Category: Content

Candidacy Letter

                                                                                                                                                           March 8, 2012

NAPS Branch Presidents
Northeast Area

Dear Branch & State Presidents,

I would like to let the leaders of the Northeast Area know that I will again be seeking your support to serve as your Northeast Region Vice President for the next 2 years at our upcoming National Convention in Reno Nevada.

It does not seem possible that 12 years has gone by since I first asked for your support in advance of the 2000 National Convention in Alaska. In the past 12 years we have been through a lot together and I hope that you have been satisfied with the work I have done representing the members of the Northeast Region.

In addition to providing you with representation and support during my tenure, I have developed highly successful training seminars held in various locations in New York State, Boston, and Puerto Rico to make sure you have the tools to represent your members. I have gone to bat for you at the Area office and USPS Headquarters to resolve the problems our members have with the Postal Service.

I want to continue to bring my many years of experience to bear for the members of NAPS for the next two years as we work together to maintain our quality of life, both at work and at home. We are indeed in difficult times, and in these times you need someone who has been there, in the tough times-someone who works every day, just like you do, someone who knows the problems that our members face.

I look forward to seeing many of you at our upcoming State Conventions where we can share our current issues and work towards solutions I have set up the best communication network any Regional Vice President could have in order to get you the latest news regarding the changing times in the Postal Service.

NAPS in the Northeast Area is the best- because of you! I would appreciate your consideration and support for my candidacy to return as your Northeast Region Vice President.

Sincerely yours,

Thomas Roma
Northeast Region Vice President NAPS.

THE TRUTH BE TOLD

Key lawmakers have expressed concern that the Postal Service’s top regulator Ms. Ruth Goldway, Chairmen of the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), is spending too much time on the road at a time when the agency faces serious financial challenges.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif), the chairmen of the House Oversight Committee has suggested that Ruth Goldway’s trips are hampering the (PRC) ability to offer advice about proposals that would change how mail is delivered in the United States. What he really means is Ms. Goldway does not necessarily agree with his take on reducing delivery from 6 days to 5 days and to shutter perhaps thousands of plants and Post Offices. Her initial findings were the Postal Service in it’s hast to consolidate plants and to close Post Office’s did it all wrong and had to go back to the drawing board to get it right. The May 15th deadline on the moratorium would be in jeopardy.

This is what happens when you disagree with Congress, they start looking for skeletons in Ms. Goldway’s closet. In my opinion this Lady is beyond reproach. That is more then I can say for Mr. Issa. He has a RAP SHEET a mile long dating back to his college days. He was convicted of having an unregistered gun in his possession, was convicted, paid a fine and served probation. Why is the media and Congress giving this man a pass? People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

Ms. Goldway a Democrat who has been at the (PRC) since the Clinton administration, sees the interest in her travel as something of a red herring, and driven by officials who disagree with her on certain postal proposals. Ms. Goldway has suggested that her travel costs were higher than usual last year. In addition to the (PRC’s) international duties, Goldway also said that her travel schedule is necessary to meet with U.S. stakeholders on postal issues. The chairwoman also argued that her travel expenses and her agency’s total annual budget are just a drop in the bucket compared to how much it costs to run the USPS. The Postal Service spends that amount in 20 minutes, Goldway said about the PRC’s roughly $14.4 million dollar budget, which is not funded by taxpayer’s dollars. And when you are talking about my travel, the Postal Service can spend that in a blink of the eye.

Still with Congress pressing to reform postal operations this year, lawmakers say it is unfortunate that the PRC’s advisory opinion on the closing of mail processing centers won’t be ready for months. USPS has said that the consolidations are a key part of its efforts to pare down its annual budget by 20 billion by 2015. But the closures will also, in many cases, eliminate next day delivery of first class mail.

Ms. Goldway stated that the PRC had to follow certain legal processes in developing their opinion, and added that commission had to wade through thousands of pages of documents on the issue and hear from dozens of interested parties. We’re going to try to do it in the most efficient manner possible, said Goldway. We simply aren’t able to do it as soon as some people want.

Stay Strong
Tommy Roma

What is going on here?

