April NBA Article
Letter Carrier Heroes
Recently one of Region 5’s own, Kyle Mailman, yes that’s his real name, was honored as a recipient of the Vigilant Hero Award, Kyle is from Branch 201 Wichita Kansas. Kyle has been carrying mail for about two years and while delivering his route noticed a strong smell of natural gas. He knocked on the door alerting the woman who lived there she need to get out and call authorities. He could tell that she was already experiencing the effects of gas poisoning. The gas company dispatched workers who found not only a faulty outdoor valve but also another inside the house in the gas fireplace. Kyle’s quick action certainly may have saved the woman’s life as well as those of her neighbors. Way to go Kyle!
I recently received a letter from President Brian Renfroe acknowledging the efforts of letter carrier Kelli Reed from Lincoln, Nebraska Branch 8 when she assisted an elderly woman that had fallen, by calling 911 and comforting the woman until help arrived. Kelli was nominated for recognition as a local hero. Great job Kelli!
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Region 5 heroes. I am sure that I am missing other carriers that are heroes in every sense of the word. I will try to include others in future articles. If you know someone from your branch that is a hero, please reach out to me.
Letter Carrier’s Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive
Saturday May 11, 2024, letter carriers from across the nation will conduct a one-day food drive. Please join letter carriers across the country in this worthwhile event that helps those in need. I want to thank all of you that participate in this worthwhile event each year. I know the frustration, sacrifice, and effort letter carriers make each year when they collect food during the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive in addition to carrying their routes. Your efforts are very much appreciated by those in our communities that depend on this food in order to feed themselves and their children. Although they may not know exactly how that food arrived at the food pantry it plays a vital role in many people’s lives. Over 44 million people each year in the US have issues with food insecurity or the inability to buy food. 1 in 8 adults and 1 in 5 children have food insecurity issues. Thanks for all your efforts!
DRT Issues
In last month’s article I stated that we had meetings scheduled in Troy Michigan to discuss the Dispute Resolution Process. The service indicated that they would take new arguments out of their impasse positions and not continue to make those new arguments at Step B. They also indicated that they would bundle like decisions, meaning if a Step B, Pre-arbitration settlement or regional arbitration decision existed for a particular installation it would be settled with the same language. A practice the parties followed for decades, until the service began getting decisions they don’t care for. I wish I could tell you that in the ensuing time frame the service did what they stated they would. It hasn’t happened yet, but I suppose one can hope. Time will tell. Whether the service does what it says it will do or not, does not change our course to stop repetitive violations of the contract. As I stated in last month’s article, what I will not agree to is going backwards on remedies and issues we currently have in place in Region 5.
Mail Processing Facility Review
In January of this year the service notified the NALC at headquarters that a study was being done in several mail processing facilities across the country to determine the necessity of changing mail processing operations to improve efficiency or service. They can also determine that the facility is no longer needed and close it. Region 5 had two such facilities on the list Waterloo, Iowa and North Platte, Nebraska that were evaluated to determine whether consolidation of mail processing into other mail processing facilities was more efficient. In a March notice the service has indicated that the initial reviews for the Waterloo and North Platte facilities support the business case for keeping the facilities open and modernizing them.
David A. Teegarden
National Business Agent