The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says extensive additional testing of samples from two Department of Defense mail facilities in the National Capital Region has not detected any anthrax. The agency said it hoped to have definitive results in the very near future. DHS noted that no positives have been detected in the Postal Service mail system or at the Pentagon itself. The Postal Service has conducted extensive testing of its Washington, DC, V Street government mail processing unit and expects test results tomorrow. In an abundance of caution, the Postal Service closed the V Street facility last night and offered short-term antibiotics to employees. Azeezaly Jaffer, USPS Vice President for Public Affairs and Communication, said, “The health and safety of our employees remains our highest priority.” Initial samples from the two Defense Department facilities indicated the possible presence of anthrax. Additional, more comprehensive testing of those samples is underway, DHS said. The Department of Homeland Security said it has not received any reports that any individuals have anthrax-related symptoms.

Legislation to overhaul the Postal Service is on track to be presented in the Senate soon, and discussions between the White House and the Senate and House committees with jurisdiction are ongoing.

As we previously reported, the implementation date of PARS continues to slip into the indefinite future, and the true adverse impact of PARS on CFS staffing remains unknown. Based upon recent discussions with the union, the Postal Service has agreed to resume posting vacant duty assignments in the CFS operation. Although nothing is certain, we believe employees who choose to bid into the CFS operation can feel reasonably secure that such duty assignments will remain stable for at least a couple of years, and perhaps longer. Several years ago, when PARS was first proposed, the union agreed to suspend the posting of vacant CFS duty assignments. Career CFS staffing declined to the point that nearly half of the current employees are non-career (casuals or TEs). The union’s policy was based on the best available information at the time that PARS implementation was imminent, and that it would have a drastic adverse impact on staffing. However, time has revealed that this information was incorrect. We encourage all APWU employees with the necessary skills to give strong consideration to vacant CFS duty assignments. We will pass along any information relative to PARS implementation as soon as it becomes available.

We have received notice from postal management that the Express Mail and Registry Operations at the Denver Airport Mail Center may be moved to other facilities in the near future. These changes should occur by no later than July 2005. This is part of the overall process of restructuring AMC’s nationwide. The Postal Service has a goal of downsizing and/or eliminating all 80 Air Mail Centers as soon as possible. The Denver Metro APWU is working closely with Tom Lujan relative to proposed changes at the Denver AMC. Our goal is to allow all impacted employees to move with their current duty assignments to new facilities whenever possible. We are currently in discussions to ensure this happens with regard to the re-location of the Express Mail and Registry Operations. We will keep you informed as this issue moves forward.

The Colorado/Wyoming District Retirements Unit will be presenting retirement seminars on the dates listed below for employees within three (3) years of retirement eligibility. These seminars will be held at the times and locations designated below:

Denver Metro APWU member Colleen Girard is looking for Postal Women Tri-Athletes like herself to compete in the Darskin Triathlon to benefit women’s cancer research on July 17, 2005, and/or Tri For the Cure to benefit prostate cancer research on August 7, 2005. These races consist of a ½ mile swim, a 12 mile bike ride and a 3 mile run/walk. The Denver Metro APWU encourages our members to support Sister Girard’s efforts to help raise funds for cancer research. For more information, please contact Colleen at the Denver MPA between the hours of 7:00 AM and 3:30 PM at 303-853-6930. Please leave a message with your name, number and work location.

Low back pain is a problem and your feet could be contributing to your sore feet. Our backs can be affected by our feet in several ways:

As you should know by now, we will soon enter into national negotiations for our next union contract. Assuming this process concludes without arbitration, national negotiations would be followed by local negotiation for our Local Memoranda of Understanding (LMOU). Each installation has an LMOU covering a number of items listed in Article 30 of the National Agreement. These include sections for overtime, holidays, bid annual leave and reassignments, and many other topics. If you have ideas relevant to one of the twenty items included in your LMOU, please contact us and share them so we can bring them to the bargaining table next year. We can never guarantee that management will agree with any idea that we bring forward, but we need to know what our members want so we can set our negotiating priorities. Thank you in advance for your input.

As you may recall, Denver Metro APWU member Robert Bueno-Dominguez volunteered to travel to Sri Lanka to help re-build in the wake of the devastation caused by the tsunami. Here is the first message we have received from Robert since his arrival in the area:

Based upon recent discussions with postal management, we are reporting that there are excellent opportunities to request transfers into custodial vacancies in the Maintenance Craft. Management has agreed to give liberal consideration to all such transfer requests. This is a golden opportunity for current Denver District employees to get a foot in the door at the ground floor of the fastest growing craft within the APWU. Once in the Maintenance Craft, employees are eligible to apply for promotions into more skilled, higher level maintenance positions. If you have any interest, now is the time to contact management and submit your application to transfer. Please contact Maintenance Craft Director Miguel Salazar or Executive Vice-President Gary Scott with any questions about these opportunities. Good luck!

Please note that we are currently accepting applications for a number of union-sponsored scholarship programs. These include the Denver Metro APWU’s five $500 Moe Biller Scholarship awards. Please contact the union office at 303-365-1524 to request application packets for all of these programs. Remember – You can’t win if you don’t apply!

Staffing levels of qualified drivers are at critically low levels. This situation is putting enormous pressure on existing employees with regard to overtime and holiday scheduling. We are engaged in ongoing discussions with management regarding this situation and we are doing everything in our power to encourage hiring. We believe hiring more drivers presents the only realistic and effective solution to this crisis. Unfortunately, management appears to be studying more subcontracting as an alternative to increasing staffing. We always have been and remain adamantly opposed to subcontracting our transportation work. We believe it is always best to use dedicated, career postal employees to transport the mail. We will continue to push for more hiring and strenuously resist any efforts to contract out our work.

• The next Regular Membership Meeting is scheduled to begin at the union office at 9:00 AM on Saturday, March 19, 2005. Please mark your calendar and plan to attend.
•      The next regular Executive Board meeting is scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM on Friday, March 18, 2005. Among a number of important issues, the board will discuss the selection of delegates to attend upcoming APWU events.