North Carolina Letter Carrier Welcome Page
North Carolina State Association of Letter Carriers
Welcome to The North Carolina Letter Carrier, the official website of the North Carolina State Association of Letter Carriers. Come on in and rest a spell here alongside the Information Highway.
Each of the tabs to your left will open up a page to our site concerning a variety of issues that we hope will be of interest to our state's active and retired letter carriers.
HAPPY LABOR DAY!
To commemorate the occasion we have several special articles on labor unions on our AFL-CIO page. They include: "AFL-CIO Launching Labor Day Political Blitz," "No Holiday for Labor Unions," "Labor Day is a Defining Time for Working People," "A Deserted Feeling in Working-Class America," a Labor Day message from Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, and a salute to union stewards by Steve Early.
MDA Labor Day Telethon:
Telethon appearances: NALC President Fred Rolando and letter carriers representing the top fund-raising branches in the country will present a check for $1.9 million to the Muscular Dystrophy Association during the 2010 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon this weekend. Click here to find out more.
Speaking of MDA: Congratulations to Asheboro's letter carriers for winning third place at the National Convention in the
small branches category. They raised nearly $3,000 for MDA last year.
The North Carolina Letter Carrier Receives Recognition at National Convention
Pardon us while we toot our own horns: The North Carolina Letter Carrier brought home three national awards from the NALC National Convention: One Honorable Mention (Cartoon category), one Third Place (Best News Article/Column) and one First Place (Promoting Unionism). In addition, the editor of the Charlotte Branch 545 Newsletter, Leann Marshall, received Honorable Mention for an article promoting unionism. We'll have details later.
The latest edition of The North Carolina Letter Carrier
will start arriving in your mail boxes soon!
Fall Training Approaching Fast: Durham, NC, October 15 and 16.
Scholarship Winners Announced
Emily Poindexter of Walnut Cove and Daniel Dyer of Kings Mountain are the recipients of this year's Virginia Wood -- W.D. Haralson Scholarship Awards. The two $1,000 scholarships are awarded each year by the North Carolina Letter Carriers' Auxiliary. Details about the two scholarship winners and information on the scholarship can be found on our SCHOLARSHIP page.
The Alex Dolan MDA Golf Tournament is scheduled for Monday, October 11. For more information on this popular golfing event sponsored by Branch 382 and for an entry form, click on the GOLF TOURNEY tab.
2011 State Convention to be held in Asheville, NC June 17 & 18. For more information on next year's convention, click our STATE CONVENTION tab.
He joined the Postal Service shortly after serving in World War II as a tank gunner. He's been a proud member of the NALC for 60 years. His name is Harry Klabbitz and you can read about him in this month's Feature story, "If You Knew Harry."
Second-class citizens? In written testimony to the
University of Kentucky
Postal Regulatory Commission, University of Kentucky Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues Al Cross says that ending Saturday mail delivery would hasten the decline of rural communities. “The mail is a more important part of the civic infrastructure in rural American than it is in suburban or urban America,” Cross said. See e-ACTIVIST page for details.
President Rolando asks carriers to gather cosponsors for H.R. 5746: Proposed bill would help strengthen the case against five-day delivery. Click e-ACTIVIST tab for details.
Cutting Saturdays would be a 'blunder':
NALC President Fred Rolando testified June 22 before a joint congressional committee hearing on the U.S. Postal Service's action plan for the future, which includes the possibility of cutting a day of mail delivery service each week. "We think this would be a blunder of the first order—saving very little money and risking the loss of much more revenue over time," he said. "Cutting service is not a way to strengthen the Postal Service. At a time when the nation is suffering an acute jobs crisis, throwing another 80,000 decent jobs away in a moment of panic does not make sense." Go to NALC website for his complete testimony.
Postal Service Has a History of Seeking Five-Day Delivery to Cure Financial Woes:According to documents obtained by PostalMag.com, the USPS has a history of attempts to discontinue Saturday mail service to reduce postal costs. For example, a 1977 special study commission recommended a discontinuance of Saturday mail service that would have saved the Postal Service $412 million annually. PostalMag.com.
From Your Executive Board:
In his latest article, "Rising to the Challenge," president Cliff Davidson, Jr. challenges letter carriers to make their voices heard in Washington so that we might preserve and protect six-day delivery.
