Section 6 in order to avoid penalty overtime pay under Article 8.

Management may not treat regular volunteers for holiday period work as having volunteered for up to 12 hours on whatever day(s) they are asked to work.

He also remanded the remedy back to the parties in this grievance. As a result of Arbitrator Mittenthal’s decisions to remand the remedies back to the parties the following memorandum came into existence.

The United States Postal Service, NALC and the APWU agreed to compensate the aggrieved employees an additional 50 percent premium of the base hourly straight time rate for those limited instances when employees are permitted to work beyond the 12/60 limitation.

Memorandum of Understanding

Between

The United States Postal Service

And

The American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO

And

 The National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO

The United States Postal Service, the American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO, and the National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO, hereby agree to resolve the following issues, which remain in dispute and arise from the application of the overtime and holiday provisions of Articles 8 and 11 of the 1984 and 1987 National Agreements. The parties agree further to remand those grievances which were timely filed and which involve the issues set forth herein for resolution in accordance with the terms of this Memorandum of Understanding.

12 Hours In A Work Day and 60 Hours In a Service Week Restrictions

The parties agree that with the exception of December, full-time employees are prohibited from working more than 12 hours in a single workday or 60 hours within a service week. In those limited instances where this provision is or has been violated and a timely grievance filed, full-time employees will be compensated at an additional premium of 50 percent of the base hourly straight time rate for those hours worked beyond the 12 or 60-hour limitation. The employment of this remedy shall not be construed as an agreement by the parties that the Employer may exceed the 12 and 60-hour limitation with impunity.

As a means of facilitating the foregoing, the parties agree that excluding December, once a full-time employee reaches 20 hours of overtime within a service week, the employee is no longer available for any additional overtime work. Furthermore, the employee’s tour of duty shall be terminated once he or she reaches the 60th hour of work, in accordance with Arbitrator Mittenthal’s National Level Arbitration Award on this issue, dated September 11, 1987, in case numbers H4N-NA-C 21 (3rd issue) and H4C-NA-C 27.

Holiday Work

The parties agree that the Employer may not refuse to comply with the holiday scheduling “pecking order” provisions of Article 11, Section 6 or the provisions of a Local Memorandum of Understanding in order to avoid payment of penalty overtime.

The parties further agree to remedy past and future violations of the above understanding as follows:

1.      Full-time employees and part-time regular employees who file a timely grievance because they were improperly assigned to work their holiday or designated holiday will be compensated at an additional premium of 50 percent of the base hourly straight time rate.

2.      For each full-time employee or part-time regular employee improperly assigned to work a holiday or designated holiday, the Employer will compensate the employee who should have worked but was not permitted to do so, pursuant to the provisions of Article 11, Section 6, or pursuant to a Local Memorandum of Understanding at the rate of pay the employee would have earned had he or she worked on that holiday.

The above settles the holiday remedy question, which was remanded to the parties by Arbitrator Mittenthal in his January 19, 1987 decision in H4N-NA-C 21 and H4N-NA-C 24.

As with every agreement the parties enter into with the Postal Service, it never seems to put the issue to rest. Additional disputes are always guaranteed to surface.

The following information is from the New York Metro USPS/APWU Joint Contract Application Manual. This manual may not be applicable for your area but the references and resources sure are. This information is only provided to assist you in protecting your rights

Questions and Answers

QUESTION: If management violates the 12-hour or 60-hour restriction, what is the remedy for said violation?

Response: In instances where this provision is or has been violated and a timely grievance is filed, the full-time employee(s) will be compensated at an additional premium of 50 percent of the base hourly straight time rate for those hours worked beyond the 12 or 60 hour limitation.

Source: MOU between USPS, NALC and the APWU, October 19, 1988. National Arbitration Award, H4M-NA-C 21 and H4C-NA-C 27, Mittenthal, fourth issue), A90N-4A-C 94042668, Snow

QUESTION: After a full time employee reaches 20 hours of overtime within a service week is he/she still available for overtime?

Response: No. Once the employee reaches 20 hours of overtime within a service week, the employee is no longer available for any additional overtime work.

Source: MOU between USPS, NALC and APWU, October 19, 1988.

QUESTION: What is management’s obligation when an employee reaches the 60th hour of work?

Response: The employee’s tour of duty shall be terminated once he/she reaches the 60th hour of work.

Source: MOU between USPS, NALC and the APWU, October 19, 1988. National Arbitration Award, H4M-NA-C 21 and H4C-NA-C 27.

QUESTION: Does paid leave count toward the 12 and 60 work limits?

Response: Yes  Source: ELM 434

QUESTION: Is an employee who is sent home in the middle of the tour on a regularly schedule day, because of the bar against employees working more than 60 hours in a service week, entitled to be paid for the remainder of his scheduled day?

Response: Yes, an employee having been sent home on his regularly scheduled day before the end of his tour due to the 60-hour ceiling and having experience no temporary change of schedule, must be compensated for the hours he lost that day.

Source: National Arbitration Award, September 11, 1987, Arbitrator Mittenthal H4M-NA-C 21 and H4C-NA-C 27.

QUESTION: Does “Holiday Work Pay” count towards the 56 and 60 hour work limits?

Response: No. “Holiday Work Pay” is a premium paid to eligible employees for hours worked on a holiday. However, since employees are given credit for paid leave on a holiday, the holiday leave time would count toward the 56 and 60 hour limits.

Source: ELM 434

As clear as the language and the arbitrations cited may seem, we still continue to see violations of the 12/60 limits. If you work beyond the 12/60 limitations you MUST file a grievance for the additional 50 percent premium. You are still entitled to the premium even if you take paid leave during the time frame. If you need additional information or copies of the arbitration awards or the memorandum of understanding please contact me. This information is only provided to assist you, contact your local union representative to see if your rights have been violated.

Yours in education,

Bill Lewis


Related Links:

ELM 434 Overtime and Premium Pay

Annual Leave in Lieu of Holiday Pay

APWU/USPS Questions & Answers Overtime Article Eight

APWU/ Postal Service Agreement clarifying rules for National Days of Mourning when U.S. presidents die

USPS Sued for Intentionally Deleting Parts of Employees' Time Records to Avoid Paying Overtime-Suit May Impact 200,000+ USPS Workers Nationwide



COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT REFORM

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release                                                    Contact: Robert White/Drew Crockett

May 12, 2004                                                                           (202) 225-5074


Government Reform Committee Approves Landmark Postal Reform Legislation
Legislation Transforming Postal Service Is Boon to Billion Industry , 9 Million Jobs


Washington, DC - Tom Davis (R-VA), chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, is pleased to announce that the Committee today unanimously approved H.R. 4341,  The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2004.

H.R 4341 is the first major piece of postal reform legislation to head to the House floor in three decades. Davis has received assurances from House leadership that the bill will receive floor time this summer.

This is a wonderful victory for the U.S. Postal Service, advocates of postal reform and all American families and businesses who rely on mail delivery, Davis said. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act will strengthen the financial future of the Postal Service, guarantee the continuation of universal delivery to all addresses, help reduce future rate increases, and protect the 9 million jobs and billion in annual commerce that is dependent upon services provided by USPS.

If you get mail or receive it, this legislation is good news, Davis said.

The legislation was introduced by Chairman Davis, Ranking Minority Member Henry Waxman (D-CA), Congressman John M. McHugh (R-NY) and Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL). McHugh and Danny Davis led the Committee's Special Panel on Postal Reform, which held three hearings on postal reform over the last year.

"This is a great day for the Government Reform Committee and those of us who have been working diligently to realize comprehensive reform of the U.S. Postal Service. Today's action takes a significant step forward toward achieving our objectives“ to enact the first major postal reform in more than 30 years and provide the postal service with the flexibility they need to operate successfully in our 21st Century economy. While this is an excellent first step for legislation that was truly a consensus document, work will continue as we refine the bill for floor consideration in the coming weeks. This reform is a long time in coming, and I'm thrilled that we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel, said Congressman McHugh.

The major provisions of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act are:

    • Modern Rate Regulation - shifting the basis of the Postal Rate Commission from a costly, complex scheme of rate cases to a modern system designed to ensure that rate increases generally do not exceed the annual change in the Consumer Price Index.  This applies only to market-dominant products (letters, periodicals, advertising mail) because the Postal Service is provided with different pricing freedom for its competitive products (Express Mail, Priority Mail, etc.).
       
    • Combining Market Disciplines with Regulation - combining market mechanisms with Commission regulation to govern the rates of competitive products.  The Postal Service would be given additional pricing freedom but would lose favored legal treatment for such products.
       
    • Limitations on Postal Monopoly and Nonpostal Products - requiring the Postal Service to only offer postal services and for the first time defining exactly what constitutes "postal services."  The bill also revises the authority of the Postal Service to regulate competitors.
       
    • Reform of International Mail Regulation - clarifying the authority of the State Department to set international policy, applying customs laws equally to postal and private shipments, and giving the Postal Service the authority to contract with airlines for transport of international mail.
       
