 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
 One Beltway Center |
President's MessageDecember 13, 2007 Dear Leaguers, I hope that your Christmas was a blessed one and that your New Year’s Day has brought promise for better things to come! I get so caught up in the things here at LEAGUE Headquarters that I often don’t take the time to pay attention to the passing of the seasons until it’s time to write my article! This year, however, I had to break out my overcoat a little early; that always gets my attention. Honoring Fain Hambright Recently, one of the LEAGUE’s Past National Presidents, Fain Hambright, passed away. Fain left a loving family, many friends, and hundreds who respected him. As a man who sits in the chair that once was Fain’s, I might well appreciate all that Fain did for this organization, the National League of Postmasters, better than most. Fain was president of the LEAGUE when I became a Postmaster 22 years ago. I know that Fain served during extremely trying times for our organization, and I’m sure that his back bowed, at times, under the burden of his responsibility. But Fain, though small in physical stature, bore that burden well and proudly. He set a great example to all of us who would follow in the chair of the president of the National League of Postmasters. I personally saw two men that I greatly admire, Joe Cinadr and Steve LeNoir, as presidents, take on tremendous challenges. I know that they took some comfort in knowing that a man named Fain Hambright faced and overcame similar challenges. I am proud to follow a solid line of committed LEAGUE Presidents. Look for Barbara Veech’s tribute to Fain on page 28 in this issue.Focusing on Forum and Legislative Issues One of Fain’s passions was legislation. With that in mind, it is natural for me to remind you of our upcoming LEAGUE Legislative Forum. The Forum, as many of you may not know, is an annual three-day legislative event in which LEAGUERs come to Washington, DC, to take part in something that is dear to all Americans. Of course, I’m talking about Democracy! For a day we are trained in the legislative process, for another day we hear from national leaders including those from Congress and the Postal Service, and on day three we exercise our rights as Americans by going to Capitol Hill to walk the halls of Congress to tell those senators and representatives about what is important to us as Postmasters. It is heady stuff! While those halls seem, at times, silent, one can almost feel them pulsate with the power of the most powerful nation on earth. It is hard to believe that, as Americans, we can go there to affect what goes on in the world! If you’ve never joined us at Forum, make this your first year. You’ll be forever glad that you took advantage of this opportunity. Our own Postmaster General, Jack Potter, has promised to join us. Legislation that we will likely discuss with members of Congress includes such things as Do Not Mail lists, Vote by Mail, the hiring of federal annuitants to federal jobs, etc., as well as Premium Conversion and the old standbys of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). LEAGUERs need to take a strong interest in these issues as they all affect our lives to some degree. One look in a mail tub or tray should tell you that Do Not Mail lists would greatly impact the Postal Service and would likely directly affect your livelihood. Vote by Mail legislation would go far in streamlining the voting process. I personally voted by mail in California for the last 10 years before coming to Washington, DC. This method allowed me to sit down with my wife, Gwenda, to study the issues together, mark our ballots in the comfort of our home while the issues were still fresh in our minds, and then cast our vote the next day by dropping the ballot off at the government’s most trusted agency—my local post office. Of course, my ballot also bore a U.S. postage stamp! The process was easy; we never missed a vote during those years. For more information on these and other issues, go to the legislative section on the LEAGUE website at www.postmasters.org. There you will find weekly updates, commentary and analysis by our very talented and passionate National Legislative Co-Chair, Bill Krejci, Postmaster from Nebraska.More Reasons To Go to the LEAGUE Website Having mentioned the website, allow me to refer you to a number of other features that we’ve added as part of a continuing effort to keep you informed. Besides the legislative section, we have Executive Vice President Mark Strong’s NPA/PFP Tip of the Month. Mark is an expert on this subject, and keeping up on his tips will help you be assured that you are doing everything you need to do to maximize your NPA/PFP. Ask the LEAGUE provides expert answers to everyday questions concerning just about anything postal. Knowledge is, indeed, power (K.I.P.), and our Effective Service Committee’s K.I.P. section, edited by Illinois Postmaster Debi Chapman-Hermann, shows just that. The K.I.P.s are regular editions of collections of just plain good information on subjects that will help you run your office better. By the time you receive this issue of the Advocate, a new website feature will be up and running. In this LEAGUE Family section you will find announcements about our fellow LEAGUERs—those that are ill, have been promoted, or passed on, etc. The website is in a continual state of improvement.Update on Workload Service Credits