Fall Committee of Presidents Meeting
Tom Siesto and I recently attended the NALC Committee of Presidents meeting. There were approximately 200 Presidents and Executive Vice Presidents in attendance. Here are some of the issues spoken about:
• A request to make donations to the NALC disaster relief fund. A fund that assists Letter Carriers in their time of need after a disaster hits.
• The NALC is setting up meetings with the PMG, OIG, Postal Police, and Congress to discuss the uptick in robberies and violent crimes committed against letter carriers. There has been a large increase of these type of crimes. When the USPS did stand up talks it seemed to help the carriers be aware. They have stopped doing the talks. President Rolando informed all to keep track of any crime against a carrier and immediately inform the National Business agent.
• There is a major issue with work hour violations and the delay or curtailment of mail across the country. We were asked to keep the NBA in the loop where there are; 60-hour work violations, consistent delay, or curtailment of mail. If we can identify where these problems are repeatedly occurring, we may be able to get those offices a career only worksite. If you are having these issues, notify your full-time officer so we can document the problem and send the info to the NBA.
• The NALC is putting more resources into training and staffing. This includes regional office assistants, Full time advocates, National Grievance Assistants.
• Discussion ensued regarding the possibility of combining offices under one roof in a large installation. All details are being discussed as to how it will work. No answers as of this time.
• Mid-term elections: As of this moment we are in the best position to move our agendas (social security, buy back time for CCA’s, windfall elimination, etc.) forward. If we lose the majority in the House and/or Senate, nothing will move forward. Make sure you are registered to vote and do so.
• Postal reform Medicare timeline: as stated by Executive Vice President Brian Renfroe and Director of Health Benefits Stephanie Stewart.
Medicare integration by 1/1/2025. There are 2 groups. Group #1 – all retirees aged 64 and over. Group #2 – everyone else under 64.
Nobody in group #1 is mandated to do anything other than what you still do. If you sign up during the special open season in the spring of 2024 you will accrue no penalty. As you know, if you did not take Medicaid A & B when you retired at 65, you were penalized 10% for each year you did not take it. What that means is that, if found the need to take Medicare after 65 you were penalized 10% for every year that follows up to the point you sign on. This legislation gives you a window of forgiveness regarding the penalty. If you sign up for Part B during the Spring 2024 early sign-up period, all prior penalties will be waived. No penalty. If you do not sign up for Medicare B during the cited period, you will have the 10% penalty added to the possibility of you signing up in the future.
If you are in group #2, you are mandated to take Medicare parts A & B when you turn 65. No choice given.
During the open season of 2024, retirees must change from the FEBA plan to the PEBA plan. It is the same plan as under FEBA, but a new identification number is attached to the new PEBA plan to identity you as a retiree. I know it is confusing, so I suggest you follow thew NALC.ORG website or call the NALC retirement dept in Washington.
The NALC is putting a FAQ sheet together to give answers to many questions.
• Covid trending down. Contract tracing is still in place. If vaccinated has contact with another vaccinated, no need to do any tracing.
• Joint Route inspections. Working out the kinks. Some issues but nothing earth shattering. I got up and addressed the members and Brian. If you have read my past 2 articles you know how I feel about the process. I told the members what I needed to say, holding nothing back. There is no need to beat a dead horse at this point. The only thing I will say to all, make sure you hit your scans properly every day. Every move will be scrutinized. That means during the 7-week timecard analysis, you may need to answer questions from what occurred 7 months ago. Do not cut corners. Take your breaks daily. If you take a no lunch, fill out a 3971 and keep a copy. You do not want to be surprised next year.
• The common issue cited during the meeting was the fact that the USPS does not have enough people to do the job. Overworked and tired employees have had enough.
• The NALC and USPS have agreements in place to try to address this issue. 73 work sites across the country have now been identified as all career. There are 182 more being processed at the time of this meeting. All well and good but promoting the CCA’s does not fix the fact that there are not enough people to hire. Brian reiterated that we must do our homework to get the information to the NBA with areas of trouble. It will also assist us during the next negotiations in 2023 in getting a full career workforce.
• We have started to track the difference between the number of applicants prior to the career offices and after they become career.
• Brian stated that we must get information to the NBA on the failed delivery of mail. Dates and places. He also stated that the city carriers should not be delivering rural routes and mail. If that is occurring, we must file grievances and notify the NBA offices.
• Brian followed up by stating that carriers from West Virginia are on detail to Louisville, Kentucky where 26 routes were not delivered in an office of 45 routes. 15-20 routes are being left behind on the floor on average each day.
• Employee retention plans. Testing in Wisconsin a “New employee experience”. Limitation on work hours to start then building up to full days. If this test goes well, they will move it out to other areas. Too many CCA’s are quitting with 1-2 months because of the way management is using them. Joint teams will be going out on a roll out to assist in retention.
• Testing a mentor program for new hires. Help the new employees with learning the job.
• Discussed workplace culture issues. How to work on the issues in the field. Committee working on different angles.
• Grievance compliance issues. Each region picked offices to look at. Breaking in a new USPS counterpart in this area.
• Network improvement. The parties agree that the system is broken and needs repair. We have been involved with some changes. The USPS stated that even if they move some offices to mail plants, no window services will be affected. The issue of moving offices to mail plants may wind up being a good thing for the letter carriers. Earlier mail to the offices would mean earlier start times. Less transportation costs. There are bugs to be worked out, but it is a fluid situation.
• New Vehicles: 50,000 electrics being produced. 34,000 being purchased “off the shelf”. On schedule to start production in early 2023.
• Health Benefit season open from November 14th to December 12th. The NALC plan is looking better each day. A lot of work has been put into making the website more user friendly.
• A number of programs to put money back in your pocket. Health incentives are the driving force. Please check with the NALC website to get the info on the NALC health benefit plan.
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.
