Fired Up and Ready to Go! Contract Negotiations Begin Between the APWU and USPS

(This article was first reported on the National Website on June 30, 2018)

The American Postal Workers Union began negotiations for a new union contract with the U.S. Postal Service with an opening session on June 26th. In a display of postal union unity, NALC Executive Vice-President Brian Renfroe and NPMHU president Paul Hogrogian sat shoulder to shoulder with the APWU leadership.  A host of notable labor and community allies, including AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and NAACP national leader Hilary Shelton, were present in support, underscoring the national importance of this round of bargaining. The APWU delegation of 80 national officers, the Rank and File Bargaining Committee, friends and supporters and local representatives marched to the meeting room chanting “Fired Up and Ready to Go!” while in a national day of APWU solidarity and unity thousands of members wore their stickers: “Fighting Today for a Better Tomorrow.”

APWU President and lead negotiator Mark Dimondstein presented the union’s opening remarks pointing out that “Since the advent of true collective bargaining gained as a result of the postal strike of 1970 – postal workers’ lives are vastly improved. And representatives of our union sit across the bargaining table from management as equals – not because we have important titles, but because we have a union sustained and supported by our members.”

With the recent White House proposal to privatize the Postal Service, Dimondstein didn’t mince words. “As we enter these negotiations, powerful forces on Wall Street and the likes of UPS continue to push for the breaking up of the postal service and selling pieces off to the highest bidders,” he said, adding that “management should not be afraid of bold and creative thinking and approach these negotiations as an opportunity to discuss various ways to protect and expand the public postal service.”

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UPS goes back to court on USPS costing methodology

(This article was first reported on savethepostoffice.com on July 16, 2018)

The United Parcel Service has gone back to court to continue its challenge of a ruling by the Postal Regulatory Commission concerning how the Postal Service determines the costs of its products.

In September 2016, the Commission, in Order No. 3506, denied a petition by UPS proposing changes in the way the Postal Service allocates costs among its various products.  UPS then petitioned the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for review.  In May of this year, a three-member panel of the Court rejected the UPS appeal.

Earlier this month, UPS filed a new petition, this one for a “rehearing en banc,” asking the full Court to reconsider the panel’s earlier decision. The petition is available here.

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Your TSP account: Surviving the coming correction

(This article was first reported on federalnewsradio.com on June 15, 2018)

You know it’s coming. A major stock market correction is well overdue, according to historical averages. That’s something to keep in mind whether your Thrift Savings Plan account is in stocks, such as the C, S and I funds, or bonds, such as the F Fund. Or it could be in the G Fund composed of special Treasury securities, or in any of the automatically adjusting lifecycle L Funds.

It’s your money. A major portion of your retirement nest egg which, if you are under the Federal Employees Retirement System, will provide one third to one half of all the cash you have to spend in retirement.

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