Region 5 NBA Report
by National Business Agent David Teegarden
Region 5 Rap Session
I am pleased to announce that the contract for the Region 5 Rap Session has been signed. The dates will be January 31 through February 2 nd in Kansas City, MO. Attendees will be able to secure a room rate of $135.00 dollars per night. Our room block will offer 125 rooms for Thursday night and 200 rooms each for Friday and Saturday night.
When we sign an agreement with the hotel we guarantee them a certain number of nights of hotel rooms. We get those rooms at a deeply discounted rate and I would ask that branches use the portal, which will come out soon, to reserve your rooms for the event. More can probably be added but get your reservations made early so that we can get extra rooms ahead of time if needed. With the addition of the Friday training this year we expect some branches will want to stay Thursday night in order to be there for the 8:30am start. We have allocated 125 rooms in the room block for Thursday night.
The dinner this year will be catered by Bryan Rubner president of the Cedar Rapids Iowa branch 373 and his wife Stacy. They are co-owners of the Iowa BBQ Company. If you’ve never had Bryan and Stacy’s food you’re in for a real treat. I appreciate both of them being willing to do this and I think this year’s event will be better than last year.
Once again this year we will be utilizing a QR code to select the training classes for this year’s training. We should have a list of classes and the QR code available by the end of October or first week of November so that people can start registering. Once classes fill, we will move delegates to another class so the sooner you register and sign-up for classes the more likely you will be able to get what you want.
I am currently working with the hotel to get the room reservation link up and running so that we can start to take reservations. Once that link is active, I will send Branch presidents the link by email. You can also callthe NBA office and we can get you the link.
Tentative training subjects are, branch officer, Informal, Intermediate and Formal steward, OWCP, Region 5 CAU discussion of arbitration decisions, LMOU hands on (Bring your LMOU), Art. 15 compliance, writing for stewards, PTF & CCA rights, stewards rights, Step B, Community Service, EAP, Chapter 2 Route Adjustments and COR, Interested in Arbitration? (Friday only 4-6 hours), Safety, Retirement, JSOV, Negotiating, Chat with Region 5, Mentoring, State Associations role in NALC Legislation and many more.
Region 5 Frank Joseph Ferro Solidarity Award
Nomination forms have been sent to branch presidents for the Region 5 Solidarity Award. The deadline for nomination forms has been moved to October 31 st . Nominators must explain why they believe the individual being nominated exhibits the characteristics of promoting union solidarity through their compassion, unending efforts in organizing, and/or representation of letter carriers and their families. Nominated individuals should put others ahead of themselves, assist fellow carriers in need of help, lead by example and exemplify unionism. Nomination forms that do not explain these characteristics will not be considered by the Solidarity Award Committee. Completed nomination forms can be sent to NBA David Teegarden 1828 Craig Road, St. Louis, MO 63146 or by email to Teegarden@nalc.org If you do not have a nomination form and would like one call us at 314-562-5818 and we will be happy to send one to you.
DRT/Arbitration Backlog
I have written before about the backlog at both the Step B and Arbitration levels of the Article 15 process. We have activated 3 DRT teams in each of our Step B offices and have two floating teams that attempt to settle Step B cases, one in each office. The Article 15 processes stated purpose was to reduce the number of disputes between the parties, especially repeated violations, and result in the settling of cases in a like manner going forward. That’s why Step B decisions set precedent. The service has taken the position that they will not sign cease and desist agreements nor any remedies they feel are “escalated”. The result has moved the backlog from the Step B level to the “pending arbitration level”. We currently have about 700 cases that we will be forced to go to hearing on or take much less than where we currently are on that issue if we want to settle with the service. I have been steadfast in my belief that we will not go backwards. At the rate we are currently hearing cases it will take us approximately 10 years to get through what we have on hand. That is unacceptable. We are currently taking steps to try and reach settlement where we can with the service to reduce the contractual backlog, but we will not go backwards. All of us at the region 5 office are steadfast in our commitment to ensure that the members we represent have their contractual rights enforced. We will continue to do that. If you have questions about a particular case, please reach out to us at the office.
David A. Teegarden
National Business Agent