VOL. 44, NO. 5 OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF BRANCH 14, N.A.L.C. SERVING LOUISVILLE, FORT KNOX, BARDSTOWN, RADCLIFF, LAGRANGE, LEBANON, EMINENCE, SHELBYVILLE, VINE GROVE & WEST POINT TONY WEDDLE President Whew! It sure didn’t take long for summer to arrive here in Kentuckiana. Here we are in the first week of May and we’re contending with temperatures in the upper 80’s already. I sure hope this is not an indication of what lies ahead for us this summer. Trying to look on the positive side of things, I guess the temperatures for this years’ food drive might be a little on the warm side but it’s still a heck of a lot better than the cool temps and rain that we contended with last year. I can even safely predict that the amount of food donations we collect this year will be much better than last year since good weather almost always equals better participation in the food drive. That’s not to take away from all the hard work and efforts Dee Duvall performed for a successful food drive, however, because she did a great job for her first year as food drive coordinator. As did all our volunteers who stapled as many food drive cards to bags as possible in a very limited amount of time. Regardless of the final results of this years’ food drive, letter carriers can again be proud that we did our part to help make a difference for a lot of folks who are struggling in our community. MAY 2015 On another topic, I want to thank the stewards who’ve helped some of our junior carriers join our union in the past couple weeks. The majority of our CCA’s quickly join the union when they’re hired with the Postal Service. But occasionally a few make the decision to wait a while to determine if carrying mail is what they really want to do. It’s these carriers that we’ve had our stewards talk with to make another attempt to have them join our union and we’re having some success. Our membership percentages for CCA’s are improving all the time and I really appreciate the work that our stewards are doing. Branch 14 has historically had excellent membership rates but a few of our junior carriers, who needed a little more time to decide whether carrying mail was right for them, never joined our union and they’re now regulars. Some of them work right next to members who don’t even know that these carriers are not members of our union. We’re now focusing our efforts on these carriers as well and we’re hoping for the kind of success we’ve had with CCA’s. I don’t have to express all the reasons why it’s important to get these folks to join with the union. As members we know what they are so we hope we can convince them of the importance of having a strong union – for their future. I hope to see many of you at our next union meeting. Page 2 Branch 14 N.A.L.C. BRANCH 14 NEWSLETTER Published monthly by Branch 14 National Association of Letter Carriers 4815 Poplar Level Road Louisville, KY 40213 964-3200 964-3276 Officers & Staff President .................................................. Tony Weddle Executive Vice-President ............................... Ron Gast Vice-President ...................................... Larry Shepherd Recording Secretary ................................... Anna Mudd Treasurer........................................................ Bob Hack Asst. Recording/Financial Secretary ............. Bill Davis Health Benefits Rep./Retirement ................. Tom Webb Sergeant-at-Arms/Scribe ........................... Greg Craven Community Activities Coordinator ...........Daria Duvall Trustee .........................................................Steve Terry Trustee .......................................................Daria Duvall Trustee .......................................................... Tina Davis Trustee ...................................................... Ron Osborne Trustee .................................................... Matt Weegens Branch 14 Stewards 40202………………….………………....Jeff Houston 40203………………………………..Michelle Burriell 40204……………………………….…….Jeff Houston 40205………………….………………...Alesha Austin 40206………………...…………...……..Shawn Meyer 40208/10…………………………….…Byron Houston 40209/14………………………………….….Gina Otte 40211…………………………………....Bruce Parsons 40212………………………………..…..Bruce Parsons 40213……………………….…………..Matt Weegens 40215……………………..………..……..Missy Harris 40216…………………….………………..Tim Rasche 40217………………….……………..…..Jeff Richards 40218…………………………….………..Anna Mudd 40219……………………….………….…..Tina Davis 40220……………………………….……..Tony Olges 40222………………………..………..……..Bill Davis 40228/91……………………………..……Joe Balbach 40229……………………………..…….Charles Baker 40231………………………….…..……Matt Weegens 40241/42……………………………...…….Bill Davis 40243………………………………….…..Steve Terry 40258………………………………...…..Greg Craven 40272………………………………...