A few close friends have advised me that my articles lately don’t have the fire they used to have. Well let’s see what may have caused that. The Postal Service decided to implement an old pilot program previously known as the Dallas, Kokomo, and Hempstead program, put a new dress on it, renamed it the Ryder route/delivery test program and rolled it out at Ryder station in Brooklyn N.Y, which is the largest classified station in that borough. They implemented this test program taking out 3 routes on top of taking 10 routes out for the F.S.S. program. Do the math, 13 routes out of 65 leaves 52. This equates to total disaster for our service standards. Carriers out in street delivering mail 9 o’clock in the evening, mail being misdelivered, thrown on the floor in apartments with Government boxes, scans being missed, complaints running rampant, local politicians’ and community boards in an uproar. What is more upsetting is the Postal service has expanded this pilot program to other area’s and said that after 6 months of gathering information the stations will revert back to its original delivery methods. What purpose does that serve? We are our own worst enemies.

Wait time in line is another issue. We must have clerical staffing in order to man the windows. This does not always happen do to sick calls and annual leave, and cut to the bone staffing. If you fail a Mystery shop you are taken downtown sometimes early in the morning for what management calls a retail drill down. Managers have the task of proving why they failed the Mystery shop. In most cases it would be what you could have done to insure a successful mystery shop. Sometimes an over zealous retail specialist can be overly aggressive. If this happens please let us know and we will get it to the proper upper management official.

Another thing that bothers me as I compare the good old days when employees were treated with dignity and respect with today’s management officials. How can a direct report tell a supervisor or manager that they can’t go on scheduled annual leave unless they find a replacement. Since when is it my job to schedule vacation coverage? That is the job of the Poom or Area manager. When an Area Mgr changes your schedule it is his or her responsibility to find you coverage if necessary. Don’t let them tell you the responsibility of coverage rests with you, or the famous DON’T MAKE YOUR PROBLEMS MINE STATEMENT. I wonder if they know what their job description really is. We are our own worst enemies.

Darrell Issa Republican from California who chairs the Judiciary, Oversight and Government Reform committee has a RAP SHEET. It includes arrests for weapons charges and auto theft, suspicion of arson, and accusations of intimidation with a gun, but you would hardly know it from the media’s recent coverage of the chairmen of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee. While Issa was substantially mentioned in 15 articles in the nation’s largest newspapers since the last election including several major profiles, only one of those articles mentioned any of these allegations. Likewise, interviewers did not ask Issa about his alleged criminal past in any of the cable or network interviews he sat for during that period. My question is why this individual is being given a pass on these criminal allegations by the media? My second question is why are the good people in California allowing this man to hold office? In New York even with a misdemeanor conviction you can lose your right to vote and to serve on jury duty. Mr. Issa was convicted of possession of an unregistered handgun paid a fine and served probation in Michigan while in college.

These are just some of the things that are bothering me and I wonder what we will do about it.

Stay Strong
Tommy Roma.

NAPS/USPS Consultative Meeting Minutes – January 4, 2012

1. NAPS request a briefing on all aspects of mail scanning. We have received inquiries from our members on several issues that involve scanning including the practice of entering missing scans and scanning mail as attempted when it remains in the delivery unit at the end of the day.

NAPS would like to have an expert from delivery available at the meeting to provide an explanation of the entire cycle of scanning from acceptance through to delivery, attempted delivery, entering data for missed scans and return to sender and for the representative from management to be able to respond to any follow-up questions. NAPS would also like to be provided with any documents that pertain to scanning.

USPS Response: The Postal Service explained the scanning process; from acceptance to delivery, including en-route scans. USPS is now using ring-scanners in some plant and customer service operations. The Postal Service provided NAPS with scanning procedures dated August 2011.

According to USPS HQ, there are only two reasons for a manual scans—one is a scanner malfunction at time of delivery and the other is when a scanner is not present for a scanning event. There should be no other reason for entering manual scans other than for these two purposes.

Scans are important to the external customer for tracking visibility and internally for the USPS to show how packages are moving through the processing and delivery network. The Postal Service wants scans to provide accurate information at every part of the shipments journey. If a scan is missed in the process the USPS would rather have a missing scan than bad/inaccurate scanning information. Although there are parts of the country that place a great deal of emphasis and time into completing missed scans, the Postal Service at the headquarters level does not count or credit manual scans as a success. Therefore, there is no credit for manual scans in scanning performance and manual scans do not increase performance measurement.

Missed Scan Report – IMS Assistant – pieces not scanned. For pieces that are time/date sensitive it is important to get a scan. The intention of IMS Report is to see if carriers/clerks are scanning correctly. The intent of the report was not for the field to go back and input scans missed by the carrier/clerk. Manual input of scans does not count toward scanning performance, but “keyed” entries do.

