National Association of Letter Carriers

I will start this month’s President’s Message with a special thank you to retired Lowell carrier Ken Bonin! Ken drew the cartoon highlighting the crimes against letter carriers on the back cover of this month’s Wake-Up! Ken has provided many cartoons for Branch 25 over the years, and we appreciate his talents. The issue of violent crimes against our Brothers and Sisters is the most critical issue we face as 2023 turns toward 2024. Help in addressing this issue may be on the way by the way of legislation. We hope a bill will be introduced soon to manage the cost of replacing the current Arrow Key system and funding more postal inspectors. These postal inspectors would be dedicated to crimes against letter carriers. Look for more information on this critical legislation shortly, including information on a possible NALC Day-of-Action to draw attention to this matter.

Branch 25 sent ten delegates to the NALC 2023 National Rap Session. The Rap Session was held November 17-19 in New Orleans, Louisiana. According to the NALC Constitution, the NALC holds a Rap Session in non-National Convention years. The weekend consisted of informational workshops and updates from NALC National President Brian Renfroe. President Renfroe spoke about the issue of violent crimes against letter carriers, which, as I said at the beginning of this message, is our number one priority issue at the moment. There have been over two thousand incidents of violent crime against letter carriers since the year 2020. Only 14% of these crimes resulted in both arrests and prosecutions. The upcoming legislation I previously mentioned was discussed, as were the different options being tested to replace the old Arrow Key system.

President Renfroe spoke about the collective bargaining process and where we are at regarding our next agreement. Currently, the NALC is preparing to take our case to arbitration. The door is still open to coming to a negotiated agreement, however. The NALC will continue to work towards the best possible outcome, whether through negotiation or taking our case to arbitration. We get a lot of questions about the contract, so I will give a summary of how it will work going forward. The first possibility is that the NALC can come to a negotiated agreement without going to arbitration. In that case, the new agreement will be sent out to all members to be voted on as a proposed agreement. If the membership votes in favor of the proposed agreement, then the agreement is ratified and takes effect.

If there is no negotiated agreement, then it heads to arbitration. The USPS and NALC will present their cases, and the arbitrator will decide on the agreement. Many members are already asking about back pay. There will be information on possible back-pay once the terms of our new agreement are finalized.

As of November 22, it is 186 days since the 2019-2023 National Agreement expired. The NALC’s Ed Morgan put together the following information on how long the previous agreements took to reach an arbitration decision or ratification by membership vote:

• 2019-23 — 535 days
• 2016-19 — 444 days
• 2011-16 — 417 days
• 2006-11 — 322 days
• 2001-05 — 217 days
• 1998-01 — 303 days

That’s an average of 373 days over the previous six agreements. That’s not to say how long this one will take, but it puts some perspective on the process. At the November branch meeting a motion was approved by the membership to fund the following delegates to the 2024 National Convention in Boston:

• Tony Bossi
• Andy Coan
• Bob Cronin
• Rich Donlon
• Ken Dusombre
• Bruce Johnson
• James Metilinos
• Doug Murray
• Jim Nutter
• Gilbert Paredes
• Steve Pickett
• Tony Porciello
• Jeremy Provost
• Jim Salvati
• Joe Stearns
• James Tuttle

Myself and Executive Vice-Presidenst Paul Desmond are automatic delegates per our branch by-laws. The December branch meeting will feature Chinese food instead of the usual pizza! I hope to see you there! I wish all members of Branch 25 a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

In Solidarity,

Daniel P. Wheeler

We all know there has been a critical need for new vehicles for some time now. The LLVs have needed replacement for a long time. As we all eagerly await the arrival of the new vehicles, we hear of a recent influx of Dodge Promaster vehicles in the district. The Promaster is not new to the Postal Service. It has been around for a few years now. I think most offices have at least, a few. For those who don’t know, the Promaster is a cargo van. Many contractors and other delivery companies use these. They are left-hand drive vehicles with front doors that open wide, much like a regular passenger vehicle door, unlike an LLV door, which slides open. The Promaster is also higher than an LLV, meaning entering and exiting the vehicle requires more effort. I mention all this because we are just starting to see this new group of vehicles being pushed out into our offices.

The potential problem is that there may be issues that come along with this. Most of the routes that currently are assigned Promasters are Park & Loop routes. However, we are getting reports that routes with a large amount of dismount or Box-on-Post delivery will be given one of these vehicles. The first problem is this may be a safety issue depending on the route. If a carrier with dismount delivery will be using a Promaster instead of an LLV, the physical mechanics of entering and exiting the vehicle are much different. If a carrier with Box-on-Post delivery is being told they are now to make these deliveries as dismounts, then that may be a safety issue. It may also be a logistical issue as well. There are reports that carriers are being told to “just dismount“ these deliveries or “Park & Loop them”. However, these instructions apparently don’t come with any guidance from management other than to figure it out.