…..Greg Craven 40299……………………………….……...Eric Pippin Bardstown………….................................Ron Osborne LaGrange……………………………….…Billie Berry Lebanon………………………………....Ron Osborne Shelbyville………………….……...Dave Shuttleworth Fort Knox…………………….………Donivan Taylor Radcliff………………...………..……Reggie Sanders Vine Grove………………..………..…..Larry Johnson All facts, opinions and statements appearing within this publication are those of the writers and editors themselves, and are in no way to be construed as statements, positions or endorsements by Branch 14 May 2015 RON GAST Executive Vice President Article 30 of the National Agreement between the USPS and the NALC covers Local Implementation. Specifically, this article enables the local parties to negotiate over certain work rules and other terms and conditions of employment. Twenty two separate items are covered and the local parties, the local Branch President and the local Postmaster, are free to negotiate the details of these items whenever a new national contract has been reached. The current local agreement for the Louisville Installation was signed by President Tony Weddle and Postmaster Steve Kirkland. Many of these should be of interest to letter carriers, and here are a brief few: - Letter carriers may cancel any or all annual leave at their discretion. Many times you schedule leave at the beginning of the year and then when the time comes, you decide that you either don’t want to use the entire week, or even a full day. It is the carriers discretion to take the full week, partial week or even partial days. If you decide that you want to come in each day, case your assignment and then take the rest of the day off, that is your right. If you decide that you only want to take Friday and Saturday off, that is your right. The only requirement is that you notify management of your desire. - Carriers that have placed their names on the Overtime Desired List shall be excused from working overtime, provided there is another carrier that is listed on the ODL and available to work the overtime at the regular overtime rate. Just because you have signed up for the ODL, there may be a time that you simply do not wish to work overtime, and you don’t want to get off the list in order to accomplish this. Simply put, as long as someone else on the list is available to work the overtime and will not go into penalty overtime, you have the right to be excused from May 2015 Branch 14 N.A.L.C. Page 3 working overtime on that day. - When a bid assignment becomes vacant for a period of an anticipated five days or more, all eligible employees may exercise their preference for “Opting” or placing a “hold down” on these assignments. When a carrier bids out or retires, their bid assignment becomes vacant until posted for bidding and subsequent awarding by senior bidder. If this vacancy will be for a period of 5 days or more, the assignment is available for any eligible employee to place a hold on that assignment for the duration of the vacancy. This also applies when a carrier goes on annual leave or any other situation that takes them away from their assignment for a known period of 5 or more days. The hold down is awarded to the senior eligible bidder. There are instances where the bidder may be “temporarily bumped” from that assignment, but the hold down remains through the duration of the vacancy. These are only a few items that are covered in the local agreement, and only a brief description at that. The complete local agreement can be found on the Branch 14 website at www.nalcbr14.com under the Stewards Page tab. There are many other items of interest to all members of Branch 14 that can be found on the website. I strongly urge each and every one of you to explore the website and learn more about your rights and responsibilities. I hope that this information has been helpful and I am certain to see many of you at the next Union Meeting on May 26th at 7:30. Union Meeting Tuesday, May 19th at 7:30 pm Steward Meeting at 7 pm United we bargain, divided we beg LARRY SHEPHERD Vice President In 2009 a city carrier was issued a Notice of Removal for delaying mail. In the removal packet Management cited two separate prior incidents of the carrier delaying mail. One incident mail was found that was nine days old. The second incident mail was found in the LLV. Management basically did not discipline the carrier properly in these two prior incidents and basically gave him a slap on the hand. If management routinely permits letter carriers to violate a rule, or routinely to follow a certain behavior, it may not suddenly impose discipline for violations without first announcing its intention to begin enforcing the rule, or to stop tolerating the behavior. In the 2009 Removal I simply handed off the