Federal Daily - February 17, 2009

APWU Questions USPS Rate Hike

American Postal Workers Union (APWU) President William Burrus questioned the wisdom of a postage rate increase that he said places an unfair burden on individual mailers and will do nothing to alleviate the Postal Service’s financial problems. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) recently announced a proposal which calls for an increase of 4.76 percent for single-piece First Class letters—from 42 cents to 44 cents—but only a 3.26 percent increase for First Class automated letters. The rate increases are to go into effect in May. The increase in the gap between the cost of single-piece First Class letters and presorted mail reverses last year’s rate policy, when rate discounts remained flat or were reduced slightly from 2007 levels, Burrus said. “But the real travesty is that the rate proposal jeopardizes the survival of the Postal Service. The USPS simply cannot afford to grant these excessive discounts,” Burrus said in a statement posted Feb. 12 on the APWU Web site. “The planned rate structure would continue the failed strategies that have brought the Postal Service to the brink of disaster.” Burrus also said the union was rejecting Postmaster General John Potter’s suggestion that they talk about ways to “create needed levels of workforce flexibility.” The union has no intention of participating, Burrus said. “We have no interest in further discussions regarding mutual efforts to respond to the USPS economic challenges,” Burrus said. “The loyalty of postal management does not lie with postal employees, but with the large mailers and mail consolidators.” To see more, go to: www.apwu.org/news/webart/2009/09-015-rateincrease-090212.htm.

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Bill Seeks to Maintain Recruiter Access to Student Files

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., on Feb. 12 introduced a bill that would—if passed into law—ensure that military recruiters continue to have access to high school student contact information, similar to what is provided to college recruiters. Hunter, a member of the House Committee on Armed Services, introduced the bill—the Fairness for Military Recruiters Act—as a way to strengthen existing laws that provide recruiter access to the files. Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, parents and students have the right to request that contact information be withheld, but they have to send in such a request to the school. Hunter said congressional Democrats plan to introduce a bill that would automatically withhold student information unless parents “opt-in” to make the info available. The Hunter bill would prevent that, he said. The bill “ensures military recruiters continue to have access to high school campuses and student directories, and puts the decision to withhold contact information squarely in the hands of parents,” Hunter said. To see more, go to: http://hunter.house.gov/media-center.shtml.

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NFFE Applauds Bill to Restore Bargaining Rights to Some VA Professionals

The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) applauded a bill that seeks to restore collective bargaining rights to some health care professionals within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, introduced the bill, H.R. 949, on Feb. 10. The bill would amend Section 7422 of Title 38, U.S. Code, to remove broadly interpreted exceptions concerning the scope of collective bargaining rights, said NFFE National President Richard Brown. Initially adopted in 1991 as an amendment granting collective bargaining rights to Title 38 employees—which include physicians, registered nurses and physician assistants—the exceptions delineated in Section 7422 have since been broadly interpreted to effectively eliminate those rights, Brown said. “It is positively shameful that a law intended to empower VA health care workers has since been misconstrued to effectively disenfranchise them,” Brown said. “This bill will ensure that the women and men who care for our veterans every day get the respect and consideration they deserve in the workplace.” To see more, go to: www.nffe.org/ht/display/ReleaseDetails/i/8370.

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