1. No category

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