football to the big fullback (Senior B Team Advocate Robbie Gardiner) and let him run slipshod over Management’s careless contentions. The removal was expunged by the B Team. In Regional Arbitration C-01455 Ar bitr ator Alan Walt states: It is a basic tenet of labor management relations that prior to the imposition of discipline, an employee must be aware that the employer considers his actions or conduct violated of the labor agreement or existing rules and regulations and he must know of the possibility that discipline may result. Where an employee believes his actions and conduct are justified and no indication has been given that persistence in that course of conduct can and probably will result in discipline, subsequently imposed sanctions must be set aside. Apparently Management is engaging in this type of authoritative behavior again by issuing a Removal for an at-fault accident where the carrier has had previous accidents before and their behavior or conduct was not proper and failed to Page 4 Branch 14 N.A.L.C. May 2015 inform them through the proper channels to correct their behavior. Having a blast coaching my Grand-daughter Rylee Pennington Wee Ball Baseball Team this spring & summer. Everyone thank Dee Duval and her efforts to have a successful food drive. Every time I go to the Union Hall she is always there. ANNA MUDD Recording Secretary I just want to start out by saying “Thank You” to all of the carriers and volunteers who helped with our 23rd annual food drive. Those of you who don’t frequent the union hall probably can’t comprehend the hard work that goes into getting everything ready. Dee Duvall, our Community Activities Coordinator, has worked tirelessly to make sure that every carrier had cards to pass out. She also made herself available on a daily basis at the hall so that our retirees could come over to help her fold what bags we had available. While I’m on that note, it goes without saying that our retirees are also a big part of the preparation of the food drive. One thing I appreciated this year as a steward that won’t mean anything to you is that Dee and the retirees already had our cards counted out for us to pass out to you. It was a big timesaver. Anyway my point is, if you see Dee give her a big thanks so she knows how much we appreciate her! The Branch 14 CCA clothing closet is operational and available to all Louisville and AO CCA carriers. Tina Davis is the point of contact for all CCA clothing requests. She will be available before every Eboard meeting at 6:30 pm and every Union meeting at 7 pm for all CCA carriers. Contact Tina at (502)817-4445 or email at [email protected] to schedule an appointment. I was off last week for Arbitration Advocate School in Maryland and when I came back to work on the first day and checked my vehicle I said a few choice words. For those of you who work next to my case, this is probably not a surprise to you. I often make it known what is on my mind. What I’m trying to say is most carriers take the time at the end of the day to clean out their trash or rubber bands or whatever else they put in the vehicle. If you choose not to, that is up to you. You are the one who is assigned to drive it. However if you drive someone else’s vehicle, please be respectful of them and clean up after yourself. Recently the management in our station has had the brilliant idea to leave our hampers outside after we load up. When we were told to do May 2015 Branch 14 N.A.L.C. this, we were all scratching our heads and wondering what the purpose was. What was once a confined area to begin with has now become even more congested. Once again, another brilliant idea from our esteemed leaders. The time they thought they were going to save by having the carriers not re-enter the building after loading is absorbed by us all standing on the dock waiting for our turn to get through. All I have to say is “What else you got in mind to make the carriers day quicker?” When it comes down to it that is all that matters to them. Get out of the office, hurry up and deliver you route, don’t talk to any customers, and be back in eight! Customer service be damned! Lately, it seems like we are working for the United States Postal WHAT? The service seems to be gone. Let’s bring it back by caring about the product we are putting out and the image we are trying to project to our customers. If we leave it up to management, it will never return. Shared Services (National Human Resources) 1-877-477-3273 http://liteblue.usps.gov You’ll need your Employee ID# And your USPS PIN. Page 5 Bill Davis Assistant Recording/Financial Secretary With Derby and the Food Drive behind us now, it’s time to get ourselves ready for the summer weather. Start getting your coolers and water bottles out from