Quarterly Business Meeting – April 29, 2014

Quarterly Business Meeting – CHRO Jeffrey Williamson – NAPS Resident Officers

April 29, 2014

Attendees:
Jeffrey Williamson – USPS Chief Human Resource office/Executive Vice President
Doug Tulino – USPS Vice President, Labor Relations

Jay Killackey – Executive Vice President, NAPS

(Louis Atkins was unable to participate in the meeting due to travel disruptions on his return from the North Dakota/South Dakota States Convention. Brian Wagner was on travel to a previously scheduled meeting)

The agenda items included:

1. Update on the filling of EAS Vacancies

Over the past month the USPS has posted in excess of 1,000 EAS vacancies and will continue to post vacancies as quickly as possible.

2. Update on training for new supervisors

NAPS received a briefing as part of their recent executive board meeting that the USPS is currently conducting a thorough review of the current New Supervisor Training Program. NAPS will place this item on our May Consultation so that NAPS can meet with the principles of this program for an update

3. Discussion on the likelihood of a NPA Buyout for FY 2014 based on current data and metrics.

We are currently in the beginning of PQ3/14 and despite having a rough PQ2/14 as a result of weather impacts the USPS expects to bounce back strong in PQ3/14.

4. Overtime issues in the Los Angeles Customer Care Call Center; EAS 19 supervisors are being required to work consistently on their off day and there have been reported instances of customer issues being referred back from the call center to post offices/stations due to the excessive volume. We would like to discuss staffing levels at the care facilities and what can be done to improve them.

The USPS has received these reports from the leadership of the Call Centers as they adjust the staffing to the workload. NAPS will place this on the May, 2014 Consultative Agenda so that a briefing can be provided to NAPS by the leadership of the Call Centers.

5. NAPS received a report of where an EAS manager was physically assaulted by a carrier in the Louisiana District. The incident was resolved by the district by agreeing to return the carrier to work. We would like to discuss protocols regarding these types of incidents.

USPS HQ Labor Relations will look into this issue and requests that NAPS contact the District Manager in the Louisiana District to gain additional information.

Open Discussion:

The meeting attendees then held an open discussion about the benefits of holding quarterly meetings that are in addition to the monthly Consultative meetings that are held in compliance with Title 39. It was agreed that open communications is necessary between NAPS and the Postal Service. Quarterly meetings provide opportunities to discuss strategic issues that are important to both the Postal Service and members of NAPS.

The meeting attendees discussed plans for the 2015 PFP where there will be an increased focus on the entire process directly from the CHRO, Jeff Williamson. The development of goals and objectives for PFP in 2015 will be simplified and the processes for developing goals will be more transparent. Mr. Williamson stated that he expects NAPS to play a greater role in the 2015 PFP process.

The discussion then turned to the shortcomings of the current New Supervisor Program and plans to come up with a solution as to how to best make changes in the current program. NAPS recommended that the development process should include representation from NAPS as part of the work team. This recommendation from NAPS will be considered as decisions are made to overhaul the current program.

There was a discussion on the improvements in the application of the Doug Tulino letter outlining compliance with the requirements for placing EAS employees in off-duty states without pay. As a result of this letter there has been a reduction in instances off EAS employees being placed in an off-duty status without pay. Doug Tulino requested that any problems in this area should be brought to the attention of his labor relations staff so that a review can be conducted.

Both Tulino and Williamson expressed that issues that may arise in the field do not have to wait for either the quarterly meetings or the monthly consultative meetings. If an issue arises they expect that we contact their offices with as much information as possible so that the issue can be investigated and resolved.