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 One Beltway Center |
President's MessageAugust 11,2008 Leaguers, We’ve completed our 105th National Convention held in beautiful Louisville KY. The Kentucky Branch of the National League of Postmasters went all out to make our Convention memorable. Their brags about Western Kentucky Barbecue were based in fact. The BBQ was phenomenal! Postmaster General Jack Potter was not in attendance and was missed by many Postmasters looking to hear from their PMG in this year of crisis. Representing Mr. Potter was Tony Vegliante, Chief Human Resources Officer and Executive Vice President, USPS. Mr. Vegliante touched on the current financial picture of the Postal Service and spoke about the direction the Postal Service was heading. I then joined him in presenting the Benjamin Awards to the two Postmaster award winners in attendance, Sharon Conner (West Virginia), and J. Peter Rehling (Iowa). Prior to the Convention, Tony took some time to meet with the National Board to discuss Postmaster concerns. These, among others, concerned the good business sense of being able to hire more than one PMR per post office, critically low staffing situations that are causing high overtime usage and Postmasters to work many hours over 40 in a week and the upcoming NPA rollout. We were able to talk about some positive trends occurring in at least two Areas. Megan Brennan, Vice President, Area Operations, Eastern Area, welcomed Leaguers to her Area. Kathy Ainsworth, Vice President, Retail Operations at Postal Headquarters cited the many instances where the League and Postal Headquarters Retail had worked in partnership to make sure that the field was receiving the best products possible from Operations, and she promised to continue to interact with the League, Napus and Naps in the future. Mark Acton, Vice-Chairman, Postal Regulatory Commission, and native Louisvillian, informed Leaguers about how the Commission was moving forward under the new Postal Reform Law. He proudly announced that the commission was ahead of schedule regarding many provisions of the law. Mark thanked the League for its recent participation in the commission’s hearings to define Universal Service. He referred specifically to my own testimony on behalf of post offices, both large and small, and the central part post offices play in a community. The training workshops were outstanding and certainly worthy of an organization that is known throughout the Postal Service as the Education Organization. Many of the sessions were standing room only and they all were geared to help Postmasters, Retirees, and other Leaguers to be more successful in their jobs and lives. The workshop session was so good, the selection so diverse and full, that it could easily been termed, “The League University!” Thursday’s elections brought some more excitement to the day. Delegates were tasked to select three Vice Presidents from a field of four candidates. Incumbents, Deb Egemo and Bob Bittner, finished strong and were re-elected. John Olson outdistanced Debi Chapman Herman to capture the third vacant seat. The League is set with a very powerful board to lead it over the coming year. Incumbents Mark Strong (elected again to serve as Executive VP), Jack Jameson, Linda Rumney, and Retiree President Jimmy Merritt, along with myself, round out the board. I was happy to be re-elected President by acclamation of the delegates. I took advantage at the Grand Banquet to bid goodbye to Past President Steve Lenoir and Vice President Dixie Bentley. I thanked Steve along with his wife, Beverly Lenoir, for the many years Steve served on the National Board as both VP and National President. I thanked Dixie for her deep commitment to the League, her membership efforts (which, so far, have brought 348 members into the League), and for her accepting the task of Advisor to the Effective Service Committee. The Effective Service Committee, chaired by Debi Chapman Herman has produced arguably the best training and resource package the League has ever seen! The grand finale to the banquet is always the awarding of the League’s National Postmaster of the Year. From the nation’s 27,000 Postmasters, one and only one, is selected as the League’s Postmaster of the Year. Last year’s winner, Margaret Daniels, Postmaster of Markleeville California presented this year’s prestigious award to a very deserving, Bob Frakes, Postmaster from Clinton Missouri. The convention was hugely successful. We are already seeking input on how to improve it for next year. Make a commitment now to join us in beautiful Buffalo New York next year. Don’t miss out on all the good things of National Convention! Just before convention, Postal Service Headquarters informed us that, in response to our joint request with Napus to include Postmasters in early out offerings, a Postal Service request for just such an early out was sent to the Office of Personnel Management. By month’s end, we should get some word back from the Postal Service on whether or not OPM will allow the Postal Service to offer an early out to Postmasters. While many Postmasters have “had enough” under the current work environment they are experiencing in their districts and are anxious to leave, I have cautioned each of them to seriously consider what effect leaving the Postal Service might have on their lifestyles, especially in a down economy. It has been said that the Postal Service hopes that 20,000 postal employees of all types would retire, but realistically, they expect only 8,000 would see this as a good opportunity. While the Postal Regulatory Commission was going to different sites around the country to get public comment to help in defining Universal Service, the League requested a hearing here in Washington DC. This request resulted in the PRC holding hearings to include testimony from all of the management associations and unions in the Postal Service. It was gratifying to hear each organization tell the PRC how important post offices are to providing service. I was able share my own experiences as Postmaster and told the PRC that once a town loses its post office, it most often ceases to be a town; it has lost its identity. It seems that, in spite of the miniscule savings realized, many districts are becoming bolder in closing post offices or suspending service. Often districts are circumventing the clearly established rules for closing or emergency suspending post offices. If you have information of these closures or suspensions occurring in you district, please contact me or your branch President. We, through our Post Office Continuance Coordinator, Mario Principe, and the committee, will do what is necessary to see that the rules are followed. While we were at Convention, a piece of legislation that would give retirement credit to FERS employees for their unused sick leave passed through the House of Representatives. This is wonderful news! We thought this issue so important that we included it with our last pay consultations. The bill also included changes to the Thrift Savings Plan that would provide for automatic enrollment for new employees and establish a Roth I.R.A. option for enrollees to TSP. These are very positive additions that the League fully supports. That’s all for now! It is still mid-summer. Take some time off for yourselves this summer to refocus on the truly important things in life! Charley Mapa President, National League of Postmasters |
League EventsJanuary 30 - February 2, 2010 Crystal Gateway Marriott July 18 - July 22, 2010 National League of Postmasters Convention Town and Country |
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