Category: Articles

I first met Brian in the early 1970’s. I was a recovering letter carrier who fell on the ice while delivering my route, breaking my ankle, and needing surgery. When I was well enough to come back to work in a light duty status, I reported to Injury Compensation at the G.P.O. Brooklyn Division of the U.S.P.S. Brian was an Injury Compensation clerk assigned to my case. We hit it off right away because we shared a lot in common. We both liked sports, rock-n-roll music, wrestling, boxing, collecting old baseball cards, signatures of sports idols, and mostly, old-time movies. After returning to work, I used to run into him occasionally.

I was promoted to Supervisor of Mails EAS 15 Tour 1 in 1976. I was also the President of the Columbia Association in Brooklyn N.Y. As luck would have it, Stanley Michaelson, Brian’s father, was the timekeeper on Tour 1. Stanley told me straight out, if you want to get paid properly, please take care of Brian. When I transferred from Tour 1 to Customer Service Rep, I made sure Brian got a detail and a job in Customer Service. The rest was history, the Brooklyn Division led the country in sales, first class presort, Express mail/custom design, and naturally, The Ben Franklin Stamp Club. We were both natural salesmen.

In 1981, I decided to go back to my first love, the Stations in Brooklyn, serving the public. Brian eventually went to Staten Island in a support role in retail sales. He was also doing the Master of Ceremony duties for the Staten Island Postmaster, a job he loved. We were both officers in our local Naps branches in Brooklyn and Staten Island N.Y. We both eventually became Presidents of Branch 68 Brooklyn N.Y. and Naps Branch 110 in Staten Island N.Y. We took our branches to new all time highs in membership and revenue, Brian’s branch was at 100% membership.

Vince Palladino who was a friend and mentor to both of us asked me to run for New York Area V.P. in Naps, and Brian volunteered to be my campaign manager along with another legend, Frank Spatola. I am now entering my 20th year as a National Officer, keeping the legacy of Vince Palladino alive.

Brian has always reminded me the Naps building, which Vinny broke his back to buy, should be named in his honor. I am happy to report that in March of 2020 the ceremony renaming the building will take place. Brian also served the State for many years as President of N.Y.S. Branch 935. He was always doing something to raise money to keep the State solvent, another job well done.

At his funeral services on January 23, 2020 in Ephrata PA, the real Brian Michaelson came to light. We in New York always knew that Brian would help anyone , that he would go out of his way to do some good, like volunteering for programs in Hospice, Feed the Children, Meals on Wheels, ASPA, fostering animals, among others. There was a segment which the funeral home called sharing, where anyone who wanted to say something about Brian could go to the podium and share. It was astonishing to see and hear the local people from Brian’s new church saying how helpful he was, even when not asked he would volunteer. I was so proud of him that day. Rest easy my friend, your work here is done, I am sure Stanley, Kris, Vinny, Ruby, and Evelyn welcomed you home.

Tommy Roma N.E.R.V.P.

On Sunday, September 22nd, 2019, I was overwhelmed with a surprise 80th birthday celebration and the renaming of my Home Branch 68 Brooklyn N.Y. to the Thomas Roma Branch 68, Brooklyn N.Y. at LaFontana Restaurant in Staten Island N.Y. The celebration was attended by my family, my Naps Family, and members of the U.S.P.S. I was told this celebration was in the works for over a year. I would like to thank Jim Warden, John Vincenzi, Phyliss Morrissey, Jamaal Muhammad, my lovely wife Cathy, The Resident officers, and everyone who was in attendance. It was a spectacular affair. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

I have just returned from our 66th National Convention at Mohegan Sun Resorts in Uncasville, CT and can honestly say it was one of the best Conventions ever. I am also elated that the Northeast Area unanimously voted to return me as the Northeast Region V.P. for another term. This is a position I was made for and truly cherish. THANK YOU.

Our Executive Board voted to go to the fact finding process when we could not reach a new agreement with U.S.P.S. Everyone should remain professional and let the process take its course. I am proud to say that NAPS will always fight for its members to receive a fair and equitable pay package.

I was asked time and again at the convention what are officers from the other Management association doing at our convention for the entire time, they should attend the opening ceremonies, be acknowledged, make their speech and leave. This has always been past practice and should be adhered to. The same goes for our officers attending their convention.

President Trump releases Government reorganization plan which calls for privatizing USPS, NARFE reports. In fact, it calls for short term steps to put USPS on sustainable financial footing only to sell it to the highest bidder. This proposal came out before the President’s task force on the USPS issued any recommendations. The Postal Service is a National Treasure and should never be sold to private industry. NAPS opposes any efforts to privatize the Postal Service. The latest is the President will not release the findings of his committee until after the midterm elections, hoping for a Republican Congress who will favor his agenda. We must get out the vote to protect our interests.

