House - Senate Panel Includes H.R. 22 in Stopgap Spending Bill

Short-term relief for the Postal Service may finally be in sight. On Sept. 25th, The House, which approved H.R. 22 on Sept. 15th, voted in favor of combining the independent measure with stop-gap spending legislation (H. Con. Res. 191) by a vote of 217 to 190. The Senate is expected to take action on the measure early next week. A House-Senate panel included the provisions of H.R. 22, which would provide temporary financial relief to the Postal Service, in a stopgap funding bill that would keep the federal government afloat for a month after the new fiscal year starts next week. The provisions of H.R. 22 provide short term relief to the Postal Service by permitting it to reduce its payment to the retiree healthcare fund by $4 billion for Fiscal Year 2009.

APWU President William Burrus praised unionists for their efforts saying, “APWU members can be proud of the role they played in helping to advance this important legislation, I commend our union activists for their hard work.”

New Info on VER for MPE's and ET's

There has been much discussion and speculation over whether or not MPE's and ET's would be "allowed" to participate in the $15,000 retirement incentive or "Early Out". I spoke personally today with Carol Walden on the subject. She has been informed that MPE's will be eligible but ET's will not. She asked for clarification from her superiors (District/Area Level) earlier in the week at our request and this is the response she received. It is not all that we had hoped for but I'm sure it is welcome news to those who have been considering the offer. We will continue to seek further clarification regarding ET's. This is all we currently have on this subject, but I wanted to let everyone know as soon as possible. Please, if you are submitting paperwork to accept this offer, be sure you understand the requirements. There is a fair amount of information available here on ==> LiteBlue and here's a link to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Postal Service and the Union regarding the ==> One Time Voluntary Retirement Incentive.

Congressman to Attend APWU Picnic

We have received confirmation that Congressman Steve Driehaus will attend our annual picnic to be held September 19th at Vorhees Park in Reading, OH. Also invited were Senator Sherrod Brown and Ohio Lieutenant Governor, recently turned Senatorial candidate, Lee Fisher. Senator Brown is unable to attend due to prior committments and sends his regards. We have not yet received a response from the Lieutenant Governor's office.

Be sure to attend the picnic if you can. There will be games for the kids and lots of food and fun for everyone! Raffle tickets are still available for some really great prizes including a huge Gas Grill, a Wii, 2 Flip video cameras, an Acer Netbook computer and more! See your steward!

Come on out and enjoy our annual end of summer get together. Have some fun and support your APWU Local!

President Obama Speaks at AFL-CIO Labor Day Picnic

President Barack Obama was in town for the AFL-CIO Labor Day Picnic held at Old Coney. Our own President and Mrs. Fisher were on hand to hear his remarks. The President was here to fire up grass roots support for his Health Care Insurance Reform Legislation.