Postal News - December 2007

Kenneth Jones vs. US Postal Service, illustrates why postal employees should think twice before appealing their discipline to the Merit Systems Protection Board.

New Book: Beware of Cat: And Other Encounters of a Letter Carrier

Postal Worker Fired After Second Violation of USPS Zero Tolerance Policy

Bush Plan Would Cut Tax-Free Employer-Provided Health Insurance

MSPB Overturns Postal Worker’s Removal for $45,000 Stamp Stock Shortage

Postage Rate Hike in 2008?

Postal Service: ‘Intelligent Mail’ Fully Operational By 2009

Video: Signed, Sealed and Delivered- Labor Struggle in the Post Office

USPS: New Postal Law-The Financial Impact

Can Bush Open Mail Without Warrant?

Former Postal Worker Charged in FEHB Scheme to Defraud USPS and NALC

Un-Merry Christmas
Postal Service Terminates Disabled Iraq War Veteran for Unacceptable Attendance

Letter to the Editor - Mismanagement at Royal Oak Carrier Unit

FedEx and DOT at Stalemate in Dispute Over Disclosure of Postal Contract Data -

USPS, APWU Reach $5.3 Million Agreement in Anthrax Travel Grievance

Postal Worker Fired for Refusing to Work on DBCS Machine

Postal Nurse Charged With Defrauding USPS

Five-Year Postal Employees Stats At a Glance

Big Win For APWU in MS-47 Maintenance Case - "Custodial Jobs Protected"

Emery Agrees to Pay $10 Million for Submitting Fraudulent Billings to USPS -

USPS to Sell Segway Scooters to General Public

Former Postmaster jailed for stealing over $50k

Postal Worker Sues USPS – Denied Permission to Work Off-the-Clock?

USPS OIG Paper: Postal Officers Travel Expense Guidelines

USPS Mail Processing Facility Faces $44,250 in Fines for Safety Violations

Man Pleads Guilty in Kickback Scheme to Pay Postal OWCP Specialist

APWU Initiates Dispute Over Changes to USPS Computer Security Rules

Postal Worker Injured in Iraq Wins Job Back Under USERRA

USPS to Conduct Search for Sex Offenders on Postal Payroll

Postal Supervisor Fired for Rewarding Employees With Non-Worked Overtime Pay

Reader Raises Concern Over USPS Revised Emergency Salary Authorization Policy

USPS OIG Audit Report: Pasadena P & DC Consolidation

MSPB Upholds Removal of Postal Worker Videotaped Abusing FMLA

USPS to remove stamp machines by 2010

Postal Service Plans for More Than $1 Billion in Cost Reductions

Carrier Fired for Gambling Signed Last Chance Agreement

Mystery Shopper Evaluations Should Not Be Used to Discipline Window Clerks -

National Dispute Initiated Over USPS’ Improper Use of Casuals

Postal Service Lists 139 Facilities As Potential Candidates for Consolidation

Postal Worker Fired for Violating USPS Zero Tolerance Policy

Court Backs USPS in Stamp Trademark Lawsuit

Letter - Postal Workers Injured on Duty Should Know Their Rights

USPS Migrating Personnel Info to PostalPEOPLE System

Driving Postal Vehicle Without Seatbelt May Get You Fired

USPS Dragnet Continues to Sweep Up Injured Workers

Supreme Court Revives Postal Worker's Discrimination Suit

Number of Active Postal Employees by Age, Years of Service (PDF)

Federal Court Overturns Letter Carrier Removal for Breach of Last Chance Agreement

Postal Window Clerks Protect Your Jobs

NIOSH Reports on DBCS at Denver Postal Facility

USPS Proposing to Contract Out Postal Vehicle Service

Federal Court Affirms USPS FMLA Return-To-Work Policy

Whoa…An Interesting Supreme Court Case Involving USPS

December 31, 2007

Postal Supervisor Uses Own Time to Deliver Packages On Christmas

Cliff DeLude, customer service supervisor, with the support of Officer in Charge Tim Gatz, worked on his own time Christmas Day so that he could receive packages from the Reno station and make express deliveries to people in Fallon. DeLude also took time out of his Sunday morning two days before Christmas to deliver packages around the community. Obviously caught up in the Christmas spirit, DeLude said with a big grin that he delivered packages on his own time "because it's Christmas." |

Window Clerk Ghostwrites for Santa Claus

Deer tries to crash through post office doors

December 30, 2007

For Norfolk mail carrier, helping to save a life is part of the job

Neither snow nor rain, but grandkids? Sure!
Postal carrier retires after 33 years on his route

