President Burrus Announces Retirement in 2010

Bringing his 53-year career to a close, APWU President William Burrus announced he would not seek re-election in November 2010; he plans to retire at the end of this term. Burrus made the emotional announcement Sept. 30th, during his closing remarks at the union’s All-Craft Conference. Throughout his celebrated career he has fought for and won better wages, working conditions and benefits for hundreds of thousands of postal workers.

“I am in good health and I love what I do,” he said. “But I want to move on to another part of my life. He introduced his wife to the assembly saying, “I want to spend more time with my wonderful wife, Ethelda. She has been by my side throughout my 37 years as an executive officer of this union.”

“I have looked forward to every day that I have served our members, and I look forward to the next 13 months. This is not the end, but effective November 2010 it will be time for me to turn the page and move on to the rest of my life. “In the interim, I intend to continue my commitment to the membership, every hour, every day.” Conference participants responded with two standing ovations. More than 2,000 members were in attendance.

Burrus’ retirement coincides with the expiration of the current contract (November 20, 2010) and the wrapping up of negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement.

Finally! A Little Breathing Room

Senate Approves Short-Term Relief for USPS
The Senate approved an appropriations bill Sept. 30 that includes emergency financial relief for the Postal Service. The Fiscal Year 2010 funding measure (H.R. 2918) passed by a vote of 62-38. The postal provision gives the USPS one year of financial relief, allowing it to make a reduced payment to the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund for future-retiree health benefits. President Obama signed the legislation that evening. [full story]

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.

Long Awaited Impact Statement Is Finally Out

On Friday, August 21, 2009 Plant Manager Dave Caproni informed the APWU and Mail Handlers unions that he had received the impact statement from Area concerning NDC activation. The impact statement determines the number of jobs that will be eliminated. For the Cincinnati NDC, a total of 89 employees will be impacted. This means Area has determined that after we become a tier 1 NDC we will no longer need 89 employees. The majority of these will be casual positions. The number that may be excessed outside the facility may be reduced or eliminated through attrition in the other crafts.

At this time, management has not “officially” notified the Unions of the need to excess any employees. The sole intent of the information shared on Friday was to allow the Unions to hear it directly from management instead of through rumors. No APWU represented employee in this building has been notified that they will be excessed. Management is still required to give the Union 6 months notice prior to excessing.

Based on other NDC conversions around the country we expected Motor Vehicle to be the APWU craft impacted the most. Regrettably, the impact for our facility is a reduction of 14 TTO’s. Again, management is still required to give the Union 6 months notice prior to excessing and as of today’s date, no such notice has been given While no other APWU employees are impacted at this time, a secondary impact statement normally occurs approximately 3 months after the conversion. This secondary statement will be based on mail volume.

NDC activation is scheduled to begin October 19th and be completed by November 20th, 2009. In fact all 21 NDC’s are slated to be online by the November 20th deadline. The APWU will continue to vigorously enforce the contract during this conversion.