FederalDaily - October 17, 2007
APWU Launches Ad Campaign Against Consolidation
The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) has launched an advertising campaign in southern Michigan
aimed at generating public opposition to a proposed consolidation of mail-processing operations at
a new facility in Pontiac. The ads, aimed at residents in Flint and Detroit, are intended to spawn
interest in upcoming public meetings called by the Postal Service, APWU said in an Oct. 15 article
on its Web site. The meetings are set for Oct. 22 and Oct. 23. The Flint/Detroit Area Mail Processing
studies were announced May 8, 2006, and so far have been developed without any public input, said APWU
President William Burrus. “The radio and TV ads will alert citizens to the danger of deteriorated
mail service,” said Burrus. “They are the result of efforts by big mailers to reduce their
own postage costs at the expense of all others.” The Flint/Detroit consolidation studies are
among nine ongoing AMP reviews nationwide, Burrus said. More than 50 consolidations and AMP studies
were announced between Oct. 19, 2005, and Jan. 6, 2006. To see more, go to: www.apwu.org/news/webart/2007/webart-0796-consol-michiganads-071015.htm
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AFGE to Testify Before House Subcommittee
A top American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) official will testify Oct. 18 before a House
Veterans Affairs subcommittee examining the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) health care system.
J. David Cox, AFGE national secretary treasurer, is expected to urge lawmakers to hold the VA accountable
for failing to implement provisions passed by Congress aimed at retaining and recruiting high quality
health care professionals. AFGE said that over the past five years, Congress has passed laws to provide
competitive pay to registered nurses, physicians and dentists, and to offer nurses alternative work
schedules with diminished mandatory overtime. But Cox said VA has disregarded those directives. “As
a practice, the VA has largely ignored the letter and spirit of these laws to the point where quality
personnel are fleeing the system,” Cox, a former VA registered nurse, said in an Oct. 15 statement. “Now,
Congress must hold the VA accountable for the deteriorating workplace conditions.” To see more,
go to: www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=795
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Bill Would Boost VA Pain Care
Lawmakers this week introduced legislation to bolster the pain management program at the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA). Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee,
and committee member Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, introduced the bill, the Veterans Pain Care Act of
2007 (S. 2160), to ramp up current VA pain management efforts system-wide as a new generation of vets
enters VA’s health care system. The bill would require VA to establish a pain care initiative
at every VA health care facility, and use professionally recognized assessment methods to diagnose
and treat patients with chronic or acute pain. Akaka noted that a recent study conducted by VA researchers
in Connecticut “found that nearly 50 percent of veteran patients that are seen at VA facilities
reported that they experience pain regularly.” To see more, go to: http://veterans.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?pageid=12&release_id=11395.
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