IMS Assistant was to give responsibility to a specific carrier and identify scanning issues of employees. The IMS Assistant was a tracking tool. It was never intended nor should it be used as a disciplinary tool.

The field is using a lot of unnecessary extra hours having employees scan packages to generate the IMS Report and for the manager to review and then correct IMS Report for missed scans. We were advised that there is now under development the next generation of scanners that will pilot a “smart phone” for real-time scanning. Smart-phone won’t use the laser but a picture of the barcode for tracking.

Download complete Consultative Meeting Minutes here.

The Postal Service lies to the people of the Bronx

OpEdNews

Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Postal-Service-lies-to-by-Chuck-Zlatkin-120103-433.html
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Associate Member, or higher).

________________________________________

January 4, 2012

The Postal Service lies to the people of the Bronx

By Chuck Zlatkin

The United States Postal Service is planning to close thousands of post offices and hundreds of mail processing centers all over the nation. As part of this process public hearings are held. The author attended a number of these hearings in the Bronx in this capacity as the legislative and political director of the the New York Metro Area Postal Union.

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In May, the Postal Service held a hearing on the ending of mail processing at Bronx GPO. It was supposed to be the chance that residents, churches, business and cultural institutions would have to comment on the impact that the closing as detailed in the Bronx AMP would have on them. Postal management failed to notify the community sufficiently that the hearing was taking place. As reported in The Union Mail, the Postal Service contracted for the use of the Pregones Theater, which has a seating capacity of 130. The Bronx has a population of 1.3 million people. The Postal Service knew that it had done a lousy job of promoting the meeting, no need to book the 367-seat theater at Hostos Community College a few blocks away.

At the meeting, the community voiced its fears that the ending of mail processing in the Bronx would delay the mail for everyone in the Bronx. The Postal Service argued that there would be no change in mail delivery. The Postal Service cited the short distance between Bronx GPO and Morgan as the main reason there would be no negative impact. They lied.

The Postal Service said that the Bronx AMP was going to be implemented primarily to save money. When mail processing operations were shut down at Bronx GPO in October, chaos ruled. Morgan was not prepared to handle the influx of mail that was now descending upon it following the change. Trucks were backed up on Ninth Avenue waiting to find a space, truck bays were filled with trucks waiting to be unloaded, transportation platforms were saturated with mail and equipment. Too few employees were there to handle the work. Overtime was everywhere. There weren’t enough drivers to handle the new schedule; motor vehicle operators were getting penalty overtime on a regular basis. In addition to that, the Postal Service had to be paying for a lot more gasoline.

When you consider that everyone who was excessed from Bronx GPO would have a job with the USPS somewhere and you add in the cost of overtime and gasoline, you see clearly that when the USPS said they would save money by ending mail processing operations in the Bronx, the Postal Service lied.

The Postal Service’s next move against the Bronx was to “study” the closing of 17 post offices in the borough. 50% of the post offices to close in New York City would be in the Bronx, one of the two boroughs that had a population that was growing.

The Postal Service is required to hold hearings to get input from communities before it decides to close a post office. The Postal Service scheduled hearings and then sent out notices of the hearings obscured in a hard-to-read mailer instead of using an easy to read and cheaper post card. People received the notices a day or two before the hearing, if they received them at all.

The inconvenient venues selected by the Postal Service, make it difficult for impacted communities to attend. The University Heights station hearing was held at Bronx GPO, two miles away. The Postal Service knows better than anyone that the people who most depend upon its services are the elderly, the disabled, the poor, and small business owners. But despite the attempt to keep these people away from the hearings they continue to come. Yes, there were seniors and disabled people at the University Heights hearing. What wasn’t at the hearing was a translator. In addition to sending out the hard-to-read notices, the Postal Service only sends them in English, even in communities that predominantly speak other languages. Julio Pabon, President of the South Bronx Community Association helped his Spanish-speaking neighbors by translating for them as a volunteer. At the end of the hearing, he told Postal management that they should be ashamed of themselves for not providing translation, and that he should submit a bill to them. At the next hearing for Stadium station, also held at Bronx GPO, the Postal Service provided a translator.

Getting Community Input?

The Postal Service is supposedly holding these hearings to get community input as part of the decision-making process. It is 2011, block associations, church groups, political clubs record their meetings using audio or video, not the Postal Service. Most public hearings use a stenographer to take minutes for the record, not the Postal Service. No, the Postal Service has someone taking notes, not using a laptop, but by longhand. And what if you want to see a copy of the minutes submitted as the official record? “File a freedom of information request” was the answer to that question by LaTrayer Sumter-Moreau, Discontinuance Coordinator for the Postal Service.

