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 One Beltway Center |
President's MessageOctober 15, 2007 Greetings Fellow Postmasters and LEAGUE Members Dear Leaguers, I find myself sitting in the airport here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota waiting for my flight back to Washington, D.C. Some of my thoughts are with my Uncle Johnny and my Uncle Dale, but more about them later in my article. I've spent the last two days with Postmasters from North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas who have met here for the Western II Area Conference. All the Postmasters have shown their commitment to the LEAGUE, their fellow Postmasters, and the Postal Service by driving as long as six hours to attend this meeting. Area Coordinator John Olson has gathered all of these leaders for training and information-they all wanted to learn how they could serve their state branches better by attending training which taught them about all of the facets of our organization. They know that there is a formula for them to follow to be successful. They've sharpened their skills to bring their branches up to snuff. The training was unique with all of the training being performed by LEAGUE Postmasters-some long time LEAGUER's, others relative newcomers. This was grass-roots LEAGUE sharing at its best! As we all departed the conference hotel, I felt a deep satisfaction knowing that the LEAGUE was in the good hands of the Postmasters who had attended the conference. Meeting with Deputy PMG Donahoe During the first week of October, the management organizations (Naps, NAPUS and the LEAGUE) had the opportunity to meet with Deputy PMG Pat Donahoe. These briefings are a great effort by Mr. Donahoe to keep us up to date with current trends and upcoming changes in the Postal Service. Pat Donahoe, and USPS Senior VP Operations, Bill Galligan, spent considerable time showing us how the Postal Service, in compliance with the postal law, is required to establish delivery standards for all classes of mail. Of particular interest to me was the plan to deliver all periodical mail within the continental United States within nine days. As a long-time recipient of the Postmasters Advocate (22 years), I knew that the delivery of the Advocate from Richmond, Virginia, was rather consistent-it almost always took 30 days to travel to Gold Run, California. With that in mind, I quickly volunteered the Advocate as a test case to show the progress in the implementation of the delivery standards. After a few yucks, Mr.Galligan and Mr. Donahoe agreed that it was a good idea and promised to work with the organizations in using their magazines in the test. Pat shared with us how, using our current barcode systems, we will be able to track the movement of the Advocate to the various parts of our nation. Anything for the cause! After I related our exchange to Martha Lostrom, our LEAGUE Director of Communications, we realized that the LEAGUE could do its own tracking survey. We've already asked hundreds of you to participate by sending Martha an e-mail with your ZIP Code and the date that the Advocate is delivered to you. We are confident that the data we gather will be very useful to the LEAGUE and the Postal Service. Of course, we will share our findings with the membership. Supervisor Workload Credit Worksheets Recently, instructions were sent out to Postmasters telling the larger offices to complete the Supervisor Workload Credit (SWC) worksheet for their post offices to determine how many supervisors (if any) for which their post offices and stations might qualify. The new point ranges for the SWC's were shared with the LEAGUE and NAPUS in a somewhat offhand manner after an off-the-record pay consultation with labor relations. The next week, in a meeting with our pay consultations team, we crunched some numbers and realized two things. The new SWC process might likely provide some level 20 (and maybe a few level 18's) with much needed supervisors. We also determined that many levels 20, 21, and 22 Postmasters would likely lose a supervisor, especially those that might be working in a main office. Any other gains would likely be in stations and branches. I protested to labor relations personnel that this move would pile more work on many already overworked Postmasters and supervisors in the losing offices. Both Postmaster organizations suggested that we needed to discuss, with Postal Headquarters, this situation further because of the potential impact on larger post offices. We were told that this was not a Postmaster issue and that the Postal Service would not consult with Postmasters on this. This was likely a big reason that the Postal Service refused to enter into pay consultations with all of the management organizations as they knew that the Postmasters would resist the proposed changes to SWCs. In spite of our concerns for Postmasters, the Postal Service went ahead to implement the new SWC process. CSSOM,CSAW,CSV I recently had an enlightening meeting with Kathy Ainsworth, the Postal Service's Vice President of Delivery and Retail. Joining Kathy in her presentation to the management association was Fred Hintenach, Manager, Customer Service, Operations, Retail and Delivery, and Art Gilbert (who played a