Congressman’s Call for Concessions Should Drive Postal Workers to the Polls:

from the APWU National Website

Burrus Update #16-2010, Sept. 27, 2010

A recent guest editorial in the Washington Times by a California congressman demonstrates just how important the November elections are for postal workers. In an article about the Postal Service and contract negotiations, Rep. Darrell Issa declares: “No union has or ever will lobby for a layoff, so it’s up to USPS management and Congress to demand concessions.”

Demand concessions?

Yes, Rep. Issa wants Congress to demand layoffs and other concessions from postal workers.

Well, consider this: If the Republican Party takes control of the House of Representatives in the fall election, Rep. Issa will become chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which oversees the Postal Service. As chairman, he would have tremendous influence over legislation affecting postal employees and other federal workers — deciding which bills are considered and how they are handled.

Filled With Inaccuracies

In his Sept. 20 column, Rep. Issa suggests that concessions by postal workers would be in the interest of taxpayers and postal customers — although as the top-ranking Republican on the House committee he certainly should know that the Postal Service does not rely on taxes for funding.

Rep. Issa also asserts that the American people could soon be asked for a postal bailout. Nothing could be further from the truth. As I pointed out in a Sept. 22 letter to the congressman [PDF], the Postal Service does not need a bailout, and no one has requested one — not the USPS, not its customers, not its unions, and not Democratic lawmakers.

In fact, two independent and respected auditors have concluded that the Postal Service has overfunded its retirement fund by $50 billion to $75 billion. If the USPS were permitted to apply the overpayments to the Postal Service’s future retiree healthcare obligations, the agency’s financial crisis would be resolved. That is the goal of a bill (H.R. 5746) that was introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) on July 15. The bill to fix postal finances has 103 co-sponsors, but Rep. Issa isn’t one of them.

As we have pointed out many times, the requirement to pre-fund future retiree healthcare liabilities was a politically-motivated feature of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. No other federal agency or private company is required to make such payments, which cost the USPS more than $5 billion annually for 10 years.

Rep. Issa’s article is filled with other inaccuracies, which he uses to support the premise that postal workers should pay for Congress’ poor judgment in implementing the pre-funding mandate. His clear bias against postal workers is troubling.

Forty years ago, following the near collapse of the post office and a wildcat strike, Congress concluded that the American people would be best served by a mail system that took politics out of the equation. The Postal Reform Act of 1970 established the United States Postal Service as an independent agency of the federal government and decreed that the Postal Service and unionized employees would be permitted to engage in collective bargaining, with disputes settled through binding arbitration. Apparently, Rep. Issa is dissatisfied with the results of free collective bargaining, and wants to return to the politicization of the Postal Service.

For APWU members, the stakes couldn’t be higher. It is imperative that union members vote on Nov. 2 and give serious consideration to what their votes will mean for the future of the Postal Service — and their jobs. Watch your mailbox for information about union-endorsed candidates.

Read President Burrus’ letter to the editor of the Washington Times [PDF], which responds to Rep. Issa’s article.

William Burrus
President

click here for related [previous] article on POSTAL-iNDY.com 

“The deadline for registering to vote is a week from today (October 4th). You can confirm your registration, find your polling place, or even register to vote online at the link below. Please share this link and information with your friends and family (and most importantly, make sure you're registered to vote).”

click here

Your Job Security Under Attack!

Want to see what FOX and GOP Strategist think of Postal Workers?

"…most of these guys working in the Post Office should be driving cabs, and I think we should stop importing labor from Nigeria and Ethiopia. That's the skill level…"Most people employed by the United States Post Office...are thoroughly unskilled labor…" 

“…there is no good argument as to why the government should be behind some kind of Federal monopoly in the mail service…”   “…the reality is that many in the American, quote unquote ‘middle’  like postal workers are really unskilled labor who should have been pushed down for market reasons…” comments of GOP strategist Jack Burkman on “Money Rocks” Sept., 16, 2010

If you don’t see from this video, what will happen to your job security following this November election, then we all will soon be amongst those unemployed by 2012.

Even the most uninformed amongst us [Postal Workers] can find enough half-truths, innuendo, inaccuracies and outright lies in this video to visualize what the right has in store for us.