The biggest question asked of me is will the other managements association acceptance of this pay package hurt us in fact finding. This question was asked at the convention only to have the chair rule the question was out of order. Why? My guess is the 2 presidents from the other association were sitting in on our business session. In my opinion the question was not out of order and the 2 presidents should have been asked to leave. Having gone through this process in the past you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know the USPS lawyers will ask, if the pay package was good for this management association (UPMA) why is it not good enough for NAPS? Our lawyers will have their work cut out for them.

On a more favorable note we are going back to Puerto Rico, the dates are March 29th thru April 1, 2019 at the Marriott Resort and Stellaris Casino. The brochure will be out soon, if you have any intention of attending please book your room early as this seminar always sells out fast. Stay tuned.

The SWC’S process was moving along nicely. Please know that this process is time consuming and can’t be rushed. We are now in the process of trying out what we came up with in the Northeast, in all other area’s around the country. I was asked if the fact finding process with the USPS on pay could hurt the SWC’S process to which I answered, it should not but anything is possible. Jimmy & I, along with Ed Phelan, Doug Tulino, Carissa Surprise, and others have spent a lot of time and energy on this project and we hope to see it completed.

In closing I would like to wish the resident officers and executive board of NAPS all the luck in the world in the next 2 years and hope that dealing with the Trump agenda to privatize the Postal Service does not come to pass. Hope to see you all in Puerto Rico.

Stay Strong,
Tommy

I just returned from a productive Executive board meeting, the first in a long time as far as I can see. Under the new leadership, spear headed by incoming President Brian Wagner and his resident officers, the feeling is very positive. We had four decision makers visit the board which produced positive results. Our consultative meeting with U.S.P.S. produced a lot of answers something that was lacking in the past. The old saying “The answers are right here in the room prevailed at this session.”

Violence in the work place is a top priority of this administration, and we are working hard to resolve what we feel is an injustice to all EAS. The way the program is designed it definitely favors the craft. If charges are lodged against a supervisor our only defense is to write a statement on what we believed happened. Presently we can’t face our accusers, H.R. specialists at the lowest level, DRT. team members and of course Arbitrators who render a decision. What we would like is to be able to face our accusers get our side of the story told, and a remedy each side can live with. A motion was passed by the Executive board to get out of the Violence in the workplace program, but we are still hopeful that something can be worked out to keep us in the process. (STAY TUNED)

SWCS process

Jimmy Warden and I are in talks with Doug Tulino and Ed Phelan of the USPS and I am confident we will be able to work something out concerning the SWCS process. We mutually agreed that the present SWCS calculations are not conducive to today’s business environment. It was also agreed that the state of the business must be taken into consideration in the final determination, and any positions that are added, the EAS must perform the duties the position was intended for and not be placed on details. Non Traditional Supervisors was also discussed. These supervisors will have Sunday as a regular work day to cover the Amazon hubs. Their schedule would require them to work in different stations and their hours of work will vary from station to station. After everything is agreed upon and put in place Mr. Phelan has agreed to use the Northeast area as a test site. Stations from level 18s 20s,22s,24s and above will be used and NAPS will be consulted on all stations picked. Reviews will be conducted and monitored to establish how many EAS are needed to properly manage these stations and branches for that group level. This information will then be compared to the present SWCS calculations and adjustments made if necessary. This is not an easy process and the fact that USPS is allowing us to try this out in a certain area shows me that they are willing to work with us to end the SWCS issue once and for all. Seven day operations, expanded hours of operation rest days, and additional duties for supervisors that have been added in fiscal year 2016 were also discussed.

DDF

Charlie Scialla addressed the board concerning adverse action representation. He advised us that some cases are being sent to him without an address and telephone number of the appellant, making it hard for him to contact the person who the adverse action is being taken against. The officer of the branch submitting the case must acknowledge that the appellant is a member in good standing of the submitting branch. We have had cases in the past where non-members were represented and the branch who submitted the paper work were billed for their representation. Branches submitting cases must be sure paperwork is filled out properly and that the member is a member in good standing at the time adverse action is taken against them.

Seminar

The Northeast area will be hosting another seminar in Puerto Rico March 24th-25th 2017 at the Marriott San Juan Resort & Stellaris Casino. We have put together another outstanding training agenda consisting of SWCS, NPA, Violence in the workplace, the State of the Postal service, officer training and much more. Rooms will be at a premium so if you have intentions of attending, please book your rooms, they will be on a first come first served basis. We have always sold out this seminar and this one will be the best ever. The seminar is being hosted by Jim Warden, Hans Aglidian, Greg Murphy, and myself.

In closing I would like to say that I am happy with the direction our NAPS organization is headed under the new leadership of the present resident officers and their staff. I believe that they have the best interests of NAPS at heart and will represent the membership proudly. They in a short time have renewed my confidence in our future as the greatest management association bar none. Good luck Gentlemen and I will serve proudly.

