Back Pay Due to Postal Management's
Improper Calculation of Step-Waiting Period

Burrus Update #49, September 19, 2001

Locals have been provided a copy of the book identifying those employees who are eligible for adjustment to their step anniversary date and back pay due to postal management's improper calculation of their step-waiting period. This book was prepared in Social Security-number sequence, and I removed the numbers to protect employee privacy. I have now reformatted the report in Finance-number sequence so that all employees within a specific Finance number are listed sequentially in alphabetical order. This will make the book much easier to read and to identify employees in specific offices. The APWU web site has the reformatted listing and a new book has been mailed. Upon receipt of the new book, locals may discard the old one.

The terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. affected mail service throughout the country, even though most parts of the country were unaffected directly. The impact was in the transportation of mail that relies in large part on commercial air transportation. The grounding of all airplanes denied the Postal Service this means of moving mail throughout the world. Immediately, postal management transferred mail from airports throughout the country to ground transportation through an 800-mile hub-and-spoke operation. This effort was successful in transporting mail throughout the continental United States; but the delivery standards were compromised, with some deliveries taking 8 to 10 days from sender to receiver.

As of today, all cargo flights have been released for flight; and the Postal Service has made special arrangements for delivery to Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and Puerto Rico. This is in addition to mail within the continental USA which has been transferred to FedEx, which is fully operational. Mail service should return to normal within the next several days with the exception of New York City, which will continue to have processing problems as three major facilities have been temporarily closed and their processing transferred to other offices. Because of the mail volume destined for downtown Manhattan, it is not known how quickly the surrounding offices can process their mail. A News Service bulletin will be published this week announcing the decision of the National Election Committee on an extension of the APWU election deadlines.

It is questionable at this time whether or not the Federal Aviation Administration will permit the movement of mail on commercial flights in the future. Postal management is considering a permanent transfer of mail air transportation from commercial carriers to FedEx and cargo flights.

Bill Burrus
Executive Vice President

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