If anyone is assigned a Promaster as their new vehicle and has any issues with how it affects their daily routine, please let your steward or the branch office know so we can check into it and address any possible issues that may arise because of this.

The TIAREAP process has been slow in the branch lately. Dracut, Wayland, and the offices in the Woburn building have gone through the process, and the adjustments have been implemented. These offices will start hitting the 90-day mark evaluation metric soon. According to M-01983, the District Lead Team will review the adjustment data within 90 days of implementation of the adjustments to determine if a follow-up evaluation is necessary. Unlike previous joint processes, reviewing the adjustment data for TIAREAP is mandatory. In previous processes, a review could be called for by either side. More offices within the branch are still on the list to be evaluated under TIAREAP, but as of now, we have not been notified of any dates for this to happen. The TIAREAP MOU ends on December 31, 2023, but selected offices will continue in the process.

Unfortunately, armed robberies of letter carriers continue to take place both nationwide and locally. A Lowell letter carrier was the subject of one of these crimes at the very end of September. Luckily for the carrier, the incident went as well as it could have, and there was no physical harm done to the carrier. Undoubtedly, more needs to be done to protect our carriers out there and punish the criminals who are robbing them. There have been over 2000 violent crimes committed against letter carriers since the year 2000. In 2022, only 14% of violent crimes against letter carriers resulted in both arrests and prosecutions. The Postal Service is currently testing new mailbox lock systems to deter crime. Still, a recent Inspector General report labeled the Postal Service’s plans as “incomplete and yielding few results” so far. The NALC has been working on this issue as their top priority, and the hope is that a bill will be announced soon. This bill will call for total funding of the arrow key system replacement nationwide. It would also give funding for additional postal inspectors dedicated to these crimes and stricter sentencing guidelines. Look for more information on how you can help the NALC bring attention to this critical issue soon!

In Solidarity,

Daniel P. Wheeler

Suddenly, the nighttime temperatures are dropping; we notice it is not staying light as long as it used to, and we are even starting to see a few stray leaves falling. These are all signs summer is winding down, and fall is upon us. If fall is upon us, winter will be here before we know it. The coming seasons mean changes in the challenges letter carriers face in their day-to-day routines are coming as well. In the summer, the big issue for us is heat safety. Many of the challenges we face as letter carriers are not seasonal dependent. The constant walking, bending, lifting, reaching, and repetitive motions are present year-round. Fall and winter bring about new challenges and add to some of the existing challenges.

The first challenge is the loss of daylight to work in. Right now, the last daylight is around 7 p.m. By the end of October; the last light will be at just about 6 p.m. By the end of November, it will be dark before 5 p.m. Rapid light loss means more letter carriers will deliver mail in the dark. Delivering mail in the dark as a general principle is not unsafe; however, it absolutely could be. In a perfect world, our offices would be staffed well enough to get most of the carriers off the street promptly, but we know that’s not the case in the real world. When it gets dark, we lose the ability to see in our immediate surroundings and greater field of view. Losing the ability to see in our immediate surroundings means we are less likely to see tripping or slipping hazards. Losing our greater field of view means we are less likely to see things such as dogs or other threats coming towards us. Once winter comes and snow and ice are added to the darkness, it becomes an even more significant safety issue.

Every letter carrier should prioritize their safety because, most of the time, management will not! While darkness alone is not a blanket reason for not delivering mail, many contributing factors could make it unsafe. Those factors could be wet leaves, snow or ice covering the walkways, difficulty navigating stairs, or inability to see the actual delivery points. Remember that management will often offer or issue headlamps or flashlights to use. These are not authorized equipment, and you cannot be required to use them.

Inclement weather is always a challenge for letter carriers, whether dark or not. I said it once already, but it bears repeating. Every letter carrier should prioritize their safety! In the summer, when it rains, the streets dry out when it’s over. In the fall, when it rains, the water gets trapped under the fallen leaves and causes slipping hazards. Once the snow and ice come, we all know what kind of challenges that presents. Accidents are unforeseen by definition. Some are unavoidable, but the more we know about our safety, the more chance we have to get through the day safely.

Unfortunately, we get many calls from injured letter carriers at the branch office. I would guess that no letter carrier makes it through their career uninjured. I would also imagine most letter carriers who work long enough don’t make it through without filing at least one worker’s comp claim. We are lucky to have people trained to assist members at the branch level with their claims and have Regional Workers Comp Assistant Dave Barbuzzi’s knowledge to rely on. No one plans on having an accident or getting injured. When injuries occur, it can be a confusing process for those who have never dealt with it. I would encourage all active members to register through the Department of Labor with ECOMP (Employee Compensation Operations and Management Portal). ECOMP makes it much easier than it used to be for injured employees to file claims. Filing a claim through ECOMP instead of filing a paper claim through local management gives the employee more control of the claim process. It takes away the potential of management to delay the process. Registering for an account in ECOMP is quick and easy. You don’t need to have an injury claim to sign up. In the best-case scenario, you may never need to use ECOMP, but by signing up beforehand, you can save yourself a step once the need arises. There is a QR Code on the back cover of this issue which will take you directly to the ECOMP site.

