What is Happening Here?

It seems that the USPS and Congress cannot agree on anything. The Postal Service advises the Board of Governors that effective August 2013 they will implement 5 day delivery. Congress says hold on you can’t do that without Congress approving it. The tug of war begins again. We the workers are once again left in limbo. Will our jobs be abolished or must we travel great distances to try to save our careers. We have the Republican House looking to privatize the Postal Service, and the Democratic Senate looking to preserve our National Treasure. We once again are caught in the middle and all we want to do is work and serve the public like we have done for many years.

Being a National officer with NAPS, I can honestly say the USPS from Headquarters down to the Districts during this latest RIF worked closely with me to make sure we found a landing spot for every EAS employee who was affected. They might have lost their comfort zone but in the end they landed on their feet. We placed everyone in a job (Thank God). If this were the private sector there would have been layoffs galore.

We just completed our most successful Northeast training seminar in Puerto Rico February 8th-9th 2013. This was by far the most informative 2 days of training that I have ever been a part of. From the USPS side we had Mr. Anthony Vegliante, and Mr. John Mularski, and from NAPS we had Mr. Louis Atkins, Mr. Jay Killackey, Mr. Brian Wagner, Mr. Ivan Butts, Mr. Neftali Rivera, Mr. Jim Warden, Mr. Cy Dumas, Mr. Hans Aglidian, and myself. This was a happening and I personally want to thank everyone who attended. A special thank you also to Sheri Davies of Conference Direct who made this all happen.

On a sad note, I along with the President and National officers of NAPS attended the Funeral of former Mideast Area V.P. Robert (Bob) Towns who passed away March 14, 2013 after a long illness. The funeral mass was March 22, 2013. I have many fond memories of Bob who I had the pleasure of sitting next to at all board meetings. He was a fighter for the people he represented in New Jersey and it certainly showed by the turnout at the Funeral Mass. My condolences go out to Cathy and Family…. Rest in Peace my friend.

In closing, let me use the term of my Friend Andy Sozzi to, “Stay Strong” with all the turmoil that surrounds the Postal Service these days and to let you know that NAPS is behind all of its members. I will fight to save any EAS job’s that may be affected in the future. Please visit my website tommyroma.org for all my articles and updates.

 Tommy Roma