WASHINGTON — Sen. Jon Tester says the lawmakers who oversee the budget of the post office will block a proposal to reduce mail deliveries to five days a week.

The Montana Democrat said eliminating Saturday deliveries would be a hardship on people living in rural areas without producing major savings for the Postal Service.

The post office has proposed the change as one of several steps to reduce its expected $7 billion loss this year.

The agency also wants to raise rates starting in January, to close or consolidate offices and to avoid annual prepayments for future retiree health care costs.

The Postal Service does not receive tax funds for its operations, but must follow the direction of Congress, which annually stipulates that services cannot be cut without its permission.

Tester, a member of the Senate Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee, said in a statement Wednesday that he was able to assure that provision will be continued.

Associated Press writer Matt Gouras in Helena, Mont. contributed to this story

While labor costs are a major cause of financial woes at the Postal Service, five-day mail delivery and further workforce reductions are not certainties, officials told lawmakers on Thursday....more

Letter Carriers union assails Postal Service for lobbying public to end Saturday delivery
Rolando says only Congress can authorize cutback NALC launches "5-Day is the Wrong Way" website to keep public informed.....more

The U.S. Postal Service this week used e-mail as the means to inform regulators of its plans to cut Saturday mail delivery, a move that might seem to go against the grain for an agency tasked with delivering snail mail.

Postmaster General John E. Potter told reporters that the Postal Regulatory Commission requires him to submit his plans electronically. But the whole thing seems about as silly as auto executives flying to Washington to talk up the viability of the auto industry. (Oh wait, that actually happened...)

$75 billion over-charge for pension liabilities

WASHINGTON - Fredric V. Rolando assumed the presidency of the 300,000-member National Association of Letter Carriers (AFL-CIO) today, following the retirement of William H. Young after more than 6 1/2 years as head of the postal union.

Rolando, 56, a member of Sarasota, Florida NALC Branch 2148, moved up from his position as the union’s executive vice president under terms of the union’s constitution.

The new president began his postal career 31 years ago as a letter carrier in South Miami, Florida. Holder of a degree in criminology and psychology from Florida International University, he became active in the union because of what he said was the antagonistic way management treated letter carriers.

Recently, Rolando has focused on working with officials of the U.S. Postal Service to restructure delivery routes of mail carriers in a manner that protected their contractual rights as employees while allowing the Postal Service to have flexibility to meet the financial challenges posed by changing communications technology and the economic crisis.

He was first elected to national office as Director of City Delivery by acclamation at the 2002 NALC Convention in Philadelphia, having been appointed to that post in February 2002 by former President Vincent R. Sombrotto to fill a vacancy.

As a member of South Florida Branch 1071, his first union post was as a shop steward in South Miami where he worked. When Rolando relocated to Sarasota in 1984, he soon became chief steward there, and in 1988 was elected president of Sarasota Branch 2148. Rolando later served as director of education for the Florida State Association of Letter Carriers and as a full-time Regional Administrative Assistant for NALC’s Atlanta Region before coming to Washington as a national officer.

The current language in Item 2-B remains the same. Management and the NALC must mutually agree to schedule changes that require a Carrier to work additional Saturdays during the course of a year.

Management tried to have the above language removed and be able to change schedules without an agreement.

Headquarters / Headquarters-Related EAS & PCES; Motor Vehicle; Maintenance (excluding Electronic Technicians); Rural Carriers; City Carriers

The Postal Service recently received approval from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to offer voluntary early retirement to eligible employees nationwide.

Automation and technological advances coupled with mail volume reductions has the Postal Service continuing to look for ways to voluntarily reduce its workforce while maintaining excellent customer service.........more

The Office of Personnel Management is strongly objecting to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s proposal to convert the federal government to a four-day workweek,

The next regular cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) under the 2006-2011 National Agreement will be $1,498 annually, based on the Consumer Price Index for July. The COLA, effective the pay period beginning August 30 (pay date September 19), is the third of eight COLAs included in the 2006-2011 contract.

The new COLA is equivalent to 72 cents per hour, or $57.60 per pay period.

Letter Carriers Union Ratifies New Five-Year Contract

The vote for ratification was 104,346 to 11,895 according to Joseph DeRossi of NALC Branch 41, Brooklyn, New York, chairman of a special Ballot Committee that supervised the tabulation.

The tentative settlement, reached by negotiators on July 12, had been endorsed unanimously by the NALC Executive Council.

The contract includes general wage increases of 8.85 percent over the term of the agreement, along with semi-annual cost-of-living adjustments, and new protections against contracting out of letter carrier work by the Postal Service to private firms and individuals.

NALC President William H. Young applauded the 89.8 percent approval vote by the union membership.

“I am extremely pleased that members of this union agree that this is a good settlement that meets the interests and needs of both letter carriers and the Postal Service,” Young said. “This agreement shows that labor and management can work together to ensure that the American people continue to have the most efficient and dedicated postal system in the world.”

The agreement provides a 1.4 percent wage increase retroactive to November 25, 2006; a 1.8 percent increase in November 2007; 1.9 percent in November 2008; 1.9 percent in November 2009, and 1.85 percent in November 2010.

The contract runs until November 20, 2011.

The NALC represents all 222,000 city delivery letter carriers employed by the U.S. Postal Service in the 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions.Agreement Highlights