Incompetence or disrespect?

But something unusual happened, even for the Postal Service, at the hearing on December 15, 2011 at the Hunts Point Recreational Center where the “discontinuance” hearing for the Hunts Point post office was taking place. There was Postmaster Howard Sample flanked by a number of postal managers. There were more people from every aspect of the Hunts Point Community wanting to speak than there were chairs for them. There were TV cameras from Bronx Channel 12 and NY1 and reporters from the Amsterdam News and The Chief. There was the postmaster’s opening remarks followed by dozens of impassioned pleas for the maintenance of the Hunts Point Station. There was someone ready to translate if necessary. There was one thing missing: someone taking notes!

With no record of this hearing, there is no input from the community in the decision-making process, making this the biggest lie of all.

The Postal Service announced a moratorium on postal closing until May 20, 2012

This article originally appeared in the January 2011 edition of The Union Mail.


Submitters Bio:

Chuck Zlatkin is the Legislative and Political Director of the New York Metro Area Postal Union, APWU, AFL-CIO.

Time to Save the Post Office

Recently I read the article by Mr. Ralph Nader, it’s time to save the Post Office. Mr. Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer, and author. In the article he describes the real reasons the Post Office is failing. Truthfully, I could not disagree with his findings. He states, the battered national consensus behind a national universal postal service- conceived by Benjamin Franklin-is heading for a free fall due to bad management, corporate barracudas, and a bevy of editors and reporters enamored with the supremacy of the internet which makes up their world.

He states that Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe is pursuing a strategy of cutting or delaying services while increasing prices. Usually that is a sure prescription for continuing decline. For Mr. Donahoe, the drop in first class mail has left the Post Office with over-capacity. He is closing over 200 processing centers, and shuttering hundreds of post offices, including Philadelphia’s original Ben Franklin post offices. He mistakenly thinks closing additional USPS facilities will not result in revenue reductions and service abandonment.. Never mind the intangibles of convenience, safety, receiving medicines, and collegiality that characterizes many rural, small town and suburban post offices.

Mr. Donahoe tells reporters that he is acting the way any beleaguered business executive would, even though he knows that the Postal Service is not just another big business feeding off corporate welfare. The USPS has not taken any taxpayer money since 1971.

By contrast the federal government has taken money from the USPS and owes our Postal Service between $50 and $70 billion dollars in excess retirement benefits payments. The other overpayments to the federal government are for the unprecedented advanced payment of health benefits of future retirees of the next 75 years by 2016, amounting to $5 billion a year, (Congress is considering a bill to rectify this problem). Without corrective legislation, the Postal Service says it would have lost $8.5 billion this year. (By comparison, in addition to lost lives and destruction, the Afghan War quagmire costs the U.S. taxpayer over billion a week, thanks to the Bush administration.

If all this sounds bizarre to you, it is. No other public department is a defacto creditor of the federal government. The USPS is a hybrid corporation, created in 1970, from the old Post Office Department. It has been run into the ground on the installment plan by commercial competitors and by a corporate Board of Governors ideologically rooting for corporate privatizers. Moves to privatize the Postal Service go back to the senior Bush administration

Mr. Naders article is right on the money and only recently has the public and Congress finally realized it. Congress has asked the P.M.G for a moratorium of 5 months to have realistic studies done on future closings and it was granted. Hopefully the Postal Service will survive the latest attempt at privatizing and remain a strong symbol of the greatest country in the world.

Tommy Roma

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

As the New Year 2012 arrives, there is finally some positive press concerning the postal service. NAPS, showing good faith, agreed to return to the bargaining table with the USPS to try to come up with a pay package that we all can live with during these trying times. If an agreement cannot be reached by the end of January 2012, NAPS will proceed with fact finding….It’s a win-win for both sides.

I read the following article on Postal News.com and felt that I should share it with all of you. In my opinion it sum’s up what we are going through. “USPS nets 152 million from operations, loses $1.8 billion to politicians.”

The USPS took in 40 million more then it spent in November, and after two months of the new fiscal year, has a net income of $152 million. In the private sector that would be called a “profit”. Thanks to Congressional accounting gimmicks, however, the USPS will report a net loss of over $1.8 billion for the two month period. The entire 1.8 billion loss is due not to USPS operations, but to legislation enacted by the Bush administration and the GOP controlled Congress in 2006 that requires the USPS to contribute $5.6 billion to a so called “trust fund” which has so far amassed over 42 billion from USPS profits.