For years, one of the issues that has been of great concern to many Postmasters is that of Workload Service Credits (WSC). Postmasters felt that under the current WSC process, the increased complexity of their jobs was not being recognized. While this was being addressed at pay consultation at mid-year 2007, the LEAGUE and NAPUS felt that what was being offered was not in the best interest of Postmasters and their future. No agreement was reached on WSCs between the Postmaster organizations and the Postal Service. Postmaster General Jack Potter promised us that the Postal Service would continue to work to come up with a new process. Since then, President Dale Goff from NAPUS and I have put together a team to formulate a process that is fair to both the Postal Service and Postmasters. We labored hard to come up with a process that honestly recognized and recorded the increasingly complex tasks of Postmasters. As we go to print with this issue of the Advocate, Dale and I will be presenting our much improved process to the Postal Service.Supervisor Workload Credits a Cause for Concern Another issue that has recently been causing disbelief, consternation, and disappointment among Postmasters is the new Supervisor Workload Credit (SWC) process. While some Postmasters will be picking up supervisors—mostly in level 20 main offices and stations and branches, a significant number of Postmasters will be losing supervisors in their main offices. This will leave those Postmasters and their remaining supervisors to shoulder increased workload and responsibilities on top of their already heavy schedules. The Postmaster organizations were flatly refused any opportunity to discuss this issue with Postal Headquarters, and it was only after contacting PMG Potter himself that we were told that we would meet. Again, soon after going to print with this edition of the Advocate, we should have had that first meeting with labor relations at Postal Headquarters. Much trouble and heartburn might have been avoided if we had been allowed to meet when we first requested.Seeing the Light: NPA/PFP and CSV, CSSOM andCSAW Some bright spots appeared on November 27, 2007, when the LEAGUE met with Postal Service Headquarters personnel on the Customer Service Variance (CSV) and related programs. The LEAGUE had provided the Postal Service with an analysis of some of the factors included in CSV and where we thought there were some inaccuracies. The Postal Service recognized the validity of many of our issues and has promised to meet with us again in January to address these concerns. We are optimistic that our input will make the programs more valuable as tools to Postmasters and the Postal Service. We also expressed our displeasure at the recent rollout of the 2008 NPA/PFP process without any real input from the Postmaster organizations. Ken Engstrom from NAPUS joined us for this portion of the consultative session and we were able to present a united Postmaster voice to our concerns of where this program is going. We spent some time convincing Postal Headquarters of the value of including Postmasters in the exercise of formulating a NPA/PFP process that is fair to both the Postal Service and to Postmasters—and one that gets buy-in from Postmasters, thereby becoming the motivational tool that it is supposed to be.Postmasters and Overtime Last month I quoted from an article in BusinessWeek magazine that talked about stress. Another article from that periodical that recently caught my eye was the cover story from the Oct. 1, 2007 issue entitled, Wage Wars, by Michael Orey. To read the entire article you can go to www.Businessweek.com. Why this article stood out for me is that so many exempt Postmasters are required, by circumstance or mandate, to work many hours over eight in a day and 40 in a week. Because they are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), their work week is often abused by Districts throughout the country. In the private sector, various groups of employees, such as stockbrokers and other white-collar, salaried employees and managers, have been very successful in lawsuits involving overtime. These lawsuits result in billions of dollars in settlements. Some may pooh-pooh the notion that Postmasters might be part of that group of employees because they are exempt, but if one considers the fact that exempt Postmasters are being forced to do more and more work traditionally termed “craft work” such as mail sorting, carrying mail, custodial work, Express Mail Delivery, etc., the lines between craft and management become more and more blurred, and the thought of including Postmasters in the above group becomes believable. I’ve just touched on a few points made in the article; you can go to the website to get the full story. As you can see, it has been another busy month for us here at LEAGUE Headquarters. Each one of your National Board members has been laboring hard on projects that will ultimately benefit all Postmasters. Sometimes things may look as if they are going backward, but I can promise you that we are working hard to make sure things are heading in the right direction. The year 2008 will certainly bring fresh challenges to Postmasters—but we are Postmasters and we will find a way to prevail.Sincerely, Charley Mapa |
League EventsJanuary 31 - February 3, 2009 Crystal Gateway Marriott August 2 - August 6, 2009 National League of Postmasters Convention Adam's Mark Buffalo-Niagara |
|
|
|
