For anyone who’s wondering, the U.S. Postal Service and its largest union are still talking. “We are pursuing our goals,” American Postal Workers Union President Cliff Guffey said in a contract negotiations update posted Thursday on the union’s web. Besides seeking job security, Guffey said, “we want to lessen the disruption our members suffer as a result of excessing.” Also under discussion are wages, benefits and “work structure” issues. A Postal Service spokesman confirmed Friday that negotiations are still under way, but had no other comment. The APWU’s four-year contract with the Postal Service expired Nov. 20, but its terms…
Monthly Archives: December, 2010
Since last week Department of Homeland Security Security Janet Napolitano has been appearing at WalMarts across the country. Napolitano will appear on screens near the checkout counter at 588 WalMarts in 27 states as part of a national “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign. Napolitano will appear in a 44-second clip asking patrons to report suspicious activity in the store and parking lot. Napolitano will not be asking if you prefer paper or plastic. A $13 million grant program for transit safety administered by DHS to the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority in 2002 was the catalyst for the…
A year has passed since the White House issued the Open Government Directive, laying out requirements for agencies to increase transparency, participation and collaboration. Tune in here at 2 p.m. for a White House progress report on the initiative, or join the Facebok discussion.
Today, 69 years ago, Japanese military forces attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in what was then the territory of Hawaii. Although there is not a day off to remember it, there are plenty of resources online to take a look at and remember the events that brought the United States into the Second World War and cost the lives of 2402 Americans. The National Park Service has a comprehensive history lesson plan complete with table of contents and pictures. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin also had a story about this in 1999. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy Speech.”…
Hats off to the Center for Investigative Reporting for a great piece on the number games Immigration and Customs Enforcement played to meet its goals for fiscal 2010: But in reaching [a record] 392,862 deportations, [ICE] included more than 19,000 immigrants who had exited the previous fiscal year, according to agency statistics. ICE also ran a Mexican repatriation program five weeks longer than ever before, allowing the agency to count at least 6,500 exits that, without the program, would normally have been tallied by the U.S. Border Patrol. […] “It’s not unusual for any administration to get the numbers they…
Happy Friday! On a voice vote Thursday evening, the Senate passed a continuing spending resolution to keep the government in business through Dec. 18. The House had approved the resolution Wednesday. It will extend a similar measure that was set to expire Friday at midnight, so no government shutdown for at least another two weeks. Like its predecessor, this new resolution basically keeps spending at fiscal 2010 levels. Since Congress is not likely to finish up work on a dozen fiscal 2011 appropriations bills in the week before Christmas, there will probably be at least one more continuing resolution to push…
A recently launched six-month pilot at the Veterans Affairs Department is intended to reduce the time it takes to collect veterans’ health records from private physicians. VA awarded Virginia-based DOMA Technologies, LLC a six-month, $384,000 contract to aid in collecting records needed to process veterans’ claims for disability benefits. “We are committed to harnessing the best technology and the brightest minds in the government and private sector to ensure veterans receive the benefits they have earned,” VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, said in a news release. Wayne Zinn, DOMA’s chief operating officer, said the pilot is off to a strong start. More…
Attention federal employees or contractors: In light of the WikiLeaks breaches, has your supervisor or agency cracked down on your Internet or other computer use? Are you aware of more monitoring of workplace online activities? If so, I’m interested in learning more about your experiences. If you’re up to discussing them, please e-mail me at sreilly@federaltimes.com and let me know the best way to reach you. I’m fine with talking on background or a not-for-attribution basis. Thanks very much and I look forward to hearing from you. Sean Reilly Staff Writer Federal Times
The Washington Post has an advance peek at the big announcement NASA has scheduled for later today. It’s not aliens, but it is pretty interesting nonetheless — researchers have found a bacterium that relies on arsenic, not phosphorus, as one of its six essential components. The Post said this doesn’t prove that some forms of life on Earth evolved from a different common ancestor than the rest of us — the so-called “second genesis.” “But the discovery very much opens the door to that possibility, and to the related existence of a theorized ‘shadow biosphere’ on earth.” The Mono Lake…
Congressional hearings on the U.S. Postal Service usually fall somewhat short of spine-tingling, but here’s a fascinating tidbit from this morning’s session before a Senate subcommittee: There are 132 postal workers aged 90 or older currently receiving workers’ compensation, three of whom are 98. That’s according to Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “These individuals should be switched to the retirement system; they’re never going to return to work over age 90,” Collins said at the hearing by the panel’s federal financial management subcommittee. According to Collins, employees on…