Stay Strong

Tommy Roma, N.E.R.V.P.

As I look around at the upcoming changes on the Executive Board, Resident Officers, and possibly our DDF provider Scialla associates, I can’t help but wonder the faith of NAPS. It will be a very challenging time for the Executive Board to come together for the future of NAPS. It is time to put aside our petty differences and all work for the betterment of NAPS.

The report of the finance committee was incomplete. The chairman gave her report and stated that she would not give the report on the building at this time because she did not want to upset some board members. What did she mean? Were they planning on getting bids for the sale of the building, your guess is as good as mine. The building is the mainstay of naps and perhaps the greatest accomplishment of our late and great president Vince Palladino. It is completely paid for, fully rented, tax free, and we pay no rent. It was purchased for close to 4 million and in today’s market is valued at 17 million. I know that this stupidity will never get past the floor if presented, the membership will vote it down. What the hell are some board members thinking?

As for violence in the work place, the Executive Board passed a motion made by Hans Aglidian that NAPS secede from our commitment to this program based on past and present history that it favors the craft and management associations really don’t have a say in the process. I believe I have come up with a solution that is favorable to both NAPS and the postal service which would enable us to stay in the program and finally have our day in court.

The restructuring committee was formed after the last convention to comply with the wishes of the membership as to what NAPS s was doing to streamline the board and areas. The committee reported at the last Executive Board meeting some pretty good ideas which will be reported to the membership at our convention.

The SWCS committee has been working hard to come up with some solutions to help the front line supervisor who is on the firing line. I agreed to help Jimmy Warden in his quest to get something from the USPS for the SWCS process. We have met with the postal service and laid out our plan. They took our information and agreed to get back to us. Recently they called to set up another meeting which in the past meant that our information was good and they would like to share what they came up with. This is the way it is done and it takes time.

Finally, I am running for another term of office as your Regional Vice President. I will put my record up against anyone who has served for as long as I have. I was elected as the N.Y. Area Vice President in Alaska in 2000 and immediately set out to make a difference. After the untimely death of my friend Andy Sozzi I was elevated to North East Region Vice President a job I was doing along with mine. I am proud to report that we have the best region in membership, along with adverse actions won or settled. I have never lost a case during my tenure as the New York Area V.P. or the Regional V.P. I will continue to do the job I love most defending supervisors and hope that you will send me back for another term. Let me conclude by saying it has been an honor and privilege for me to be the Northeast Region Vice President for the greatest membership any one can have. God bless you and god bless America.

Stay strong
Tommy Roma

Tommy Roma – Northeast Region Vice President

I just returned from the Spring, 2016 executive board meeting. We meet twice a year to discuss the direction of NAPS and each spring we work on the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. At the board meeting we had a report from our Finance Committee that included a recommendation to sell our NAPS headquarters building and for us to rent out our current office space from the new owners after we sell our building.

I am a life long friend of Vince Palladino and you need to know Vince worked his butt off to get the resources together to purchase our headquarters building early in his presidency. He was so proud of our headquarters building. Do you know that the value of the building has grown from a purchase price of just under $4 million to what is now estimated to be around $16 million dollars.

In Virginia, non-profit organization’s pay no taxes on revenue they receive from leasing out space in buildings they own and our building is fully leased. It goes without saying that I was furious when this discussion started with a recommendation to sell the building and invest the money. How many of you would sell your house and then rent it back from the new owner.

As long as I am a living and breathing NAPS member you can rest assured that I will vigorously oppose any effort that may be attempted to sell our headquarters building. Our beloved President Vince Palladino is looking down from eternity wondering just what is going on in the heads of some of the leaders of this organization. I hope that you will agree with me that the sale of our building would be a terrible mistake.

Years ago, the best Naps President I ever knew, President Vince Palladino told me that when the USPS does not know what to do they start cutting jobs. They believe that by cutting jobs the bottom line will improve and that Congress will love us. In my humble opinion that thinking by the Postal Service is so far from the truth because of the following reasons; take the VMF restructuring for example, they consolidated EAS positions and have the level 10 mechanics doing the supervisors job. If that is the case, then who is doing the level 10 mechanics job?

I visited a station during the Christmas rush and noticed the lines going out the door with only two clerks on the window. When I questioned one of the clerks, asking why four clerks were not manning the windows during this critical period, I was told “our regular window clerk who is assigned to that station was taken out of her position and is detailed to the District with no replacement!”

What could be so important in the District that a regular employee who has a window job is reassigned smack in the middle of the Christmas rush! The supervisor was busy with the carriers so no lobby sweeps were being done. I was so disgusted that I did not ask where the 4th clerk was.

