Legislative Trip Report

This was only the second legislative trip to Washington DC that I have had the privilege to make with the TSALC delegation.  Last time the big issue was contracting Post Office work out to the private sector, and we were successful in getting sufficientsupport from our friends in Congress to get the Postal Service to back off that topic and get back to the bargaining table.

This time, an even more serious topic was on the front burner – the Postal Service’s plan to reduce the number of days that we deliver mail.  Before our group left for Washington, the Postal Service was trying to save money by suggesting that we reduce the number of delivery days to 5.  Since we have been back, PMG Potter has insinuated that we could even go to 4 days of delivery, eliminating street deliveries on Saturdays and Tuesdays!

Republican House member Sam Graves from Missouri presented House Resolution 173, a sense of the House of Representatives that the Postal Service do all that they can to ensure continuation of 6-day delivery.  When your Texas delegation left for Washington DC, we had ZERO Texas House members signed up as co-sponsors of H. Res 173, so our goal was to visit with as many Representatives as possible and convince them that we needed their support by adding their names as co-sponsors.  As of this writing, we talked 8 of our representatives in the House into signing on as co-sponsors, bringing the total at this time to 180 members of the House of Representatives supporting this very important sense of the House.

As many of you know, the Postal Service cannot reduce the level of service we provide below 1983 levels because of language written into an appropriations bill that guarantees the Postal Service millions of dollars in repayment for free postage for non-profits and federal mailings.

If and when the Postal Service realizes that we have overwhelming support from Congress for the continuation of 6-day delivery, we believe they will back away from the idea as they did on the contracting out issue. 

There are way more than 8 members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas, so we need your help!  PLEASE contact your representative and ask them to please co-sponsor H. Res 173 – so far the following House members are current co-sponsors:

Ralph Hall, TX 4^th                                        Sheila Jackson-Lee, TX 18^th

Ruben Hinojosa, TX 15^th                            Ciro Rodriguez, TX 23^rd

Lloyd Doggett, TX 25^th                                 Solomon Ortiz, TX 27^th

Al Green, TX 9^th                                            Gene Green, TX 29^th

I was very pleased to have received a letter from United States Senator Kay Bailey-Hutchinson expressing support for the continuation of 6-day delivery by the United States Postal Service.  Additionally, I was able to have a short conversation with our other Texas Senator, John Cornyn, about the money aspect of having 75 billion in overpayments made by the Postal Service to the U.S. Treasury for prefunding retiree benefits returned to our agency.

The Postal Service currently is $10.2 Billion in the red, and returning the $75 billion in overpayments discovered after an OIG audit would put us back in the black.  Additionally, we need congressional support to reduce or eliminate the $5.4 billion we are expected to pay each year that led to the over payments.

All of these financial corrections would eliminate the need to reduce days of delivery and save thousands of jobs.  This is not a hard sell folks!  Please take the short amount of time it takes to contact your congressional representative – letter, phone call, e-mail – and encourage them to co-sponsor H. Res 173!

If anyone has any questions or needs any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me – (832) 878-1165 or bkr51@sbcglobal.net.

Fraternally, 

Bradley K. Ramey (Brad)

TSALC Vice President  

Some People Just Don’t Get It

In about a month, your Texas legislative delegation will be making one of the most important trips we’ve ever made to our Nation’s Capitol.  We are currently scheduling appointments with Congressional representatives so that we can solicit support for legislation critical to maintaining and hopefully improving our jobs.

One of the most immediate issues we will be addressing is the importance of receiving support on maintaining six-day delivery.

President Obama’s stand on six-day delivery was revealed when he included the same language used by every President since 1984 in his budget submission.  In setting the amount in the budget for “revenue Foregone” – the amount paid to the USPS to cover costs for free and reduced mail – the spending plan says payments to the Postal Service will be made “provided that six-day delivery and rural delivery of mail continue at not less than the 1983 level”.

In other words, despite what you hear from management and the media, a move to 5-day delivery is not the certainty some would have you believe.  Reducing delivery from 6 days to 5 will take “an act of Congress” – literally.

I would like to thank our NBA Kathy Baldwin for providing me with the most current information discussed at the State Chair Training last month.  Kathy was able to attend some of the training, but the NALC Executive Council was in session, so most of her time was occupied by those meetings.

This issue is extremely important to the security of our jobs, but some people just don’t get it!

Thank goodness President Obama gets it!  He clearly understands that eliminating Saturday delivery would open the door for competitors to come pouring in – possibly even creating new competitors.  Once the Postal Service loses enough business, we will become incapable in providing universal service to all addresses in America.  The Postal Service we work for will have to evolve into something much less than what it is now.  If you don’t think that will affect your job then you need to think again.

