President's Hotline Message

April 21, 2006
Steve LeNoir, President

Greetings Fellow Postmasters and LEAGUE Members

On March 27th a meeting was held at Postal Headquarters involving the Presidents from the LEAGUE, NAPUS, and NAPS. The meeting was called after a letter was sent to the PMG signed by the 3 Presidents requesting to meet with senior Headquarters officials to discuss matters of mutual concern involving postmasters and supervisors.

We met with the Vice President of Labor Relations, Doug Tulino, and other Headquarters officials. Some of the issues discussed included hiring and staffing, Post Office Resource Optimization (PRO) a pilot program being conducted in the Appalachia District, and Work Service Credits (WSC). We also covered Supervisor Work Service Credits (SWSC), Small Office Variance (SOV – a pilot program in the Western Area), hiring in the storm affected areas of Louisiana, and the new role of the OIG’s office in employee investigations.

We covered a lot of ground during the exchange and for the most part the dialogue was positive. It is healthy for the postmasters and supervisors that we represent for the 3 organizations to come together and sit at the table with Headquarters to attempt to resolve issues that affect us all as managers. Some commitments were made from both sides and I’m looking forward to continuing the dialogue. This meeting was certainly a step in the right direction. Talks Resume on Work Service Credits

On March 9, we resumed discussions on revamping the Work Service Credit System (WSC). The LEAGUE and NAPUS presidents along with Postal HQ officials participated in the meeting.

The current WSC system has not had any major changes since the early 1980’s and all agree it’s time to change the system to reflect the additional duties Postmasters have assumed over the years.

Issues such as the Zone of Tolerance, increasing credit for rural and city delivery, the makeup of the current PS Form 150 and interim Postmaster levels are all on the table.

I don’t want to give anyone false hope that this will be an easy deal to broker, but it is positive to note that the dialog has resumed and it’s hopeful that a resolution will be forthcoming.

I look forward to working with our sister organization NAPUS and Postal HQ to develop a system that properly rewards Postmasters for the work they perform.

Joint letter sent to Senator Collins by U.S.P.S. Unions and Management Associations

On March 16th all seven Presidents of the Postal Service Unions and Management Associations signed a letter to Senator Collins on the merits of Postal Reform. That in itself is amazing!

This letter was compiled by the lobbyists from each organization working together to find common ground on what we agree should ultimately be in the reform package. Click here to view the March 16th letter, I encourage you to read it and familiarize yourself with the issues. As it stands now, the next step is for a conference meeting between the House and Senate to iron out the differences between the 2 bills. As of this writing, the Senate Conferees have been named but the House has yet to appoint its conferees.

Speculation has it that the conference will be held in the May to June timeframe to craft a bill to be sent to the President for his signature or veto. Many things can change during a conference, for example during the 1970 Postal Reorganization there was no mention of a Postal Rate Commission (PRC) in the original bill. It was only after the bill went to conference that the concept of the PRC was added.

The LEAGUE will continue to work with Senator Susan Collins and Congressman Tom Davis as we move to conference. Lets keep our fingers crossed that we ultimately come out with Postal Reform that we can live with and Reform that moves the Postal Service in a positive direction.

--Steve LeNoir, LEAGUE President