    • Strengthening of the Commission - giving the Postal Rate Commission "teeth" by granting it subpoena power and a broader scope for regulation and oversight.  The PRC would be renamed the "Postal Regulatory Commission."
       
    • Establish a Basis for Future Reforms - mandating several studies, including a comprehensive assessment of the scope and standards for universal services.
       
    • Miscellaneous Reforms - including returning the responsibility for the military service cost of Postal retirees to the Treasury Department, while also requiring the Postal Service to significantly fund its enormous liability for retiree health benefits. 

A copy of Chairman Davis' statement on the legislation follows:

"Each year, the United States Postal Service processes and delivers 208 billion pieces of mail to more than 130 million addresses in the United States. More than 9 million American jobs, billion in commerce and 8 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product are dependent upon mail and package delivery. The Postal Service is vital not just for our national communication network, but as an important cog in our economic engine.

"But, because it is hampered by a legal framework that is outdated and unsuited for today's competitive environment, the Postal Service is facing a bleak and uncertain future. First-class mail volume is declining while the number of addresses is increasing, and the Postal Service has but one mechanism“ raising rates "to make up the difference between its falling revenues and rising costs. Observers have likened this to a "death spiral," where declining business leads to higher rates, which in turn leads to a further decline in business, and so on, and so on, and so on.

"We simply cannot fail to act. Postal reform is not a luxury we cannot afford “ it is a necessity we can no longer avoid.

"The legislation we are considering today, Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2004, is the culmination of years of hard work and study“ much of it led by the bill's chief sponsor, Congressman John McHugh of New York“ on the issue of postal reform. It represents our best chance at solving the structural, legal and financial constraints that have conspired to bring the Postal Service to the brink of catastrophe.

"Let me to take a moment to highlight some of the key pieces of the legislation:

First, it preserves universal service: the guaranteed delivery, six days a week, to every address in the United States.

Second, it returns responsibility for funding the military cost of Postal retirees pensions to the Treasury Department. This liability was shifted to USPS last year “ quite frankly, this was nothing more than an accounting gimmick, but it is one that must be reversed if we are serious about fixing the Postal Service's long-term balance sheet.

 It frees up the billion in civil service retirement savings that have been held in escrow for USPS, allowing the Postal Service to use this money “ which rightly belongs to USPS “ to defray rate increases, among other options.

 The legislation also modernizes the way postal rates are established, switching from a cumbersome, costly scheme of rate cases to a modern system designed to ensure that rate increases generally do not exceed the annual change in the Consumer Price Index.

 The legislation would change the name of the Postal Rate Commission to the "Postal Regulatory Commission" and enhance the role of the Commission by giving it subpoena power and a broader scope for regulation and oversight.

 This bill places limitations on postal monopoly “ revising the authority of USPS to regulate competitors “ while also requiring the Postal Service to offer only "postal services." The bill also, for the first time, defines what "postal services" consist of.

 Finally, the Act sets the stage for future reform by mandating several studies, including a comprehensive assessment of the scope and standards for universal service.

"Before I conclude, I want to thank Congressman McHugh, who chaired our Special Panel on Postal Reform and was the right leader to undertake this daunting task, the Committee's Ranking Member, Henry Waxman, and Congressman Danny Davis, the Ranking Member on the Special Panel, for their dedication to this subject and their willingness to do this in a bipartisan manner. It is only through bipartisan cooperation that we have gotten this far, and why we have been able to keep all the interested parties at the table in productive discussions while crafting this bill.

"Let me just say: This is not a perfect bill. I think probably each of the groups with a stake in postal reform see things in here that they like, and things they dislike. But, guess what? There is no magical solution to postal reform that is going to be ideal to everyone. If there were, this legislation would have been done long ago.

"Let's remember just how long it is since Congress tackled comprehensive postal reform “ 1970. That's long before the Internet, before the de-regulation of the airline industry, before FedEx even existed.

"The last time USPS was reformed, the cicadas were invading D.C. Two cicada life cycles and 34 years later, we are once again bracing for the cicada invasion, and it is once again high time to re-write the out-of-date laws that govern the U.S. Postal Service."

###


What others are saying about the House Postal Reform Bill .....

