NALC-USPS Reach New Agreement On Expedited Route Adjustments

The new Interim Alternate Route Adjustment Process will involve joint labor-management teams at each of the Postal Service’s District Offices who will work with local managers and union representatives to adjust routes in the coming months using actual work hours of the regular carrier and volumes from May and September 2008. Although the parties remain committed to using data for longer periods of time (during times of stable or growing volume) when making adjustments in the future, the interim process calls for using just two months of data in recognition of the sharp decline in mail volume observed over the summer. Under the agreement, the Postal Service will be able to expedite the adjustment of routes to as near to eight hours as possible.

The new MOU on Interim Route Adjustments will expedite the route adjustment process — in fact, most routes will be adjusted by early January, 2009. Additionally, NALC will gain a formal role in the process and the USPS will discontinue all unilateral processes like the “routers-streeters” proposal raised by some high-level managers.

In view of the dramatic fall in mail volume, many carriers will have territory added to their routes in the coming months. But the union expects hat the agreement will significantly reduce the level of pivoting as well as the number of assignments being withheld by postal management.

FERS Sick Leave Reimbursement Moves Forward

Employees covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) would receive credit for unused sick leave towards their retirement annuities under a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives July 30. Added as a provision of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, HR 1108, the bill would treat unused sick leave similarly to that of employees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS).

Introduced by Rep. James Moran, D-VA, long a champion of retirement fairness for FERS employees, the bill would provide credit towards retirement annuities for 75% of sick leave for those retiring within the first three years of enactment, and full credit for those retiring after three years. “Our current use-it-or-lose-it sick leave system for FERS employees hurts productivity and increases training costs,” said Moran. As passed last night, the bill is more generous than Moran’s previous proposal, HR 5573, which would have paid FERS employees a lump-sum upon retirement for unused sick leave up to $10,000.

HR 1108 is currently awaiting a Senate vote. Check status here.

Electric Ride: New Delivery Vehicles Go Into Service

The T3 is the new battery-powered, three-wheeled delivery vehicle the Postal Service has been testing in Arizona, California and Florida. It’s estimated that the T3 costs four cents a mile to operate. It has a top speed of 25 mph (for safety reasons, USPS production T3s will run at half that speed). And with field-swappable batteries, it’s got unlimited range. The USPS version includes a solar powered anti-theft secured mail cart that can carry up to 450 pounds.

Pay Raise Schedule

* Value of COLAs depends on changes in the level of the Consumer Price Index. The basic salary shall be increased 1 cent per hour for each full 0.4 of a point increase in the applicable Index above the Base Index. In no event will a decline in the Index below the Base Index result in a decrease in the pay scales.

Flats Sequencing System

Click here to watch a video of the Flats Sequencing System machine in action on YouTube, or here for a more detailed look.

Click here to see some FFS photos.

Latter Carrier Roberta Clemmer worked with the FSS at the Carmel, Indiana Post Office and wrote of her experience with the system. Read her report, DPS Flats, A Look At Our Future (© 2007, The Summit City Mailbag, Fort Wayne, IN, Branch No. 116).

Our Competition: