Listen to Your Elders As I talk with branch presidents from around the state, one common thread unravels: many of our members fail to recognize the seriousness of the current battles we’re fighting. I hear it all the time: members are apathetic, they haven’t had to fight for what they enjoy today. That may be true, but someone (letter carriers and their spouses) had to fight for it! Do today’s carriers think a decent wage, overtime, annual and sick leave, health and life insurance, workers’ compensation and collective bargaining were given as a gratuitous gesture by the government or the postal service? What we now have can be taken away with the stroke of a pen. We’ve all heard it for so long that maybe some have turned a deaf ear and don’t think it can happen. Well, it can, and it’s time to get serious. I’m sure that at some point during our lives most of us have been told to pay attention and listen to your elders. And then later in life we have spoken the same words. The reason isn’t solely out of respect for them, it’s also an opportunity for us to learn from years of experience. Gaining knowledge passed down through the experiences of someone who, shall I say, has been there and done that. Those who attended the NALC National Rap Session in Las Vegas took part in such a learning experience. The only difference—no one needed to be told to pay attention. Those in attendance were treated to remarks made from three past NALC national presidents: James Rademacher, Vincent Sombroto and William Young. Each of these experienced leaders of our great union addressed the attendees in their own style, but all had the same message: we are in the fight of our lives and any successes that were achieved while they were president occurred as the result of the support and work of the membership. Bill Young, NALC president from 2002—2009, was his passionate self putting the anti-union, anti-labor activities in perspective as what has occurred in Wisconsin, Ohio, etc. He urged the membership to fight for our postal issues and take back America for the working class. Vince Sombrotto, NALC president from 1979—2002, one of the most influential NALC president of all time, said: “It’s time for letter carriers to rise. If this battle is won it’s not because of Fred (Rolando), it’s because of you.” Sombrotto added: “It’s your job, it’s your family, you need to be up front. Do whatever has to be done for yourself and family.” Sombrotto, a former Branch 36 New York letter carrier who, along with other courageous rank-and-file Branch 36 letter carriers, began the wildcat Postal Strike of 1970 against the U.S. government, has known firsthand what it is to “rise up.” He explained that the strike was successful due to public support and stated that our current situation is no different. “When the public gets behind you,” he said, “in the end you will win.” James Rademacher, president from 1968—1977, explained how in 1953 the Post Office thought of eliminating Saturday delivery, leading the NALC to file a lawsuit against it. It was found that the NALC didn’t have the right to sue, but public awareness was raised and the elimination never occurred, another example of public support standing behind letter carriers. Rademacher was NALC president during some of the most financially difficult times for letter carriers, the reason leading to the 1970 wildcat strike. During 1969 letter carriers were qualifying for welfare. “Hundreds of New York and Brooklyn letter carriers receiving welfare—in fact, one carrier qualified for $133 a month more in benefits than his take-home pay—carriers’ economic situation was an open sore that would not heal.” (Quote from Carriers in a Common Cause: A History of Letter Carriers and the NALC.) Keeping that in mind, this is what Rademacher told attendees regarding our battles today: “This is the most serious campaign in our (NALC) history, more than any other!” Wow! Rademacher went on to explain: “The courageous letter carriers during the walkout were fighting for pay increases, but this campaign is for your jobs and your future.” Have you seen the job market lately? Not too good! “You’re fighting for your lives, your homes, children’s college, and your family’s future,” Rademacher said. “Solidarity brought us here and it will bring us into the future.” I hope this sheds some light on the seriousness of the situation and I urge you to learn from these experienced elder letter carriers and do whatever our national officers ask of us because, as President Rademacher said, “We are in the most serious campaign in NALC history. In closing. I would like to wish all of our members and their families a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a healthy New Year.

Fix the Real Problem Last year I warned that the Postal Service heads at “’Enfant Plaza were brewing up a new batch of their 5-day delivery drink. Well, while Congress was ironing out the country’s debt ceiling issues Postmaster General (PMG) Donahoe was out peddling the campaign for his 5-day delivery poison. On July 20, 2011 Donahoe told the USA Today Editorial Board, Saturday mail delivery could end soon and in 15 years “we’ll be talking about delivering mail three days a week.” On the same day, Donahoe introduced his first state of the USPS address to postal employees. In his communication he explained how the company got into its financial woes and why we’ve been hearing about 5-day delivery, post office closings, consolidations, pre-payments to retiree health benefits and overpayments to both the Civil Service Retirement Service (CSRS) and Federal Employees Retirement System’s (FERS). Those that viewed the video heard the PMG tell us something we already know: “our volume tracts the economy. Jobs, retail sales, business investment; that’s what drives mail,” when economic volume drops off, our volume drops off. You also saw a mail volume chart illustrating as such. As the economy began to rebound in FY 2010 Quarter 4 and FY 2011 Quarter 1, so did our volume into the positive. Even our latest decline in volume of the past few months due to a relapse in the economy, the chart shown was nowhere near the dramatic drop we saw during the country’s great recession in 2009. Through cuts and increases in productivity our company has absorbed high fuel costs and kept expenses within budget. So, then, what’s the problem if our volume will come back when the economy comes back? Pre-funding $5.5 billion to a trust for future retiree health benefits each year—that’s the problem. In fact, over the last four years if we wouldn’t have had to prepay future retiree health benefits we would’ve had a profit even as we lost 20 percent of volume. Don’t misunderstand me, I do believe the company should pay into future retiree health benefits, it’s just that we’ve paid plenty into it already and the amounts and payment schedule mandated in 2006 is not reasonable and needs to be changed. There’s one more problem. PMG Donahoe is making a near-sighted decision to cut days of delivery when that will not resolve the issue. The long term answer is to fix the pre-funding requirements that no other business is mandated to make. PMG Donahoe was correct when he said, “If it wasn’t for those payments (pre-funding retiree health benefits) we would’ve been profitable.” So, PMG, let’s fix the real problem before you cry dire straits and un-employ 80 thousand of your company’s employees who’ve been working their butts off to remain profitable during these hard times. Doesn’t fixing the real problem, instead of creating a further one by providing less delivery days for our customers, make more sense? The Postal Service has fully funded pension plans and, if the accounting is done properly, fully funded retiree health benefits. If Congress will pass legislation to fairly allocate pension costs and correct the error made by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that led the USPS to make overpayment of about $75 billion, eliminating Saturday delivery would not be necessary. Contact your representative and ask him or her to urge the House Rules Committee to preserve the language contained in H.R. 2434 that protects six-day delivery. And while you’re at it, ask them to support H.R. 1351 which addresses the decades-old OPM accounting error to the CSRS and the more recent overcharge to the USPS related to the FERS. I urge you to visit the Legislation and Politics web page at nalc.org for a more detailed look at these two important pieces of legislation. (Also, check out the State Association's political activist blog: The North Carolina Letter Carrier Activist.)

Political Involvement is the Key to Our Future Success It’s been an honor for me to serve again as your Vice President of the North Carolina Association of Letter Carriers. I’ve attended and chaired all meetings of the Executive Board and attended all training sessions. I represented our membership at the NC State AFL-CIO executive board meetings, state convention and the NC State AFL-CIO legislative conference and lobbying day in Raleigh. I’ve attended the Region Nine rap session in Myrtle Beach and the national convention in Anaheim. I’ve submitted articles to The North Carolina Letter Carrier and communicated with many members throughout the state as well as the US Congress and NC Legislature. Our legislative activity has been busy and will continue to pick up speed. Maintaining six-day delivery and recalculating the Postal Service’s pension obligations are front and center as of this writing. House Resolution 137 expresses the sense of the House that the USPS should take “all appropriate measures” to ensure continuation of six-day delivery. H.R. 1351, the United States Postal Service’s Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act of 2011, calls for amending the methodology for calculating the amount of any Postal surplus or supplemental liability under the Civil Service Retirement System, and for other purposes. We all need to be contacting our representatives and asking them to sign on as a co-sponsor. Although we have issues important to letter carriers and the USPS, there is much more work to be done. With the all-out assault on labor unions and the working class, we need to be willing to band together and use all available resources to maintain rights to collectively bargain and provide decent living wages for working men and women. I read recently that households with income between $35,000 and $100,000 identify as “middle class.” Can a family of four live on $35,000 per year? CEO’s are getting richer and working families are getting poorer. Is this the American way? It’s time to stand up for all working families. Get involved at your branch, get involved at rallies, attend Central Labor Council meetings, educate working class people in your community and when people bash unions, let them know you’re proud to be a union member and explain all the good your union has done for you. Last, and by no means least, contribute to COLCPE. Help support those who are helping to support us! Thank you for allowing me the privilege to serve as your vice president. I look forward to serving our membership in the future. Get involved, stay educated and fight for what working class people rightfully deserve: decent wages and benefits.

A Working People’s Agenda I’m often asked by members why our State Association belongs to the North Carolina AFL-CIO. We are federal employees, the NC AFL-CIO deals with state issues that don’t affect us, they say. It’s true that the NC AFL-CIO works on issues affecting non-federal workers but the organization also works on federal worker issues; in fact, its focus is on issues of all workers in North Carolina. The North Carolina State AFL-CIO has prepared “A Working People’s Agenda” and is committed to fight for the fundamental needs of all North Carolina workers and their families. The NC State AFL-CIO is the leading, and sometimes only, voice for workers and their families on work place related issues at the legislature. But the leaders can’t do it alone. Brothers and sisters, it’s time we look outside of our better-than-most federal employment. Are all your friends, family and neighbors federal employees? Do you know someone who has lost a job and/or had to take a lower paying and less stable one? Can your graduating children find a job in North Carolina with good pay and benefits similar to letter carriers? Should it not be our responsibility as working people who enjoy good jobs, safe work places and protection of our rights to help North Carolina workers who don’t? Are you and other North Carolina workers willing to accept going backwards instead of moving forward and making progress? It seems as though everyone is against the worker with good pay and benefits. Instead of business and some legislators saying, “Why do workers have good pay, benefits and protections?” we workers should be saying, “Why don’t all workers have these?” Are we, the workers, willing to allow legislators to garnish wages to pay for commercial debt, strip healthcare benefits, and reduce North Carolina Worker’s Compensation benefits for injured employees? These are just a few of the issues that will be addressed by our legislators that could potentially weaken working people here in North Carolina. Folks, it’s time to get serious about protecting workers in our communities. Workers are earning and receiving fewer benefits every year. If you sit by and say nothing, then you’re saying you accept what’s happening to working people. I urge all branches to affiliate with their NC AFL-CIO Central Labor Council (CLC) and be vocal about the Working People’s Agenda. We need to energize working families and let them know they have a voice and a partner in the NC State AFL-CIO. It’s an agenda that will put our economy on the right track by enabling working families to get back on their feet. This notion of slashing worker pay and benefits, thereby weakening working families, while financial institutions get rich and large multi-state corporations avoid paying North Carolina taxes, is not the way to energize our economy. Feel free to contact me for more information on the NC State AFL-CIO “A Working People’s Agenda” and affiliating your branch with your local CLC.

Kool-Aid Made the USPS Way With the mid-term elections behind us the 112th Congress is scheduled to be sworn in on January 03, 2011. So what affect will this new face of Congress have on the Postal Service and our jobs? The answer may depend on you. Earlier in 2010 the Postal Service began stirring up its 5-Day delivery Kool-Aid and used every media outlet including print, radio, television and the web to pour it out in large batches. Don't misunderstand me, I like the Kool-Aid my mom used to make, I just don't like Postal management's recipe. It's been estimated by eliminating Saturday delivery up to 80,000 postal employee jobs could be lost. Some of our own members were then and still are gulping down management's drink in support of having Saturday off. But management has left out some of the sour ingredients that will go into their final Kool-Aid concoction. Ingredients such as less service for our customers, fewer workers making a decent wage and benefits, less union members to voice their opinions to Congress and less union dues, which help finance the tools needed for the collective bargaining of our contract. The Kool-Aid doesn't taste so sweet anymore, does it? Lately, it may seem postal management is passing out their drink in less quantity; more like cupfuls, but don't be fooled into thinking they've run dry. Just as the new Congress is preparing to be sworn in, the Postal Service big heads at L'Enfant Plaza are stirring up a new batch. Don't take my word for it, go to www.usps.com and look for yourself. Scroll to the bottom of the homepage and click on "Learn About Five-Day delivery." This will take you to the USPS Five-Day delivery site. There you'll find an overview of why they claim 5-day delivery is necessary, planning guides, delivery schedules, etc. They claim 5- Day delivery is one of the Postal Service's best options to significantly reduce its costs to partially offset its unprecedented mail volume and revenue declines. You'll also find that the Postal Service plans to implement five-day delivery in fiscal year 2011 (Oct.1, 2010-Sept. 30, 2011). They did post on the site the following, "Implementation is contingent on Congress not enacting legislation to prevent that change in service." If not for the last sentence you'd think 5-Day delivery is a done deal, but it's not. And that's where you come in. You are needed to contact your Representative in Congress and urge them to support and co-sponsor H.R. 5746 during the "lame duck session" of the current 111th Congress. If you've already done so and they have yet to co-sponsor the bill, then call them again. If you're not sure what to say, contact your Branch President, myself or any other State officer. This legislation is a much needed first step in correcting the USPS's financial problems. However, it does not address management's 5-day delivery plan. If we're successful getting H.R. 5746 signed into law, I still believe as they've posted on their site, the Postal Service will push the upcoming 112th Congress to support 5-Day delivery and we will need to push back to stop it. Stay informed. Attend Branch meetings, read the NALC Bulletin, become an e-Activist and check www.nclettercarrier.com and www.nalc.org often. And remember to tell Congress, 5-Day is the Wrong Way!

Leadership Within the state of North Carolina there are approximately 3700 City Letter Carriers working in roughly 350 post offices. In most of these offices you’ll find one or two Letter Carriers who have stepped forward and taken on the role as the local NALC representative. Using the contractual Steward to Letter Carrier ratio, you are likely to find one Steward for up to 49 Letter Carriers and two Stewards to represent 50 to 99 Carriers in a specific work location and/or tour. I don’t have to tell you with the continual violations that these representatives are kept busy protecting your rights. A verse from the best selling book of all time describes it best; “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” I am of the belief that these representatives never imagined they would be in this leadership role. So what drives these Letter Carriers to assume these positions? Is it that they enjoy deciphering contractual language? I doubt it. Do they do it for the glitz and glory? Yeah right. No, it’s because they have it in their heart to see that the basic principle of being treated fairly is carried out. Consider this. “Leadership is not so much about technique and methods as it is opening the heart. Leadership is about inspiration – of oneself and of others. Great leadership is about human experience, not processes. Leadership is not a formula or a program, it is a human activity that comes from the heart and considers the hearts of others. It is an attitude, not a routine.” – Lance Secretan, Industry Week, October 12, 1998. Here in North Carolina we recently lost a staunch NALC leader, Al Kearse, Executive Vice President of Branch 382, Durham. During Al’s memorial service I witnessed Letter Carriers and NALC Stewards giving testimony to Al’s friendship, guidance and attitude mirroring the words above. They spoke of how Al made time to educate and inspire them with confidence in themselves to help protect the rights of others. Ralph Nader once said, “I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” There is no doubt Al will be missed, but as Walter Lippman put it “The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on.” That also includes you ladies. And from the testimony I witnessed, I give Al an A+.

