NAPSHQ 2 U

Providing NAPS Headquarters News to You

 
 
 
September 2, 2011

Louis Atkins

Louis Atkins

Letter from Louie


 

     Earthquakes and hurricanes are not everyday conversation in the Washington, DC, metro area, but these past days they have dominated the news media.    The resident officers are very thankful for the calls and e-mails of concern about our well-being due to the vagaries of Mother Nature. Change is the only constant in our daily lives but those events were huge eye openers that no one could have imagined.

 

     NAPShq received the sad news that one of our members died in a flood caused by Hurricane Irene on Sunday, August 28.  Ronald Dawkins, a member of Branch 548 New Jersey, drowned trying to get to dry land after his car stalled out in high water while on his way to work Sunday morning.  Our sincere condolences go out to Ronald's family, friends and coworkers on his unexpected and tragic loss.

 

     Currently, EAS employees who have not been successful in applying for or being placed in a position are our foremost concern.   We have asked USPS to establish a process for determining the location of the remaining impacted EAS employees and the availability of vacancies within their local commuting areas so that we can complete directed assignments to avoid RIF's, if possible. 

 

     We have sent a letter to the Inspector General requesting additional information on the financial impact of EAS employees who had their ratings lowered in the FY 2009 PFP program. As you know, the OIG report found that the allegations we surfaced were accurate. Our membership has been aggressively questioning the resident officers about a resolution to the loss of pay they experienced.

 

     We have copied the USPS on the letter that we sent to the OIG on August 25th and NAPS would like to start discussing a method to provide financial restitution to those individuals who were affected by the FY 2009 PFP changes.

 

     NAPS was  advised that our recommendation to the Postmaster General to change the reporting relationship of Sales to local District control was referred to Chief Human Resource officer Tony Vegliante and Sales VP Cliff Rucker. We would like to get an update on the review of our proposal and schedule a meeting to further discuss the rationale we have for making this change.   In addition, we have set up a meeting date with Sales for September 23.

 

     We must remind our Congressional Representatives and Senators that our request for the alleviation of the USPS overpayment of prepaid health and retirement benefits is of utmost import.  It is USPS money that is being paid into the fund and USPS needs access to it --now.  It is the only fair and respectable action to take.  We are the only agency being forced to make such payments to government sponsored health and retirement programs and they are too taxing, especially at a time when mail volume is decreasing and the company is in a deficit situation.

 

     This past week was supposed to be the dedication of a 30-foot statue of Dr. King on the National Mall in Washington, DC.  That ceremony was postponed because of Hurricane Irene.  The memorial was due to be unveiled on the 48th anniversary of Dr. King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech which he made from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

 

     Andrew Young, former Mayor of Atlanta, GA, said, "King would be proud to be memorialized on the National Mall alongside other national heroes such as Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln."  "But," he said, "the thing that made King stand apart from the presidents is that he reached his goals without ever resorting to violence, whereas the three commanders-in-chief had all been involved in wars."

 

     Dr. King's approach to change is a goal we should all strive to achieve.

 

 

 

 


Brian's Scoop
What's Shaking? 
 

Brian Wagner

     

     Here's the scoop.  NAPS HQ experienced an earthquake on August 23.  I understand our members in California stir their coffee with a 5.8 earthquake.  However, in Washington, DC, the only thing that shakes this much is a Congressional hand asking for PAC money.

     

     When the earthquake first started, I was sitting at my desk and my feet began to shake.  I first thought jetfighters were flying by.  As I looked out the window, I did not see any jetfighters, but our building was swaying back and forth.  Being from Illinois, I knew I was not experiencing a tornado. 

     

     After the shaking stopped, no one was injured and our office only experienced some pictures falling off the walls and shelves and file drawers flying open.  We were unsure if any aftershocks would occur so we exited the building via the stairs.  All NAPS tenants evacuated the building too.

     

     Let me assure you that our property management company, Stoladi Property Group, was quick to respond after the earthquake.   Stoladi Property Group had their maintenance staff perform a visual assessment for major structural damage to our NAPS building, of which there was none.  However, there were various cracks on the outside and in our garage.

     

     NAPS immediately contacted Stoladi Property Group personnel after the initial quake.  To err on the side of safety, we closed the NAPS building for the day.  Because of the quick action by our property management company, we were able to schedule a structural engineering firm to provide a full inspection of our building first thing the next morning.  Stoladi Property Group also contacted an elevator company to provide a safety inspection of our two elevators the next day. We are pleased that the inspections resulted in our building be structurally safe and sound, with minimal cracks in the facade.  As these vendors were employed under a pre-existing contract, the costs incurred were minimal.

     

     One more scoop.  Stoladi Property Group also sent out Hurricane Preparedness instructions when Irene was approaching to help minimize property damage to our NAPS building.  Hurricane Irene left our NAPS building unscathed. 

     

     NAPS and our members are fortunate to not only have a property management company that is concerned about keeping our NAPS building fully leased, but also taking the necessary precautions to protect our valuable investment. 

 

     Finally, with an earthquake and hurricane in one week, I believe everyone deserves an extra scoop of the ice cream flavor for the week ---Rocky Road, not Rocking Road.

 

 

AMP Consolidation and Proposed Consolidation Notifications

August 17 - 31, 2011

 

Consolidations:

 

Decision to consolidate all destinating mail processing operations at the following Northeast Area location: Portsmouth, NH, P&DF into Manchester, NH, P&DC.

 

Decision to consolidate all originating and destinating mail processing operations at the following Western Area location: Las Cruces, NM, CSMPC into the El Paso, TX, P&DF.

