Lamont Brooks, APWU Assistant Director, Clerk Division sent out an urgent message for postal clerks.  Brooks found out about the system outage today in a meeting with USPS.  (note: USPS , upon learning of the problem affecting POS systems should have notified the union).

Some postal clerks are reporting that they cannot log in or out on the Point of Sale (POS) terminals, computers..etc. This problem will affect window retail transactions, passports, updating po box  data and other areas. More details will be posted later.

Brooks urges postal clerks to complete a Report of Security Problem or Poor Financial Practice.

Here is the message sent to PostalReporter:

While in meetings with the USPS today I have been informed that computer systems have shut down since mid-afternoon yesterday.

They can’t log onto computer systems or access e-mails,.etc

This also means that if the clerks logged out of POS yesterday, they can’t log on today.

This would be true for any USPS computer system requiring authentication and/or verification.

To protect your employees, I would recommend the locals have their officers/stewards/employees provide written notice to management of the breach in security/ financial practices in case of a window shortage or possibly a security issue.

Once the system is back up, I would also recommend you have the USPS perform an audit on the clerk’s accountability. This way the clerk will know that they were not compromised by the breach.

Because of the magnitude of the possible breach, I do not know who could be affected.

I have been informed that the USPS is working the window in the old manual 1412 mode.

Please share with your local/state officers, steward and members.

Yours in Union Solidarity,

Lamont Brooks
Assistant Director
Clerk Division
American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO