Mail Contractor Tries to Intimidate Striking Truck Drivers, APWU Charges

Mail Contractor Tries to IntimidateStriking Truck Drivers, APWU Charges

APWU Web News Article #13-05, March 28, 2005

Mail Contractors of America, a private mail hauler, began a campaign of intimidation against striking APWU members in Jacksonville, FL, March 26, according the local president representing the truck drivers.

Russ Gallion, president of APWU’s First Coast Local, which represents MCA truck drivers in Jacksonville, said the company telephoned striking workers at home Saturday and told them if they didn’t report to work on Monday, March 28, they would be terminated. None of the striking workers returned to work, Gallion said.

More than 70 Jacksonville truck drivers walked out March 24, joining over 100 MCA strikers in Des Moines and Kansas City, KS, who began a job action on March 22. “We are striking against unfair labor practices by MCA,” Gallion said. “Mail Contractors of America has tried to force us to drive longer than we are allowed to under Department of Transportation regulations,” he said, “and they have been writing us up for adhering to safety standards.”

The company has transferred workers from Greensboro, NC, Atlanta, and Los Angeles to do the work of the strikers in Jacksonville, Gallion reported. The drivers have been shuttled from a Ramada Inn to the MCA terminal under armed guard, he said. “They are using the extra drivers to cover the Jacksonville runs and to try to break the strike.

“They’re putting pressure on us,” Gallion said, “but they haven’t broken us. We’re putting pressure on them too.”

MCA has been receiving notices from the Postal Service that the company has failed to complete its routes in a timely manner, he said. The company must maintain a 98 percent on-time delivery standard, or fines can be imposed.

Strikers are picketing at four Jacksonville locations – the MCA terminal, the USPS Bulk Mail Center, and at two rail yards where MCA picks up and drops off mail. Teamsters who work for other companies at the rail yards have honored the picket lines and those companies are putting pressure on MCA to settle the matter, Gallion said.

Also on Saturday, there was a threat of violence when a strike breaker, who was driving his own vehicle at the end of a shift, told a picketer he had a gun and pointed it at him, Gallion said. “He said he would shoot the first person that touched him. Then he sped off.”

MCA imposed a contract on its workers Sept. 1, 2004. Collective bargaining agreements covering workers in Des Moines and Jacksonville expired Sept. 30, 2003. The truck drivers in Kansas City had never negotiated a contract with the company.

USPS: Jacksonville Truck Drivers Join Strike

Jacksonville Truck DriversJoin Strike Against Private Mail Haulers

APWU Web News Article #12-05, March 24, 2005

APWU truck drivers who work for a private mail hauler in Jacksonville, FL, have joined a strike that began Tuesday in Des Moines and Kansas City, KS. Seventy-nine members of the union’s First Coast Local began striking at 7 a.m., March 24, with a picket line in front of the Mail Contractors of America (MCA) terminal.

Like the union members in Des Moines and Kansas City, they are protesting working conditions the company imposed in September 2004. They have been working without a contract since September 2003.

“We will stay out until the company goes back to the old conditions or comes to the negotiating table where we can negotiate a fair contract,” said APWU First Coast Local President Russ Gallion.

“We were tired of working under the imposed conditions,” he said. “When we saw that Kansas City and Des Moines went out, we decided to go out along with them.” The issues in dispute in Jacksonville are similar to those at stake in Des Moines and Kansas City.

MCA switched health insurance carriers, Gallion said, resulting in an increase in insurance premiums for the Jacksonville truck drivers from $140 per week to $284 per week for family coverage.

The company also denied the truck drivers pay for rest breaks they are required to take, as it did in the other cities. The unpaid breaks will cost the trucks drivers thousands of dollars a year, the local president said.

Gallion echoed the concerns of strikers in Des Moines and Kansas City, noting that MCA instructs its drivers to leave loaded mail trucks unattended – sometimes for hours at a time. When trucks are passed from one driver to another while in route to distant locations, the drivers are told to leave the trucks in commercial parking lots – with the keys in the ignition, he said. The practice jeopardizes the safety of the mail, Gallion said. “The Postal Service has an obligation to protect the mail and they should not hide behind a private hauler.”

Only three mail trucks left the MCA terminal today, Gallion reported. On a normal day approximately 24 trucks would go out, he said. According to strikers, several drivers who were hired to replace them turned away when they saw the picket line.

APWU field organizer Mark Dimondstein said the company is trying to crush the union. “This strike is protesting a long list of unfair labor practices,” he said.

