APWU News Bulletin 09-2011, May 11, 2011:

APWU members approved a new contract May 11, with more than 75 percent of those casting ballots voting in favor of ratification. The final tally was 69,451 to 22,351 in balloting that ended May 10. The agreement will expire May 20, 2015.

Ballots were tallied May 11. The count was conducted by the American Arbitration Association, under the supervision of the Rank and File Bargaining Advisory Committee.

“The new contract is an important achievement for the APWU,” said President Cliff Guffey. “We were able to retain protection against layoffs, bring back thousands of jobs in each craft, and limit excessing. Read the rest of this entry »

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports that police have arrested a 16 year old Little Rock youth in connection with the robbery of a letter carrier in that city on April 2. Roshad Thomas and an accomplice are said to have taken the carrier’s cell phone, pocket knife and dog spray, but did not take any mail.

Thomas, who will be charged as an adult, faces 25 years in prison if convicted.

16-year-old arrested in mailman hold-up.

Dennis Ross’s subcommittee holds another hearing on the USPS and the mailing industry tomorrow- hopefully they’ll be more careful with their numbers at the hearing than they were in the press release. The USPS actually lost $2.2 billion in the second quarter, not $2.6 billion:

WASHINGTON- Four major mailing industry representatives will testify tomorrow morning to the postal service subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on challenges facing that industry. Yesterday the United States Postal Service announced that it lost $2.6 billion in the three months ending March 31.

via USPS posts $2.6 billion loss; Oversight Hearing to Discuss Challenges Facing the Mailing Industry.

According to PostCom Executive Vice President Jessica Lowrance, “There have been rumors within the industry that it should expect or budget for a 23 percent increase for Standard Mail flats during the next annual USPS price change early in 2012. This type of rumor can have disastrous consequences for mail volume as businesses begin media choices for 2012 across the nation. To a novice postal user or out-of-the-loop type of mailer, this type of news may force their hand in leaving mail altogether or test other media at a more accelerated pace.”

Full article (.pdf file) at PostCom: Postal News and Information from Around the World.

From the American Postal Workers Union:

Ratification Vote Count Underway

The counting of ballots in the ratification vote on the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement has begun. As of 12:45 p.m., the numbers stand at 69,451 “yes” votes, and 22,351 “no” votes. The numbers will be updated periodically as they become available. The final vote count will be posted at www.apwu.org.

via APWU Home Page.