News & information

September 2011

The Postal Record, Vol. 124, No. 9

Cover story

• USPS lobbies Congress [to slash 120,000 jobs, reduce benefits and gut bargaining rights] as contracts talks with the NALC begin

News and features

• USPS ratchets up efforts to cut carrier jobs, service
• Bankruptcy threat is the Postal Service's "Big Lie"
• USPS' proposals sound a lot like those raised in a House hearing in April
• What pre-funding default actually means
• Rolando talks postal finances with Obama, Senate Democrats
• Remembering the Sept. 2001 anthrax attacks and letter carriers' role in keeping us prepared in the event of a future attack
• Wins in WI as two anti-union state senators are removed in a recall
• Debt limit limbo: Tea Party obstruction threatens labor, letter carriers
• NALC's Ron Watson provides expert testimony at Senate FECA hearing
• Part 2 of our Q&A with PRC Chairman Ruth Goldway
• New faces, new responsibilities: Pres. Rolando names new RAAs, HQ staff
• Three NALC kids win Union Plus scholarships
• The 2011 Graceful Envelope contest: Time flies when you're being creative
• Monthly columns by national officers and staff members

• President's Message

  The Postal Service embraces 'bad-faith' bargaining.

• Contract negotiations

  USPS lobbies Congress [to slash 120,000 jobs, reduce benefits, gut bargaining rights] as contract talks begin. Also: The evolution of bargaining; History of agreements.

• USPS ratchets up efforts to cut carrier jobs, service

  Also: Rolando talks postal finances with Obama, Senate Democrats. Vote-by-mail bills passed in Rhode Island, California.

• Debt ceiling limbo

  Tea Party obstruction threatens labor, letter carriers

• Remembering the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks

  The anthrax attack and letter carriers' role in keeping the U.S. prepared against a future attack. Also: Cities Readiness Initiative. Also: Two anti-union state senators in Wisconsin removed in first wave of recalls.

• NALC provides expert testimony at Senate FECA hearing

  Among those called to testify at the hearing was Ron Watson, a member of Corvallis, WA Branch 1274 and a retired NALC national director of compensation who now serves the union as a consultant.

• Q and A with PRC Chairman Ruth Goldway

  Part 2 of a Postal Record interview with Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Ruth Goldway, interviewed in her office in Washington, DC, on July 1.

• New faces, new responsibilities

  President Rolando names Greg Dixon, Brian Renfroe and John Collins as his assistants for contract administration; Region 2 RAA Coby Jones as his assistant for compensation; Mike Wahlquist as a Region 2 RAA; Hugh McElroy as a Region 13 RAA.

• Three NALC kids win Union Plus scholarships

  Three children of letter carriers will get extra help paying for college this fall thanks to the Union Plus scholarship program.

• Time flies when you’re being creative

  The 2011 Graceful Envelope contest.

• Executive Vice President

  Dispute resolution intervention training

• Vice President

  Success stories

• Secretary-Treasurer

  Changing the conversation

• Assistant Secretary-Treasurer

  The not-so-fine print

• Director of City Delivery

  JARAP 2011 update and adjustment review process

• Contract Talk

  Joint Alternate Route Adjustment Process 2011

• Director of Safety and Health

  Delivering for America

• Director of Retirement

  Who is the winner here?

• Monthly CSRS annuity payments

  for letter carriers who retire on Dec. 1, 2011

• FERS retirement benefits

  for letter carriers who retire on December on Dec. 1, 2011

• Director of Life Insurance

  Safe and secure

• Director of Health Benefits

  Open Season dates officially announced: Nov. 14 - Dec. 12

• MDA Coordinator

  Where is the vision for the future?

• Compensation Department

  Medical restrictions

• Director of Education

  There ain't no cure for the summertime blues

• Letter from the Editor