Help Wanted, Passport Required   The Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law over a year ago was designed to stimulate the US economy, job growth, and avert a second depression. As of mid February it appears we are on the right track. The country’s economy went from shrinking by 6% to growing at about 6%, while stimulus monies from the Act have been responsible for the creation of nearly 2 million jobs. Thousands of construction workers were unemployed in NC due to the housing and commercial real estate downfall. But stimulus monies awarded to our state to build a high-speed rail between Charlotte and Raleigh and onto Richmond, VA has put many back to work. Critics of the $787 billion stimulus complain it is not doing enough.   Many Americans are angered by reports of company CEO’s and upper level management receiving bonuses and salary increases after receiving stimulus monies. However, not much is reported about the companies that have received stimulus money and grants that are now closing production plants in the US and moving jobs to other countries. In my opinion, this is worse than what the CEO’s have done. Maybe this is part of the problem our recovery has been slow.   Appliance maker Whirlpool received a $19.3 million grant by the US Department of Energy as part of the Recovery Act to develop “smart appliances.” Now, Whirlpool has decided to shut down a refrigerator plant in Evansville, Indiana that employs 1,100 workers and move the work to a company factory in Mexico. This isn’t new for Whirlpool. They’ve been shipping good American paying jobs, many union represented, to other low wage countries for years. Whirlpool currently has 26 of their 37 production plants located outside of the US.   On February 26th AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, along with workers from the plant, and union and community leaders marched from the plant to the IUE-CWA union hall where a rally was held to protest the plant closing. Prior to the event Paul Coburn, vice president for Whirlpool’s Evansville Division sent a warning through an internal company newsletter to the workers not to participate in the march/rally saying, employers in the future might not be willing to hire workers who participate. Whirlpool has taken the war against American workers to a new level by threatening to blacklist people who speak up. They don’t just want your job; they want your first amendment rights, too, said President Trumka   On the AFL-CIO’s Good Jobs Now website, Tom Vinnedge, the owner of a restaurant in nearby Winslow, Ind., wrote: More unemployed neighbors mean less customers who can afford to enjoy a meal out, plain and simple. At the same time, the one aspect of my business that is sure to increase as a result of the closure is our Thanksgiving free meal program for needy families. It’s just madness that Whirlpool is abandoning our community like this, and nobody has the courage to stand up to them and other greedy corporations and say it’s got to stop.   Are these greedy corporations trying to make us a low wage nation like those in Central America? Or is this the governments answer to illegal immigration. It has been reported that as major American corporations continue to move their manufacturing operations to Mexico, waves of job-seeking Mexican immigrants to the United States have begun making the deadly journey back across the border in search of better-paying Mexican-based American jobs.   So, what about you, are you up to the challenge of the Indiana restaurant owner? Will you stand up to the greedy corporations? You’ve seen what less money in the pockets of American workers has done to our declining mail volumes, which have lead our company to historical financial losses. So, I ask you again labor union worker, do you have the courage to stand up and say it’s got to stop? If so, tell your congress members and anyone running for congress to stop giving aid and tax breaks to companies who send American jobs elsewhere and to level the playing field by re-negotiating NAFTA and CAFTA. It’s not only the right thing to do; it’s the American thing to do.

In-House Soiling It's been some time since we had a little addition in our home. I was reminded very quickly of the time and effort it takes to train and housebreak a seven week old puppy. Although she's smart, it's repetition that will be the key to success. Anyone who has had an indoor family dog from puppyhood knows they won't get it just by telling them no. It's repeating the frequent trips outside that will stop the soiling in the hosue. Training and housebreaking a new puppy is similar to educating a new postmaster or supervisor who has ideas that differ from the national agreement and regularly soil the rights of our members. One would think that if a person was to manage employees governed by a contract, then that manager would educate themselves on the employee's contract. That doesn't seem to be the case here at the Postal Service. Many managers haven't taken the time or effort to learn our contract, so it's left up to the local union to educate them. We have managers violating employees' Weingarten rights, sick leave rights and many more. The simplest of contract language and rights that have been agreed upon for years by the NALC and the Postal Service suddenly have a different intent according to these managers. Talking to these managers, just like talking to the puppy, seems to have no effect, so we must educate them by filing a grievance. If it happens again, file a grievance, and if it happens again, file another one and so on. Hopefully, the repetition of grievances making frequent trips to Formal A, or frequent trips outside to the B Team, will stop the in-house soiling of our members' rights by these untrained managers. But then again, some dogs never get housebroken.