In Solidarity,

Daniel P. Wheeler

Correction: In the September 2023 Wake Up Peter Torrisi’s name was printed incorrectly as Torissi a couple of times. Our apologies to Brother Torrisi for the error.

As the summer winds down and we start to head into fall, letter carriers are still dealing with some lingering issues that have been prevalent throughout the branch this summer. Management continues to push their made-up metrics on us in many offices. One of those is carriers are still being told they should only be using twenty-two minutes to load their vehicles in the morning. I have talked about this before, but it bears repeating since we still hear management pushing this in some offices. Did management think up this twenty-two-minute metric themselves? They did not. They took this from the Technology Integrated Alternate Route Evaluation and Adjustment Process (TIAREAP) route adjustment process and worked it into a carrier’s everyday routine. This is not what twenty-two minutes refers to. The twenty-two-minute loading time is just a parameter to be looked at when adjustment teams are reviewing data within the TIAREAP process. It’s not a real-world number carriers can be held to. As is the case with delivery, it takes what it takes to load your vehicle. There are different factors for each office and each route within each office. It may take less than twenty-two minutes of loading time, or it may take more than double that time to load your vehicle.

The other number we are seeing is sixty minutes. Management has decided that sixty minutes is a nice tidy time for carriers to be in the office in the morning and that no one should take any longer. This metric doesn’t come from TIAREAP but seems to be something someone came up with somewhere. Like the twenty-two minutes of loading time, sixty minutes of office time is just an arbitrary time. It may take a carrier less than sixty minutes in the office or longer than that due to many different factors. There are certainly standards and numbers that do apply to our jobs as letter carriers. If management tells carriers they only have a certain amount of time to do something, they may be making that number up. Please let your steward or the branch office know if this is an issue in your office.

We get a lot of questions about the next National Agreement. As of the writing of this article, I don’t have any exact information to pass along. Our current agreement, which expired in May, remains in effect. From what I have heard, it seems like an agreement may be coming soon. If the National parties do agree, that agreement will be sent out to each member as the new Proposed National Agreement. Each member will have the opportunity to review it and then cast their vote either for or against. I encourage each member to take the time to do so if that time comes. If no agreement is reached, the process will proceed to arbitration. The NALC and USPS will then make their cases to the arbitrator, who will then make a binding decision. Hopefully, this front will have good news in the coming weeks.

The Technology Integrated Alternate Route Evaluation and Adjustment Process (TIAREAP) continues to move along slowly. The first two offices in the branch, Dracut and Wayland, have been completed. The seven offices in the Woburn Sorting and Delivery Center—Burlington, Lynnfield, North Reading, Reading, Wakefield, Wilmington and Winchester—are in various stages of the process. Currently, the following offices are on the list to be part of the process: Amesbury, Gloucester, Ipswich, Lawrence, Marblehead, Peabody, Sudbury and Tewksbury. There are still no scheduled dates for any of these offices. At the current pace of the process, there’s no telling how long it will take to get to all the offices on the list. The TIAREAP ...

In Solidarity,

Daniel P. Wheeler

I begin this month’s President’s Report by thanking everyone who attended the June 27 branch meeting, a make-up meeting from March’s snow-canceled meeting. It was the second meeting in June. We had a great turnout, and I appreciate everyone who made the effort to attend one or both June meetings. A special thank you also goes out to Branch 25 Sergeant at Arms Doug Murray, who grilled burgers and hotdogs for everyone before the meeting. Thanks to Branch 25 Secretary Joe Stearns, who also helped Doug set up and cook.

Every letter carrier knows that heat is one of the biggest safety issues we face at work. Postal management should also be aware of this, but the fact is, in many instances, they either aren’t or are but don’t care. Dallas Letter Carrier Eugene Gates Jr. collapsed while delivering mail on his route on June 20. He was taken to the hospital, where he died the same day. Brother Gates was 66 years old and had 36 years of service as a letter carrier. The heat index in Dallas, TX on June 20 was 113 degrees at 3 PM. Unfortunately, Brother Gates is not the first letter to die from heat-related illness. In 2012, John Watzlawick died while delivering mail in the heat in Kansas City, Missouri. Watzlawick had told management that he felt ill from the heat before his death. In 2019, mail carrier Peggy Frank was found dead in her LLV in Woodland Hills, California. The temperatures reached over 115 degrees in California that day. A 2020 analysis of OSHA records showed that OSHA issued over $1.3 million in initial fines against the Postal Service for heat hazards in eight years.

Branch 132 President Kimetra Lewis reported she received a message from a concerned employee at the Oak Lawn Post Office, also in Dallas, who said management had sent a message to Oak Lawn letter carriers on their scanner that read: “BEAT THE HEAT!!! NO STATIONARY EVENTS; KEEP IT MOVING!”

