Elections and More Elections
Perhaps by the time you read this article the outcome of our National Elections will have been concluded. All ballots should have been received and returned by October 4th, 2018. There are supposed to be over 300,000 eligible votes from both active and retired letter carriers.
The term of office for National Officers is 4 years so your vote should not be taken lightly. After all, it is the same length of term for the President of the United States (4 years).
During this current 4 year term, it is quite possible that a “new” NALC President and Executive Board will have to “negotiate” two(2) National agreements. The ”new” Executive Board will be installed in December of 2018 and in early 2019 will be faced with the start of negotiations of a new agreement.
In accordance with Article 43, the current agreement expires at midnight on September 20, 2019. In addition, the party who determines termination or modification of the agreement must serve written notice on the other party not less than 90 but more than 120 days before the expiration of the agreement.
What this means is that the NALC would have to notify the Postal Service in writing as early as May 25, 2019 but no later June 23, 2019. I believe it would be best to notify the USPS earlier than later of the NALC’s intent to negotiate. So, within about 9 months the process will begin again.
This past National Convention that was held in July 2018 has laid the foundation for the negotiation process. The following has been written in the August/September 2018 issue of the Postal Record as some of the “approved” resolutions. They are: 1) Not allow GPS data to be used for discipline; 2) Promote former TEs to career status; 3) Convert CCAs to career status after a defined number of months; 4) Omit detailed 204 B’s from filling residual vacancies; 5) Allow career employees to donate sick leave; 6) Provide that street communication between letter carriers and supervisors be conducted via the Mobile Delivery Device (MDD) except in cases of emergency; 7) CCAs cannot be temporarily reassigned during their first 90 work days or 120 calendar days; 8) Require the Dispute Resolution Team to give priority consideration to grievances involving emergency suspensions; 9) Provide for additional cold weather items and darker colors as well as dry-fit and UV protection; 10) Explore the idea of a neighborhood first responder program. If you are interested in seeing what other items were approved for the next negotiations go to www.nalc.org and go to the archives section for the August /September issue of the Postal Record and go to page 35.
In addition to our National Officer “elections,” on November 6th, there is an opportunity to elect all of the members of the House of Representatives (435) and 33 U.S Senators. This will be critical to the future of the Postal Service.
Currently, there are two resolution pending, one in the House (HR 993) and the other in the Senate (S-663) that concern “opposing the privatization” of the Postal Service.
It is hoped that both these bills will be approved before this Congress expires. If they are not, they will have to be resurrected in the next Congress unless a “lame” duck Congress approves this language. Currently, President Trump appears to be in support of privatization. I say that because the Office of Management and Budget indicates they would support it (these are his appointee’s ) and he also has Secretary of the Treasury, Steve Menuchen reviewing such proposals for the past 4 months. Presently, no report has been finalized. Is the President waiting for a “new” Congress? Or will he surprise us with a “tweet” in the “news”?
Currently, all 4 Long Island Congressional Reps.(King, Suozzi, Rice and Zeldin) are co-sponsors of HR 993. S-663 just came out (9-19-18) but I have no doubt that both Senators Gillibrand and Schumer will support S-663.
HR 993 has 196 co-sponsors. They need another 22 House reps. to have a majority. In the Senate, S-663 has 27 co-sponsors after only being submitted for 3 days. To have a majority, they need 51 Senators. Even if these majorities pass, the President could “veto” the legislation. Both the House and Senate would need 2/3rds of their respective members to “override.”
In over 40 years of my Letter Carrier career, I do not remember any US President actually pursuing an agenda for “privatization of the Postal Service.” This President is “different” and we need to jointly resolve that we will oppose and defeat any of his efforts to privatize the Postal Service.
It is simple, a private company would only deliver where they can make a “profit”. They will not provide Universal service to ALL! Taking away the profitable parts of the Postal Service will aggravate and cause a financial Postal Crisis. Jobs will be lost and pensions and benefits could be reduced. Whether you are active or retired, none of US will be safe! So Vote on November 6th for your Jobs, Your Pensions, Your Benefits and Your Families! Your Silence Is Your Consent!
