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The Postal Service Wants To Make Deep Cuts To Worker Benefits, Internal Plan Shows
June 18, 2019 -- The U.S. Postal Service wants Congress to help it make significant cuts to employee benefits as part of a plan to balance the agency’s books, according to a draft business plan HuffPost obtained. The proposal would save an estimated $18 billion on employee compensation over a decade by shaving paid leave, raising workers’ share of pension contributions, and shifting new employees into less secure 401(k)-style retirement plans. The change to pension contributions would amount to a cut in take-home pay for hundreds of thousands of workers, while saving the agency nearly $7 billion. And while excluding new employees from a pension plan is common practice for private corporations these days, it would mark a significant shift for a federal-sector job long seen as a steppingstone to the middle class. The change in employee leave policy would combine vacation with sick days, likely resulting in fewer overall days off for workers. That element is estimated to save the agency more than $5 billion. The proposals obtained by HuffPost were marked as preliminary and subject to change. The postmaster general, Megan Brennan, is expected to present a business plan to the House Oversight Committee this summer 12 Union Meeting & Dates to Know for 2020
Union Membership on the Rise
This article first appeared in the January/February 2019 issue of the American Postal Worker magazine) By Research & Education Department Director Joyce B. Robinson According to figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, membership in labor unions rose by about a quarter million this year. In 2017, 7.2 million employees in the public sector belonged to a union, compared with 7.6 million workers in the private sector. Although the union membership rate for private-sector workers increased by 0.1 percent, their unionization rate continued to be lower than that for public-sector workers (6.5 percent versus 34.4 percent). Data Highlights:
Pat Davis Scholarship
The requirements for one of the two $750.00 scholarships are listed below. Completed applications must be received no later than the second Sunday in June of the year applied for. You may pick up, call and request an application with rules and regulations be sent to you, &/or download it from our website. REMEMBER ALL APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN THE SECOND SUNDAY IN JUNE FOR CONSIDERATION. Completed applications can be mailed to “The Scholarship Committee, Dallas Area Local, APWU, 2010 Postal Way, Dallas, TX 75212. You can also walk in your application within the time limit specified. Read more 
The US Mail is not for sale
Postal Clerk's union president Yared Wonde said that he was very pleased with their action at the Staples store at I-30 and Cockrell Hill Road on April 24. The letter carriers came out strong, as did the AFL-CIO, Transport Workers, Jobs with Justice, Texas Alliance for Retired Americans, and others. Both Spanish TV stations and the Dallas Morning News covered it. USPS SLASHES MAIL SERVICE STANDARDS
On January 5, 2015 the United States Postal Service took the unwarranted step to degrade mail service standards, virtually eliminating overnight delivery of first-class mail and periodicals nationwide. This action, Phase Two of the USPS Network Rationalization Plan, further delays America's mail, enables the closure of up to 82 mail processing plants, and threatens up to 15,000 jobs. While the USPS recently postponed further closures until 2016, the drastic slowdown in mail processing and delivery continues unabated. Read More 
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We are pleased to inform you that the Dallas TX Area Local (APWU) Executive Board voted Nichelle Hill (NDC Chief Steward) into the recent vacated NDC Director position (vacated by Jonathan Cage) in accordance with the Local Constitution.
Nichele has been serving the local in different roles over the years. She is a very familiar face around the NDC and all facilities in the Dallas area. Please join me in congratulating Nichele Hill and wishing her the best of luck in her new role. Yours In Union Solidarity! Yared Wonde President 
We are pleased to inform you that the Dallas TX Area Local (APWU) Executive Board voted Sheldon Rowlson (MVS assistant Director) into the recent vacated MVS Director position (vacated by Dyrike Shaw) in accordance with the Local Constitution.
Please join me in congratulating Sheldon Rowson and wishing him the best of luck in her new role. Yours In Union Solidarity! Yared Wonde President 
We are pleased to inform you that the Dallas TX Area Local (APWU) Executive Board voted Tyrone Easley (MVS) into the recent vacated MVS Assistant Director position (vacated by Sheldon Rawlson) in accordance with the Local Constitution.
Please join me in congratulating Tyrone Easley and wishing him the best of luck in her new role. Yours In Union Solidarity! Yared Wonde President 
We are pleased to inform you that the Dallas TX Area Local (APWU) Brian Foster has been placed into the recent vacated MVS Business Agent position (vacated by Tyrone Easley) in accordance with the Local Constitution.
Please join me in congratulating Brian Foster and wishing hin the best of luck in her new role. Yours In Union Solidarity! Yared Wonde President 
We are pleased to inform you that the Dallas TX Area Local (APWU) Executive Board voted Jonathan Cage (Dallas BMC Director) into the recent vacated Executive Vice-President position (Charles Tillman) in accordance with the Local Constitution.