winter storage and get them ready because the heat and humidity are just around the corner. I always say it is better to have too much water than not enough, that way you can help out others that run out or you can save some for your ride home. We recently conducted the annual Retiree’s Dinner at the Union Hall. Once again Brother Steve Terry orchestrated an event that was enjoyed by all. It was a huge success. Thanks to Steve and his band of helpers that pitched in to set up and execute the dinner. I highly recommend working one of these events in the future, it is an extreme honor to serve and show your appreciation to those carriers that came before us and contributed in making this Branch what it is today. And last but not least, we have the Memorial Day Holiday coming up. I want to wish all of my brothers and sisters a safe and happy holiday. It’s time for all the swimming pools and water parks to open so we can find a way to cool off as the heat rises. Please celebrate responsibly! Any picture that you would like in the Branch 14 Newsletter should be emailed to the editor ([email protected]) or brought to the union hall on a thumb drive or camera card to be downloaded on our computer. Thank you, Bill Davis. May 2015 Branch 14 N.A.L.C. When? Where? June 28th at 8:00am My Old Kentucky Home Golf Course in Bardstown Entry Fee: $50 per person Prizes: $500 in prizes for places 1st through 5th, PLUS, $500 in door prizes Hot Dogs & Brats served at the turn. Hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans, and soft drinks immediately after the tournament. We are limited to30 teams, so get your entries in early and remember the deadline! Make all checks payable to: “NALC Branch 14” and send to: Attn: Steve Terry Branch 14 Union Hall 4815 Poplar Level Rd Louisville, KY 40213 Page 6 May 2015 Branch 14 N.A.L.C. Page 7 James Medley, Larry Terry, Bob Hart, & Robin Smith TOM WEB Health Benefits Representative/Retirement Last Punch Services for the Retired Carriers: After the effective date of retirement, questions, issues, and concerns related to retirement matters should be directed to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). OPM is the agency that has the authority to decide entitlement of CSRS and FERS annuities. Contact OPM Retirement Services Online at http://opm/gov/retire or by phone at 1-888-7767-6738. The internet system is user-friendly and available 24 hours a day. When you contact OPM have your CSA and/ or your Social Security number available. OPM has password-protected on-line access that allows retirees to make changes to their accounts. You will be able to make changes to your annuity or get information on your retirement account both online and telephonically. The online connection provides the best access, you can see the information and print from the screen. Bob Hart St. Mathews Actions and Information available: View and print annuity statement. View and change allotments to organizations. View current and change direct deposit to financial institutions. View and change your mailing address. Verify Federal Employee Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) coverages View and print 1099 R Tax Form, or request a 1099 R mailing. View the status of your claim if you are receiving interim payments. Last and most important, fill out a Form 1189 and stay a member of the NALC and sign up for COLCPE to protect your retirement. nalcbr14.com or Like us on Facebook Robin Smith St. Mathews 1-800-EAP-4-YOU (1-800-327-4968) TTY: 1-877-492-7341 www.EAP4YOU.com 24 hours a day, seven days a week Personal Private Professional Page 8 Branch 14 N.A.L.C. GREG CRAVEN Sergeant at Arms/Scribe By the time this article goes to print our food drive will have passed. I would like to thank all the carriers, both city and rural, that participated in this annual event. It can become quite tedious with delivering mail and picking up canned goods, but it’s always good to be able to give back to your community. I would also like to thank Dee Duvall for heading up our food drive. She was thrown some curveballs this year but was able to pull everything off without a hitch. Thanks to all the volunteers who folded bags and stapled them to cards. Not all cards had bags attached to them that were put out this year, so here is your invitation to help next year. It’s a long process and the more hands on deck the easier it should be. On the 26th of April the union held its annual retiree’s dinner. It was a great turnout and everybody enjoyed the meal and catching up on old times. This was my first time working the dinner and I was glad to see some familiar faces from when I first started working for the post office. I enjoyed the stories told of the post office when the retirees first started working