While right wing politicians claim the trust fund is simply a “prudent measure, no other agency or company has a similar burden. The real reason for the requirement appears to be the shifting of billions of dollars of the national debt on to the USPS which is, conveniently,” off budget”. The politically induced “bankruptcy” also provided cover for draconian legislation proposed by Darrell Issa, which would dismantle USPS bargaining agreements, and set up a postal “death panel” to gut the service’s infrastructure.

As far as “real world” financial results are concerned, USPS expenses remained level with the prior year, but revenue was down 3.5%. The decline in revenue reflected the continuing drop in mail volume, which dropped 6.3%, or 2 billion fewer pieces of mail. Standard mail, which has shown some growth last year, is down 7.3% in FY 2012 so far.

The only bright spot in the volume numbers was the 33.6% increase in shipping services volume. While ecommerce driven package delivery is an obvious growth opportunity for the USPS, the problem is that it still represents just 15% of total revenue.

In my opinion if Congress relieves us of the 5.6 billion which is used for prefunding retiree’s health benefits, streamlines through attrition, or incentives, allows us to compete on the open market, the Postal Service will be a viable option for years to come.

Stay Strong,
Tommy Roma.

Civilian Service Recognition Act of 2011 – a Thank You

Dear Mr. Killackey:

This morning, President Obama signed the Civil Service Recognition Act of 2011 into law. This step could never have been achieved without your help.

When we began our effort to ensure that an American flag is provided to the next of kin of every federal civil servant who is killed in the line of duty, we knew that we would need broad support. In short, we had what we thought was a great idea, but great ideas are not enough. It takes dedicated people and their energy and hard work to turn ideas into reality. Thank you for being one of those people.

As you know, the legislation passed both Houses of Congress without a dissenting vote. Your timely letters, the support of the National Association of Postal Supervisors and your leadership, and your personal commitment to do the right thing for civil servants who make the ultimate sacrifice for their country were a joy for us to witness.

We have always believed that this nation’s federal workers represent the very best in America in their traditions of serving with honor and excellence. Thank you so much for helping us recognize them for their devotion to the nation.

We wish you the very best this holiday season and in the coming year. We know that many others benefit as well from your wonderful work. We’re proud and thankful to count ourselves among those fortunate to have your help.

Sincerely,

Robert Gest III and Terry Newell


Response:

Robert and Terry,

I was more than glad to offer my assistance in your efforts to provide proper recognition to federal employees who give their lives in service to our country. I was more than happy to intercede with the organizations that were objecting to your worthwhile cause.

Once I explained what the meaning of your bill was, the organizations seemed more than willing to change their objections and now federal civilian and law enforcement authorities who make the ultimate sacrifice for our country (and their families) will be recognized accordingly. You have made my day by sharing this news with me.

Merry Christmas!

Jay Killackey
Executive Vice President
National Association of Postal Supervisors

Pay-for-Performance, Fiscal Year 2011, End-of-Year Rating

The economic downturn and unprecedented weather conditions have contributed significantly to National Performance Assessment (NPA) ratings. The national corporate NPA score is a low contributor. Employees who worked diligently and contributed to the organizations performance may receive an end of year rating of 3 or less and a personal adjective rating of non-contributor. This may not be an accurate reflection of their work throughout the year.

Download complete letter here.

NAPS to Return to Pay Talks

Executive Board Members,

NAPS to Return to Pay Talks

December 8, 2011

The executive board of the National Association of Postal Supervisors voted today to accept the Postal Service’s offer to return to the table for an additional round of pay consultations. NAPS will continue their efforts to reach a new pay agreement that would cover over 28,000 active association member’s pay and benefits for the period from 2011 through 2014.

Prior consultative meetings with the Postal Service ended without an agreement on November 16, 2011. NAPS exercised their rights to request to enter Fact Finding, a statutory right they have within 39 USC Section 1004. The Postal Service made the offer to re-open pay consultations to NAPS on December 7th after a request had been made by the two other management associations to re-open pay talks.

President Atkins advised the membership of NAPS that the officers and executive board have considered all the factors involved in obtaining a fair and reasonable pay and benefit package for the members of NAPS and believed that continuing discussions would be advantageous at this time.

The new deadline for pay talks is January 27, 2012.

NAPS still maintains the right to invoke Fact Finding should the extended deliberations not be fruitful.

NAPS Headquarters