Federal Daily - March 17, 2009

USPS Abandons Plan to Outsource Bulk Mail Work, APWU Says

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has abandoned plans to outsource work at 21 Bulk Mail Centers (BMCs), citing the current fiscal crisis and a drop in mail volume, the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) said on March 12. According to a bulletin posted on the APWU Web site, the union was told by William Galligan, senior vice president for USPS Operations, that the Postal Service instead intends to revamp the BMC network. In July 2008, the Postal Service announced plans to outsource work performed at the BMCs, and informed the union of plans to locate Flat Sorter Sequencing machines at the facilities, APWU said. However, things changed with the declining economy and a subsequent drop in the volume of flats. “The world changed under our feet,” Galligan said at a briefing for APWU. “It would be foolhardy to proceed with a plan that was based on flat volume growth.” The revised plan calls for a new, three-tiered network. “We are pleased that the Postal Service has decided against contracting out BMC operations,” said APWU President William Burrus, “but we withhold any endorsement of the new plan until we are able to determine its impact on service and on employees represented by the APWU.” To see more, go to:
http://apwu.org/news/webart/2009/09-027-bmcnetwork-090312.htm

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Navy Secretary Resigns

Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter resigned his office March 13, ending a three-year term at the helm of the Navy. Appointed by President Bush in 2006, Winter agreed to stay on until March 13 to help ease the transition to a new administration, the Navy said. Among his accomplishments, the Navy noted, Winter enhanced the Navy’s role in missile defense, codified policies to leverage special operations capabilities in the Navy and Marine Corps, and increased the department’s focus on intelligence collection and analysis. Before becoming Navy secretary, Winter served as a corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman’s Mission Systems sector. Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations and Environment) B.J. Penn will serve as acting Secretary of the Navy until the Senate confirms a nominee chosen by President Obama. To see more, go to: www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12554

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Deadline Nears for FEEA Scholarships

The application deadline is March 27 for federal employees and their dependents who want to apply for scholarships from the Federal Employee Education and Assistance (FEEA) Fund. Candidates for the scholarships must have at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average, plan to study at an accredited university and be a federal employee for at least three years, or a dependent of a federal employee. The competition is open to those who are planning on entering college soon or those who are already enrolled in an accredited institution of higher learning, FEEA said. Applying for the FEEA scholarship makes students eligible for several different awards, including scholarships sponsored by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Federal Employees Program, the Doc Cooke Scholarship, and seven FEEA-NTEU scholarships worth $5,000 apiece. Last year, FEEA awarded 500 students half a million dollars in scholarships. Since its inception in 1986, the nonprofit charity has provided $8.5 million in scholarships to federal employees and their dependents. To see more, go to: www.FEEA.org.

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