Cutting Service, Not An Option Greetings and welcome to our new website. Your Executive Board heard you and agreed that it was time we improve our communication with our state's members. It hasn't been easy and it has taken time for us to get to this point, and our editor Richard Thayer needs to be commended. Now, let's get to this idea that cutting service will save the Postal Service. In late September, Congress gave the Postal Service some short-term relief by deferring the payment of $4 billion of its pre-funding mandate for future retirees' health benefits. The measure gave the USPS some breathing room but now work needs to begin on long-term solutions. Some of the ridiculous and dangerous proposals postal management has announced are closing post offices, reducing window hours, reducing the workforce, and especially important to letter carriers: Reducing our mail delivery to five days (Monday - Friday). In October it was reported in the Washington Post that Postmaster General Potter has launched a public relations effort to rally support for a five-day mail delivery schedule. Potter said this could save the USPS $3 billion a year. Potter has called for "monumental changes" and said each of these positions were developed to help avoid complete financial disconnect and to reinvent the Postal Service for the future. "We must come to the table with an open mind," Potter said as he addressed the National Press Club. Open minds avoid financial disconnect! Now there's a novel idea. Here's another idea: Stop violating our contract and paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars in repetitive violations. (Sorry, I couldn't help myself.) So let me understand this. We're in a sales and service business and to put us in the black we're going to reduce the places our customers can purchase our product, reduce the hours our customers can purchase our product and provide less delivery days of the product. Sorry, but I'm not getting it. The USPS delivered about 176 billion pieces of mail during fiscal year 2009. About 90 percent of that mail was generated by businesses. Studies show more than 8 out of 10 households take the time to look through their mail, while 20 to 30 percent say they consider acting on the advertising mail. In the advertising world that's a fantastic potential response rate and that's why they do it, and will continue to do it whether it's us or someone else delivering it. Don't be fooled into thinking we're the only ones that can walk around delivering advertisements or catalogs. Have you ever seen Pizza Hut door hangers or the Avon lady hanging her catalog in that little bag on doors along your route? How about the person who delivers the telephone books? Advertising mail also generates additional revenue through the shipment of products the customers have purchased. While our letter and flat volume may have declined, the USPS has seen an increase of parcel type mail and continues our own advertising campaigns, pushing products such as the Priority flat rate parcel boxes. Recently, Potter announced there will not be a price increase for First Class Mail, Standard Mail, periodicals and single-piece parcel post. However, changes in pricing for Priority Mail, Express Mail, Parcel Select and most international products are under consideration. Under consideration! I'm willing to bet that means an increase. So, let's review. To save the Postal Service management wants to cut service, cut delivery days, and is considering increasing prices on our high-volume products, products that are also delivered by our competitors. Nope, still not getting it! Some say the largest controllable factor in a service or retail business is labor costs and payroll. Their thinking is if you want to cut labor costs and payroll, simply reduce the number of employees and work hours. Postal employees are all too familiar with this process. We've been downsizing our career workforce through attrition for years. The result of cutting customer service in a service industry is the beginning of the end. We will fail our customers and our customers will go to the competition. The Postal Service is known for the "last mile" of delivery. Letter carriers deliver every inch of that last mile. Give our competitors an inch and they'll take the mile. We shouldn't allow anyone, including our employer, to take it from us! Become an e-Activist and contribute to COLCPE.