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No. 03-23 October
24, 2003 |
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Young
Extols NALC Plan
At Health Benefit Seminar
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Branch Reps
Prepare for
‘Open Season'
NALC President William
H. Young delivers the keynote address to Branch Health
Benefits Representatives during the NALC Health Benefit
Plan seminar October 20-22 at the Tropicana Hotel in
Las Vegas. Young stressed to the 360 delegates that
the NALC has been able to control the increase in employee
contribution to well below the average of Federal Employee
Health Benefit plans, a factor that will make the NALC
Plan more attractive to letter carriers in 2004. |
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Young
to Tour Brentwood Center
Before Carriers Return to Work
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NALC President William H. Young, in testimony
submitted to a House Government Reform Committee hearing
October 23, said he will personally tour the Brentwood facility
in Washington, DC before allowing letter carriers to return
to work there following the extensive anthrax cleanup.
"I intend to tour the facility
myself to make that determination, and if there is one
shred of doubt in my mind as to the safety of our members,
I will not allow them to return to work there,"
Young told Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA).
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Ricin Found in Vial
In South Carolina
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website
update: CDC Environmental
testing at the Greenville, SC Airport Mail Facility
were negative for the presence of ricin.
(source: USPS
Newsbreak p.m., 10/23/04) |
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Postal
Inspectors, the FBI and other authorities were investigating
the discovery of a vial of deadly ricin inside an envelope
at an airport postal facility in Greenville, SC on October
15. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed
that the toxin was present.
The Postal Service said three
employees came in contact with the envelope, but none
of the substance was found on the outside of the envelope.
As a precaution, workers were moved to another facility
in Greenville while tests were conducted on equipment
and the environment. The results were negative.
Ricin, derived from the castor bean plant, is easily
made and can be deadly in small doses.
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Young said thus far the Postal Service
has been diligent about answering questions NALC has posed
about the clean-up process. "We believe that the Postal
Service is doing and will continue to do all in its power
to ensure the safety of those returning to work," he
said.
Some 242 letter carriers worked at the
Brentwood facility – renamed the Curseen-Morris Processing
and Distribution Center in honor of the two APWU members
who died of anthrax inhalation – and were displaced
when the facility shut down. The NALC president said all
Brentwood carriers have been provided the opportunity to
transfer rather than return to the facility.
"While the memory
of what happened there will not soon fade, our members
are looking forward to getting back there and putting
behind them the disruptions they have experienced over
the last two years," Young added.
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Four-Week
Penalty Overtime Exclusion
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NALC Vice President Gary Mullins said the
Postal Service has advised NALC that under the National
Agreement (Article 8, Sections 4 and 5), the December period
during which penalty overtime regulations are not applicable
will begin December 6, 2003 (Pay Period 26-03 - Week 2)
and end January 2, 2004 (Pay Period 02-04 - Week 1).
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Third
COLA Projected at $223.60
CSRS 2004 Adjustment Set at 2.1 Percent
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The projected accumulation for the third
of eight regular cost-of-living adjustments under the 2001-2006
National Agreement stands at $223.60 following release October
16 of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and
Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for September.
The third COLA will be based on inflation
between July 2003 and January 2004 and will be payable in
the second full pay period following release in February
of the January index.
The $223.60 annual increase equals 10.75
cents per hour or $8.60 per pay period.
Survivors, disability retirees, and other
retirees covered by the Civil Service Retirement System
(CSRS) and the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS)
will receive 2004 cost-of-living adjustments in January
of 2.1 percent and 2 percent, respectively. These adjustments,
as provided for under current law, are based on the percentage
increase in the average CPI-W from the third quarter of
2002 to the third quarter of 2003.
Based on current law, CSRS retirees receive
COLAs equal to the full percentage increase in the CPI over
the prior fiscal year. FERS COLAs vary depending on the
rate of inflation. Full COLAs are payable when the CPI increases
by 2 percent or less. If the CPI increases between 2 percent
and 3 percent – as the current case – FERS benefits
are increased 2 percent. If the CPI rises by more than 3
percent, FERS COLAs are set to equal the percentage increase
in the CPI minus one percent.
The projected accumulation toward
the 2004 Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA) COLA
stood at 2.3 percent in October following the release of
the September 2003 CPI-W. The 2004 FECA COLA will be based
on the increase in the CPI-W between December 2002 and December
2003. FECA COLAs are applicable only in cases where death
or disability occurred more than one year prior to the adjustment's
effective date.
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© 2001-2005 National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO |
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