Site updated September 27, 2007

Local Events

NEWS BY NINE / October 19, 2005

STEWARD’S TRAINING

Stewards be sure to make arrangements with your manager for the upcoming Steward’s Training. This training will take place on Thursday, October 27th at the Ballentine VFW, 2916 Lyndale Avenue South). The training will start promptly at 10:30AM. The morning session and lunch will be done jointly with the stewards and station managers. The afternoon session will be stewards only.
Please bring your briefcase, any other training material you have, a notebook, pen and the JCAM from your office with you to this training.

RETIREMENT SEMINARS

With the move of personnel to shared services we have received numerous requests to sponsor a Retirement/Federal Benefits seminar. We have hired an expert by the name of Tom Haley to present this information on two (2) separate dates.For those under the CSRS Retirement System the seminar will be conducted on November 17th starting at 4:00PM.
For those of you under the FERS Retirement System the seminar will be conducted on December 8th at 4:00PMWe have provided a flyer with this mailing (see attached) and to the stewards that attended the October GMM. This seminar is for Union Members ONLY and their spouses. Space is limited. Please notify your steward (NOT the Branch office) of your intent to attend ASAP. Topics that will be covered are Retirement, FEGLI, Health Benefits and the Thrift Savings Plan.

IF YOU PLAN TO RETIRE IN THE NEAR FUTURE, WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU ATTEND THESE SEMINARS

---

January 17, 2005

"BE BACK BY FIVE!"
Sound familiar? Branch 9 applauds the idea of managing the operation in a way that makes the 5:00pm return to the office by carriers a realistic and safe opportunity. HOWEVER, that is simply not the current reality in Minneapolis. Later start times, coupled with staffing inconsistencies have meant that it is sometimes impossible to get all of the mail delivered by 5:00pm WITHOUT violating Article 8 (overtime) provisions!

This Branch has always supported the earlier delivery of mail! Customer service is what carriers strive for EVERY DAY OF THEIR CAREERS, this has never been just a trendy slogan or some flavor of the month objective! But, squeezing or demanding carriers to do more than is safely possible and is in violation of the contract will not be tolerated as a means of achieving any worthy service goal!

We cannot overcome these retread tactics by management simply by getting mad and complaining about them. Carriers must share information with their stewards when they think there may be a problem. Stewards need to be extra vigilant in watching what’s happening in their stations, and investigate and file grievances when they believe they have occurred. We need to "nip it, nip it, nip it!"

PTF’s TO MAKE REGULAR (Minneapolis)
With the recent hiring of new PTF’s, the USPS must begin to promote senior PTF’s to Regular in order to comply with the contract. There should be a number of senior PTF’s (in Minneapolis) promoted to Regular in the coming weeks and months. ALL PTF’s are encouraged to attend a special PTF Rap Session scheduled on January 26th at 7:00pm at the Ballentine VFW (2916 Lyndale Avenue South). This meeting will allow us to share more information in all areas, including the latest in promotions to regular and what happens next. If you need directions, see your station steward!

BARRY WEINERS RETIREMENT PARTY
A party to honor and thank Barry Weiner for his many, many years of dedicated service to Branch 9, Region 7 and the entire NALC organization is planned for:
February 26th at the Four Points Sheraton in Minneapolis
5:30pm – 6:30pm Social Hour
6:30pm Dinner
The cost is $30.00, with Branch 9 members enjoying a discounted ticket at $10.00. Call Angie at the Branch 9 office at 612.781.9858 for a reservation form! WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
Lenny and Pam

---

October 28, 2004

IT’S HERE!!!!
After months and months of T.V. and radio ads, political mail, phone calls and yard sign battles, it’s finally time to VOTE! Branch 9 has made unprecedented efforts with record numbers of volunteers to ensure every active and retired NALC member we serve are well informed about the candidates, their positions on working family issues and how those positions effect us all in our federal and postal employment. NOW, IT’S UP TO YOU! We’ve survived arguably the most emotionally charged campaign barrages, so it would be absurd now not to exercise that simple task of marking a few boxes on your ballot!