Area 4 representative Richard Koritz writes a letter to the Greensboro News and Record addressing some misinformation printed in a previous edition of the paper about the Postal Service.
"Here in North Carolina we recently lost a staunch NALC leader, Al Kearse, Executive Vice President of Branch 382 Durham." So writes Vice President Craig Schadewald in this month's article entitled "Leadership."
"It is clear to any person with minimal business knowledge that you don't attempt to increase revenue by eliminating service when service is all you provide," writes Director of Education Frank Vega in his article on why five-day mail delivery is not such a great idea: "I Just Want the Weekends Off."
This month Director of Retirees Wayne White continues to discuss various ways crooks can separate you from your hard-earned money in "Beware of Fraud (Part II)."
Area 1 Representative Bill Heidt was reminded again recently why his job as a shop steward is so rewarding. Read his latest article, "Thank You."
It seems like the USPS doesn't have enough paperwork to keep its managers and supervisors busy so they've created yet another unofficial form to add to all those others. Read Area 3 Representative Bob Wahoff's latest article, "Been in the Tool Box Again."
State Treasurer Danny Straub has posted our State Association's Financial Statement for August. You'll find that in our FINANCES section.
Chalk Up Another One For The NALC: The NALC has entered into a settlement agreement with the Postal Service and the USPS Office of Inspector General that that imposes significant new restrictions on OIG agents and postal inspectors when they seek to obtain confidential medical information about employees from the employees' doctors or other personal health providers. Click here for that story.
Memorandum Signed on Joint Alternate Route Adjustment Process
For the 23-page joint guidelines to the new Joint Alternate Route Adjustment Process (JARAP) and the shaded MOU language click here -- M-01720. And for additional information on this, go to the NALC website.
High Five!:
This page honors our state's letter carriers (both active and retired). A High Five goes to....
The letter carriers of Asheboro, NC. They received Third Place in the MDA competition at the National Convention in the Small Branches Category.
Leann Marshall, Scribe for Branch 545 Charlotte won Honorable Mention in the NALC's Branch Publication Awards for her article promoting unionism, "The Rise and Fall of Membership in the American Union."
Trina Charles of Branch 4970 of Havelock, NC. Trina served on the Mileage and Per Diem Committee at the NALC's National Convention in Anaheim, CA.
Four North Carolina branches made the NALC's Top 100 Branches in our 2010 Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. High Fives go to Elkin, NC Branch 3859-- 40,400 lbs (Category 1); Asheville, NC Branch 248--226,686 lbs (Category IV); Raleigh, NC Branch 459--298,888 lbs (Category VI); and Charlotte, NC Branch 545--252,746 lbs (Category VII). Congratulations! You can see the totals for all of our state's branches on our FOOD DRIVE page.
Johnny (Duckie) Hill of Branch 545 on receiving his Gold Card Award. Brother Hill served as a shop steward in Monroe, NC for 25 years and carried the same route there for 34 years. He had this advice for members of his branch upon receiving the award: "Stay with it as long as you can. I appreciate the Post Office, the Union, and especially you."
Christina Vela Davidson of Branch 382, Durham, NC. who is one of 30 letter carriers attending the 10th NALC Leadership Academy. She completed a one week-long session in July and has two more sessions to follow in October and December.
For more High Fives! go to our HIGH FIVE page.
Stand Up and Speak Out!
While browsing around the website be sure to stop by THE LETTER CARRIERS' FORUM. This is basically, your page. Simply go to our CONTACT page and tell us how you feel about any number of things that affect you as a active or retired letter carrier. There are a lot of things going on right now, so there's certainly no shortage of material out there. It might be something that's happening at your office or in your district. Maybe there's something the Postal Service is doing that's rubbing you the wrong way ( although that seems far-fetched)...or, the right way. Send it to us, and we'll post it for your fellow carriers (and the whole wide world!) to see.
Believe it or not, route adjustments can be good for you. Nine years ago Michael Kurz of Elizabeth City had balooned to 277 pounds and had high blood pressure, but now, due to route adjustments adding more walking to his route, he's down to 201 pounds and feeling better than ever. Read "The Power of Exercise."
In his latest posting, Glenn Harvey, President of Branch 3984, urges carriers to write to their congressional representative and urge them to co-sponsor bills HR 5746 and HR 173.
John Walden, President of Charlotte Branch 545 talks about the importance of letter carriers being involved in their local communities in his posting, "Being Involved!"