President Rolando gets it!  His focus for some time now has been to find a way to help save the Post Office from itself.  President Rolando has worked hard to make sure members of the House and Senate are aware of the $75 Billion overpayment the OIG says the Postal Service was charged for pension liabilities.  When questioned by the media about the overpayment, PMG Potter responded that we would not need to go to 5-day delivery if the Postal Service could recover this money.

Our NBA gets it!  Kathy didn’t have to spend her “time off” making visits to member of Congress soliciting support for the NALC’s position on maintaining 6-day delivery, but she did.  While State Chairs from all over the country were storming Capitol Hill, our NBA acted on behalf of letter carriers from Texas.

I mentioned to her that President Morris wanted to appoint a Congressional District Liaison from her Congressional District, and she stepped up and volunteered.  I understand Micky appointed Kathy as a CDL on April 9^th and she will be travelling with us to Washington in May. 

Texas now has our current NBA and our past NBA, Gene Goodwin, working for you as Congressional District Liaisons.  So, I guess Gene gets it too!

Who doesn’t get it?

Many of the members from Congress don’t get it.  Some of the Congressional Representatives the State Chairs met with mistakenly believed that the NALC was in support of a move to 5-day delivery!  We’re gonna have to educate them, folks!  We’re going to make our trip to Washington, but all of you could really help prepare the playing field by making some phone calls and sending some e-mails.  Our message is simple – Elimination of 6-day delivery will place FREE universal delivery to every address in America in dire jeopardy!

Let them know that we believe our jobs and secure mail delivery to their constituents are at stake.  Let them know that we need their support on this issue!

Trust me, this is a much easier sell than soliciting support for Universal Health Care or the Employee Free Choice Act.

Who else doesn’t get it?

A lot of our fellow letter carriers don’t get it.  I hear about letter carriers (probably non-members) talking on the workroom floor about how great it would be to have Saturday and Sunday off like most everyone does.  You need to ask them if having Saturday and Sunday off would be worth all of the changes to our jobs 5-day delivery would cause.

First off, tell them to say good bye to their T-6, because the Higher Level paid Carrier Technician positions would no longer be necessary.  Right off the bat, the first week of 5-day delivery the highest paid top 20% of letter carrier positions would be eliminated.  In many places this would create a need to excess junior regulars to jobs outside your office.

Because we no lay off protection in our National Agreement, the Post office would have to get rid of TEs, reduce PTF hours, and find positions for excess full-time regulars.  And, you can bet our no lay off protection would be a hot topic at next year’s contract negotiations.  If we have to go before an arbitrator, you can bet that the Postal Service would have all kinds of neat charts and graphs showing how they have too many letter carriers and need the right to lay employees off as needed.

Your UNION would be greatly impacted and likely less effective as a representative organization.  Reduced membership would result in reduced income for the NALC.  Ask your coworkers if the Union will be more effective or less effective with fewer members and less money.

The few of you who have taken the time to read this quarterly report need to spread the word and make sure EVERYONE gets it!  You can do this in a variety of ways:

·         Increase your contribution to COLCPE or talk others into giving

·         Become an e-Activist and talk coworkers into joining us

·         Volunteer time to help get letter carrier friendly representatives elected by becoming a Carrier Corps Member

·         Ask your coworkers, friends, family members, and even your neighbors to call or e-mail your representatives in Congress about the importance of maintaining 6-day delivery.

PROVE TO YOURSELF AND OTHERS THAT YOU GET IT!

Fraternally Yours,

Brad

4^th Quarter Report

2009

I invited Mayor Bill White to address the membership at the TSALC Convention last summer and he spoke to the membership about his intention to run for the United States Senate seat that Kay Bailey-Hutchinson was stepping down from.  The membership unanimously endorsed Mayor White and the Mayor has sent notice of his appreciation to me for our support.

Senator Hutchinson has since announced that she is going to remain in her seat so that she can continue to represent her friends that run the big medical insurance companies – protecting them from what she calls “a Government take-over” of the Health Care Industry.  I don’t how many of you have seen her commercials where she is crying about having to do the job she was elected to do at her own “Political Peril” – she makes me physically ill.

The top Democrat planning a run against Governor Good Hair, Tom Schieffer, decided against make a run for Governor, leaving the Democratic Party in Texas without a promising candidate for the position.  In his stepping down speech, Mr. Schieffer endorsed Mayor Bill White for Governor – a shock to Bill White and his campaign since the plan is to run for United States Senator.

Evidently, this got Bill and his staff to thinking about the similarities between the Chief Executive of one of the largest cities in the country and Chief Executive of the State.

Bill is seeking advice from his supporters, and I urge you to contact him before December 4^th – that is when he plans to make the decision.  You can send him a personal message @ billwhitefortexas.com.