The following is the rule in the Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM) that is pertinent to your right to time to vote.

VOTING
The following provisions concern time allowed for voting:
Three-Hour Rule. As a general rule, if the polls are not open at least 3 hours either before or after an employee’s scheduled hours of work, the employees may be excused for the length of time that permits them to report for work 3 hours after the polls open or to leave work 3 hours before the polls close, whichever requires the lesser amount of time off.
Exception to Three-Hour Rule.
Under exceptional circumstances, if the general rule in 519.323a does not permit sufficient time, an employee may be excused for the additional time needed to vote. However, time off must not exceed a full day.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Branch 9 office at 612.781.9858.

NOT SURE WHERE TO GO TO VOTE?
Contact:
"The League of Women Voters"
(612)333-6319 or (651)989-5555
All you need to know is your address, and they can tell your polling place! EASY!
POLLS ARE OPEN TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND, 7:00AM – 8:00PM

WHAT CAN YOU STILL DO TO HELP?
CLICK HERE to see a list of the last of the volunteering opportunities! Especially in the northern suburbs, we need those of you who still have a little "kick" left! Call the Branch 9 office to volunteer, or just show up at the locations listed! If you just can’t make any of the scheduled events, you can still pitch in and make a HUGE difference in the final tallies! Just grab your phone list or go through your cell phone log and dial up 10 of your friends/family members who are eligible to vote. Encourage them to vote and provide the phone numbers to help them locate their polling place if they need. This is simple to do and can be done when you’ve got the time! EVERY EFFORT COUNTS, EVEN THE SMALL, SIMPLE ONES!

Lenny & Pam

---

October 13, 2004

ELECTION HOMESTRETCH
We’re entering the final lap of this election cycle, how much do you have "left in the tank"? Letter carriers have been contacted by the NALC by phone, written messages by mail and e-mail, by news publications and door knocks by other union members. However, this tremendous effort is not yet complete! We still need volunteers to join Branch 9 for our last two phone banks on October 26th and 28th. This will be our drive to the finish line and we need YOU to make it happen! It will take less than 2 hours and the return for your time will last at least 4 years and more likely, the rest of your life! Call the Branch 9 office to sign up for a phone bank, or to find other ways of volunteering in the final days! THERE’S STILL TIME TO JOIN US FOR THE DOOR KNOCK AND LITURATURE DROP THIS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17th!

FALL CELEBRATION
Tickets are still available to Minnetonka Orchards for our Branch 9 event this Sunday! IT’S FREE TO BRANCH 9 MEMEBERS AND THEIR FAMILIES! See the posted flyers and talk to your steward today about tickets! WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

ROUTE INSPECTIONS/PRAM
We’re in the process of creating a schedule of stations for inspections and adjustments under the new PRAM agreement. The Branch has a priority to schedule stations previously adjusted by PRAM that did not have a "LOOK BACK" or 60 day review. Of course, management will have their priority list as well. With the new PRAM agreement, there must be an agreed schedule between the parties. This will ensure that both sides get attention directed to the areas of their concern. Once a schedule has been finalized, we will report it to all of our members. Thanks for your patience.

POSTAL REFORM
President Bush is sticking to his mandate to hold any Postal Reform, preventing either the Senate or House version from being heard on their respective floors. SHAME ON HIM! Instead, this administration has chosen to give the time on the floor and a vote to issues like the public placement of the Ten Commandments, reinstituting the military draft and Gay marriage. As the president has stated, "you can run, but you cannot hide" and although he wasn’t referring to Postal Reform, WE ARE! Our response to President Young’s notice on Postal Reform has been outstanding! But, we STILL need EVERY carrier to "enlist" as an E-Activist! NOW is our time, what are you doing to help secure your future?

THE "COATS FOR KIDS" FINAL TURN IN IS THE OCTOBER GMM! WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP….
PLEASE SEE YOUR STEWARD TO CONTRIBUTE!

