Military Buyback - Are you a career employee who served in active military duty after 1956? Will you qualify for Social Security benefits?
If your answer to both questions is "yes," you may want to make a deposit into the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) so that your military service will be included in your permanent retirement annuity calculation.
Check out new video on this important information.

Personnel Office Closed - The Personnel Office will be closed two days each week beginning the week of May 12, 2008. The change is needed in order to allow Personnel staff to prepare for the on-going migration to Human Resources Shared Services Center (HRSSC). The scheduled days for closing are: San Antonio Personnel Office - closed Wednesday and Thursday

Find the Secret Word
And The Winners Are:
We had two $50.00 winners in the May/June '08 issue of the Dispatch "Word For This Isssue" contest.
The secret word was [micromanaging] and was found on page 8 in an article by President, Alex Aleman, which read; "Because of micromanaging there is no integrity on the work room floor."
Our two winners for this issue were won by Rani S. Toliao PL 339 and (three time winner) Soilo Munoz PL 139. (Brother Munoz in pic above with his winnings)
Congratulations!!
Be sure and read the May/June issue of your Dispatch and you to might be $50 richer.

Boycott & Picket Hailed as a Success
Correspondence between Arguello and Alex
concerning the upcoming Boycott and Picket at the Unity Day  
Special Isuue April/May Dispatch
This is a special issue of the Dispatch concerning the call for the up-coming boycott and pickets.

Management Lies & Deceit
Stations & Associate Offices Alert

EMPLOYEES EXCESS TO THE NEED OF A SECTION
This purpose of this article is to make our members aware of their rights when employees are excess to the need of a section. It is important to keep in mind that management makes the decision to abolish duty assignments and excess employees. The role of the union is to ensure the provisions of the contract for excessing from a section are adhered to. By the union making sure the provisions are followed, the union is also protecting the employee’s rights of both junior and senior employees.
...read the article -submitted by SAAAL President Alex Aleman - March/April Dispatch

Pre-Disciplinary Interview (PDI)
The purpose of this article will be to try and clarify some typical questions which arise from and procedures that govern a proper PDI.
First, please do not confuse PDI with an official discussion. The contract, under Article 16 (the discipline procedure) still requires management to give an official discussion, for minor offenses, prior to issuing discipline. You do not have the right to union representation for an official discussion.
....more on this article  

Step 1 Grievance Form Outline
I am including a STEP 1 GRIEVANCE FORM that you can fill out with the station name or associate office. We are losing a lot of work due to these grievances NOT being filed. I need your assistance in waging this war on reclaiming our Clerk work back!!! Make copies of this form and keep handy. The grievance must be filed within 14 days of the violation. Put a date and fill in the information in the grievance body. This STEP 1 will cover either management or carriers (rural carriers) performing Clerk work. Once the grievance is filed, a chief steward or I will handle the STEP 2 APPEAL.
...download the form -submitted by Clerk Craft Director "B", Sandra Lira

New Forms Added
We have added two new forms that you can download in our 'Forms, Manuals and Handbooks' Section. A Bargaining Unit Work Log and a Remain Live Bidder form.

Ask President Burrus - Question:
A manager at the Amarillo Processing & Distribution Center put together a softball team a few years ago named Gone Postal. I played on the team the first year, and when the manager gave us our team shirts, he told us not to wear them to work, because it might not sit well with some people.
Fast forward to today and some of the employees on the team feel like it’s no big deal to wear these shirts to work now. Several employees and I have complained about this recently, saying it is demeaning and disrespectful. We had a meeting on the subject Monday morning, July 21, about 3 a.m. It is up to the discretion of management to decide what is offensive according to the dress code, but they don’t seem to find it offensive. I wonder if employees where tragedies have occurred would think it was a good name for a softball team.
Alex, Amarillo (TX) Local   (08/06)   |    [Pres. Burrus Response]

Plan News was updated on May 1, 2008
Beginning May 1, a new interfund transfer (IFT) rule was implemented. For each calendar month, your first two IFTs can redistribute money in your account among any or all of the TSP Funds. After that, for the remainder of the month, your IFTs can only move money into the Government Securities Investment (G) Fund (in which case, you will increase the percentage of your account held in the G Fund by reducing the percentage held in one or more of the other TSP Funds). If you have both a civilian and a uniformed services account, the rules apply to each account separately.
...For more information...   |    A quick summary of April

Don't Be Taken In!
The postal service is once again promoting its voice of the Employee Survey. Employee surveys and participation programs have long been a point of dispute between the Postal Service and the APWU, with the union actively urging our members not to take part in such studies. Our main concern is that the Postal Service has misrepresented the results of employee opinion surveys in the past, including during contract negotiations and interest arbitrations when it has used survey data to justify claims that employees supported its wage proposals.
Before you fill out that survey, read an article that explains why the Union and your Local encourages you not to do so.   Don't Be Taken In!
Members who turn in their blank surveys to the union will be eligible for $$$ drawings at the General Membership Meetings.
Congratulations to our latest winners: Joseph LaBonte ($50) & Isaac Cabillos ($25) & Elizabeth Quiroga ($25)
(Brother LaBonte, to the left, has a grip on his winnings)

USPS should take ‘service’ out of its name
Long lines, no stamp vending machines, fewer window clerks, they want you to buy your stamps at your local supermarket or online. Perhaps it is time for the United States Postal Service to change its name to the United States Postal Company. After all, services are being reduced or done away with. Conveniences such the stamp vending machines and the “postal store” for quick “stamps-only” purchases have disappeared. The USPS claims they are doing this to cut costs and save money. That’s the excuse every company gives when it cuts customer service. They never lower their costs by eliminating or consolidating upper management positions, just their direct contact with their customers.
Service, to me, is helping customers. A mailing machine can give you options, but it can’t help you make the best decision on which way to mail or insure a package. A machine that takes credit or debit cards only, can’t help a customer who only wants a couple of stamps. Neither will your local supermarket when they sell you a book of stamps. And now that there is a more complex size restriction for the size of a first class letter envelope, how is a person to know how much postage to put on a greeting card this holiday season? I guess they wait on the long line. Where do you buy Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Eid stamps? For those, you to have to wait in the long line to buy them at the post office. Supermarkets carry books or rolls of regular stamps, not the various commemorative or holiday stamps available at the post office.   
-Ronald Scheiman—Retired APWU Member
Reprinted from the Sun-Sentinel.com    With the permission from the author

New Hearing Benefit
Members of both the APWU Health Plan High Option and Consumer Driven Option have a hearing benefit that is new this year. The American Hearing Benefits Program is a non-FEHB optional program with no additional premium that supplements the benefits of APWU Health Plan coverage ....for more information  

» Unemployment Rate Jumps to 5.5 Percent in May » Record foreclosures won't ease soon » Unions work to limit impact of cuts » Organized labor plans to protest John McCain as he arrives to raise money in Fort Lauderdale » Labor Officials Denounce Union Attack Ads » Chamber of Commerce Warns About Pro-Union Bills, Economy » Highly Rated Auto Plants Set to Close 9/06/2008 » Postal supervisor considers employee too valuable for jury duty » Undelivered mail found at home of Wilson carrier » Senate committee to consider nomination of Goldway to be PRC commissioner » Postal Service Supports Military Absentee Voting 9/05/2008 » Post office worker accused of embezzlement » Judge rejects anxiety excuse, sends former postmaster to prison » The Future of USPS: Interview on Fox Business Channel » Brewfest to benefit family of deceased letter carrier » USPS FSS Resources » Postal Service back to work in 6 parishes