Lewis said she is worried that monitoring stationary events will make carriers put their health at risk in hot temperatures to avoid discipline. “In light of everything that has happened to Eugene Gates, I find the scanner message to be a slap in the face,” Lewis said in a statement to News Station WFAA. “Letter carriers are human beings before they are postal workers. The fact that they chose a career that dictates they work outdoors does not remove the need for the Postal Service to be concerned about their safety and well-being. After reading that message and finding out about the discipline Eugene received, I questioned where is the sensitivity of the Postal Service.”

Postal management may not be aware of the heat issues we deal with, but now Congress is. A group of Congressional Democrats, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Rep. Jasmie Crockett (D-TX), have reached out for answers from the Postmaster General about working conditions for postal workers following the death of a Dallas letter carrier. The letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy specifically brings up the death of Brother Gates. “We write to express our deep concerns over the working conditions and labor policies of the United States Postal Service, specifically with respect to letters carriers,” the letter reads.

The letter also mentions the other letter carriers who have died of heat-related illness in recent years. “Despite these numerous and continued violations, it appears the Postal Service has yet to comprehensively address this issue and adopt nationwide work conditions policies that prevent these avoidable, tragic deaths.” the members wrote in the letter. They requested a response to their letter by July 21.

We talk about heat safety a lot, but it can’t be discussed too much. Every letter carrier must prioritize looking out for themselves because Postal management won’t! I’m embarrassed to say that as I write this article, Branch 25 has paid to provide water in four of the offices we represent because none was available from the Post Office. The stewards in these offices, and in one case, a CCA, purchased this water themselves on the Branch’s behalf. This is unacceptable in 2023! With all the focus the Post Office claims to put on heat safety, there is no excuse for not having an appropriate supply of water going into the summer season. If your office lacks water at any point, please let the Branch office know immediately and take care of yourself out there. You may be the only person who does!

In Solidarity,

Daniel P. Wheeler

It is unclear when the 365-day calendar was first used, probably around five thousand years ago by the ancient Egyptians. The fact of the matter is that we settled on 365 days per year at some point. It should go without saying no two days in the year are exactly alike. There is only one June 1, and there aren’t two October 4th’s. December 25 does not repeat itself. If it is so apparent that every day is different, why does Postal management continue to push that every day should be like another? I am referring to management’s use of data from a one-day PS 3999 to try and make a letter carrier’s time for any given day comparable to a time they demonstrated on the day the 3999 was performed.

Let us take it from the beginning. M-39 (Management of Delivery Services); Section 141.2 gives management the right to conduct a one-day count of mail on a letter carrier’s route. The carrier must be given a prior days’ notice of this count, and the results are recorded on PS Form 1838-C and should be shared with the carrier. Management also has the right to perform street supervision on a letter carrier. Handbook M-39, Section 134 says carriers can expect daily supervision on the street, the same as in the office. When management goes out with a letter carrier for one day, it’s often referred to as “walking the route” or “doing a 99” due to the fact the results are recorded on PS Form 3999 (Inspection of Letter Carrier Route). Unlike the day’s prior notice when counting mail, there is no advance notice required to be given when management performs a 3999. These requirements are counterintuitive to many letter carriers. Having someone follow you around all day is more intrusive to your day than someone counting your mail in the office, but that’s how it is.

I am explaining this process because of management’s recent push to perform 3999s on letter carriers and what they do with the data they collect. We are currently under the mutually agreed upon process of TIAREAP (Technology Integrated Alternate Route Evaluation and Adjustment Process). The only way that any route can be adjusted during the duration of this agreement is through the TIAREAP process. While management has the right to perform a 3999 on a carrier, what they can do with this data is limited. The first thing they are trying to do in many instances is to set up a performance standard they will try to hold you to every other day. As I said at the beginning of this article, every day is different. If they walk your route today and it takes you a certain amount of time, it does not mean that’s what time it will take you tomorrow or the next day. They may use 3999 data from a Tuesday with light mail and then try to say you should be able to complete your route on any other given day in the same amount of time.

Another one they like to use is saying, “We walked you on a Thursday, and you did it in eight, so why can’t you do it this Thursday in eight?” It is worth noting Postal management has a knack for walking routes on exceptionally light days.

Unlike office time, where there is a standard of 18 and 8 for casing mail, there is no standard on the street. There is no standard for how fast you should walk. If you do the job safely and to the best of your ability, you make standards on the street! Management does not like to believe that every day is different, and every route is different. That means more work for them. It is much easier to determine that every day should be the same and every route the same. When management tells you the time you showed on a previous day’s evaluation means you should be doing the same thing today, politely remind them no two days are exactly alike. As they often are at this time of year, local management is under instruction to leave a certain percentage of routes open due to projected downtime. Downtime, undertime, or pivot time is what they refer to as time a carrier is available to do additional work because your route won’t take the full eight hours. You may or not have downtime on any given day because ... every day is different! You don’t have downtime just because management says you do, because you had it the day of your 3999, or because you had it last Wednesday.

