April 3, 2015
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NAPS has joined with other postal organizations for form an alliance to save America's Postal Service. For more info on the grand alliance:

  • Click here to view an introductory video starring Danny Glover
  • Visit agrandalliance.org for more information. 

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Total Members as of the February 2015 DCO:

Active
24,085

Associate
1,388

Grand Total
  25,473  


Numbers Current as of 3/31/2015

SPAC funds raised in 2015:
$119,683.63

National Per Capita Average:
$4.73 per member

Region Aggregate
   
Eastern$28,045
Northeast$25,359
Southern$22,519
Western$22,138
Central$21,108
      
Region Per Capita
 
Eastern$5.29
Northeast$5.20
Central$4.97
Western$4.22
Southern$3.99

Area Aggregate

Capitol-Atlantic$13,256
New England$12,506
New York$11,970
Pacific$11,054
Mideast$9,088
Southeast$8,860
Texas$7,954
Michiana$7,037
Rocky Mountain$6,983
Pioneer$6,584
Illini$5,758
Central Gulf$4,295
MINK$4,222
Northwest$4,101
North Central$4,091
Cotton Belt$1,410

Area Per Capita
 
New England$7.52
Michiana$6.01
Central Gulf$5.88
Illini$5.23
Capitol-Atlantic$5.22
New York$5.09
Pioneer$4.82
Rocky Mountain$4.65
Texas$4.65
North Central$4.61
Northwest$4.13
Mideast$4.03
Pacific$4.02
MINK$3.87
Southeast$3.80
Cotton Belt$1.63

CCC Members

Central87
Eastern65
Southern63
Western61
Northeast54

CCC Aggregate

Central$5,985
Southern$5,209
Eastern$5,172
Western$5,035
Northeast$4,587



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2015 NAPSHQ2U Publication Schedule:

 

May- 5/1/2015

June- 6/5/2015

July- 7/3/2015

August- 8/7/2015

September- 9/4/2015

October- 10/2/2015

November- 11/13/2015

December- 12/11/2015

Louie's Letter 
Defending those who serve
Louis Atkins

  

For the last few years, federal and postal employees have been front and center in the minds of certain Members of Congress looking to balance the nation's books on the backs of those who have chosen a life of service. Whether it be through pay freezes, hiring freezes or reducing the resources needed to do our jobs, federal employees have been used as a type of blank check to make up for past fiscal mistakes.

 

Last week, NAPS, working in concert with other federal employee groups, rigorously opposed such an effort. NAPS sent a letter to over 1,100 staff members within the United States House of Representatives urging them to oppose anti-federal employee measures within the FY 16 Budget Resolution. Some of these proposals would force federal and postal employees to contribute more towards their health benefits along with increasing health care costs for employees. In addition, the most popular plan within the Thrift Savings Plan, the G Fund, would be reduced to being a junk fund due to proposed changes in how its rate of return is calculated.


Th
e budget resolution passed the House on partisan lines with the majority mostly voting in favor of it.

 

Now, there is one thing to keep in mind: this is only a budget resolution. Nothing is binding; nothing is heading to the Senate or to the President. This is only a road map for future government appropriations. However, we have a clear understanding of where Congressional budget priorities are and we now understand the fight ahead of us.

 

There is some good news. 17 Republicans did vote against the budget. Some of these represent some of the most hardline fiscal "hawks" who feel that cuts should be even higher than those proposed in the budget resolution. The good news was that there were a few that did see the harm that this budget would cause to the federal workforce. It is our intention to work with these Members of Congress to educate the rest of the Republican Conference to moderate their stance on the budget and embrace the notion of shared sacrifice.

 

In the meantime, our legislative team will work with our allies on the Hill to solidify their opposition to this proposal and work to build coalitions that look for real solutions when it comes to the budget. As the summer approaches and these measures come up for a real vote, we will be mobilizing our NAPS legislative network through CapWiz and our other tools in order for you to urge your lawmakers to vote "no" on yet another assault on the benefits and livelihoods of those individuals who only seek to serve. 

 
Ivan's Den 

Building a healthy workplace

Ivan Butts 

 

I am writing this article just as I finished speaking with a manager concerning being contacted by an MCSO while out on sick leave.  It brought back memories of a Postal LINK titled "Treating employees with respect."  In this LINK, the agency stated it was committed to providing a workplace free of discrimination and harassment along with fostering a climate where all employees reach their highest potential. We have all heard this statement before. For years, the Postal Service has stated that this type of behavior will not be tolerated. 

 

Meanwhile, NAPS continues to receive feedback from members who are being berated, belittled and humiliated on work floors. This often happens in front of craft employees, over open handheld radios, and on daily telecoms by the very managers that are charged with maintaining respect within the workplace.

 

The LINK identified three points that all employees should do in achieving a workplace free of threats or harassment.  My issue is that I find generic points such as these are not effective when attempting to address the issues facing EAS in the workplace. You may remember in my July 2012 article titled - "We'll Always Be 'One of Them" , where I spoke of the term "robust dialog" that was used by a former Area Vice President to validate issues raised surrounding the creation of hostile work environments.

 

This fine line between robust dialog and a hostile work environment is easy to blur, cross or erase by managers who conduct themselves in a manner that USPS leadership openly states will not be tolerated. Yet, by their inaction in dealing with these issues, agency leadership is indeed condoning this behavior in some degree.