Jonathan has been serving the local in different roles and including the last 5 years as BMC Director and Executive Board member. Please join me in congratulating Jonathan Cage and wishing him best luck in his new role. Yours In Union Solidarity! Yared Wonde President 
National Election Gift Card Winner Inez Sanders NTX P&DC 
National Election Gift Card Winner Angela Trichie Carrollton Post Office 2019 Elected Officers, Business Agents and Delegates
CELEBRATION OF LIFE EVENT 10/20/2018
We're overjoyed you made it to our event. It was wonderful to see you and we really appreciate you coming out to be there with us. Thanks!!! Rank and File Bargaining Advisory Committee Convenes
WEB NEWS ARTICLE #: 45-2018 05/02/2018 
Members of the Rank and File Bargaining Advisory Committee. L-R: Yared Wonde, Dallas Area Local; Tiffany Foster, New York Metro Area Postal Union; Daleo Freeman, Cleveland Area Local; Robert Johnson, Greater Connecticut Area Local; Fred Wolfmeyer, St. Louis Gateway District Area Local; Scott Hoffman, Boston Metro Area Local; Doris Orr-Richardson, Florida Postal Workers Union; Arrion Brown, Nation’s Capital Southern Maryland Area Local; Roscoe Woods, 480-481 Area Local; Ashley Cargill, Oklahoma Postal Workers Union; Sandra Munoz, Broward County Area Local (FL); Arthur “A.J.” Jones, Eastern Montgomery County PA Area Local. Not pictured are Aulby Gillett, San Angelo Local (TX), and Timothy Maynard, San Fernando Valley Area Local (CA)
Members of the APWU’s Rank and File Bargaining Advisory Committee held their first meeting in Washington, DC, on April 24. The committee advises the union’s National Negotiations Committee on bargaining demands and must approve any tentative agreement reached before it can be sent to APWU members for a ratification vote. During deliberations the committee heard presentations from APWU President Mark Dimondstein, Industrial Relations Director Vance Zimmerman, and Craft Directors Clint Burelson, Steven Raymer, Michael Foster, and Steve Brooks about preparations for the 2018 contract negotiations. Throughout the meeting, the committee engaged in discussions about the path moving forward. The 14-member committee selected Scott Hoffman, president of the Boston Metro Area Local, to serve as chair. Arthur “A.J.” Jones, president of the Eastern Montgomery County PA Area Local, will act as co-chair, and Doris Orr-Richardson, president of the Florida Postal Workers Union, will serve as secretary. “The National officers each gave their take on their aspect [of contract negotiations],” Hoffman said. “There was some good back-and-forth, it wasn’t a one-sided presentation. We had questions for the negotiators on process, procedure and some of the specific concepts.” The committee’s next meeting will coincide with their return to Washington, DC for the Opening Day of negotiations on June 26. 
President Dimondstein: "Let's Deliver Mail, not Myths"
05/11/2018 - APWU President Mark Dimondstein busts myths and sets the record straight on the Postal Service, "a national treasure belonging to all the people of the United States." Click here to read the entire column as it appears in the Boston Globe. .Cuts to employee benefits is part of the Postal Service’s plan to balance the Postal Service’s books!!!!
June 18, 2019 -- The U.S. Postal Service wants Congress to help it make significant cuts to employee benefits as part of a plan to balance the agency’s books, according to a draft business plan HuffPost obtained. The proposal would save an estimated $18 billion on employee compensation over a decade by shaving paid leave, raising workers’ share of pension contributions, and shifting new employees into less secure 401(k)-style retirement plans. The change to pension contributions would amount to a cut in take-home pay for hundreds of thousands of workers, while saving the agency nearly $7 billion. And while excluding new employees from a pension plan is common practice for private corporations these days, it would mark a significant shift for a federal-sector job long seen as a steppingstone to the middle class. The change in employee leave policy would combine vacation with sick days, likely resulting in fewer overall days off for workers. That element is estimated to save the agency more than $5 billion. The proposals obtained by HuffPost were marked as preliminary and subject to change. The postmaster general, Megan Brennan, is expected to present a business plan to the House Oversight Committee this summer. Congratulation to the 2019 Pat Davis Scholarship winners
Left to Wright: Diep Ngo (Mother of Debra Ngo), Scholarship winner Debra Ngo, Hing Wong (Mother of Adrian Wong Scholarship winner, to her lert),standing in the back Brother of Adrian Wong, Dallas Area Local Sec/Tre Tanya “Tan” Daniel, Dallas Area Local President Yared Wonde, Health Plan Director JoAnn Williams. 
See below for APWU Nation Schlorship Winners. Adrian Wong (pinctued above), son of Hing Wong of the Dallas Area Local was also one of the National APWU Scholarship winners. 
“Robbing workers to pay the rich, this budget is Robin Hood in reverse.”
White House Budget Proposals Slash Postal Workers’ Pay and Benefits What can you do? Click Here The labor protections in the Protecting the Right to Organize Act would also extend to those not currently classified as employees, such as rideshare drivers.
JARED RODRIGUEZ / TRUTHOUT A record number of workers in the United States decided to go on strike in 2018. Now congressional Democrats are trying to harness that momentum to pass a massive labor reform bill that would make it easier for workers to join unions and collectively bargain. The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act was introduced on May 2 by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Virginia). The bill would usher in a multitude of protections for workers and give them more bargaining power. Some of its features include penalties for businesses that illegally fire employees, sped-up union elections that prevent employers from holding anti-union meetings with their staff, and National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protections for many independent contractors who aren’t currently classified as employees. The bill also specifically offers new safeguards for workers that go on strike. Employers would be prohibited from permanently replacing striking workers with scab labor. Plus, the bill would repeal a longtime ban on boycotting “secondary” companies. The current ban makes it illegal for a given union to boycott a separate corporation in solidarity with a strike. Boosting Bargaining Power “The PRO Act is an important effort to bring U.S. labor law into the 21st century — giving working people more power at a time when it is desperately needed,” said Celine McNicholas, the Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI) director of government affairs and labor counsel, in a statement. “Congress should pass the PRO Act immediately and give working people what they need most: fairness and a voice on the job.” During the first legislative hearing on the PRO Act, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Connecticut) cited the recent Stop & Shop strike as an example of why collective bargaining rights are so important. In April, over 30,000 grocery store employees went on strike across a number of New England locations to fight proposed pension cuts, bonus rollbacks and an end to overtime pay. The employees prevailed despite being up against an enormously powerful company: Stop & Shop is owned by Ahold Delhaize, a Dutch retailer that claims to have generated $44 billion in U.S. sales in 2018. Click Here to read more: |