If you have not realized by now, my key takeaway is every day is different! Management has the right to perform street supervision and collect data from their observations, but they do not have the right to use the data to harass letter carriers to conform to their idea of appropriate street times. Each carrier is responsible for determining that. You may have downtime, you may need exactly eight hours, or you may need additional time. The carrier’s responsibility is to notify management and let them decide what to do with that information.

In Solidarity,

Daniel P. Wheeler

Many letter carriers may have noticed more certified mail pieces in their DPS over the last month. The increased certified letters are not by accident but by design. Of course, like they usually do, the Postal Service has dropped the ball in their messaging. You would think if there was going to be a significant change in how certified letters would be handled going forward, the service would make an effort to notify us letter carriers ... the people who deliver them. That does not seem to be the case from what I am hearing. The Postal Service announced on March 29, 2023, that procedures would change for handling certified letters. They will no longer be held out of the DPS and will be processed as any first-class letter will be. According to the Postal Service, 170 million certified mail pieces were processed last year. They have determined the fact that certified letters were given special handling by pulling them out of the DPS led to poor delivery performance. Letter carriers are being given incorrect information in many offices. Perhaps, local management is too lazy in many instances to find out what is happening, so instead, they just tell the carriers that certified mail is no longer considered accountable mail.

In some cases, management is even giving service talks about this. This is not true. Certified mail is still accountable mail, the same as it always has been. Certified mail arriving in the DPS should be handled per Section 335.16 of Handbook M-41. The fact that the letter came in the DPS does not change the requirement of getting a signature for the letter and a signed return receipt if necessary. The number of certified letters you find in your DPS on any given day may be enough to change the time it will take to complete your route on that day. If this is the case, you should send a message through your scanner to your supervisor notifying them of the additional time required. I have been saying for a few years that management does not seem to care about the mail anymore unless it has a barcode on it so they can “clear” their lists. It should not surprise me that many managers tell carriers that certified letters are no longer accountable and carriers should just scan and deliver them. We need to remember that we are the United States Postal Service. We must follow the correct procedures when the customer has paid for a specific service. If anyone gets incorrect instructions from their local manager, please inform your shop steward or the branch office.

The 2023 Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive is approaching. I encourage every letter carrier to participate in this year’s Food Drive. Many of our fellow community members are struggling, even in some of the more affluent communities in Branch 25. Everyone in the Postal Service supports this Food Drive, and it is an excellent way for letter carriers to help in the communities where they work and live. 2023 is the second consecutive “in-person” Food Drive since the COVID-19 Pandemic canceled the regular drives for a few years. I would encourage every senior letter carrier to make a point to speak with one of our newer carriers who may not be fully aware of what the Food Drive is all about to let them know its importance.

We receive quite a few calls regarding OWCP at the branch office. Often, one of our first questions to the member is, “Have you registered for ECOMP yet?” or “Can you log in to ECOMP and check?” ECOMP is the Employees’ Compensation Operations & Management Portal. ECOMP is where an employee’s work-related injury information, a CA-1 or CA-2 you filled out, medical bills, and medical documentation, among other information about your claim, is uploaded and stored digitally. ECOMP is a great tool and much better than the old system of funneling everything through your local management and hoping they do what they are supposed to do. Every letter carrier should sign up for ECOMP whether they have been injured or not. You may never need to use it, which would be great. However, if you do need it, as many of us eventually do, it is easier to submit a claim if you are already signed up. If you have previously filed paper claims, it is helpful to sign up also because you will have instant access to that information if you need it in the future. You can go to www.ecomp.dol.gov to sign up or scan the QR code on Page 3 on your mobile device. Feel free to call the branch office if you have any questions regarding signing up.

In Solidarity,

Daniel P. Wheeler

I have seen a lot of clipboards lately. No, I'm not about to get into some weird dreams I have been having. I'm not hallucinating either; these clipboards are attached to actual people. These people are not letter carriers, however. Letter carriers don't have much need for clipboards. We have a few up here at the branch office, although we don't really use them. A clipboard itself is not something to be concerned about. However, a clipboard in the wrong hands is something for us to worry about. The people using these clipboards are Postal management, usually from the district or HQ level, but sometimes local management as well. These clipboard-wielding managers are likely to pop up just about anywhere at any time. They seem to have been congregating in a couple of places lately. One office where they have been seen recently has been on management's radar because carriers from a few other offices were reassigned to work there.

Like many offices in our branch and around the country, staffing is an issue in this office. The Service is struggling to schedule enough carriers to deliver the mail, but there does not seem to be the same struggle to find Postal management to watch over the carriers and take notes on their clipboards. The problem is the Postal Service, as the old saying goes, can’t see the forest for the trees. I understand management has a right to manage, and there may even be some positive things they can learn from these notes. Carriers are working long days and late hours due to staffing issues. Before the clipboards came out, carriers had not even been given full and proper instructions on operating procedures in the new work location.