big part in developing many of the scheduling programs that came out of the Western area). CSSOM, CSAW, and CSV are terms that are very familiar to many Postmasters in the Western Area, but to most of us in the rest of America, they are just another set of acronyms in a long string of postal acronyms. They are supposed to be daily and weekly scheduling tools that have stood the test of time. It is the intention of the Postal Service to push them out to the field around November. While we can all get excited about new tools that reflect reality and actually help us do our jobs, we're withholding judgment on these until we see how well they actually work. We've received mixed reviews on them from Western Area Postmasters, some of whom claim that there are some flaws in them that need to be addressed. We are also concerned that they be misused as staffing and budgeting tools, uses that Ms. Ainsworth claims that they were not developed for. One promising note was that these programs could not be manipulated by Areas or Districts to produce data that would support a predetermined result. NPA / Pay For Performance As this article is being written, the e-mail wires are being burned up by the release of the NPA indicators for FY 2008. They differ somewhat from what we received in a draft a couple of weeks ago, and so we will need a little time to determine what effect the new indicators will have on Postmasters. Again, the LEAGUE strongly believes that we had very little input into the process of determining what indicators will be used and what value would be assigned to them. NAPUS and the LEAGUE have repeatedly told Postal Headquarters that we are committed to seeing that the NPA/PFP process is a good one that motivates Postmasters by providing them attainable goals. As major stakeholders in the process, it just makes sense for the Postal Service to consult with the management associations (who are tuned in to the professional lives of their respective memberships) on how these indicators can best be used to motivate. Once Postmasters lose confidence in the NPA/PFP process, it becomes useless as a tool to motivate and the LEAGUE will cease to support it. PMR Pay and Training Very recently, NAPUS and the LEAGUE sent a letter to Postal Headquarters requesting an opportunity to meet to talk about pay and training for PMRs. This letter was sent in response to a promise made to us regarding this very important issue. We are hopeful that the Postal Service will finally give the time to discuss, in realistic terms, what positive approach can be taken to pay this vital part of our workforce a wage commensurate with the skill required and responsibility demanded by the position of PMR. By the time of my next article, I hope that I can report that we are making good progress working with Postal Headquarters on an equitable pay rate, and reasonable training time, for PMRs. Honoring Our American Heroes In the first paragraph of my article, I mentioned my Uncle Johnny and my Uncle Dale. The first is known in another life as Major John S. Mapa, USAF Retired, the second is Senior Master Sergeant Dale Madden, USAF Retired. Both gave much of their lives in the service of the country that they loved. I attended Uncle Dale's funeral service in Culpeper, Virginia, yesterday. He was a good uncle to me and I know him best by the wonderful children (my cousins) to whom he was a father. I am more familiar with my Uncle Johnny, whom I have known since my birth. He has always been one of my heroes. Even at age five, I knew that the big round scar on his back was the result of a serious wound he received while flying a B-24 bomber over Europe to destroy Nazi installations. Major John is about 89 years old now, doesn't get around like he used to, and won't travel too far from home. In spite of his desire to take me up on my offer to help lay the wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier during our last Forum, he declined, as the trip would take too much out of him. But if you engage him in conversation, you will find that he is a man who loves this country almost more than anyone you've ever met. He'll be quick to share with you that America is such a wonderful country that it encouraged a young man, fresh out of high school, and working in the produce fields of the Salinas Valley in California, to finally become, due to his intelligence and incredible work ethic, Major John S. Mapa. Our country has many Uncle Johnnys. Sadly, about 1,200 WWII veterans die each day in America; they say that they are passing on at a greater rate than the rate that American service men were being killed in World War II. They are part of a generation that saw the tremendous threat to the freedom of the world and responded by coming forward en masse to fight for the freedom that they cherished. Because of them, we live free. Next month, we celebrate Veterans' Day. This year, make the celebration more meaningful by searching out a World War II veteran to thank him or her for the part he or she played in keeping our country free. I'll be calling Uncle Johnny. Sincerely, Charley Mapa |
League EventsJuly 18 - July 22, 2010 National League of Postmasters Convention Town and Country |
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