 

APWU Praises House Postal Reform Bill-- ËœVery Concerned' About Senate Draft

Postal reform bill could net USPS billionsThe House Government Reform Committee on May 12 advanced the first major legislation in three decades intended to overhaul the way the U.S. Postal Service operates. The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, HR 4341, would net the Postal Service an additional billion over the next several decades and require it to fully fund its retiree health benefits (Federal Times)

- Postal Service overhaul clears first hurdle-Two committee members offered and withdrew amendments to the bill. Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, offered two amendments. His first would have explicitly prohibited the Postal Service from competing with private companies that offer packing and package preparation services. The Postal Service has never offered that service, but LaTourette said the agency "toyed with the idea" in the mid-1990s. LaTourette's second amendment would have limited the Postal Service's ability to contract international mail delivery with foreign air carriers. The amendment would require the Postal Service to use American carriers whenever available. After assurances from Davis and Waxman that they would work with LaTourette as this bill goes to the floor, LaTourette withdrew his amendments. An amendment from Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., would have required the Postal Service to expunge any revenue deficiency it suffered by offering discounted rates to groups that do not qualify as nonprofit organizations. After Davis and Waxman promised to consider Murphy's provision, he also withdrew his amendment. (Govexec)


Postal reform bill could net USPS billions

By STEPHEN LOSEY


The House Government Reform Committee on May 12 advanced the first major legislation in three decades intended to overhaul the way the U.S. Postal Service operates.

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, HR 4341, would net the Postal Service an additional billion over the next several decades and require it to fully fund its retiree health benefits.

The bill would make the Treasury Department once again responsible for paying pensions earned by postal employees during their time in the military. It would also release to the Postal Service billions of dollars scheduled to be held in an escrow account beginning in 2006, as long as the Postal Service uses the money to fund billion to billion in unfunded health benefit liabilities.

The bill would also give a proposed regulatory commission the responsibility to set up a more efficient means of setting postage rates, allow the Postal Service to maintain a profit, and lay the groundwork for future reforms by mandating several studies.


UNION SEEKS EXAMPLES OF ATTENDANCE CONTROL OFFENSES
from the November/December Issue of the APWU Postal Worker magazine

Reports continue to come in to the national APWU that Postal Service managers have escalated their abuse of employees under Resource Management Database (RMD) and related attendance policies.

One of the more troubling aspects of recent USPS attendance policies is that employees with particular medical conditions are being singled out.  Workers who suffer from conditions such as diabetes, reportedly are being denied the right to return to work after an episode of illness unless they provide additional medical evidence, despite the fact that their recurring condition has been documented. 

To single out people suffering from specific health conditions violates their right to be protected from discrimination.  Under some circumstances, singling out people with diabetes or epilepsy, or with mental and nervous conditions such as depression, may violate Federal law. 

Anyone with specific evidence of this type of abuse should send that information to Industrial Relations Director Greg Bell.  All such evidence will be analyzed for patterns of violations,  This evidence will support the Union's grievance on this issue and may be used to support legal action at the national level. 

Please forward any information that supports your contention that you were prohibited from returning to duty because you failed to provide additional evidence or you were only permitted to return to duty after providing additional medical evidence.  Please supply any other supporting documentation, including leave slips and instructions you may have received.  If the documentation includes confidential medical information you wish to keep private, such as an FMLA form or a doctor's note with a diagnosis or prognosis on it, please conceal any confidential medical information before sending it.  If a grievance or EEO complaint was filed, please forward a copy of the grievance or EEO papers as well. 

Send Information to:

Greg Bell, Director of Industrial Relations
American Postal Workers Union
1300 L Street NW
Washington  DC  20005



 


 


 

The Consumer Alliance for Postal Services (CAPS) was founded in 2003 to protect affordable and dependable mail service for all Americans. In 2002, President Bush appointed a presidential commission to study and report on possible postal reforms that could redefine universal service. Universal service is defined as the same postal services at uniform prices for all citizens, and is the tenet on which the United States Postal Service was formed over 230 years ago.


 

CAPS members include the Alliance for Retired Americans, American Diabetes Association, AFL-CIO, Americans for Democratic Action, American Postal Workers Union, A. Phillip Randolph Institute, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, Communications Workers of America, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Consumer Action, Metropolitan Washington Council, National Black Caucus of State Legislators, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, National Farmers Union, National Football Players Association, National Organization for Women, United Food & Commercial Workers, United States Hispanic Leadership Institute, Women's Research & Education Institute and others.  William Clay, former chairman of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee, is chairman of CAPS.  
 
 

 



 


Make Your Voice Heard!
Do your State Representatives know how you feel about privatization of the USPS? Let them know that you and your family want the USPS to remain as it is. Ask your stewards or officers for a form letter to send to your Representative. Just sign your name and send it. Your wages, benefits and job may depend on it. Ask for your form and mail it ASAP!
Published: August 11, 2003