[UPDATE] Find The Word In The Website Contest
There wasn’t a July 2018 Find The Word In The Website Contest winner. Therefore, the August 2018 prize will be increased to $200.00. The August contest started yesterday.
Contest rules can be found on the home page.
Click here for a pdf version of this post.
PSEs Special Enrollment Period In USPS Health Benefits Plan
At the direction of APWU National Industrial Relations Director Vance Zimmerman, please see the information
below.
On July 30, 2018, the Postal Service notified the APWU that there will be a special enrollment period for PSEs to
enroll in the USPS Health Benefits Plan. The enrollment period will be open from August 20 2018, through October
4, 2018. Coverage will become effective on October 13, 2018.
This special enrollment is being conducted in accordance with the settlement agreement, RE: Workforce
Benefits Fund. The settlement calls for the Postal Service to make additional contributions to USPS Health Benefits
Plan for self plus one and family enrollments for PSEs. With these changes, it is necessary for the Service to offer
eligible PSEs the opportunity to enroll.
Each eligible PSE will be receiving a letter (attached) from the Postal Service giving enrollment deadlines,
enrollment methods, and plan premiums. The letter will instruct the employees to go the
https://liteblue.usps.gov/uspshbp to learn about the plan. Enrollment will be through PostalEASE via liteblue, self-service kiosks in some offices, or by calling the HRSSC at 1-877-477-3273.
This enrollment is for the USPS non-career health benefits plan and should not be confused with the APWU
Consumer Driven Option (CDO) plan. Enrollment will not be open for the APWU CDO plan during this special
enrollment.
PSEs are eligible for enrollment in the APWU CDO plan after completing their first 360-day
appointment. PSEs may enroll in the APWU CDO plan within 60-days of being appointed to a second term as a PSE
or during regular Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) open season held in November and December of each
year after meeting eligibility requirements.
Fredric Jacobs
President
On Wednesday August 1st at 10AM Western Regional Coordinator Omar Gonzalez will be interviewed on KKUP 91.5 FM
Listen in tomorrow to radio station KKUP 91.5 Cupertino on your radio dial. Starting at 10am with Host Valli-Sharpe Giesler on Wednesday, August 1, 2018. Valli will be interviewing American Postal Worker’s Union National Officer, Omar Gonzalez on Postal issues. The public must hear from another view point of the REAL Postal Service issues that affect every one of us. The Trump administration’s ideas and plans to dismantle the People’s Post Office cannot happen when the People are informed and Stand-up TOGETHER!
President’s Executive Orders affecting the Postal Service:
- Privatization
- Union’s Position
- History of OUR business
US House of Representative Resolution Regarding Postal Service Privatization
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should take all appropriate measures to ensure that the United States Postal
Service remains an independent establishment of the Federal Government and is not subject to privatization.
For the full resolution, click here.
White House Proposal to Restructure the Postal Service
Summary of Proposal: This proposal would restructure the United States Postal System to return
it to a sustainable business model or prepare it for future conversion from a Government agency
into a privately-held corporation. Like many European nations, the United States could privatize
its postal operator while maintaining strong regulatory oversight to ensure fair competition and
reasonable prices for customers. The President’s Task Force on the United States Postal System
will make recommendations on reforms towards this goal in August 2018.
For the full plan, please click here and go to page 68.
Retirement Planning Seminar – Sunday, September 16, 2018
We have a Retirement Planning Seminar scheduled for Sunday, September 16, 2018 from 10am – 4pm to be held at the Union Office, 7901 Oakport Street, Suite 2300, Oakland,CA 94621.
The seminar instructor is Yoggi Riley.
Only APWU members are allowed to attend, and you MUST RSVP by 1:00pm Pacific on Friday, September 7, 2018.
Fact Sheet #73: Break Time for Nursing Mothers under the FLSA
This fact sheet provides general information on the break time requirement for nursing mothers in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”), which took effect when the PPACA was signed into law on March 23, 2010 (P.L. 111-148). This law amended Section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Click here or the icon below to see the full Fact Sheet.
Items like this one will also be posted in the Resources section of the website under Library >> To Your Health:
New Maintenance Division Council Appointments
After the tragic passing of Director Raymer, Idowu Balogun is now the Maintenance Division Director, effective immediately in accordance with Article 21. Brother Balogun served as the Assistant Director (A) and BMC Coordinator for the past fifteen years. For seven years previous, he served as a Western Region National Business Agent, a member of the Greater Los Angeles Local, and an Electronic Technician at the Los Angeles Plant.
Please click on the image below for the appointments of Assistant Director Waldon and Western Region NBA Baez.
The Threat is Real to Privatize the Postal Service
The White House proposal on restructuring the federal government released today, “Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century,” delivered nothing but misinformation and, if implemented, would end regular mail and package services at an affordable cost to 157 million addresses every day. Furthermore, the White House plan is an attack on many federal agencies and the public services they provide.
The White House’s plan states, “Like many European nations the United States could privatize its postal operator…” What’s left unsaid is European nations charge substantially more for mail services delivered in a much smaller area. They also regularly raise the cost of delivery. For example, the cost of sending a letter in the United Kingdom has increased 80 percent over the past decade. By comparison, the U.S. has the lowest postage rates in the industrialized world.
Eliminating the universal service obligation, as the plan suggests, would hurt business and individuals alike, and would be a dagger aimed at the heart of rural America and undermine e-commerce.
The draconian plan uses “burdening the taxpayers” as justification to promote the privatization of the U.S. Postal Service when the truth is USPS is self-supporting and receives no tax dollars for postal operations.
And, while letter mail volumes are lower, package delivery is up substantially. No institution is better suited for the e-commerce revolution than USPS. The public postal service serves each and every person and belongs to the people of this country. According to recent surveys by Gallup and the Pew Research Center, it enjoys the highest level of satisfaction and trust of any government service or agency, rating the highest among young people.
Privatizing the Postal Service is not in the public interest or the interest of postal workers and would be nothing more than a raid by corporate pirates on a national treasure.
This outrageous White House plan should be a wake-up call to every postal worker and APWU member. The threats of postal privatization, the threats to decent union jobs, the threats to good services, are real.
The American Postal Workers Union stands with the people of the country and our many allies in the ongoing fight to ensure a vibrant public Postal Service for generations to come.
More information and calls for action will be forthcoming.