here and about the creation of the union hall. After the dinner and the stories started to wind down, a thought came to me. I’ve had it before but it became clearer as I watched everyone eating and talking. These men and women were the shoulders I was standing on. All my wages and benefits came from them. Everything I have now, they had their hands in. By putting up the fight as union members, whether large or small, they laid the ground work for our union today. And for that I thank you all. Thanks to Steve Terry for putting in all the hard work that goes in to this dinner and to all the volunteers that helped. It was a great time had by all and I look forward to helping again next year. In closing, there has been some discussion on forming a fall basketball league for Branch 14. If you are interested in your station forming a team, you can call me at (502) 836-2565. Ask for Greg. I’ll need to know if we will have enough teams to form a league and if we do, then I’ll be able to look into a place to have the league. Hope to see you at the next union meeting. May 2015 DARIA DUVALL Community Activities Coordinator As I write this article, it is a few days before the NALC Food Drive. A lot of hard work has gone into this one day, and I hope that it will be beneficial to the many food insecure people that live in our community. I have so many people that I need to thank for their efforts leading up to this year’s food drive, that I would be afraid to list each individual by name. I’m sure I would omit someone. So I would just like to say thank you to each and every one of you who has folded a bag, stapled a card, texted, e-mailed or messaged someone on face book about the drive. I thank you. Also, thank you to the many volunteers who come to the stations and help with the pick-up and loading of the food onto the trucks. Thank you so much. I definitely need to thank every city carrier and rural carrier who delivered the food drive cards and picked up the food. It’s obvious, this drive would not be possible without you. Thank you so much for your participation. It looks like we will have good weather this year. I hope this will help with customers putting more food out, and make for a better day for the carriers. Next month I hope to be reporting that we have exceeded any food drive total in Branch 14’s history, because that would mean that we are helping more people than we have ever helped before. Hope to see you at the meeting. May 2015 Branch 14 N.A.L.C. American Bootworks 7415 Preston Highway, Louisville, KY 40219 Phone 502.966.2592 - Fax 502.966.4292 - Toll Free 800.547.6992 E-mail [email protected] Visit our website at americanbootworks.com USPS Approved Uniforms for Carriers, Handlers and MVS Free Alterations SR/USA Shoes and Boots by Rocky, Thorogood, Bates and Converse 15% off purchases of $200 or more! Page 9 Page 10 Branch 14 N.A.L.C. Union Meeting DATE:_April 28, 2015__ Br 14 Union Meeting Attendance by Annshire 40205 0 Annshire 40213 2 Annshire 40218 0 Collections 40231 0 DTCU 40202 0 DTCU 40203 1 DTCU 40204 0 DTCU 40208 1 DTCU 40210 0 Fern Creek 40228 0 Fern Creek 40291 0 Hikes Point 40220 1 Iroquois 40209/14 2 Iroquois 40215 0 J-Town 40299 1 Lyndon 40222 4 Lyndon 40241/42 0 Middletown 40243 1 MLK 40211 2 MLK 40212 1 Okolona 40219 1 Okolona 40229 1 PRP 40258 0 PRP 40272 1 Shelby 40217 1 Shively 40216 2 St Mathews 40206 2 St Mathews 40207 8 Bardstown 40004 0 Eminence 40019 0 Ft Knox 40121 1 LaGrange 40031 1 Lebanon 40033 1 Radcliff 40160 1 Shelbyville 40065 1 Vine Grove 40175 1 Retired 9 Guests 0 TOTAL 47 May 2015 Officers & Stewards Excused Anna Mudd, Jeff Houston, Joe Balbach, Alesha Austin Officers & Stewards Absent None MDA 50/50 Drawing……………..$67 Ted First $25 Door Prize…………………....Steve Dancy Larry Haag/Galls $15 Gift Card…..Floyd Nall Log on to www.nalc.org and join the NALC e-Activist network and get ready to lobby your congressional representatives with just a few May 2015 Branch 14 N.A.L.C. Page 11 Branch 14 Gold Card Members present at the 2015 Retiree’s Dinner Pictured from Left to Right: Paul Feldkamp, Bentley Daye, Tom Webb, Gilman Anderson, Stanley Spaulding, Neil Travis, Floyd Nall, James Olges, Sam Micelli, James Reed, Louis Buckel, Marvin Koebel, Louie Hellmueller, Bill Habich, Walter Ward, & Butch McCue. Galls Postal Uniforms It may be a part-time job for me, but I will work full-time for you. LARRY HAAG Local (502) 493-7089 [email protected] Retired Branch 14 Letter Carrier and your only Union Sales Representative National Association of Letter Carriers Falls City Branch 14 4815 Poplar Level Road Louisville, KY 40213 Address Service Requested Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Louisville, KY Permit No. 804
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