May 23, 2014
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Louie's Letter
Jay's Notes
Brian's Scoop
Seth's Slant

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Numbers Current as of 5/23/2014

SPAC funds raised in 2014:
$82,208.23

National Per Capita Average:
$2.89 per member


Year-To-Date SPAC numbers:
(organized by NAPS region) 

SPAC Aggregate Totals

Eastern
$20,967.93
Central
$16,523.50
Western
$15,851.35
Northeast
$14,379.95
Southern
$14,250.50


SPAC Per Capita Totals

Eastern
$4.03
Central
$3.93
Western
$3.03
Northeast
$2.91
Southern
$2.54

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

SPAC Totals by NAPS Areas 


Capitol-Atlantic$7,802.05
Mideast$7,652.50
Pacific$7,526.00
New England$7,503.45
Pioneer$6,494.88
New York$5,895.00
Rocky Mountain$5,520.35
Southeast$4,945.00
MINK$4,777.50
Illini$4,260.00
Michiana$4,075.00
Texas$3,886.50
North Central$3,411.00
Central Gulf$2,924.00
Northwest$2,805.00
Cotton Belt$2,495.00


Per Capita Totals

by NAPS Area  

 

Pioneer
$4.77
New England$4.48
MINK$4.32
Central Gulf$4.03
Illini$3.89
North Central$3.81
Rocky Mountain$3.71
Michiana$3.68
Mideast$3.43
Capitol-Atlantic$3.14
Northwest$2.85
Cotton Belt$2.84
Pacific$2.73
New York$2.46
Texas$2.25
Southeast$2.17






















CCC Members by NAPS Area


Central
79
Eastern59
Southern52
Western46
Northeast38








CCC Members by NAPS Area

Michiana24
Capitol Atlantic22
Mideast22
North Central22
Pioneer22
New England21
Pacific20
Illini17
MINK16
Texas16
Central Gulf15
Rocky Mountain14
Northwest12
Southeast11
Cotton Belt10
New York10
 


Each month, one lucky new member sponsor will receive a $25 gift card. For more details on the "Motivating Membership" drive, please review the August 2013 issue of The Postal Supervisor!  

 

June 2013

Sharon Guydon, Branch 80

 

July 2013

David Lum, Branch 375

 

August 2013

Bart Green, Branch 36

 

September 2013

Linda Donnelly, Branch 497

  

October 2013  

Kay Randle, Branch 369   

 

November 2013  

Jerry Wilfling, Branch 463

 

December 2013

Jared Hawkins, Branch 199    

 

January 2014

Peter Marth, Branch 387

 

February 2014 

Jwana Gunn, Branch 45  

 

March 2014

Alvin Harper, Branch 135

 

April 2014

Tana Ducharme, Branch 246 

 



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Louie's Letter 
Protecting those who Serve
 
Louis Atkins
Louis Atkins

This Memorial Day weekend, we take the opportunity to salute those who gave their lives in defense of our great nation. While we honor their sacrifice, we must also remember those veterans who continue to serve even to this day, whether they are still active in the military or if they have transitioned to a new career.

 

The United States Postal Service is the largest employer of veterans in the United States, with over 101,000 currently serving today. As a means to recognize our veterans for their service, the Postal Service along with other federal agencies have created guidelines giving veterans some advantages during hiring processes. Part of this involves giving hiring points to veterans or the spouses/families of deceased or disabled veterans based on factors such as combat service and disability status.

 

Veterans Preference rights have been successful in giving those vets who wish to continue serving America an outlet to do so. As we have stated many times, there is no higher calling than serving others. However, as we are all aware, there can occasionally be speed bumps in our career that can threaten to derail it.

 

So, let's say that you feel that you were denied your Veteran's Preference rights, what recourse do you have? Especially considering how crucial Veterans' Preference is during a Reduction-in-Force, ensuring that your rights are protected is vital.

 

The Veterans Employment Opportunities Act establishes a process should a federal/postal employee feel that their preference rights were infringed. Should you feel that your rights are indeed denied, you must first file a complaint with the Department of Labor.  

 

Should the Department of Labor fail to resolve your case within 60 days, you have 15 days to file a complaint with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). In order to win your claim, you must decisively prove that your veterans' preference rights were indeed violated in the hiring or evaluation process. Should your claim be successful, you could be awarded back pay along with any associated legal fees that were accrued during the adjudication of your claim.

 

As a veteran, you have earned these rights. It is up to you to understand them and if necessary, use the processes established to protect those rights. Even if you are not a veteran, you have many of the same MSPB protections enabled under Veterans Preference when it comes to events such as a reduction in grade, pay or even a removal under the terms of Public Law 100-90.  

 

However, it is important to remember that both veterans and non-veterans need to have one year of service in order for these protections to take effect. With the future of the Postal Service still uncertain at this time, it is important that you have every tool at your disposal to protect your livelihood.

 
Jay's Notes

The Dog Days of Legislation

 
Jay New
Jay Killackey

 

This week we saw the introduction of H.R. 4670, a new bill by Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) that would mandate the conversion of 1.5 million deliveries per year from current door delivery to centralized delivery. As usual, Chairman Issa continues to prescribe a band-aid approach to a patient who is in critical condition and in the eyes of some is actually on life support.