Lenny and Pam

---

RECORD SETTING FOOD DRIVE RESULTS!
Thanks to the generosity of our customers and the extraordinary efforts of all Letter Carriers, a record amount of food was collected by Branch 9 offices on the NALC’s one day food drive on May 8, 2004. As of this writing, 301,000 pounds of food have been recorded for all offices in the Branch 9 area! It’s always amazing to see the large totes of food as they come into the Second Harvest Food Bank, remembering that it was all picked up by letter carriers in the normal course of their delivery duties. Delivering mail is a physically demanding job in and of itself. The extra effort put forth by each carrier illustrates our genuine sense of community and good will for others in the neighborhoods we work in each day.

Also, special kudos to all of the volunteers who went well beyond the norm and helped to repack the donated food later that day at the Second Harvest Food Bank. Once again, over fifty of our carriers, along with some of their family members and friends worked well into the night to help organize the loads of food carriers collected. The secret here is that it’s a whole lot of fun too!

The whole event was truly held together due to the many hours of hard work and shear determination of our two coordinators, Carol Garnto and Bob Baird. Words cannot convey the difference their combined efforts make!

And finally, it’s important to recognize Minneapolis Postmaster Rochelle Eastman, Public Relations Director Jim Ahlgren, Manager of Vehicle Operations Tom Ostendorf and many supervisors and local managers who greatly contributed their time, resources and support in this event. A heartfelt thank you to all of you!

MORE ABOLISHMENTS/REVERSIONS
We were notified last week by management of their intentions to continue to reconstruct staffing in the Minneapolis offices by abolishing and/or reverting Regular Relief positions. Although many rumors are circulating, nothing in writing has been given to our office or any carrier as of today. When definitive decisions are made in writing, they will be issued to the carriers involved. If, as a result of these notices, any station must go through in station bidding, a Branch officer will conduct a station stand up so that everyone understands the process. Because no two office scenarios are identical, it would not be appropriate to make blanket announcements. What is an absolute is that we will investigate each instance as a possible grievance as we have in those previously done, while continuing to work with management in the implementation phase. From our experience, despite our disagreement and grievance over whether or not it’s right to abolish or revert any assignments, by working out the details of how it’s accomplished- we’re able to minimize the pain this inevitably causes. More information will be made available as soon as it’s in writing.

LABOR NGHT AT THE DOME
The June 1st game between the Minnesota Twins and the Tampa Bay Devil Ray’s is the AFL-CIO Union Industries Trade Union Night at the Metrodome. Reserved lower level seats are available for $16.00 each, by contacting the Branch 9 office. There will be a free picnic with hotdogs and pop for those attending this event with us on the Metrodome mall from 5:00 to 7:00pm (prior to the game at 7:05pm). Many raffle prizes will be given away on top of enjoying a great night of baseball with hundreds of other labor brothers and sisters! There are already over fifty Branch 9 members signed up, so don’t wait! Let’s PLAY BALL!!!

HOLIDAY SCHEDULE FOR MEMORIAL DAY
As a reminder to stewards and carriers alike, it’s not too early to begin reviewing the Memorial Day holiday work schedule. Prior planning is necessary to assure carriers have as much advance notice as possible of whether or not they’ll be needed to work on Saturday May 29. It also gives us a chance of working out problems and disagreements ahead of time.

Lenny and Pam

---

IMPORTANT NOTICE!!!
We were recently notified that bids for current carrier craft vacancies placed by phone through Postal Ease, during some portions of the week of April 19th , were "lost" due to some computer system problems! It is our recommendation that any carrier who placed a bid by phone at any time during the week of April 19th should reenter their bids. You may also call 1-800-222-2415 to check active bids in the system. If you have problems, you may also call Personnel at 651-293-3715 for assistance. Bidding on full time assignments is one of the most important choices a carrier can make.

PLEASE, DON’T LEAVE IT TO CHANCE! IF YOU BID DURING THE WEEK OF APRIL 19TH, REBID AND VERIFY YOUR SELECTION! Remember, it’s "buyer beware"!