 

Decision to consolidate all originating and destinating mail processing operations at the following Western Area location: Twin Falls, ID, CSMPC into the Boise, ID, P&DC.

 

Proposed Consolidations:

 

Intent to conduct an AMP feasibility study at the Owensboro, KY, CSMPC for possible consolidation of some operations into the Evansville, IN, P&DF.

 

 

SPAC Alert 

 

Have you donated to SPAC?  If not, visit our Legislative Center's SPAC section at www.naps.org to learn the many ways to donate.

  Quote of the day!

There is an important sense in which government is distinctive from administration. One is perpetual, the other is temporary and changeable. A man may be loyal to his government and yet oppose the particular principles and methods of administration.      

                                  ~ Abraham Lincoln 

2011 Restructuring Documents

 

NAPS logo

 NAPS RIF FAQs  

Additional RIF FAQs 

2011 Organizational Redesign Information 

2011 Organizational Redesign VER 

2011 Restructure-Westchester District 

2011 Restructure-Suncoast District 

2011 Restructure-Baltimore District  

2011 Special Incentive Off FAQs  

 

 


Call the toll-free NAPS hotline:
1-877-667-NAPS
Find us on Facebook
  Follow us on Twitter  
View our videos on YouTube

Jay's Notes

 

Congress Goes Back To Work

James Killackey

Jay Killackey

  

    

     Now that the August recess for Congress is over, our elected officials will be returning to Washington, D.C. with many of the same issues facing them as when they left for their recess in early August. One of the biggest items on their agenda will be the Postal Service.

 

     Because we all are on the "inside" when it comes to postal affairs, we are aware of the financial problems, the Postal Service's proposals for five day delivery, closing post offices and consolidating processing facilities. We know about their plans to eliminate the overnight delivery of First Class Mail. We know about all of these initiatives, and quite frankly are pretty jittery about the prospects of these proposals being implemented.

 

     Most members of Congress don't know ANYTHING about these proposals! When they return in the next several days they will awaken to these issues and will have to make some quick decisions about what to do about the Postal Service becoming insolvent by September 30th. This is where NAPS members' voices become so important. 

 

     We have but only one or two weeks to educate members of Congress about what we need them to do to resolve the Postal Service's financial issues. Do you want to see five-day delivery implemented? Do you want to see thousands of post offices closed? Do you want to see half of our Plants consolidated? Well, now would be a good time to let your member of Congress know that you object to these plans and demand that they work to pass HR 1351 which provides for the overpayments made to the CSRS and FERS funds to be returned to the Postal Service to offset their obligations to pre-fund future retiree health benefits.

 

     Should employees of the Postal Service and we, as NAPS members, fail to educate the members of Congress, they will be left only listening to the voices of Chairman Issa, Chairman Ross in the House of Representatives and the Postal Service's lofty plans to dismantle the Postal Service as we know it today.

 

     Contact your member of Congress today. Demand that they address the Postal Service's financial issues by passing HR 1351 now!     

  

Seth's Slant

 

Seth

Seth Lennon 

     

 

     If there is one thing that is considered a "rite of passage" associated with being a member of this organization; it's giving money to SPAC. Whether it be through making a large-sum credit card donation, signing up for payroll deduction or even throwing a dollar and/or some loose change into one of the numerous "pass-the-hats; most, if not all, of us have given something toward our political action committee.

     

     Naturally, upon throwing into our fund,  I am sure that many of you think to yourselves  that timeless question of "where does my money go?"

     

     It is an appropriate question to ask, considering that in several ways your SPAC donation is an investment, one made with the intent of preserving your job and benefits for the future. With that in mind; we are going to examine how your SPAC funds are put to use in advancing our political agenda. However, let's first take a step back to America's political past.

     

     Even as our democracy was taking foot during the administration of George Washington, there have been interests who sought to discuss issues of importance with our legislators. These discussions often came at the price of a campaign contribution. There were no limits and no controls on what could be given. Legislators and lobbyists could simply meet over lunch or dinner with the lobbyist covering the tab.  However, as early as 1905, concerns were voiced over how much influence corporations had over Congress and whether or not their influence compromised the fabric and integrity of the American political system. Gradually, over the early part of the 20th Century; more and more control was placed over political contributions until the current system of disclosure was put into place in 1975 with the creation of the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The FEC's role was to regulate how much was given to political candidates and for it to be mandatory where financial political contributions were coming from.

     

     Now, political candidates and political action committees exist in an environment where their activities are controlled and monitored and as a result a very defined structure of political interaction has evolved. In DC, lobbyists and organizational officials will often meet with a lawmaker while surrounded by their colleagues. Depending on the nature of the event, one can have a few seconds or several minutes to speak with the lawmaker. This type of access is invaluable because it allows the formation of a relationship with this lawmaker along with their respective staff. The relationships that are built can translate into ongoing policy discussions with lawmakers that can shape the direction and content of postal-related legislation.

     

     On the local level, the effect is even more profound and beneficial. Instead of being packed with a room full of lobbyists, the lawmaker is in a room with a room full of constituents, providing a sort of "double whammy". In this setting, our local level advocates can have the lawmaker's undivided attention and not worry about having to deal with someone who is chirping about water conservation. If you are reading this, you have more than likely gone to a local political event courtesy of SPAC; whether it is a baseball game, a steak fry or a picnic. You can attest that once you go, you are hooked.

 

    In retrospect, your SPAC contribution is a rarity: it's an investment that you have control over, so make it count.