 

Our biggest supporters on the Oversight Committee attempted to add additional language in Issa's bill to address six day delivery and pre-funding of retiree health benefits. These efforts fell on deaf ears as Issa ignored these proposed amendments and rammed his bill through the committee on a party-line vote.

 

In a statement issued by NAPS, our president cited the fact that the conversion to centralized delivery will not, in itself, resolve our financial problems. In fact, there appears to be no plan in Issa's bill to fund the purchase of hundreds of thousands of clusterbox units that would have to be purchased to support this "money saving" plan.

 

In addition, many of the clusterboxes would have to be placed on public sidewalks and even on private property requiring local approval and ordinance changes that will be time consuming and also may be expensive. Since there are already rules governing the requirement of centralized delivery for new developments and other provisions for voluntary centralized delivery, why is this change really necessary? Issa also wants to charge a premium for continuing door delivery. How will this work?

 

Like most of the other Issa drafted bills, this dog won't hunt either and leaves the Postal Service on the hook to have to make drastic changes that will hurt the long term viability of the USPS. It is our goal to work with our allies to draft and pass common sense legislation that truly tackles the core causes of the postal crisis. 

 
Brian's Scoop

A-MAY-zing Membership Month

 
Brian Wagner
Brian Wagner

 

You know the saying, "April showers bring May flowers." In our NAPS world, "April postal postings bring May members." This is only true if you are ready to make May an aMAYzing month for membership. Here's the scoop.
            
Our Motivating Membership promotion comes to an end on May 31. Since June 1, 2013, on a monthly basis, NAPS has been randomly drawing the name of a NAPS sponsor to win an additional $25 NAPS gift card from all 1187's received during that respective month. We are in our final month of our promotion. I am encouraging every member to make May an aMAYzing membership month. Get motivated and get those non-members signed up.  

 

As a sponsor of a new member, you must have an 1187 signed and dated on or before May 31 and it must be received at NAPS HQ by Monday, June 9 to be eligible for your name to be in the May $25 gift card drawing. The May winner will be drawn shortly thereafter.

 

But wait, there's more!

NAPS HQ will take all qualifying 1187's received during the contest period, June 1, 2013 through May 31, 2014, and conduct a random Grand Prize drawing. The lucky sponsor will receive a NAPS gift card valued at $100.

 

But wait, there's more!  


Not only does the Grand Prize winner win big, so does his or her branch. NAPS will provide the Grand Prize winner's branch with one complimentary registration to the 2014 San Diego National Convention.  

 

But wait, there's more!

 

The winning branch will also receive one complimentary standard rate hotel room, plus tax, for six days, during the week of the 2014 National Convention. The winning week will start with check-in on Sunday, August 24 and end on check-out, Saturday, August 30.   

 

That is a-MAY-zing!   

 

The winning Grand Prize sponsor and respective branch of our Motivating Members promotion will be announced during the 2014 National Convention. The Grand Prize winner's gift card will be mailed to them within two weeks after the end of the National Convention. Reimbursement to the branch for their one convention registration fee and six-day hotel stay will also occur after the convention.  

 

Now it is time to announce my ice cream flavor of the week recommendation - Mocha Mud Pie!

 
Seth's Slant
Local Branches and Facebook, A Match Made in Heaven

Seth
Seth Lennon

 

Over the last couple of years, the membership of this organization has embraced social media in a way that can only be described as astounding. NAPS members very frequently share, forward and comment on the content that we post on our social media feeds. The information we share is targeted so that members can not only benefit from it, but also so NAPS can measure where our membership stands on core postal related issues. But this begs a question; "Can branches use Facebook in the same manner, and how?" 

 

For a very long time, many of our branches maintained their own individual websites. Most of these websites are timely, informational and very pleasing to the eye. However, sometimes, life happens and you might not be able to keep your website up to date the way you would like. Luckily, there is an alternative.  

 

I would say that a vast majority of your members who traffic your website also use Facebook, whether to keep track of family or friends or as a means to share photos back and forth. So perhaps, something to think about is possibly having a branch Facebook page either in addition to or in the place of a branch website.  

 

If your branch would like to create it's own Facebook page, here are the steps. First, choose a member of your branch who has Facebook to be the admin. This is important because the new branch page will be created off your administrator's personal Facebook. On your personal Facebook homepage, there is a dropdown menu on the top right hand corner. One of the options on this dropdown is "create a page." Click on that, followed by the option to create a page for a company, institution or organization. Follow the prompts and get everything set up, including a profile and background image. Next, from your own Facebook account, invite friends to "like" the page.

 

Once your page is active, it will appear on that same dropdown menu. When you want to post content on behalf of the branch, be sure to click on your branch page. Otherwise, you will be posting as yourself, not the branch.  

 

You may wonder; "Wouldn't it be better to just create another personal account on Facebook to use as our branch's Facebook account?" Here are two reasons I would advise against this. First, it is a lot harder to locate a personal account than it is to find a page. Your goal with this page is to get as many people from the branch to travel to the page in order to look at the content. Second, on the admin portion of the page, you can get statistics on what content is being read and not being read. This is important so you can understand what works best for your particular branch.

 

A Facebook page can only do so much and a well run and constantly updated branch website is the best possible option. Deciding what kind of web-presence your branch has is a decision only you can make. However, if you want to start an easy web-presence that benefits your members, Facebook is a good start.