In my time, Safety and Staffing were keys to a successful outcome during heavy mailing periods. By what I saw, this is definitely not happening today. The hiring practices of yesterday are long gone. The Civil Service list is gone, replaced by computer applications, and newspaper notifications. New hires are placed on the job, poorly trained and given ninety days to show that they can be postal workers. Here is the difference; in my time if you failed your probation you were terminated.

Today, if new hires don’t meet the minimum standards of the job, managers are told to keep these inferior employees. Because of the current hiring practice, the turnover rate is high and the cost to train these probationary employees runs about $10,000 an employee. Now, in my opinion, with the former Civil Service list we took a test and, depending on your mark, you were placed on the register and called for employment when your mark was reached.

One of many requirements was that your record must be clean. A conviction ranging from a felony to a misdemeanor were grounds for automatic disqualification. Today we are hiring anyone, convicted felons, employees who were terminated, and rehired again, people without driver’s licenses, etc. why aren’t we hiring qualified or dedicated people. I do know the USPS is going to the supplemental work force. Twenty percent of all temporary employees are now non-career. Managers and supervisors are always asked to do more with less EAS. What is going on here?

Parcel Post is the future of the Postal Service. We are fortunate to have a piece of the Amazon contract along with UPS, FEDEX, and AMAZON itself. Oh, Amazon will say their vehicles are only in the test stage but you can bet your bottom dollar bigger things for the future are in the works. While I can’t speak for UPS and FEDEX, I would like to share some of my experiences with Amazon delivery of parcels by USPS.

I believe in order for the USPS to profit on the delivery of these parcels, the cost to us for delivery must be $1.75 a parcel. NOW I WANT YOU TO HOLD THAT THOUGHT. Last year while in a station I heard this Management Official ask the station manager how he intended to get the 5,000 parcels which were stacked against the wall delivered that day. The station manager assured this Postal official that all packages would be delivered that day, what he did not tell him was he had trucks out until 1.a.m in the morning attempting to deliver these parcels.

I am sure it cost the USPS more than $1.75 a parcel to have these delivered. If you were on the receiving end of one of these parcels and your doorbell rang at 1 a.m. and someone said, Post Office, we need a signature, would you open the door?

The local newspaper ran an article on this very subject for their subscribers to see. What I am trying to say is we are not giving the service to the public and, in some cases, we are not making a profit on delivery, yet we will say on countless telecoms how successful we were in on time delivery of Amazon parcels. Who is kidding who?

The latest rumor has Amazon giving UPS the two-day delivery back only because we can’t guarantee a two-day delivery and they can. When I ask upper management officials about this, their answer is I have not heard anything about this, or when they want to be honest their answer is I have heard these rumors but they are only rumors.

Let’s face it; if the rumor is true and they go back to UPS, the Postal Service will lose about 40% of the Amazon business. Does this sound familiar? Why is UPS in business today? Years ago we did not want the parcel post business and UPS went into the parcel business, the rest is history. We put UPS on the map.

In closing my only wish for the New Year that the Postal Service remain a vibrant service and, with the help of Congress, succeed in doing what we do best, deliver the mail.

Stay Strong,
Tommy Roma

Our recent seminar in San Juan Puerto Rico March 27-28th was a tremendous success and I would like to thank everyone who participated from the USPS, and NAPS, and especially the membership who took time out of there busy schedule to be with us. It would also be remiss of me not to thank Jimmy Warden and Hans Aglidian who financed this seminar. THANK YOU.

From the very start of the seminar to its conclusion, Communication was the top subject, sharing the latest information with the membership. Mr. Doug Tulino, V.P. Labor Relations USPS Headquarters, answered any and all questions for a period of 2 1/2 hours. He wanted to hear from the membership in attendance what they were concerned with. In all my time as a National officer running these seminars have we had a USPS official stand in front of our membership and ask what is on your mind? Tell me what is bothering you and I will address your concerns. In my opinion Mr. Tulino was communicating with our membership, something that has been forgotten over the years. If we can’t communicate with one another how are we expected to be successful.

Recently issues with the Joint Statement on Violence and Behavior in the workplace have come to light. EAS employees in the Northeast region were taken out of their bid positions for alleged violations of the Joint Statement. They were told they can’t supervise craft employee’s because of their alleged behavior. This is not right because an EAS employee is not entitled to their day in court. At this point we are not allowed to face our accusers. In my opinion the Violence statement heavily favors the craft organizations. At the spring board meeting a motion was made by Hans Aglidian for NAPS to drop out of the Violence and Behavior contract and it was passed. Our Resident officers are meeting with USPS officials to discuss the statement in June, hopefully something will come of this.

In conclusion let me say I am happy and proud to represent NAPS in the Northeast area, and remember I have the greatest membership any Regional V.P. could ask for.

Stay Strong
Tommy Roma