There have been different reasons for the clipboards showing up in other offices. Sometimes, it has been because the office is undergoing or about to undergo the TIAREAP process. In another case, it was because management was “looking for inefficiencies” in an office where there are not enough carriers to deliver the mail consistently, as our customers deserve. The Postal Service should have brought me in to assess the situation because I already see the inefficiencies. The inefficiency is the lack of bodies on the routes. They should probably start there. To use another old saying, this is like “rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic”. What good does it do to look for savings of seconds or minutes when we all know the big problem in front of us? Perhaps these people could have been better allocated to finding more employees for these offices.

Management has the right to manage. They have the right to bring in managers from the district or HQ level. However, like local management, they need to follow the rules of the National Agreement and common courtesy when dealing with our members. We have had some issues in offices where we have needed to reach out to make this happen. If your office is seeing increased management presence, please be aware they may have the right to be there doing whatever it is they are doing. They do not have the right to go about it however they please. If you receive instruction that doesn’t seem right from one of these people or by proxy from local management, please contact your shop steward or the branch office.

I also wanted to mention a few things about retirement this month. As of February 2023, the Office of Personal Management (OPM) has a backlog of about 23,000 retirement cases to be processed. Their goal is to have 13,000, so they are roughly 55% over their goal of cases waiting to be processed. If you are looking to retire, you should plan on a 6-month leeway to get everything set up through USPS Human Resources Shared Services (HRSSC). Employees looking to retire first apply for retirement through HRSSC, and then the retirement is approved by OPM. Due to the backlog of cases, they may offer group counseling sessions to review retirement benefits. We are entitled to individual counseling, and you cannot be made to be part of a group session. Some people don’t mind the group setting, so the choice is up to you. There have also been many complaints of OPM phone system issues. Callers report being on hold for over an hour, and many members report their calls being dropped at some point. There is an OPM email address that some members have said can help get a response. If you want to contact OPM via email instead of the phone, the email address is retired@opm.gov. You should put your CSA number, name, and issue in the email’s subject line.

In Solidarity,

Dan Wheeler

N.B. ... By making a contribution to the National Association of Letter Carriers’ Political Fund (LCPF), you are doing so voluntarily with the understanding that your contribution is not a condition of membership in the National Association of Letter Carriers or of your employment by the U.S. Postal Service, nor is it part of union dues. You may refuse to contribute without any reprisal. The LCPF will use the money it receives to contribute to candidates for federal office and undertake other political spending as permitted by law. Your selection shall remain in full force and effect until canceled. Contributions to the LCPF are not deductible for federal income tax purposes. Federal law prohibits the LCPF from soliciting contributions from individuals who are not NALC members, executive and administrative staff or their families. Any contribution received from such an individual will be refunded to that contributor.

I have always been interested in history. It seems to be one of those things you are excited about or not. I can, and will if given the chance, bore someone to death with my family genealogy. Luckily for you, I’m not going to get into any of my family histories here. Instead, I wanted to go over some of Branch 25’s history. Hopefully, it’s more interesting to you than my family’s history would be. Branch 25 was chartered in Lowell on April 11, 1890. In fact, if you read our current charter the language still reads Branch 25 “shall be housed in Lowell, Massachusetts”. So, Branch 25 started in 1890 in Lowell, right? Well ... sort of. When the NALC started granting charters to local branches, they started at number one. Detroit, Michigan was granted the first charter in 1886 as Branch 1. No more charters were officially granted until four years later, in 1890. At this point they really got going, handing out about 200 more charters by year’s end. Lowell Branch 25 was the fourth Massachusetts branch to be chartered after Lynn Branch 7, Worcester Branch 12, and New Bedford Branch 18.

Jump ahead about 85 years to the 1970s, bringing us to where Branch 25, as we now know it, really started. In the early part of this decade, Wakefield Branch 341 was making an effort to create a bigger merged branch made up of multiple offices. On May 1, 1975, Wakefield merged with six other offices: Winchester Branch 243, Reading Branch 767, Chelmsford Branch 4383, Lynnfield Branch 4490, Wilmington Branch 4524, and Billerica Branch 4546. The merger of these seven offices created Massachusetts Northeast Wakefield Branch 341. So, Branch 25 got its official start way back in 1890 but it was not until 1975 that Branch 25, with the offices currently making up the branch, came to be. Burlington, Concord, and Sudbury merged in 1978. Also, in 1978 Branch 341 started to publish a newsletter titled Wake Up! In 1980 Andover, Bedford, and Tewksbury were brought into Branch 341 bringing the number of offices in the branch to thirteen. This is the point where Branch 25 comes back into the picture. On May 1, 1981, Branch 341 merged with Lowell Branch 25 and became Massachusetts Northeast Merged Branch 25. When two branches merged the lower number takes precedence, which is why 25 became the new number. When the original 1975 merger took place, Winchester Branch 243 had a lower number than Wakefield, but it was kept as 341. I am not sure why this happened.