“We support our striking union members 100 percent,” declared APWU President William Burrus. “They are engaged in righteous struggle to protect their livelihood and their future. I urge APWU locals to support them financially as well as on the picket lines if they are able.”

INSPECTORS WARN OF POSTAL MONEY ORDER SCAM.

INSPECTORS WARN OF POSTAL MONEY ORDER SCAM.

The Inspection Service is continuing to warn the public about a fake postal money order scam. Victims are contacted by e-mail or through online sites by a person claiming to need help cashing a Postal Money Order. Victims are told they may keep some of the money as payment. When the fraudulent money order is cashed, the victim returns funds through a wire transfer, not realizing they have assisted in a federal crime. If fraud is suspected, call the Fraud Complaint Hotline at 1-800-372-8347 or visit the U.S. Postal Inspection Service website.

USPS: FEBRUARY FINANCIAL RESULTS.

FEBRUARY FINANCIAL RESULTS. The Postal Service generated net income of $1.8 billion in the Oct. 1 - Feb. 28 period, nearly $1.1 billion over budget. Revenue totaled $30 billion, $800 million better than planned, and up 1.8 percent from the same period last year. Expenses of $28.2 billion were $250 million under plan, and increased 3.5 percent from a year ago. “We were able to hold down expenses through our continuing efforts to control costs and increase productivity by absorbing workload,” said Chief Financial Officer Richard Strasser.

USPS: Mail truck drivers on strike

Your mail may be a little slow in coming days, as drivers are on strike at the major trucking contractor that hauls mail for the US Postal Service in this region. Lance Coles (coalz) is president of American Postal Workers Union Local 44 in Des Moines. Those drivers are employed by Mail Contractors of America, probably the largest contractor that hires drivers to haul mail across the country.

See full story here: http://www.radioiowa.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=765F3F45-269A-4963-801E86B25AD6388F

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USPS: DOG BITES ON THE DECLINE.

DOG BITES ON THE DECLINE.

USPS mail carriers have reported fewer dog attacks and bites so far in 2005 compared to the same period last year. It’s a trend the Postal Service hopes to continue as spring and summer approach — traditionally the worst period for these incidents. Compared to 2004 at this time, there is a 9.42% reduction in dog attacks and bites nationwide.

Dog Bite Prevention Week is May 15-21 this year. More information about how to prevent pet attacks is available at your local Post Office.

(Delivery) Uniforms give people false sense of safety

ORLANDO, Fla. -

When a man recently walked up to Bay Hill Jewelers carrying an armload of packages and wearing a FedEx uniform, a worker buzzed him in, no questions asked.

But the deliveryman was a fake. After tying up the employee, he and an accomplice emptied the southwest Orange County, Fla., store's display cases of more than $1 million of jewelry.

Read the entire story here ---> http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/03/14/build/nation/55-uniforms.inc

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USPS: THE FINANCIAL FACTS

THE FINANCIAL FACTS.
When the Newark, NJ, Star Ledger published a commentary that the Postal Service should be privatized, Public Affairs and Communications V.P. Azeezaly Jaffer responded with a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on how the Postal Service has improved its financial situation, including “debt reduction of $9.3 billion, net income of $7 billion, productivity gains of 4.2%, the elimination of accumulated deficits and reductions of about 45,000 career employees.”

Normal operations restored at Washington, DC's V Street postal facility

National Mail Service Updates

Posted Thursday, March 17, 2005

Normal operations have been restored at Washington, DC's V Street postal facility which handles mail for delivery to federal government agences with the ZIP Code prefixes 202 through 205.

USPS: National Mail Service Updates

National Mail Service Updates

Posted Wednesday, March 16, 2005 - 2pm

An extensive series of environmental samples taken at Washington, DC's V Street postal facility have tested negative for anthrax. As a result, the facility has been reopened and operations there have resumed. The V Street facility handles mail for Washington, DC area federal agencies with ZIP Code prefixes 202 through 205. The testing was conducted as a precaution following a positive test result at a Department of Defense facility that receives mail from V Street. It has been determined that the initial positive test result was not connected to the mail.

DEFINITIVE PENTAGON TEST RESULTS TODAY - No employees exhibit anthrax symptoms

DEFINITIVE PENTAGON TEST RESULTS TODAY

No employees exhibit anthrax symptoms

Routine sampling at the Pentagon Remote Distribution Facility (RDF) has produced possible positive results for anthrax. This facility processes mail from the Postal Service, as well as correspondence and packages from a variety of private couriers, including UPS, FedEx and DHL.

