Region 5 NBA Report
This month I would like to start by recognizing a colleague, fellow letter carrier and a friend who is moving into another craft. By the time you read this article Michelle Jellison President Topeka Branch 10 will be working in the clerk craft. For over a decade Michelle has been a union activist in some capacity or another with the NALC whether in her branch, the state association or assisting the NBA office. All of us thank you for your efforts on behalf of letter carriers. She has been and will remain a staunch supporter of letter carriers in her branch, state, and region. Some of you may know that Michelle’s love is rescue dogs and over the years she has had many who were lucky to call her Mom. Michelle’s weakness was she never met a dog she didn’t want to rescue or a carrier she didn’t want to help. A good weakness to have I’d say. Over the course of her NALC career she has helped thousands of letter carriers. I will miss our conversations, maybe more aptly put, venting sessions, about all issues related to letter carriers but I know you are just a phone call away. I wish you nothing but the best in your new role and know that you deserve what you are striving for. Thank you for your support for the Region 5 office staff and myself over the years. Although the region is losing a great union activist and leader we know that the friendships you have made will last a lifetime. I expect to see you make an appearance at the Rap Session early next year.
Region 5 Rap Session
The Region 5 Rap Session will be conducted January 31st through February 2 nd of 2025. A room block has been guaranteed for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at the government rate. The room block for Thursday night is limited to 125 people. This year we will have two full days of training on Friday and Saturday with the Rap Session being held on Sunday. Fridays classes begin at 8am and will feature 6-8 hours of branch officer training which is limited to 75 participants. The instructor for this training is tentatively scheduled to be Region 5’s own, Secretary Treasurer Nicole Rhine. Branch presidents are encouraged to sign up attendees with the NBA office at 314-985-8040 as soon as possible. This class will be first come first served and will not be offered by way of the QR code we use to select classes. Also on Friday we will have basic steward training, OWCP basic and advanced and a class for those interested in arbitration. The arbitration class will be multiple hours long and participants will be tested on various segments of arbitration and will require writing opening and closing statements. These classes also have limited seating of between 65-70 people.
We will continue this year with our aggressive training schedule and expand many courses to two full hours rather than one as we have done in the past. This will allow us the ability to get more in-depth on selected courses. The class schedules will be out no later than November 1st.
Steward College
The NBA office will conduct the second steward college training in Wichita Kansas September 15-18. This will be our last steward college training for 2024 due to state trainings, fall trainings and branch events filling up the month of September, October and part of November. We will start back up after the first of the year and continue to conduct these training sessions throughout the region in 2025. I would like to thank the members and branch officers of Wichita Branch 201 for the generous use of their union hall to conduct these trainings.
Leadership Academy Application Period for 2025 Now Open
The NALC is now accepting Leadership Academy Applications from all active carriers. The Academy consists of three week-long sessions held over a five-month period. Students learn about how to be effective branch leaders, DRT, branch finances, effective negotiation strategies, workers compensation, writing skills public speaking and much more. Students are required to complete outside learning projects following weeks 1 and 2. The application can be found on the NALC website or by going to this link.
If interested, make sure you get your mentor to write a recommendation and fill out your portion of the application. If you have applied before and were not selected, I encourage you to continue to apply.
David A. Teegarden
National Business Agent