FINAL PUSH FOR THE NALC FOOD DRIVE
The Food Drive is only days away, and we’ll need all of your help to make it successful! The Food Drive postcards should be delivered to our customers on Wednesday, May 5th or Thursday, May 6th. We also need all of you to call your favorite radio stations to remind them of this most worthy event! Remember, all of the food stays right in the community in which it was collected, and with the regular school year almost over, so too ends many of the meal programs the needy children rely upon. Please help by talking up the Food Drive where ever you go in the next 10 days and make this the most successful year ever for the Food Drive in Branch 9!
Lenny and Pam

---

(May 2004)

MEMORANDUMS, MORITORIUMS AND MAIL COUNTS
A recent memorandum (agreement) by the national parties deals with two main issues.

First, from April 3 through August 31, 2004, there is a moratorium (ban) on any route inspections and/or route adjustments. The parties at the national have been very clear that this ban is absolute. There are to be no "one day counts", no 3999’s (or often called 99’s) and no inspections- even if they were requests for special inspections that otherwise had met the criteria set out in the M-39. With the obvious plans by management to conduct large scale route inspections this spring in an effort to reduce the number of routes in each station, this ban will at least provide some relief.

Secondly, the memorandum instructed the locals to conduct a cased mail volume verification process. The memorandum requested that this verification process start April 5, 2004, but no later than April 12- even though we had only received information late in the day April 1, 2004. Obviously, we had many, many questions ranging from "how?" to "why?" We discussed these questions and concerns with our National Business Agent, Barry Weiner. We also had several conference calls with local management from Minneapolis and those managers who oversee all of our associate offices. We were able to come to agreement with all of them on issues of how we could best complete the tasks ordered by both of our national representatives.

There appears to be concern by the national parties that cased mail volumes are not being correctly or accurately recorded. The old adage "garbage in, garbage out" would certainly apply here. Obviously, cased mail volumes are a pivotal component of both the data used for route inspections and data used in DOIS or other programs that attempt to evaluate a carrier’s workload on a day to day basis. This concern has certainly been shared for quite some time by all of us here locally as well.
We do, however, have even greater concerns, as most of the calls from carriers and stewards across our area have echoed. Why should we, the union, be verifying a linear mail count? Even if the count were accurately being recorded, DOIS (or whatever method management uses to evaluate) does not realistically reflect the time needed to complete most assignments. Bottom line, the problem isn’t with the counting of the mail as much as it is with the calculated program used itself….namely DOIS.
Yes, we hear you, and we agree.

But, we also trust that out national president understands all of this, and more. President Young made this agreement only weeks after having attended and participating in the Committee of Presidents meeting in St. Louis. Lenny and Ron St. Clair were both in attendance as well, and have reported that President Young is keenly aware of the widespread mistrust carriers have in general with numbers. And more specifically at that meeting were reports of recent cases involving management’s manipulation and misrepresentation of numbers in several areas around the country involving time clock changes. It is our belief that all of these recent events played into President Young’s decision in signing this memorandum. We are confident in his ability to best protect and represent letter carriers! We are hopeful that this memorandum gives us a little clarity with regards to the proper counting of all of our cased mail volume (even if it’s only a linear count). Then a larger, more productive discussion on the flawed DOIS system can take place.

Please help our representatives on the floor who are charged with the responsibility of verifying these mail counts. Work with them to ensure that all of your mail is being counted as best you can. If you have questions, ask! The efforts required to accomplish these tasks are hefty, so let’s work together to make sure the results are worthy.

POSTAL REFORM
Committee meetings have concluded, and several legislators report that a Postal Reform bill may be proposed by the end of this month. Our office will release information as soon as it becomes available to us by way of our website, www.branch9nalc.com, a letter to your home (if you’re registered as an E-activist) and also by NEWS BY NINE notices. This IS an election year, so politics will be more unpredictable that usual. It is absolutely IMPERATIVE that each of us be involved! We simply cannot read what has happened to us in the newspaper after it’s all a done deal, we MUST be a big part of the process!

Lenny and Pam

---