 

I did some analysis on this issue and made this conclusion; if I am a leader who has made career advances within this agency and I have a history of creating a hostile work environment, why should I consider my conduct inappropriate?  Simply put, if a manager is rising through the ranks by employing a leadership style that berates, belittles and humiliates some of the "all employees", then that person believes that this is the leadership style the USPS desires.  

 

So, the question is does this agency really not condone the behavior or does it fulfill some legal obligation to openly state that it does not, while continuing to tolerate, support and advance another type of leadership model?

 
Brian's Scoop

Status Update 

Brian Wagner

 

Last month, I was given an opportunity to provide Secretary/Treasurer training at our 2015 Legislative Training Seminar (LTS) to over 130 attendees. The turnout was great and the questions even better.  Discussion included managing membership, branch finances, budgeting, collecting and protecting branch dues. You may be wondering if there is a simple way for branches to quickly identify if their branch may have a membership or dues issue. Yes, there is. Here's the scoop!

 

Each month, branches receive their respective monthly membership report, known as the Dues Check-Off (DCO) Report. This report lists active and associate members. It also includes, on the far right-hand side of the page of this report, a "status" column for active members. Anytime there is a change in a branch's active membership a specific code will show up in the status column across from the name of that particular member. Just a note, the status codes come from USPS HQ when NAPS downloads the payroll files to process our monthly membership reports.

 

Therefore, when a branch receives their monthly DCO report, the branch officers can quickly identify from the status column that there may be a change in its membership and/or financial dynamics based on a particular status code. So, what are these status codes and what do they mean? 

 

Below is a brief summary of the major codes that most branches may see on their respective DCO Report.

  • ADJ: USPS returned back pay to member, including membership dues
  • CANCEL: Membership was cancelled via 1188
  • DECR.: Dues of member decreased. Branch either requested to decrease dues of all members or the member came from another branch whose dues was previously higher
  • INCR.: Dues of member increased.  Branch either requested to increase dues or the member came from another branch whose dues was previously lower
  • NO DED or NO PAY: Member is in a non-pay status and not receiving a USPS paycheck for dues to be withheld. 
  • NU EMP: The person listed is a new NAPS member via 1187
  • RET.: Member retired from the USPS
  • SEP.: Member's employment at the USPS was terminated

The status codes of CANCEL, NO DED/NO PAY, RET and SEP will reduce the amount of dues a branch was previously receiving.  However, a branch can help regain some of the lost membership dues. How? Ask a CANCEL member to rejoin NAPS. Make sure you collect from the NO DED/NO PAY member the amount of dues in arrears. Encourage the RET member to become an associate member. Finally, replace the SEP member by asking an eligible EAS non-member to join NAPS.  

 

Now that you know the status codes of the DCO, here is a special code from me that I hope you can decipher--YUM. Give up? It is the code for my ice cream flavor of the week recommendation-Maui Brownie Madness.

 
Seth's Slant
It's all about synergy!
Seth
Seth Lennon

 

Since my column in HQ2U began, one of my goals has been to educate members on the different tools we use to broadcast NAPS/USPS related information. This includes our website, HQ2U, Facebook, Capwiz, Knowlegis, Twitter or The Postal Supervisor magazine.  While on their own, these tools are effective, they are most effective when used collaboratively.

 

An example: sometime over the summer, Congress will more than likely debate some type of postal legislation. When the bill is dropped, NAPS will review and analyze it. This detailed analysis will be made available on our website. Many times, we will use Knowlegis to transmit this position paper to the over 1,000 congressional staffers who have responsibility over postal issues.

 

From this analysis, a press release outlining our support or opposition to the legislation will go out to media outlets such as the Federal Times, Government Executive and the Washington Post. This release will also be available on our website and social media outlets. In fact, it's not uncommon for these news outlets to retweet our release to their followers, increasing our exposure.

 

So we've gotten the word out about this bill. People know where we stand. It's time for a committee hearing in Congress. A couple of things happen at this stage of the game. We will once again use Knowlegis to reinforce to committee staff on where we stand. In addition, we will drive our members to use CapWiz to personally email their Member of Congress if they sit on the committee. This is important because not only are these individuals NAPS advocates educating a Member of Congress, they are a constituent educating their Member of Congress on the potential local impact of this legislation.

 

Finally, while the hearing is going on itself, we will use Twitter to broadcast or "live-tweet" the highlights of the meeting. We will tag appropriate legislators when they make a crucial statement regarding the bill under debate. This has yielded tangible benefits in the past. During the Senate hearing for the Carper/Coburn postal reform bill, NAPS was successful in rallying allies such as Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and former Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) to oppose amendments that would allow the carry of firearms into a postal facility. Our social media outreach to these lawmakers had a lot to do with blocking these harmful measures.

 

Going back to our hypothetical postal bill. Should our legislation make it onto the floor for a vote, NAPS would employ all of these tools once again to make our position known and urge lawmakers to vote appropriately.

 

This is not just about the legislative side of things. Whether it is the build-up to the National Convention or informing our members about a USPS action that could put their jobs at risk, we aim to use all tools at our disposal to make sure you have the most available information possible.