The Postal Service’s recent attempt to justify the decision to keep market research secret is misleading and inaccurate, the APWU has charged. The research, which was conducted in August and September 2011, indicates that revenue losses from the USPS plan to degrade service standards could eliminate any potential savings from consolidating or closing 223 mail […]
Computerized bidding is undoubtedly here to stay, but until recently, problems with the Postal Service’s Human Resources Shared Services Center (HRSSC) have thoroughly frustrated employees, local union representatives and national officers alike. Since the Shared Services Center opened five years ago, almost all personnel services have been centralized in the Greensboro NC office. The computerization […]
USPS Market Research on Consolidations: Revenue Losses Could Wipe Out Savings In testimony before the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) on March 21, a USPS witness made a startling admission: The Postal Service’s initial research on the network consolidation plan indicated that it could result in revenue losses of $5.3 billion, with net revenue losses as […]
Union to Develop New Web-Based Grievance System 100 Locals Needed to Participate in Pilot The APWU is developing a new web-based grievance system to improve the efficiency of our grievance procedure, and plans are underway to begin a pilot to test the program in August. The goal of the program is to eliminate the need […]
A Stunning Admission: USPS Hasn’t Considered Combined Effect of Proposed Changes In response to a motion filed by the APWU, the Postal Service admitted March 9 that it has not considered the combined effect of several of its major proposals, including plans to: Degrade service standards; end overnight delivery for first-class mail and periodicals, and […]
The Postal Service’s announcement on March 7 [PDF] that it would suspend consolidation of mail processing and distribution centers during the “election mailing season” seems to have raised more questions than it answered. Lost in much of the reporting on the announcement is this pertinent quote from the USPS press release: “Therefore, most closures or […]
Postal workers who were injured on the job won an important victory on Feb. 24, when the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) issued a precedent-setting decision [PDF] in the case of James C. Latham et al v USPS. The ruling has important implications for postal workers who were affected by the Postal Service’s National Reassessment […]
How Many Postal Workers Will Consolidations Affect? The Postal Service’s recent announcement that it has approved 223 mail processing facilities for consolidation has prompted questions about how many employees in the various crafts and areas will be affected. The chart below shows the numbers — based on current complements. The numbers will change dramatically over […]
Under previous contracts, thousands of APWU members were involuntarily excessed outside their craft and installation, sometimes hundreds of miles away. Although the opportunity to be excessed instead of being laid off — as would be the case in most industries — is an important right, excessing often had a devastating impact on employees who had […]
Of 264 facilities studied for closure, 223 were approved for consolidation. Six are still being studied. Only 35 consolidations were disapproved — at this time. The Postal Service’s announcement on Feb. 23 that it has approved 223 mail processing plants for consolidation [PDF] leaves union members just one option, APWU President Cliff Guffey said: We […]