Fire Dept. donations returned by accident

December 29, 2007

Letter: Beware Giving Tips To U.S. Postal Workers
I am a former Delaware postal carrier who has viewed some unethical treatment to customers who do not give gifts such as cash to mail carriers at Christmas. The customers who tip graciously get special treatment. It is made known to other carriers who tipped well and that they should provide them with extra care, and vice versa for the customers who did not tip well. Tips are unethical and border on bribery of a government employee. |

Neither Rain Nor Snow. But Impatient New Yorkers?
"In the course of their daily rounds, New York’s letter carriers face any number of unpleasant surprises. In May, the Postal Service rolled out National Dog Bite Prevention Week in response to the biting of 3,184 carriers in 2006. More recently, however, the agency added an unlikely item to the catalog of potential threats to postal workers: people who want to get their mail." Since October, the Postal Service’s New York district, which includes Manhattan and the Bronx, has been mailing apartment-dwelling customers postcards asking them to be patient when collecting their letters. |

NALC: Some Strains - Some Progress

As the old year wound down there were some signs of strain as well as some progress in the work of the special committees created under the 2006-2011 National Agreement to address critical workplace and job security issues. NALC was in the process of reconciling lists of installations covered by the “Memorandum of Understanding Re: Subcontracting.” When the new contract was settled, the Postal Service provided a provisional list of the 3,071 offices referenced in the MOU that bans contracting out in “offices with only city delivery. One consequence of combining the lists may be the discovery of covered installations where Contract Delivery Service (CDS) is being used. “In those cases, the Postal Service will have to cancel those contracts,” Young said. NALC Postal Record January 2008 |

Bullet Holes Investigated At Postal Annex Building

The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene Thursday. A deputy noted in his report that in addition to shooting into the manager's office, someone had shot twice at the manager's parking sign, once at the "Reserved for Postmaster" parking sign and once over a side entrance to the building. Inside, the deputy saw holes going into the entrance area, a women's bathroom and the ceiling of the main warehouse. One projectile was recovered. |

DMA digs in for no-mail fight
Postman pulls a slow one on Santa’s helpers

Unionists brainstorm on international organizing

Postman Who Began Career When Stamp Cost Nickel Retires
Barnegat opposes postal move
Postal Inspectors Find Package of Pot

Plessis Post Office closes

December 28, 2007

Former Postmaster Wins Hostile Workplace Lawsuit - But No Money

Postmaster claimed she was harassed by Postal Managers and Postal Inspector. A jury found the Postal Service liable for creating a retaliatory hostile work environment, but awarded no compensatory damages. The Court also considered the issue of whether any equitable relief, such as back pay, should be awarded. The Court determined that former Nazareth, PA Postmaster did not prove any loss in wages or benefits resulting from the Postal Service’s unlawful actions to support or quantify an award of back pay. The Court did grant equitable relief in the form of enhanced training for certain Postal Managers and a requirement that USPS post notices of the verdict at Nazareth Post Office, Nazareth, Pennsylvania; Central Pennsylvania Performance Cluster District Offices, and the Philadelphia Metropolitan Performance Cluster District Office. |

Letter carrier sports shorts during snowstorm

Rick Atkinson is used to getting odd looks on a day like today: the U.S. Mail letter carrier is wearing his usual shorts walking his route." It does look kind of silly, walking around all bundled up with shorts on,” said Atkinson as he delivered mail on the 500 block of Smith Street. “It’s not bad. Atkinson said he gets hot easily, especially when wearing a hat. He said his legs are usually warm, regardless of the weather. |

USPS Wants To Automate Road Tests

The United States Postal Service (USPS) administers and maintains a number of pre-hire and post-training examinations for purposes of evaluating applicants and employees’ job-related qualifications and training. Included among those examinations are three that require examiners to observe examinees performing specific job-related activities and record observed behaviors: the Initial Road Test (Examination 804), the End-of-Training Road Test (Examination 806), and the Automotive Bench Test (Examination 941). The USPS is interested in automating the recording of examination behaviors, in order to further expedite data capture and scoring. |

Some Post Offices Closing Early New Year’s Eve

All Post Offices will be open Dec. 31, but some will shorten lobby hours New Year’s Eve. Regular mail delivery for Dec. 31 will be unaffected by the change. |

APWU: House Mail Network Protection Act Gains Seven Co-Sponsors

Former Marine now a postal carrier in Santa Fe
Mail from Congress isn't cheap

The Future of the Post in Delivering Movies also Wal-Mart is getting out of the video download business

Mailman robbed in Youngstown