Convention Notes and TIAREAP Thoughts
I will start this month’s article by saying that the delegates from Branch 6000 at the Chicago Convention did a fantastic job. Every delegate attended each date of the convention as well as multiple training sessions, either before or after the session. Transportation to get to Chicago was very choppy to say the least. Tom Siesto and I were canceled three times in 2 days. We finally arrived at the convention late morning on Monday. Other delegates were canceled and did not arrive until late on the first day. I would also like to shout out a great thank you to Candace Howells’s daughter Jess. She made multiple runs back and forth to the airport to pick up latecomers who were either canceled or delayed. Jess was a great asset to the delegation, and we thank her.
As for the Convention itself, numerous guest speakers from both the political spectrum as well as the labor movement spoke to the delegates. Some of the topics hit on were Taming of Amazon, a company that is expected to be the largest package delivery company by the end of the year. There are efforts continuing to attempt to unionize the Amazon warehouses. The crisis of democracy in this county and the attempts to undercut it by numerous factions. President Rolando spoke about the legacy of all carriers during the pandemic and the great job done by all of us during the 2020 elections. He asked all delegates to tell their family and friends to vote for democracy in the upcoming elections.
President Joe Biden gave a video greeting to all delegates. He thanked each letter carrier for the job they do and further stated that each carrier is essential to our economy, our democracy and our national identity. He ended by stating “As President, I’ve got your back, I promise you”.
During each day of the convention delegates discussed and voted on numerous resolutions and proposals. You can find them on the NALC website or in the chronicle paper sent to each office. There are too many to list in this article so I will outline a few important ones. A motion was made to accept every resolution or proposal that had been approved by the Executive Council. The motion was accepted by the delegates. A resolution was approved directing the NALC to negotiate a career workforce. A resolution calling for an additional two weeks of annual leave was approved. A resolution calling for a standard uniform program, put in by Branch 6000 through the NYS Association of Letter Carriers was accepted after a minor change was made to the language. A proposal to allow CCAs to get credit for their prior time towards the carrier pay scale was also approved. A proposal to have the PMG DeJoy either resign or be removed was denied. A resolution to have a carrier who is out on OWCP have his/her dues taken by the DOL was approved. There were many more accepted and denied but I do not have the room to write them all.
All the Branch delegates attended the meeting regarding the TIAREAP inspection agreement. There was a lot of discussion in the full auditorium where the delegates met. There was a lot of concern by the delegates. The class was given by Executive Vice President Brian Renfroe and his lead Michelle McQuality. They gave a full presentation and took questions after. Brian left a few minutes after the end of the presentation and Michelle took all questions. There must have been 40 people or more get up and give questions. Charlie Smith got up to question her why we would be using data from the COVID MOU period. The data is corrupt and should not be used. Michelle stated that it was not mandatory to use that time frame. It would be up to the REATS team to decide when looking at the data. The answer was colored in grey as was most of the Q&A. I asked Michelle why our team members are being treated like crap while all of management’s teams are being taken care of. Also, why are our teams not being given equal access to the data being used to make decisions. Why are all the management teams allowed to get offices they request to work out of while our team is still floundering to find landing spots? Why does management team members have all their computers and necessary equipment already while ours do not? Michelle stated that these questions should be put forward to the NBA offices.
I have to say that when the class was given, I felt like I was listening to party line conversations. Our leaders seemed to be more interested in making sure their pet project went forward and damn the multiple issues we brought up. I have no issue with the total program at hand. I believe that the program has merits just as the prior joint inspection process had a few years back. The prior inspection process had us working closer with management to reach agreed upon resolutions. Not so much this time. Carriers do not like count and inspections and this program keeps management away from the offices. But at what cost? I have a major issue when we are being treated like second class citizens. Our team members here on Long Island have been kicked to the curb and abused by both management and the NALC. It seems funny that all the management team members have found comfortable work offices. Even some with couches and chairs. They have access to all data needed through the USPS computer systems. Our team is handed dirty rooms with no equipment. One was forced to clean the office given to them, so they do not have to sit in filth. Management brought in cleaning supplies so she could clean and left. No internet access. Dirty bathrooms. No access to the same data management has. Members sent to offices where they are told the local postmaster has no knowledge of it. Why are the management team members allowed to find clean landing spots near their homes while ours are being kicked around like a can in the street? Where is the NALC and NBA office on these subjects? Shame on them for allowing this to happen! All anyone seems to be worried about is pushing the pet project forward. I cannot speak for the rest of the country but what is occurring here in Long Island is a travesty and total disrespect to the membership. If this is a joint process, why is management having unilateral conversations cutting out our lead DEAT? Why is the lead USPS DEAT allowed to make the rules? Why are the “teams” situated in separate buildings? These are not teams, they are puppets. These are my personal observations regarding the new process. Some people may not be happy with these observations, but I believe that I have the right to say it and I stand by what I say. This process is not a joint process. It is a management process sprinkled with some breadcrumbs to appease others while the letter carriers get shafted.
