PMG Pat Donahoe has announced the selection of Jeff Williamson to be vice president, Pricing.

Williamson is a 2012 graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), having represented the Postal Service as a Sloan Fellow and earned a Master of Science degree in management.

Prior to his appointment as vice president, he was manager, Performance and Field Operations Support. He joined USPS in 2004 as manager, Network Modeling and Development. He also is a former manager, Network Development and Support. In this role, Williamson designed the Network Distribution Center system, which positioned the network for service improvements and cost savings.

As vice president, Pricing, Williamson will lead development and implementation of programs designed to simplify the mailing experience for small businesses. He also will generate ideas for commercial customers and lead the drive to tailor services for specific markets.

In addition to his recent work at MIT, Williamson also has a Master of Business Administration degree with a focus on finance and accounting from American University and a bachelor’s degree in history from Gettysburg College.

The APWU has engaged in informal conversations with the Postal Service about financial incentives for retirements and separations, but no official offers have been made or discussed, union President Cliff Guffey reports.

“We expect the Postal Service to make a formal request to negotiate over early-outs and incentives after several other outstanding issues have been addressed,” he said.

APWU members will be notified of developments. For the latest information, visit www.apwu.org.

Washington, DC – On May 31, the Postal Regulatory Commission issued Order No. 1361 establishing Docket N2012-2 to provide a public hearing and issue an advisory opinion on the U.S. Postal Service’s Post Office Structure Plan (POStPlan). The primary focus of the proposal is to reduce costs by changing operating hours at approximately 17,700 of the 32,000 postal retail locations nationwide. The Service’s previous plan, the Retail Access Optimization Initiative, to close 3,700 post offices has been put on hold.

Vice Chairman Nanci E. Langley will serve as “Presiding Officer” for this docket. “This proceeding will provide all interested persons with a full opportunity to provide input,” said Vice Chairman Langley. “At the same time, the Postal Service has said it would like to be able to begin to implement its plan in September, and the Commission will conduct a timely review with this in mind.”

The Commission proceeding provides a transparent, on-the-record process to ensure that any nationwide changes in postal services are consistent with the Postal Service’s obligation to provide prompt, reliable, and efficient postal services to customers in all areas and to all communities. The public is encouraged to share their written views with the Commission. Comments may also be shared via the Commission’s online customer service form at www.prc.gov.

“The public should have a clear understanding of the changes the Postal Service is currently proposing to reduce the overall level of rural post office service,” said Chairman Ruth Y. Goldway. “I encourage postal customers to become familiar with the new proposal and to let the Commission know of their interests and needs.”

APWU Web News Article 68-2012, June 1, 2012

As the first group of Postal Support Employees (PSEs) hired by the USPS approaches their one-year anniversary, employees are eager to sign-up for health insurance and have a lot of questions about how and when to do that, reports Organization Director Martha Shunn-King. In accordance with the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement, PSEs become eligible to participate in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) after one year of service.

PSEs may sign-up for federal employees’ health benefits after they complete one full year (365 calendar days) of continuous employment with no breaks in service of more than five days. To be eligible, they must maintain sufficient earnings each pay period so that premiums can be withheld from their pay after mandatory deductions for Social Security, Medicare and federal tax are made.

In accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the USPS will contribute 75 percent of the premium costs if PSEs choose to enroll in the APWU Consumer Driven Health Plan. Employees will pay the remaining 25 percent. They are also eligible to enroll in other Federal Employee Health Benefit plans, but will be required to pay 100 percent of the premium costs for other plans.

How and When to Enroll

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will send PSEs a 2012 Guide to Benefits For Certain Temporary (non-Career) USPS Employees, which is similar to the booklets career employees receive during open season. To enroll, employees must complete the PostalEASE FEHB Worksheet and send it to Shared Services, at PO BOX 970400, Greensboro NC 27497-0400. Once they are enrolled, employees will be able to use PostalEASE to make changes.

Coverage will be effective the first day of the first pay period after the Postal Service receives an enrollment form, if employees have been assigned for another 360 days.

PSEs must enroll within 60 days of eligibility or they will have to wait for the next Health Plan Open Season to sign-up.

Managers cannot give employees a six-day break to prevent them from achieving eligibility for insurance. They can assign five-day breaks before workers complete 360 days, but such employees will be eligible, provided they reach 360 days after the break.

For additional information, employees can call Shared Services at 1-877-477-3273, and select Option 5, Shunn-King said. “You also can call me or e-mail me,” she said, at mshunn-king@apwu.org or 202-842-4227.

Insurance Orientations

In accordance with Article 17.6 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, APWU officers must be given ample opportunity to address non-career employees once they become eligible for health insurance. Working with the APWU Health Plan, the Organization Department is producing a PowerPoint slide show presentation for use at the orientations, Shunn-King said.

APWU representatives have met with the Postal Service officials to discuss the logistics of PSE healthcare enrollment, and have scheduled a follow-up meeting next month to firm up the details, she added. “We will keep you posted of any new developments.”

Boston magazine’s June issue carries a lengthy article on the continuing saga of V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai, an MIT lecturer who claims he invented email, and who will be speaking at the upcoming PostalVision 2020 conference in Washington later this month. According to the PostalVision web site, Ayyadurai “in 1978 created the world’s first EMAIL system”. We told you about Ayyadurai and his claims last December after he told an interviewer he’d been asked to advise the US Postal Service. According to the Boston story, “The Postal Service has given Shiva a contract to continue sharing his ideas on e-mail management.” This and the invitation to the PostalVision conference come despite nearly universal rejection of Ayyadurai’s email invention claim by the people who were actually involved in the development of email and the Internet, and the fact that, according to Boston, “his speaking engagements have been canceled, the funding for his EMAIL lab has evaporated, and his contract to lecture in MIT’s bioengineering department has been revoked”. Here’s what has happened since our last story: Read the rest of this entry »