Personally, I will support whatever decision he makes.  Bill supports the middle class and will be a good friend to letter carriers.  Whether he is elected Governor or Senator, he plans to:

• Help struggling homeowners and making homeownership more available for credit worthy buyers
• Reform the Tax Code to promote more savings by and investment in middle class families
• Work to reduce deficits so that our children and grandchildren don’t have to pay our debts
• Diversify our sources of energy
• Cut Electric Bills
• Reduce Gasoline Bills
• Create Flex Work Hours to reduce fuel consumption by avoiding congestion
• Focus on education
• Attack Waste in spending and energy consumption
• Strengthen the Economy
• Create Jobs
•  Protect the Environment

These are the items Bill talked to all of us about at the Convention.  Bill has a long track record of innovation and action as Mayor of Houston – he now needs our help to represent us at the State or National level.  I have talked with Bill and promised him that he can count on Letter Carriers.

Please contact one of your State Officers, Board Members, or Branch Officers to find out what you can do to help us get our TSALC endorsed candidate elected.  No matter which job Bill runs for, he will be the underdog.

 Quarter 3, 2009  

The times, they are a changin’…

First of all, I would like to thank all of you for re-electing me to serve Texas as Vice President for another term.  I look forward to the legislative challenges we face, as well as confronting the always uphill struggle in getting labor friendly representatives elected in a “Red” State.

Now, let me address “the changin’” part I alluded to in the opening…

As you all know, President William H. Young decided to retire on July 3, 2009, and effective July 4^th people all over this country celebrated as Brother Fredric V. Rolando became this organization’s 18^th President.  President Young was at the helm during much of the automation changes and revolution in the grievance-arbitration process, as well as heavily involved in some of the best negotiated contracts letter carrier have ever had.  Letter carrier income and benefits have increased significantly directly because of Bill Young’s involvement.  I know I speak for all of the TSALC Board as well as Texas letter carriers when I wish Bill good health and lots of happiness as he enjoys a well deserved retirement.

Our former TSALC President, Director of City Delivery, and NALC Vice President - Gary Mullins – has now ascended to the position of NALC Executive Vice President.  As a group we could not be more proud of Gary, personally I say about time!  Gary has served Texas letter carriers longer than most have even worked for the Postal Service (he started carrying mail in 1971).  I am proud to call Gary my friend and congratulate him for deciding to stay on and assist his friend Fred Rolando.

I feel very fortunate to have been selected by Gary Mullins to attend arbitration training some years ago when I met Fred Rolando for the first time.  Letter carriers can rest assured that this great organization could not be in better hands.  I was amazed at Fred’s talents during the arbitration training we went through.  I can honestly say that we had some of the best and brightest in that class, and Fred Rolando was among the stars that were certified ready for arbitration after the week long training.  

I also would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Sister Kathy Baldwin from Beaumont Branch 842 on her appointment to replace outgoing National Business Agent Gene Goodwin.  She represents women well as our first female letter carrier to rise to the level of National Business Agent in NALC Region 10.  I know that she is proud of that accomplishment.

Kathy has always supported this State organization and will have the support of the State Board as we work together to represent letter carrier in the State of Texas.

I want to personally thank Gene for all he has done for me over the years and wish Gene and outgoing State Treasurer Elisabeth Goodwin all the best retirement represents.  After all of the years these two have devoted to letter carrier outstanding representation, they deserve nothing but wonderful years in retirement.

Region 10 is very lucky to have the talent and experience Ken Claxton brings to the table as out senior Regional Administrative Assistant.  Ken never hesitates to take the bull by the horns and deal directly with the toughest problems.  He is not afraid to travel directly to the various locations letter carriers are dealing with the worst management.

NALC Region 10 also had a recent newly appointed Regional Administrative Assistant made by President Rolando, Javier Bernal from Houston Branch 283.  I have known Javier for several years as we all struggled for justice when management decided to adjust carrier routes without including time for many of the daily duties letter carriers are required to perform.  Javier was heavily involved in getting a large number of routes put back in to Houston Stations.  Javier was also named as out District Lead person for the current alternate route adjustment program and oversaw the work we “DEATS” did in the District.  Congratulations Javier!

With the experience and knowledge Fred and Gary possess, Kathy’s desire to try new and better ideas out in Region 10, Ken’s strength and devotion, and Javier’s drive - we could not be in a better position with regards to the leadership we have in the NALC.  Please join me in congratulating and supporting our new leadership team.

On the legislative front, as of this writing, the NALC is seeking to strike and amendment on Senate Bill 1507 that interferes with postal collective bargaining.  Essentially, the language in the amendment has the effect of giving short-term financial conditions for the Postal Service preeminence over other relevant factors.  This would put a thumb on the scale in favor of postal management in the next round of bargaining and cannot be tolerated.

The amendment is not necessary since arbitration boards already take postal finances into account.  Without listing other specific considerations, this language would be prejudicial to the NALC’s economic arguments that favor letter carriers.   

Please visit NALC.org, click the tab “Departments”, then under departments click legislation and politics to learn more about what you can do to help yourself and your family, as well as receive timely updates on legislation that affects your job.