NAPSHQ 2 U
Providing NAPS Headquarter News to You
 
 
 
February 4, 2011

Louis Atkins
Letter from Louie

 

     The USPS roller-coaster ride is on an upward track for the moment, but we must brace for the down times ahead. To overcome this past fiscal year's $8.5 billion loss, the agency must adapt and create new and inventive ways to return to profitability.  During this time we must prepare for the scary, downward changes that are sure to come as the Postal Service attempts to return to financial stability. 

    The USPS has announced the closing of 10 district offices and has also slated some 2,000 post offices, stations and branches for closing. All impacted employees will be offered voluntary early retirement (VERs) if they qualify. Postmaster General Pat Donahoe has stated that no one will be laid off unless they choose this option. While some EAS employees may have different jobs or even be employed in different facilities,they can be assured that they will have positions. With prospects strong for a continued decline in mail volume, the USPS has been positioning for quite some time to ensure that there are landing spots for affected employees.

     With Pat Donahoe as PMG and Megan Brennan as COO, NAPS has two friends in top leadership positions. While tough decisions will have to be made, I and your resident officers will continue to fight to ensure that NAPS members are treated fairly in the process.  The PMG has often said "chasing numbers" at all costs doesn't make good business sense.  If such a practice is still being used in any of our districts, please notify me and I will make certain the PMG gets the information and corrects the problem.

     I understand this time of change within the Postal Service can be stressful. With rumors swirling on the work-room floor, it is easy to lose faith that your organization is truly fighting for your needs and rights. Be assured that I as well as the other resident officers are fighting for positive and permanent change within the Postal Service. Sometimes this change is realized very quickly. Other times change takes time. We need your patience as we continue to fight for change that will last long after the economy recovers and the Postal Service becomes financially stable again.

     United we stand and divided we fall. At this crucial time, it is important for every NAPS member to stand together and believe in your organization. Together, we can make a difference.

Brian's Bits
Update at NAPSHQ

Brian Wagner

     

     We are moving forward with the Extreme Makeover of our NAPS website.  Last month, we sent out a Request For Proposal (RFP) to web design companies to provide us with a plan and quote for our web makeover.  We received interest from six (6) web design companies.  

     Our next step is to review the responses to our RFP. We will then meet with those web design companies that meet our criteria.  The web criteria established was based on a survey NAPShq sent out late last year to those registered on our website. It was from the survey responses from our members that helped develop our website RFP. 

     After NAPShq reviews each potential company, we plan to make a selection by the end of February, with implementation of our Extreme Makeover website by the end of June 2011.  It may seem like a long time to get to fruition, but we want to ensure that our new website is beta tested to ensure we provide you with a smooth transition from old to new.

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Legislative Update
 NAPS logo 

 

Our NAPS Issues Agenda at the 2011 LTS will focus on the foremost problem facing the Postal Service-its pension and health care payments. 

 

Our Agenda also deals with the long-term challenge of transforming the Postal Service in an electronic world. 

 

And last, by no means least, our Agenda responds to the necessary task -- reducing our nation's debt -- and makes the case for retaining the  commitments America has made to its postal and federal workers.

 

The three issues of our Issues Agenda are:

  

1.  Restructuring the Postal Service's Pension and Retiree Health Benefit Burden 

 

2.  Reinventing the Postal Service, making it responsive to America's needs in the 21st Century

 

3.  Preserving Postal Worker Commitments During Deficit Reduction efforts

 

 Look for more information on these issues soon. 


Donate to SPAC!
 
Contributing to SPAC allows us to continue supporting those candidates who will continue to fight for not only the benefits of Postal Employees but for the preservation of the Universal Delivery System as a whole. With one click, your contribution can go a long way toward ensuring that we meet these goals. How much you contribute is up to you, but no matter what you give, your contribution will help ensure a bright future for NAPS and the USPS.

Register for LTS 2011 NOW! 

     Last year, 450 NAPS members attended the annual Legislative Training Seminar. With the many issues facing the Postal Service, it's important that NAPS members attend LTS this year.

Click here to register

Haven't booked your hotel room at the Omni yet? Click here.

Jay's Notes
Preparing for the Future

James Killackey
James Killackey

     The rumors continue to swirl around Washington and where you live and work about what changes will take place in the Postal Service.

     Even though many of us who work directly with the mail would reluctantly agree that the volume of mail, especially First Class Mail, has really evaporated, we also know that the time that it takes to manage our operations has not gone away. In fact, there are more reports, more requirements and more accountability than ever before.

     New rounds of studies are underway to consolidate processing operations. The Delivery Unit Optimization process will consolidate delivery operations. Anticipated cuts in administrative positions and total elimination of some Districts are in the final planning stages and we all await the announcements.

     What can be done to avert these changes? What can NAPS do about it? What can you do about it? Some say that these changes are inevitable, that even five-day delivery will be implemented in the future. At NAPS we believe that these drastic cuts are not the only alternatives that could resolve the financial crisis of the Postal Service. 

     As Congress gets down to business and the committees in the House and the Senate start to work on bills that were originally filed late in the last session, all postal employees, unions and management organizations will have an opportunity to weigh in on how the Postal Service can be fixed.

     In all of the bills that are expected to be filed in both chambers of Congress there is one constant proposal-correcting the overpayments of the CSRS and FERS funding, which the USPS OIG has reported have been significantly over-funded. Members of the committees who will be deliberating these bills need to hear from postal employees and NAPS members about the importance of passing these bills.

     There are additional provisions of the bills that the unions or the management associations do not support and we will be lobbying at the national level to try to eliminate these provisions.

     Once the bills are finally introduced, we will be communicating to you through this medium and our magazine, to get you to contact your elected officials to co-sponsor legislation to fix the financial problems of the Postal Service. If we are not successful in this endeavor, then the alternative is what the Postal Service is currently planning-deep cuts of positions, closings of facilities and ultimately laying off employees and supervisors. When we ask you to speak up, I hope that you will be committed to the effort!

 

Click here to view the NAPS update from James Killackey.

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Seth's Slant
How Does SPAC Work?
Seth Lennon

     Like every other American middle school student, I took Social Studies and American Government. I was always fascinated with the unique freedom that Americans had to reach out to their lawmakers and petition  government officials for, as the founding fathers themselves declared, a "redress of grievances." The ability to do so in the United States has allowed us, despite the sometimes frequent political rancor, to remain stable and to have peaceful and orderly transitions of government.

     When I was in middle school in the mid- 1990's, the preferred method for citizens to contact their lawmakers was through either telephone or traditional hand-written letter. While these means still have its place and are commonplace, members of Congress are embracing electronic means of communication to not only listen to their constituents but also to broadcast statements that are of interest. In fact, even the most "old-school" members of Congress find themselves using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube to get their message across. In order to be effective advocates of the NAPS legislative agenda, we must continue to embrace these tools and to utilize them to maintain an ongoing dialogue with legislators who are going to have a great deal of influence regarding the direction of the United States Postal Service.

     Step one in communicating to members of Congress is through electronic legislative advocacy programs. Currently NAPSHQ uses the program, Capwiz, which allows us to easily reach out to NAPS members with alerts concerning upcoming legislation that is pertinent to USPS. With another round of Postal Reform legislation on the horizon in some form or another, it is paramount that we have a tool at our disposal that will allow this organization to stake out a strong position on the very future of our Universal Delivery System.

     If you are a user of Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, go find your member/members of Congress and subscribe to their updates. You are going to find that information passed down through social media is much more accessible and timely than that which is distributed by other means. And in politics, much like in life, knowledge is indeed power.