Q&A's on the Incentive Program

The APWU and USPS have reached agreement on the answers [PDF] to a series of questions regarding the incentive program for employees who retire or separate in the coming months.

In the weeks since the union and management signed the Memorandum of Understanding [PDF] establishing the incentive program, the USPS Shared Services Department, which is the employees’ point of contact for inquiries on personnel matters, had provided employees with numerous responses that were contrary to the Aug. 24 Memo.

“We created a new, signed document to respond to the questions,” APWU President William Burrus said, “because it is essential that the union and management provide the same information to employees who are faced with a short time period to make important life-altering decisions.”

“In addition, I have prepared responses to some questions from the field [PDF] that do not require management’s concurrence,” Burrus said. “Management has seen my responses,” he noted, “and raised no objections.”

Give-and-Take On the Coburn Amendment

APWU Web News Article #091-09, Aug. 6, 2009

In a question-and-answer session following a  testimony on Aug. 6 before a Senate subcommittee, APWU President William Burrus and NALC President Fredric Rolando were asked why postal unions object to the amendment to S. 1507 that was offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK).

The union leaders had testified that arbitrators routinely consider USPS financial circumstances during contract deliberations, so senators wondered what the problem was with making it a matter of law.

Burrus reminded the panel that under the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, postal workers yielded their right to strike in exchange for the promise of free collective bargaining with binding arbitration.

“Collective bargaining is either free or it’s not,” he asserted, saying that Sen. Coburn’s amendment would put “a thumb on the scale” for management during contract deliberations.

Rolando noted that when Coburn offered the amendment he erroneously declared that “the current law prevents arbitration boards from considering postal finances.” This statement went unchallenged, the NALC president added, during consideration of the amendment.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) asked the union presidents to provide a list of other factors that arbitrators should consider when ruling on postal contracts. Burrus cautioned the lawmakers against attempting to develop such a list.

“Qualifying free and open rights under our Constitution is very dangerous, difficult, and fraught with all sorts of problems. For everything you include, you are excluding something else,” he said. “That’s the beauty of free collective bargaining — that there are no parameters.”

Issues that are very important during one set of negotiations could disappear before the next round of contract talks, Burrus said. “I would be very hesitant to put limitations, to try to identify what the parties should or should not consider.”

The union president encouraged APWU members to continue to express their concerns about the collective bargaining provision to their senators. “It is clear our message has begun to get through,” he said. “We must continue to press the point.” The intent of the amendment, he noted, is to cut postal workers’ salaries and reduce benefits.

APWU Legislative & Political Director Myke Reid praised union members’ efforts and also urged that they keep the messages coming. “They’ve sent thousands of letters and e-mails, and made thousand of phone calls to their senators. We need thousands more to combat this onerous amendment.”

Sen. Coburn and other GOP senators left the hearing before the union presidents testified, and none of them returned for the question-and-answer session with the union leaders.

Click here to watch the hearing on cspan.org.

 Union Calls for Campaign To Defeat Anti Worker Bill

(07/30/09) APWU President William rus has called on APWU locals and state organizations to organize opposition to a Senate bill that contains a provision that would be devastating to postal workers. The Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Funding Reform Act of 2009 (S. 1507) was intended to provide temporary financial relief to the cash-strapped Postal Service, but an amendment to the bill has rendered it unacceptable to postal workers.
[full story] | [Flyer for Distribution]

LOCAL CONTRACTS ONLINE

The local contracts or Local Memorandums of Understanding (LMOU's) are online for members ONLY in the Adobe *.pdf format.  Members will need to use the proper USERNAME and PASSWORD assigned to them, and will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to read and print them.

In addition to the contracts, the Local Constitution and Bylaws, the Collective Bargaining Reports (CBR's), past issues of the "Indy Info", APWU FMLA Forms, and more...  are also available in the Adobe *.pdf format for members, officers and stewards. Additional menu items expand after you login.