To bad D’Amato admirable defense against despicable tactics had to occur in conjunction with such a one sided, uninformed attack on working people.

see more at APWU

Benefits Administration Letter detailing how health care reform is going to affect federal employees:

from Federal Times.com

The Office of Personnel Management this afternoon released the latest Benefits Administration Letter detailing how health care reform is going to affect federal employees.
One of the bigger changes affecting Federal Employees Health Benefits Program enrollees is the extension of coverage for adult children of feds. Currently, only unmarried dependent children younger than 22 are eligible for coverage. But the health care changes will expand coverage to adult children up to age 26, as well as removing residency and dependency requirements for coverage. And there’s a few other firsts for adult children (younger than 26, of course):

• Married adult children of feds will be eligible for FEHBP coverage. However, their spouses or their own children will not be eligible for coverage.
• Adult children who are eligible for or have their own employer-provided health insurance will be able to switch to mom’s or dad’s FEHBP.
• Adult stepchildren of feds won’t need to live with the enrollee in a parent-child relationship to be eligible for coverage.
• Adult children are not required to be students or have prior or current insurance coverage to be placed on their parent’s plan.
• Foster children are also eligible until they turn 26.
• Children who cannot support themselves because of a mental or physical disability that began before they turned 26 will be eligible for continued coverage even after they pass that age.

For most feds, these changes will take effect Jan. 2, the first day of the first full pay period in 2011. OPM had been hoping to convince Congress to change the law allowing them to extend coverage earlier, but
that hasn’t happened yet and the legislative schedule is tightening up fast.
How do you get your newly-eligible adult kid onto your health plan? Glad you asked. Hit the jump for the answer.
OPM said that if you have a self and family plan and don’t expect to switch to another plan or option, you should contact your current plan and give them information on your child. “Do not complete an SF 2809, Health Benefits Election Form or enter dependent information in your agency’s self-service enrollment system to add your child to an existing self and family enrollment,” OPM said.
If you’ve got a self-only plan, you’ve got to switch over to self and family. For that change, you can use the SF 2809 or self-service enrollment and sign your kid up while you’re at it. Same goes if you’re currently not enrolled in FEHBP at all. But you’ll probably need to declare a “change in family status” qualifying life event (using the 1C code) to add your child.
Children who lose coverage when they turn 26 are eligible for up to 36 months of temporary continuation of coverage, even if they previously had TCC. An adult child under 26 who is currently under TCC — and comes back under FEHBP next year — can drop TCC by contacting the Agriculture Department’s National Finance Center.
And as of Jan. 1, employees will be able to use their Flexible Spending Accounts for health care expenses incurred by children, stepchildren, adopted children, foster children or children placed with an employee for legal adoption. Those children don’t need to live with the employee or qualify as a dependent for tax purposes to be eligible for FSA expenses.
That’s the good news. Now here’s the bad news.
Beginning Jan. 1, over the counter medicines or drugs will no longer be eligible for reimbursement from FSAs, Health Savings Accounts or Health Reimbursement Arrangements, unless they have a prescription. Insulin is a different matter, however — anyone who needs that won’t need a prescription to get that cost reimbursed.
OPM said other over the counter items that aren’t medicines or drugs will remain eligible for reimbursement under high-deductible health plans’ HSAs or HRAs. But the 10 percent penalty for non-eligible medical expenses paid from an HSA will increase to 20 percent Jan. 1.

update: Additional Info

FSA Deadlines For 2009 Contributions

Flexible Spending Accounts:
Deadline for spending balance of 2009 contributions is March 15, 2010.
Deadline for filing claims on claims from 2009 through March 15, 2010 is September 30, 2010.

Indianapolis Area Local-APWU: General Membership Meeting [monthly]

Union Denounces USPS Attempts to 'Work the Refs'

Says Contract Negotiations Are Ill-Served by Public Misstatements

from: APWU Web News Article 092-2010, Sept. 8, 2010

American Postal Workers Union President William Burrus has denounced efforts by the Postal Service to influence the outcome of contract negotiations by issuing demands in public forums.

“It is extremely disappointing that the Postal Service is attempting to circumvent the bargaining process through the issuance of demands in the media,” Burrus said.

“Unfortunately, the Postal Service has begun posturing and manipulating numbers,” the union president said. “Management is ‘working the refs’ in an effort to influence the outcome of contract negotiations.”

“It is troubling that the USPS has chosen to recite the false and misleading claim that the pay and benefits of postal employees amount to 78 percent of total revenue – as though that figure is relevant to APWU negotiations. Contract negotiations are ill-served by such public misstatements,” he said.

“The wages and benefits of the employees represented by the APWU have been reduced from 28 percent of revenue in 2003 to 23 percent in 2010, a number that is dramatically lower than that cited by the Postal Service,” Burrus said.

“The Postal Service’s deceptive figures must not be used as a barometer for collective bargaining,” he said.

The Above article is probably in response to this Washington Post article:

“Postal Service seeks key concessions as contract talks open with largest union”

GlennDL

Parade Of States: INDIANA REMIX