Printer-Friendly Page
OIG Audit:
USPS
Can’t Rationalize ‘Network Rationalization’
(01/19/10) Echoing APWU criticisms, a recent audit by the USPS Office
of the Inspector General (OIG) concluded that after more than five years
of initiatives aimed at streamlining the mail-processing network, the
Postal Service has failed to establish criteria for identifying consolidation
opportunities. The USPS has made only limited progress in implementing
Area Mail Processing consolidations in the Processing & Distribution
network, the Jan. 7 report says. [read
more]
Plans Face Stiff Opposition
(01/01/10) Every day I come to work and work hard,” said APWU
member Tom Thorpe, a postal worker since 1988. “But I might have
to move.” Thorpe was among more than 60 union members at a spirited
rally held by the side of U.S. Highway 29 on Nov. 15 protesting a plan
to close down the Charlottesville (VA) P&DF. Thorpe told the Daily
Progress that
the proposal to shift mail processing 80 miles away to Richmond would
mean an additional 800 miles of commuting each week. [read more]
Area Mail Processing Proposals:
Locals Fight Back
 |
(08/17/09) APWU locals around the country have been busy fighting the consolidation of mail processing operations — even as the Postal Service announced it was considering consolidating more than 3,200 of the nation’s larger stations and branches. [read more]
Changes and Challenges
(07/14/09) If postal management continues to respond to the current economic crisis by cutting service and slashing the workforce, it risks causing the USPS irreparable harm, APWU President William Burrus writes in an Update for union members. The union president says the APWU will vigorously enforce the Collective Bargaining Agreement as the Postal Service implements new cost-cutting measures. Support from the public and elected officials also are crucial to the survival of the USPS, he said. [read more]
 |
 |
 |
P&DC Consolidation
AMP Plans:
Locals Fight Back
(07/09/09) APWU locals around the country have been busy fighting the consolidation of Processing & Distribution Centers — even as the Postal Service announced it was considering consolidating more than 3,200 of the nation’s larger stations and branches. Here’s a round-up of network realignment activities, most of them involving Area Mail Processing (AMP) studies to trim back operations or close down large mail-sorting facilities. [read more]
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. [read more]
Union Updates
Consolidation ‘Tool
Kit’
(06/11/09) An updated tool kit is available to help APWU local and state leaders in their efforts to stop the Postal Service from moving vital mail processing operations away from the communities they serve. Many of the USPS consolidation proposals would lead to diminished mail service, the union notes. [full story - members only]
Consolidation of Large
Post Offices:
APWU
Responds
To USPS Notice on Retail Operations
(06/09/09) In response to a USPS notice that “the Postal Service is considering consolidating operations in our larger stations and branches,” APWU President William Burrus has reminded management that a Memorandum of Understanding included in the 2006-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement requires that “all existing retail operations will remain within the installation of which they are a part.” [read more]
Burrus Testifies on Capitol Hill:
To Survive, USPS Must Change Strategy
(05/20/09) In testimony before a House panel May 20, APWU President William Burrus told lawmakers that if the Postal Service is to survive, it must re-examine its overall strategy. He emphasized that the need was urgent for passage of H.R. 22, which would allow the USPS to pay its share of contributions for annuitants’ health benefits out of a retirees fund rather than from its operating budget. [read more]
Locals, Business Owners, Officials
Oppose Plant Consolidations
(05/19/09) Business owners, elected officials, workers, and other citizens continue to speak out against USPS plans to consolidate mail-processing consolidations. APWU locals in Northern Virginia, Western Pennsylvania, and Queens, New York, have been taken the lead in protests in their areas. [read more]
APWU-Led
Consolidation Protests
Gather Steam, Gain Public Support
(04/20/09) Owners of small businesses, workers, and other concerned citizens continue to speak out at protests and at public meetings staged by the Postal Service to “share initial results” of Area Mail Processing studies. At one of the noisier of such gatherings, several business owners and public officials in Wilkes-Barre disagreed sharply with the USPS conclusion that moving mail processing operations 25 miles away to Scranton would leave the economy of Luzerne County unharmed. [read more]
APWU Locals Lead Protests
Of Postal Service Consolidation Plans
(03/04/09) APWU members staged informational pickets protesting USPS mail-processing proposals in several locations in north-central Ohio on March 2. The pickets, in sub-freezing weather, took place in Fostoria, Tiffin and Bucyrus, all towns in which outgoing mail is sent to Mansfield for sorting, but, under Postal Service plans, would be shifted another hour east to Akron, with service likely to suffer. [read more]
APWU
Leads Protests
Of Florida Consolidation Plans
(02/17/09) Approximately 200 postal workers and their families and friends crowded a university auditorium in Lakeland, FL, on Feb. 11 to protest the Postal Service plan to move processing operations and as many as 40 jobs from the Lakeland P&DC to the Tampa P&DC, about 40 miles away. According to the Lakeland Ledger, about 50 additional people who wanted to attend couldn’t fit into the room — for the only public meeting the USPS planned to hold on the matter. [read more]
APWU Blasts USPS Response
To Postal Financial Crisis
(02/10/09) APWU President William Burrus decried
Postal Service plans to address its financial crisis in a letter to the Postmaster
General on Feb. 9. “It is extremely disappointing that not a single step
is aimed at reducing the loss of revenue from ‘worksharing’ discounts
or from subcontracting,” he wrote, referring to a list of steps
the USPS outlined in a Feb. 4 edition of News Link Extra. Burrus
said he is particularly disturbed by USPS plans to consolidate “excess” capacity
in its mail processing and transportation networks while postal policy
encourages the growth of private entities that perform these duties.
[read
more]
APWU
Local Collects 8,000 Signatures
In Support of Consolidation Fight in Florida
(01/23/09) As part of its drive to keep mail processing operations at the Manasota (FL) P&DC, an APWU local has collected more than 8,000 signatures from the community opposing the proposed shift of some operations to Tampa, about 60 miles away. “We’ve been gathering signatures for just over six weeks,” said Manasota APWU President Jim DeMauro. “Some we’ve collected near the facility itself, but we’ve been getting the message out every way we can, including at public events and online.” [read more]
