From a letter sent to incoming PMG Pat Donahoe by National Association of Postal Supervisors President Louis Atkins:

We continue to receive negative feedback from the field concerning the continuation of reductions to the number of EAS field positions during the heart of the 2010 Holiday Season.

While we are cognizant of the current financial and structural challenges facing the USPS, however, staffing disruptions within the management ranks at the most imponant time of the calendar year is disconcerting to our members and could only serve to add additional challenges on top of the ones we are already facing.

Our concern is that simply that our folks in the field will be asked to do more with less. Considering the strained nature of our workforce and infrastructure, it would be unwise in my opinion and the opinion of our membership to potentially jeopardize our ability to meet our Universal Service Obligation

NAPS believe that it is in the best interest of all parties that these initiatives be delayed until at the conclusion of the holiday season. This would give us the opportunity to adjust our workforce in a more methodical manner without having to deal with the additional task of managing our highest traffic time of the year.

Donahoe_VOE_Letter_2010.pdf application/pdf Object.

LegUpdate 11-03-10 Elections

The following was released by the National Association of Postal Supervisors:

Congressman Darrell Issa, in recent remarks at the Heritage Foundation, suggested that if he becomes chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee next year, he will push the Postal Service to reduce its workforce by 200,000 employees – a dramatic cut of one-third of the total number of postal workers. The Congressman also criticized the Postal Service for employing too many supervisors, as many as one supervisor for every seven employees, according to his estimates.

Trash talk about downsizing postal workers in gargantuan terms makes for good politics in an anti-government election season. But Congressman Issa’s downsizing targets for the Postal Service are wildly off the mark, and so are his numbers. Read the rest of this entry »

NAPSLegRegUpdate 093010

The League and NAPUS have jointly asked USPS Inspector General David Williams to investigate the alleged manipulation of the Pay for Performance program. PFP replaced cost of living adjustments and “step” increases for postmasters and supervisors, and was originally supposed to have been based on meeting individual and organization-wide goals.

The organizations say they have tried to work with the USPS to resolve the many complaints that have been filed since the PFP ratings were published in February, but to no avail. The National Association of Postal Supervisors has filed a similar equest with the OIG.

Posted on the NAPS member forum:

Executive Board Members,

We would like to update you on the status of our efforts to resolve the problems that we have with the Postal Service’s consolidation of Districts, their implementation of RIF avoidance and the changes that have been announced in the Plants across the country.

On April 7, 2009, our headquarters office advised the Postal Service, in writing, of our objections to the revised timeline that the Postal Service offered at our board meeting last week. We also advised the Postal Service that we intend to fully exercise our consultative rights under Title 39, in all of their announced plans.

It is our expectation that the Postal Service will provide NAPS with the opportunity to review all of the consolidation plans of the Postal Service and for NAPS to be able to offer alternatives to their plans within the scope of our right for consultation and then receive a written response following our consultations.

We have not received a response from the Postal Service to our position letter, and we are awaiting a reply. As soon as further information is available we will let you know.

NAPS Headquarters

Ted Keating, National President
Louis Atkins, Executive Vice President
Jay Killackey, Secretary/Treasurer
Timothy May, NAPS General Counsel, Patton & Boggs
Charles Scialla, President, Scialla & Associates
NAPS National Executive Board Members

For the United States Postal Service:

George Butler, Chief Counsel, United States Postal Service
John Mularski, Manager, Complement, Staffing & Field Policy, USPS HQ
William T. Jones, Manager, Labor Relations, Policy Administration
Lee Olohan, Labor Relations Specialist

Item #1

In the announcement there is a description of those in the consolidated District’s eligible to retire. Does the term “eligible to retire” indicate VERA eligibility or eligibility to retire without penalty?

USPS Response:

The reference to eligible employees is a combination of employees eligible for regular/optional retirement and VERA.

Item #2

We are requesting, for our use as well as our field vice-presidents, a listing of all vacancies that exist in Customer Services operations that will serve as landing-zones for impacted employees. If there are different numbers for these two categories, what are they?

USPS Response:

This list is now being compiled at USPS Headquarters, it is not yet ready. Read the rest of this entry »

From the National Association of Postal Supervisors web site:

NAPS Headquarters was advised today that the announcements that we have been anticipating for some time on District changes will be made formally at 12:00 noon on Friday (tomorrow).

This morning NAPS Headquarters participated in two meetings with the USPS at L’Enfant Plaza. The first meeting dealt with tomorrow’s announcement of changes in EAS staffing in Plant operations. The full details of Function One changes will be provided tomorrow in a USPS Newsbreak.

The second meeting was with the Postmaster General and all of the unions and management associations. The discussion centered on current legislation which would modify the pre-funding of retiree health benefits. All of the unions and management associations are supporting this legislation. 03-19-09

From the NAPS member forum (not posted by the official NAPSHQ account, so strictly FWIW):

The USPS has requested that NAPS attend a briefing at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 19th at 9:00 a.m., at USPS Headquarters. It is expected that the USPS will announce the changes that they have been planning; including District consolidations and Plant changes. As soon as information is provided to NAPS the information will be sent out to the Executive Board.

In anticipation of this meeting, there may be an increase in rumors of the expected changes. NAPS Headquarters will disseminate all of the official and accurate information once we receive it from our meeting with the USPS. As soon as the meeting adjourns we will pass the information first through our email network to our regional and area vice presidents and then on to our breaking news section on the NAPS website.

The following letter from NAPS President Ted Keating to USPS COO Pat Donahoe has been published on the NAPS web site:

February 11 2009

Mr. Patrick Donahoe
Deputy Postmaster General & COO
United States Postal Service
475 L’Enfant Plaza SW
Washington DC 20260-0050

Pat:

I am requesting the immediate removal of Western Area Vice President Sylvester Black and Dakotas District Manager Clem Felchle for inappropriate and inflammatory remarks on Telecons last week.

Those remarks were:

“Some managers ought to be taken out and executed.”

The word “executed” was used more than once.

My question to you today Pat is, what would have happened to a supervisor or postmaster who made similar remarks about craft employees during a service talk? I think we both know the answer to that question.

As we fight for the very survival of the Postal Service, this type of conduct by senior officers cannot be tolerated.

I have on numerous occasions complained to you about the conduct and language used on these Telecons. As Chief Operating Officer of the USPS you have a responsibility to take action.

Sincerely,

Ted Keating

President

Original document at NAPS.org