Between 1982-85, North Chelmsford, Holliston, Wayland, and Amesbury merged with Branch 25 leaving the branch with eighteen offices by the end of the decade. The 1990s would see two more offices merging: Newburyport and Acton. The 2000’s saw Haverhill Branch 26, Salem, Marblehead, and Manchester from Branch 152 and Merrimac Branch 3240 merge into Branch 25 as well. In 2013 Branch 25 and Massachusetts North Shore Merged Branch 33, “The BEST Little Branch in America”, merged. This added Beverly, Danvers, Peabody, Gloucester, Ipswich, Rockport, South Hamilton, and Topsfield. Last year we merged with Lawrence Branch 212, which included Lawrence, North Andover, and Methuen. All these mergers bring us up to the 39 cities and towns currently represented by the branch ... almost.

There are three offices I could not find an exact merger date for: Dracut, North Reading, and Maynard. There are LMOU’s for these offices dating back to 1981 so it was sometime before then. It could be these offices were in with another office or just that those specific records have been lost to time. If anyone reading this remembers that far back and could chime in with the information, please let me know.

The week of February 20 started the opening of talks for the next round of collective bargaining between the NALC and the USPS. I believe this is the most important contract negotiation in my time as a letter carrier. I know the “this is the most important ...” line is used often, especially in presidential elections. The current state of the Postal Service and therefore letter carriers, is at a turning point right now. We are about a year away from the COVID&$45;19 pandemic being a driving force in our lives and work lives and much has changed in the last couple of years. I wrote last month about some of the issues we are facing right now and will continue to face going forward. We will have a lot of dedicated people, on our side, down in Washington D.C. working on the next agreement and I have faith they will work towards the goals we need to achieve as a Union. We will have to wait and see if we can get a negotiated contract again this time or if we will have to go to arbitration. Time will tell.

Either way, my hope is that we will achieve an outcome that is good for letter carriers, the USPS, and the millions of customers we serve every day. Saturday, May 13 will be the 30th annual Letter Carriers’ “Stamp Out Hunger” food drive. The date is still two months away but it’s not too early to start thinking about it. Last year was the first in-person food drive since the pandemic hit. Over the history of the food drive, letter carriers have picked up almost 2 billion pounds of food. This food has gone to food banks and pantries to be given to those in the most need. We have no shortage of people in need right here in the communities served by Branch 25. We will be getting promotional materials out to the offices soon. I hope all letter carriers will do their part to make this year’s food drive a success.

In Solidarity

Dan Wheeler

Most letter carriers are familiar with the clear plastic bags that start with the words “We care” in big letters. These are the bags mail gets put into when its damaged or shredded to the point where there is only enough left of the mail piece to bag it up. “We care” ... but in the end, your letter was still shredded, and the contents are gone. The title of this month’s President’s Message is similar to the “We care” message and it’s the message that many carriers have been getting from the Postal Service lately. Unfortunately, for letter carriers, the message has not started with “We care” but instead ended with it. In last month’s President’s Message, I wrote about the staffing shortages many of our offices are facing and some of the reasons why they exist. I wrote “the contract is the contract ... they still need to follow the contract.” The problem is management often struggles to do things properly, including following the contract. With the current staffing issues it makes following the contract and proper scheduling of letter carriers all the more important. I understand that doing things properly won’t fix the bigger issues or make everyone happy. The problem is that when management takes the approach of having to get the mail delivered at all costs it is a losing formula, especially for us letter carriers.

I understand we are in the delivery business. That’s what we do; we deliver the mail. However, there are limits to what we can do physically and mentally. The fact of the matter is letter carriers are being pushed to the breaking point more and more lately. Letter carriers need days off, they need days where they can plan to punch out at a reasonable time, they need to know they are not going to be forced to go work in another installation on almost no prior notice. The message the Postal Service is sorry but that is just the way it is, does not cut it. Last month we had a PTF who was sent to work in another office on the employee’s very first day on their own after finishing training with their on-the-job instructor. How is that a recipe for success when it comes to keeping new employees? We know for a fact we are struggling to hire and keep new employees. Shouldn’t there be some kind of emphasis on keeping the ones who do get that far?

Until the Postal Service starts to think more about their employees mental and physical health and well-being and backs off the “get it done at all costs” method, it will only get worse. Letter carriers who are close to retirement but planned on staying a little longer will just go now. Letter carriers who are new to the job will look down the tunnel without seeing the light and will just quit. Letter carriers will end up getting injured. The change in attitude must come from every level. Many managers convey they feel bad but must do what they have to do. I do believe many do feel bad but well wishes and sympathy don’t cut it when the actions don’t match up with the words. We will continue to file all appropriate grievances and continue to spread the message that in the end, although we are a delivery business, we are a people business too! No people = no delivery = no business. Please continue to let your steward or the branch office know when violations are happening in your office. I know they are aware of the staffing challenges at the national level. Although any changes they make may not come as fast as we would like, hopefully we will see some steps taken to alleviate these hiring and retention challenges going forward.