With the many challenges facing letter carriers right now, Branch 3984 President Glenn Harvey believes that "Reviving the Spirit of Solidarity is a Must."
Fredrick Nimer of Branch 630 comments on the extremely hot weather we've been experiencing this summer and the filing of OWCP grievances in Greensboro.
Issues Concerning the NALC's Efforts to Save the Postal Service and Upper Level Management's Efforts to Destroy It:
Read the stories listed below and others by clicking on the SAVE SIX-DAY DELIVERY tab:
How You Can Help 'Save Saturday Delivery':
Write to the Postal Regulatory Commission and submit a comment in support of Saturday delivery, as the PRC’s support of Saturday delivery will be key in getting congressional support to maintain Saturday delivery.
Big wins for NALC activists: In two clear victories for letter
carrier activism, the full Senate Appropriations Committee has approved Fiscal Year 2011 bills that leave six-day mail delivery intact—and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services marked up its bill, with language on six-day delivery untouched as well. Click here to read coverage by click here to read coverage by Bloomberg News Service, featuring quotes from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).
Save Six Day
Rapper '44 Cent' goes postal on 5 day delivery...
For the song, be-bop over here.
President Rolando responds with a letter to the editor in The Washington Post.
Senators who oversee the US Postal Service's budget will block the service's proposal to drop Saturday delivery.
The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) is currently gathering comments to determine whether to recommend to Congress that it eliminate mail delivery service on Saturdays. We need you to help us make sure they know what a mistake cutting Saturday delivery would be. Please click here and take a moment to visit the PRC's website and submit a comment in support of Saturday mail delivery. For additional information, go to our SAVE SIX-DAY page.
News and Commentary:
(See NEWS section for details on these stories)
USPS Requests Former CFO Back Up Testimony On Behalf Of NALC:
Former USPS CFO Michael Riley submitted testimony to PRC (Postal Regulatory Commission) on behalf of NALC earlier this month. Former USPS Chief Financial Officer: Eliminating Saturday Delivery is Not Necessary. Now USPS is requesting that Riley produce documents, analyses, data to support his assertions (even though it has not produced data to support its assertions that five-day delivery would be better than six-days).
Financial reform legislation advances: A House subcommittee has voted 8-1 to support
H.R. 5746,
the bill introduced recently by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) to address the Postal Service's financial problems. If passed, the bill would implement many of the Postal Regulatory Commission recommendations. It now goes to the full House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The NALC's legislative activists are being called to action to recruit co-sponsors for H.R. 5746.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has charged the USPS with a series of citations in multiple cities for “willful and serious” safety violations. As of mid-June, OSHA had issued citations to the Postal Service at 12 facilities, and ordered it to pay fines of more than $2 million.
Arbitrator limits abusive postal supervisor's contact with carriers. An arbitrator has ruled that postal management did indeed violate the Joint Statement on Violence in the Workplace. To read the arbitration award, click here.
AFL-CIO News
Extremist Media Steps Up Attacks on Workers, Unions: In their attack on the union movement, extremist reactionary media outlets increasingly are depicting unions and workers as thugs, Communists and destroyers of free enterprise.
Labor’s Popularity Declines Amid Criticism Of Public-Sector Unions: With increasing attacks on public sector unions, it’s not surprising that labor has become unpopular in the court of public opinion. A new Gallup survey reveals that approval ratings for labor unions continues to struggle one year after their popularity reached a historic low.
NARFE News:
Pharmacists Back Measures to Cut Feds' Prescription Drug Costs: A group representing independent pharmacy owners, managers and employees is urging the Office of Personnel Management to take a number of steps to ensure federal workers get the best deal on prescription drugs.
An investigation by Bloomberg Markets magazine has found that life insurance companies delay issuing death benefits owed to families of service members and others by promising to hold the money in safekeeping.
In a letter to all federal employees and annuitants President Margaret Baptiste warns of a congressional decision that could cut large chunks out of federal retirement and health benefits.
NARFE applauds Senator Cardin for introducing a bill to speed up the extension of health coverage for children of federal employees and annuitants.
NARFE urges Congress to pass legislation allowing dependent children of federal workers and annuitants to remain on their parents' federal health insurance to age 26.
The U.S. Senate has rejected an amendment that would have given most older Americans a $250 payment.
Enjoy!
Richard Thayer,
Editor
Last updated: September 3, 2010