All USPS mail for this facility comes through the Washington, DC, V Street government mail processing unit. USPS letters and flats addressed to the Pentagon are irradiated before delivery.

In addition, a monitoring system detected a possible biological threat at a Falls Church, VA, military distribution center. All of the items in this distribution center would have originated in the Pentagon RDF.

None of the samples collected up to this point have been associated with any particular item in the RDF or the Falls Church military facility. Additional testing is under way at the U.S. Army Research Institute for Infectious diseases, Fort Detrick, MD. Definitive results are expected later today.

Environmental sampling also is underway at the USPS V Street facility. The results of these samples should be available Wednesday and will help determine if a mailpiece containing anthrax passed through this facility.

Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, potentially affected workers in all three facilities have been offered short-term antibiotic medication.

However, no employees who may have been potentially exposed at any of the facilities have exhibited symptoms consistent with anthrax. The Postal Service, in coordination with public health officials in the District, Maryland and Virginia, is monitoring the health of V Street employees.

USPS: TRENTON FACILITY RE-OPENS

TRENTON FACILITY RE-OPENS. More than 1,000 people turned out for the reopening of the Trenton, NJ, Processing & Distribution Center. The facility — a major center for the New York Metro Area — closed more than three years ago as a result of the anthrax attacks. Safety and emergency systems in the facility have been modernized or replaced. The building includes a new state-of-the-art Biohazard Detection System, providing an added level of protection for employees and the public. Retail services are available at the facility’s retail lobby. Other operations will be phased-in over the next several weeks.

UPS Truck Overturns in Oklahoma

Authorities said a strong gust hit a United Parcel Service truck as it was entering the parkway. The wind toppled the truck on its side, authorities said.

It took crews about 1 1/2 hours to turn the truck upright and to clear the road. No injuries were reported in the accident.

Authorities said that no packages were damaged in this incident.

USPS Employee Statitistics Update

As of February, USPS career workforce stands at 690,301, down 14,280 from the prior year. The biggest reductions were in clerks- 10,042; mailhandlers- 1,267; supervisors- 1,117; and Area/HQ- 886. City carriers dropped by 64, while rural carriers were the only group to increase, up by 999.

USPS: SAFETY REPORTS IMPROVE.

SAFETY REPORTS IMPROVE. The number of Postal Service OSHA Injuries and Illnesses continues to decline — with a national total of 2,951 fewer incidents in first quarter FY 2005 than the same period last year. Postmaster General Jack Potter said the Postal Service continually strives to create a safe workplace. “It’s not about the Postal Service — it’s about the employee,” says Potter. Since fiscal 2001, USPS has reduced OSHA illnesses and injuries by 36%.

USPS: PUERTO RICO BRANCH OPENED - Quicker Delivery Expected

PUERTO RICO BRANCH OPENED. USPS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently launched an International Mail Branch next to Puerto Rico’s Luis Muños Marin International Airport. The joint venture will speed mail processing for Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands and other Caribbean countries. Improved mail service is expected to boost local economies by fostering international commerce.

USPS: THE MAIL MATTERS.TO SOILDERS

THE MAIL MATTERS. A Minnesota National Guard soldier serving at Forward Operating Base Speicher in Iraq wrote to Postmaster General Jack Potter in gratitude for the postage exemption given soldiers sending letters home to America. “Even with the Internet, nothing replaces the written word to communicate with loved ones at home,” Patrick Rottach wrote. “I know I speak for many! Thanks again for the great service you provide to members of the military.”

FedEx van delivering anthrax to Winnipeg lab involved in accident

WINNIPEG (CP) - There were some anxious moments in downtown Winnipeg on Wednesday after a FedEx van carrying samples of anthrax and other infectious agents was in an accident.

A hazardous materials team blocked off the area for about two hours as a precaution before determining the packages had not been damaged. "We're treating it basically as an accident," said emergency services spokesman Gordon Martin.

The van was going to the national virology lab, which conducts research and prepares for potential disease outbreaks, when it was broadsided by another vehicle.

USPS: FRAUD CRACKDOWN CONTINUES

FRAUD CRACKDOWN CONTINUES. The Postal Inspection Service took part in a multi-agency enforcement crackdown on more than 200 work-at-home scams and other bogus money-making schemes. Postal Inspectors have arrested 28 individuals who victimized more than 140,000 consumers in these types of schemes, with losses exceeding $73 million.