NAPSHQ 2 U
Providing NAPS Headquarter News to You
 
 
 
November 26, 2010

Louis Atkins
Letter from Louie

    

     I, as well as your resident officers, have been working to resolve the current problems that have been occurring in the field with the implementation of the Service Work Credit (SWC) Program. In our first step, we have convinced the Postal Service to provide local NAPS branches the opportunity to review the Postal Service's SWC calculations and not implement the supervisor position reductions for a period of at least thirty days after the SWC results are announced.

     In a second request, we have asked the Postal Service to delay any SWC staffing reductions of supervisors that may be scheduled and implemented between now and the holiday period. We believe that the month of December is not an appropriate time to be making supervisory staffing reductions with the increased workload in Customer Services. It makes good business sense to hold off on making EAS staffing reductions until after the holiday period. We are awaiting a response from the Postal Service on this request.

     If your office has recently had a SWC review completed and, as a result, you are scheduled to lose a supervisor in your office, you need to contact your local NAPS officials to inform them of this action. NAPS will assist you, your postmaster or manager in reviewing the data on your office to ensure that you are receiving credit for every person assigned to your office. 

 

Click here to watch NAPS President Louis Atkins discuss RIFs.      

Brian's Bits
Can U Hear Me Now?

Brian Wagner

 

     NAPSHQ initiated its new Hot Line number 1-877-677-NAPS (6277) a few weeks ago.  It has been very successful.  To keep this success going, within the next sixty days, NAPSHQ will be replacing its antiquated, 20- year old phone system with a new state of the art digital system that will provide NAPS and our members with better service. 

     Our current phone vendor no longer manufactures replacement parts.  Therefore, in the event our current phone requires repair, used parts from other systems must be used.  Reminds you of how the USPS kept vending machines operating.   Therefore, to be proactive and preventative for the future, it is in the best interest of our organization to replace our current phone system before replacement parts are no longer available.  We want to avoid having the system crash at a time when our members need to contact NAPS HQ during pressing and critical times.  I think those times are here.

     Though NAPS HQ may be changing phone systems, we are not changing the way we answer the phone -- with a real person.  

Call the toll-free NAPS hotline:
1-877-667-NAPS
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Jill's Jot
    Are You Linked In? 
Jill
Jill Barrett
   

     You can access links to websites for some of our branches through the Members Only section of www.naps.org.  Just click on  "Links" in the menu.  You will find a list of the branches who have sent us their sites.  If you branch has a website and it is not listed, send it to us at [email protected] and we will be happy to add it to our list.

     You will also find links to the Postal Service and Postal related organizations, legislative sites and other links of interest.


Click here to see Louis Atkins' response to the PMG's retirement
Postal Service Fails to Reach Agreements with Unions
Capitol
 USPS and APWU will continue to negotiate until Dec. 1.

   

    

By Ed O'Keefe
Washington Post

     The U.S. Postal Service failed to reach new agreements with two of its largest labor unions November 20 agreeing to continue negotiations with one while reaching an impasse with the other.

     The Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union agreed to keep talking until December 1. But talks with the National Rural Letter Carriers Association  ended in an impasse November 20, the union said.

     "Should APWU negotiations fail as they have with the NRLCA, a process begins which could result in a third party determining contract terms and work rules for more than 324,000 employees whose wages and benefits exceeded $20 billion last year," the Postal Service said in a statement e-mailed early Sunday.

"There is still potential to negotiate an agreement," APWU President Cliff Guffey  said Sunday. The union represents 220,000 postal clerks, mechanics, drivers, custodians and some administrative workers.

"Throughout the collective bargaining process, the APWU has sought to protect our members' jobs and to strengthen the Postal Service. Every proposal we have made to preserve jobs for our members will also benefit the USPS, because APWU members can perform the work more efficiently and less expensively than subcontractors," Guffey said.

     NRLCA represents more than 100,000 rural letter carriers. In a statement, the union said the Postal Service had proposed "wage freezes and significant benefit cuts for current career employees, including the abolishment of cost-of-living adjustments and a new salary schedule with a lower wage scale for new hires." The Postal Service also sought to eliminate a no-layoff clause for all but the most senior NRLCA workers, the union said.

The Postal Service did not respond to requests for further comment. Postal negotiators said in September that they would seek concessions from the union on wages, health benefits and working conditions as it tried to pare down full-time workforce and expand the use of part-timers. With mail volume continuing to drop from its highs in 2006, the Postal Service can no longer guarantee eight-hour shifts for clerks, mail handlers and other workers, it said when negotiations began.

By law postal workers are not permitted to strike and workers represented by the two unions will continue working under their old agreements until new deals are struck.

The stalled negotiations come at a critical time for the Postal Service, which lost $8.5 billion during the fiscal year that ended in September. Postmaster General  John E. Potter is set to step down next week, leading some union leaders to worry privately about the future of labor negotiations.

From the Intern...

Will You Be My Friend?

David
David Finklestein 

     For the past decade, teens, tweens and young adults have dominated all these

new social media sites, but lately this trend has reversed. Tom Brokaw said on a NBC Nightly News segment that aired last week,  that Facebook, which was "built by college students, for college students, just isn't true anymore." During this segment, Brokaw interviewed Facebook's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, who explained that the newest group of Facebook  users isn't under 30, but rather over fifty.

     Sandberg explained that Facebook is more valuable as you get older because as "you get older, you interact with more people." Baby boomers have had more jobs and moved to more places than any college student, thus they have ten times as many people to reconnect with.There are High School fan clubs and neighborhood groups set up by BABY BOOMERS FOR BABY BOOMERS. One can literally relive their glory days on Facebook!

