Floor Edition

September 15, 2011

Update by Jackie Engelhart

USPS Announces Plan to Study Closure of 252 Mail Processing Plants

On 9-14 and 9-15-11 USPS announced plans to study 252 processing facilities for possible closure. In the Great Lakes Area 27 of 56 mail processing facilities are targeted for closure. Employees at all three plants represented by our Local were told they are not on the study list. Plant Manager Johnson met with employees on all three tours at Carol Stream and told them Carol Stream may be the recipient of more mail. Plant Manager Sciurba met on all three tours to tell Palatine employees that Palatine is also safe. Plant Manager Anderson met with Chicago Metro and told employees that CMSH will remain open and they will be taking mail from IPR which was targeted for closure. Carol Stream was not considered a target due to the AMP, but CMSH and Palatine have heard rumors for the last year about possible closings so this was good news.

27 Great Lakes Area Plants to be "Studied"

1. Bloomington IL into Peoria and or Champaign

2. Bloomington, IN into Indianapolis P&DF

3. Carbondale, IL into Evansville, IN P&DF

4. Centralia, IL into Evansville, IN P&DF

5. Detroit, MI P&DC into Michigan Metroplex

6. Effingham, IL into Champaign ILP&DF

7. Fox Valley IL into South Suburban, IL

8. Gary IN P&DC into South Suburban, IL

9. Iron Mountain MI into Green Bay WI P&DC

10. Irving Park IL P&DC into Busse Hub and/or Chicago NDC and/or Palatine P&DC

11. Jackson MI into Michigan Metroplex

12 Kalamazoo MI into Grand Rapids MI P&DC

13. Kokomo IN P&DF into Indianapolis IN

14. Lafayette IN into Indianapolis IN P&DC

16. Muncie IN into Indianapolis IN

17. Quincy IL P&DF into Columbia MO P&DF

18. Rockford IL into Madison WI P&DC

19. Saginaw MI P&DC into Michigan Metroplex

20. South Bend IN into Fort Wayne IN P&DC

21. Springfield IL into St. Louis MO NDC and/or St. Louis MO P&DC

22. Terre Haute IN into Indianapolis IN and/or Evansville IN P&DF

23. Wausau WI P&DF into Green Bay WI P&DC

24. Columbus IN into Indianapolis IN P&DC

25. Kenosha WI into Milwaukee WI P&DC

26. Portage WI into Madison WI P&DC

27. Wheeler St MI Annex into Michigan Metroplex and/or Detroit NDC and/or Detroit Priority Annex

Cardiss Collins AMP Study Ongoing...

The newly released list of 252 plants targeted for consolidation into other plants does not include previously announced AMP studies such as the AMP of Cardiss Collins Chicago outgoing mail to South Suburban and Carol Stream which is ongoing.

Carol Stream Impact is Cancelled on 8-23-11. We received notification on 9-14-11 that the Clerk impact issued on 9-3-10 was cancelled on 8-23-11.

"Save America's Postal Service" Day of Action on 9-27-11...

All four postal unions will join together on Tuesday 9-27-11 from 4 to 5:30 pm to rally at the offices of local congressmen in support of passage of HR 1351 which is being held hostage by Daryl Issa and the Republican congress. HR 1351 was introduced in April by Representative Stephen Lynch who is the ranking Democrat on the House committee responsible for government and postal affairs. HR 1351 would relieve USPS of the 5.5 billion payment for prefunding of retiree health benefits, and would help to avoid USPS becoming insolvent this year. The bill has 193 mostly Democrat sponsors and is being blocked by Issa, the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He introduced a competing bill, HR 1309, or the "Postal Refoffi1 Act of 2011". Issa's HR 2309 would create a "solvency authority" that would have broad authority to cut wages, abolish benefits, end no layoff protection and close post offices. In light of the announcements on the possible closing of 252 postal facilities as well as the ongoing move to close post offices based on lack of revenue generation, the rallies on 9-27-11 could also help save our targeted postal facilities. The rally sites will be posted on saveamericaspostalservice.org on 9-16-11 and we will target mostly Republican districts in this area. Many of the facilities to be closed are in Republican districts and these congressmen may reconsider their lack of support for HR1351 and the Postal Service when they see the list of plants to be closed. Maybe the PMG has figured that out already, or not.

Must Pass HR 1351

The USPS financial crisis is now getting attention in the media and in Washington but no action is being taken because of Daryl Issa. Only HR 1351 would save USPS without destroying it. His bill, HR 2309 does not address the over funding issue that has pushed the USPS into the current crisis. His bill uses the crisis created by the 2006 Postal Enhancement and Accountability Act (PAEA) to attack collective bargaining, close post offices, and dismantle USPS. Postmaster General Pat Donahoe seems to be in agreement because he has asked Congress to allow USPS to remove 480,000 retired and 570,000 active employees out of the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan and out of the Civil Service Retirement System and FERS. He continues to push to end Saturday delivery and close thousands of post offices by 2012. Every postal employee should be at one of the following rally sites on Tuesday 9-27-11 at 4pm:

1. Peter J. Roskam ® 7th district 150 S. Bloomingdale Rd in Bloomingdale

2. Joe Walsh ® 8th district 50 E. Grand Ave in Fox Lake

3. Robert Dold ® 10th district 650 Dundee Rd. Northbrook

4. Judy Biggert ® 13th district 6262 S. Route 83 in Willowbrook

5. Randy Hultgren ® 14^th 1797 State Street in Geneva

6. Donald Manzullo ® 16^th 415 S. Mulford Rd Rockford.

These are the most likely rally sites but the official list will be posted on 9-16-11 on the website and this information will be shared as it becomes available. All four unions are behind this effort but we need all of you!

Donahoe's Stand-Up Talk

Postal Headquarters provided a one-page stand up talk to be read to the employees at each plant. The talk said in part "As you know the Postal Service has tough choices to make given its dire financial situation. Mail volume has declined more than 43 billion pieces in the last 5 years and continuing to decline. With this dramatic loss of mail volume the Postal Service's infrastructure at its current size is no longer realistic. This reality has forced the Postal Service to propose a comprehensive overhaul of it processing and transportation networks. The Postal Service has notified Congress and the Postal Regulatory Commission of the need to reduce the network size and change service standards. In addition to the network changes, the Postal Service also is proposing certain service standard changes. Details of the changes, which will be filed with the PRC in October, could have wide-ranging impacts on all plant processing schedules across the Postal Service" The closure of 252 plants means the remaining plants will get more mail and the request to change service standards for 1st class mail from overnight to 2 or 3 day means that first class mail could again be worked on all three tours. The infamous tour compressions could be reversed as management compresses plants and "decompresses" tours. The Union does not agree with the plan to dismantle the postal mail processing system, and the PMG said nothing about closing presort houses or ending discounts. The plan could affect 35,000 career employees but the PMG said he would honor the contract.