I also wrote about the scary trend of letter carriers getting robbed for their arrow keys in last month’s President’s Message. In an unfortunate case of foreshadowing on my part, one of our own Branch 25 carriers was involved in such an incident shortly after. Luckily for that carrier, the incident left him unharmed physically. The robbery happened in the middle of the day and was recorded on a customer’s home camera. The robber lingered around a corner and when the carrier went to his vehicle he came around and took the carrier’s key at gunpoint. Even though I wrote it last month the following bears repeating: If you find yourself in a similar situation, give up your keys, vehicle, mail, or whatever else they are looking for. All of that stuff is replaceable; you are not! Hopefully, these incidents are causing the Postal Service to accelerate their response to this problem. I know the NALC is working with the Service at the national level to come up with some possible solutions.

In Solidarity

Dan Wheeler

I start this month’s President Report by wishing all the members of Branch 25 a Happy New Years! Aside from January being the start to a new calendar year, January is also a new start to things here in Branch 25. This is my first article titled President’s Report instead of Vice-President’s Report. I will once again like to thank outgoing Branch 25 President Dave Barbuzzi for all of his hard work in that position over the last 12 years. I hope to continue with the hard work and dedication he has brought to that position in his time here. We have 2 other members of the Branch 25 Executive Council starting in new roles as well. Tony Bossi, of Billerica, has been appointed a s Vice-President and Joe Stearns, of Marblehead, has been appointed as the new branch secretary. Congratulations to Tony and Joe on their new positions!

Unfortunately, not everything starts fresh just because the calendar changes. One of the biggest problems that the Postal Service is facing is the lack of hiring and keeping new CCAs. Proper staffing is pretty much where it all starts. If the Service can’t get enough employees in place to get the job done then everything else is strained. In sports they say “Winning cures everything.” You could say that in the Post Office staffing cures everything. That is not to say if the offices were properly staffed we would never have any other problems. We would still have contractual violations, mismanagement, and safety concerns among other issues, but things would be better.

Why can’t the Postal Service hire or retain more employees? There are probably many different answers to that question. I think one of the biggest reasons is the CCA designation. CCAs were created as part of what is referred to as the Das Award. Arbitrator Shyam Das chaired the arbitration board that settled the 2011-2016 National Agreement. The NALC would always prefer to have an all-career workforce but at the time the Service had a good argument they needed flexibility. That is not really the case anymore. In fact, in May the Service agreed to skip CCAs and start hiring all career carriers in certain locations. They have since added more locations to the original list. If we had the ability to hire career employees, we would be drawing from a bigger pool of candidates. If you need benefits immediately, the Postal Service is probably not on your radar as a potential landing spot.

Carrying mail is a hard job, when compounded by the additional pressures and challenges placed on carriers by management, it doesn’t make the job any easier. If you are going to take a job that doesn’t offer immediate benefits are you going to work at the Post Office or someplace like Target or Dunkin? Are you going to do a physical job where, unfortunately in too many places, you’re getting beat down by management, or the easier work? My hope is that sometime soon we will go back to hiring all career employees everywhere, and not just in certain locations. Will that be a substantive change in keeping employees? I like to think so, but we will see.

For now, we press on, doing the best we can. The contract is still the contract. We still need to push back on management where we need to and file appropriate grievances. Unfortunately, there is not always a perfect answer. In a perfect world they would not need to force non-overtime list carriers to work their days off or to carry extra off their routes. The fact is there are many offices without enough carriers on the OT list to be able not to force. Some carriers also end up getting off the OT list because it becomes too much. This is where CCAs and PTFs should come in. The problem is when we look around in many offices there are none to be found. We still need to make sure management is doing things properly. Just because they need to go “off the list” doesn’t mean anything goes. They still need to follow the contract and force properly. Please talk with your steward or the branch office if things are not being done properly.

A couple of months ago I wrote about carrier safety and the increase in robberies and assaults on letter carriers while delivering mail. I will end with two stories regarding safety. On December 21, police arrested two teenagers for a December 10 armed robbery of a Melrose letter carrier. The carrier had made a delivery where two teenagers were sitting on an outside step. When the carrier returned the vehicle, the teenagers pointed an airsoft pistol and knife at her and took her key. Police later saw a suspicious vehicle at a collection box and found the two teenagers with stolen mail and the key and made the arrests. Fortunately, for the Melrose letter carrier the outcome was not tragic. Unfortunately, a carrier did lose his life on December 9 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Aundre Cross was shot and killed while delivering his route. It’s not clear if this was an attempted robbery or not but it’s another tragic death none the less. My condolences go out to Brother Cross’ family and his co-workers. Stay safe out there Brothers and Sisters!

In Solidarity

Dan Wheeler