     With this ever increasing Facebook demographic, NAPSHQ has jumped on the bandwagon, setting up both Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. On these sites, members can receive updates on what we actually do on a daily basis. Even local NAPS chapters have set up similar sites to communicate more efficiently with their members.

     I know you are probably calling me crazy for trying to convince you to join facebook because I am basically saying throw all your privacy out the window.  For a while this statement was very valid. Over the last few years, Facebook has revamped all its privacy settings. It's gotten to a point where anything I put on Facebook, I can control who has access to it. On my settings, I make it so people can't find me on google or access any of my data, unless they are already my friend.

    Well, if you still have any concerns about Facebook or Twitter, feel free to call NAPS headquarters, and I will be honored to assist you...that is...only if you friend request me afterwards.

David Finklestein, a graduate from Shepherd University, is NAPS' legislative intern.

Jay's Notes
Do Your Part in the SWC Process
James Killackey
James Killackey
        

     We have learned that some of our local branch officers are having difficulties reacting to impending supervisor position cuts that result from USPS initiated SWC. NAPS headquarters has prepared simplified instructions for local branches to assist you in completing a manual SWC form to compare with the data that the Postal Service is using as the basis for eliminating a supervisor position.

     When the Postal Service completes a SWC evaluation of a Customer Service Office, they are using automated data that shows the encumbered positions in offices as shown in WebCoins. There are situations where vacancies in the office may not be included in the calculations thereby undervaluing the  offices' true numbers which may result in the office losing a supervisor position.

     It is incumbent on all NAPS members, especially branch officers, to be able to conduct a review of the Postal Service's data by the completion of a manual SWC's evaluation. We have placed simplified instructions and a blank SWC worksheet on the front page of our NAPS website that was already available in the Member's Only section of the NAPS website.  Those members who have not yet requested access to the  Member's Only section will now be able to learn the basics on completing a manual SWC form to compare the data versus the Postal Service's data.

     As always, if you need assistance beyond the instructions that are provided on the website, please contact your respective NAPS  Area Vice President. 

 

Click here to fill out the NAPS SWC worksheet.

Happy Birthday Louis!!!!
     
NAPS President Louis Atkins will celebrate his birthday on Saturday, Birthday Cake November 27. We at NAPSHQ want to wish him a very Happy Birthday from us all!

NAPS Website Redesign

  


NAPS Headquarters has heard members' complaints about the current website and will be redesigning the site to make it more user friendly. We need your help! Have ideas? Let your voice be heard! Click the survey link below and let us know what you would like to see in the new site. We will run this survey through November 30. Together we can create a website that will further the cause of the National Association of Postal Supervisors.

Click here to take the NAPS Website Redesign Survey
Donate to SPAC!
 
Contributing to SPAC allows us to continue supporting those candidates who will continue to fight for not only the benefits of Postal Employees but for the preservation of the Universal Delivery System as a whole. With one click, your contribution can go a long way toward ensuring that we meet these goals. How much you contribute is up to you, but no matter what you give, your contribution will help ensure a bright future for NAPS and the USPS.

Seth's Slant
Looking Forward to 2012
Seth Lennon
   
      We are just a few short weeks separated from the events of the midterm elections and one would think that people would be seeking a brief respite from discussions about topics such as exit polls and campaign financing. However, that reprieve was very short- lived, lasting barely a whole day as many news organizations have already jumped headfirst into predicting the outcome of the 2012 Presidential election. This is probably not surprising because of the stern rebuke delivered by some voters to aspects of President Obama's agenda and how it reflects against the wave that brought him into office a little more than two years ago. The polls have Mr. Obama neck and neck with challengers such as former Governors Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and other Republican challengers such as Sarah Palin and Ron Paul. 

     Now, the interesting aspect of this entire situation is that if you would have asked me in December 2006 who the party's candidates would be, the then junior Senator from Illinois would not have been at the top of my list. In fact, at the time I was expecting a long awaited face off between Hillary Clinton for the Democrats and Rudy Giuliani for the Republicans. The winds of electoral politics made short work of that prediction.

The message is pretty clear. No one can predict what can happen in the next 700 or so days. Some unknown young hot shot Republican Governor or Senator could mobilize the base and cater to the independents much like Obama did in his first run to the White House. However, if I was a betting man, my money would be on the President winning re-election.

     However, a potential wrench that could be thrown into the works is the possibility of a primary challenge from within the liberal wing of the Democratic party, feeling that Obama has not been the liberal crusader that they all anticipated, that he backed down on ending Don't Ask Don't Tell and failed to get our troops out of the warzone quick enough. However, in-house party challenges have never bode well for the Democratic Party's White House ambitions. All one needs to do is to look at Jimmy Carter having to fend off Ted Kennedy while Ronald Reagan was waiting in the weeds ready to pounce on the victor. However, such an inter-party challenge seems unlikely, the Democrats have learned from their mistakes and there is no liberal crusader who can mobilize the populist masses ala Eugene McCarthy. Obama will be the presumptive nominee without much of a challenge and he will begin preparing for a long trek which will more than likely (at this time) lead to his return to the White House. But, as they always say in television-Stay Tuned. 

Register for LTS 2011 NOW! 

     Last year, 450 NAPS members attended the annual Legislative Training Seminar. With the many issues facing the Postal Service, it's important that NAPS members attend LTS this year.

Click here to register

Haven't booked your hotel room at the Omni yet? Click here.

Changing Your Email Address 
 
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