As a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers for 36 years I have the experience, knowledge and leadership skills that will be necessary to work through these difficult times. My opponent has very little experience and has achieved his current position mostly by appointments. Don’t take my word for it find out what his qualifications are.
My opponent prior to becoming the business agent was elected as a shop steward. He is a member of one of the biggest Branches in the country but he has never served on an Executive Board. In 2006, he became the business agent without being challenged.
My opponent does not understand the issues that local leaders face every day from the membership because he does not have that experience. I have.
I began my letter carrier career in January 1974 and was elected 9 months later to Shop Steward. I was a part-time flexible letter carrier then and it was not until 4 ½ years later that I was promoted to a full-time regular. This was also before “hold-down” assignments.
While serving as a Shop Steward I became involved with various aspects of the union while attending union meetings and attending school about courses in labor relations. Besides being a Shop Steward for Branch 6000 in 1978 I was elected to the Executive Board. My first position was Safety Officer and later Trustee. From 1981-1987 I was Director of City Delivery where I trained many carriers on route count and inspections. In 1988 I became a Full Time Officer. During the past 22 years I served 3 years as Recording/Financial Secretary, and 4 years as 1st Vice President. In 1997 I was elected Executive Vice President and served for 9 years.
In 2005 I was elected President of Branch 6000 and re-elected again in 2008. I represent over 5,000 Letter Carriers in my Branch.
My accomplishments, experience and education are listed on this website. Please check them out.
In addition to my record, I have serious concerns about the future direction of the Postal Service.
- The threat of 5 day delivery is the brainstorm of the current Postmaster General, Jack Potter. If his record as a Chief-Executive-Officer were compared to those in private industry Potter would already be retired.
- Currently, we are in the 3rd round of a route evaluation process that is accepting “estimated mail counts.” Some NALC leaders will tell you that “DOIS means sh-t,” but letter carriers every day are measured by it and using it as a basis for route evaluations will only make it a bigger problem when the Postal Service pulls out of these processes.
- Do you trust your supervisor’s count? I don’t. I believe that local leaders should have been allowed to continue to use local route adjustment agreements that they had developed and that actually had carriers counting mail and documenting all “Fixed Office Times”.
- You should also be aware that my opponent was part of the National Committee on Alternate Route Adjustments but he was unprepared to instruct local leaders about either the IARAP or MIARAP procedures. On two occasions Executive Vice President Fred Rolando and later Director of City Delivery Dale Hart had to come to Region 15 to explain and answer local branch president’s questions.
- Region 15 letter carriers and their leaders should not be satisfied with third class leaders. I commit to providing training to all local leaders. In my opponents 4 years as business agent he has never held a Region wide training for all Shop Stewards. I will.
- Also, Flat Sorting Sequence (FSS) machines will soon be upon letter carriers in Region 15. What plan does my opponent have for training impacted letter carriers? Reviewing Article 12 is not the answer. How will letter carriers be trained on what to do before the FSS starts? I have a solution and members in Branch 6000 will not be left in the dark to fend for themselves. I will share this information with any local leader or letter carrier that wants to learn. FSS has also created much anxiety for part-time flexibles (PTF) and transitional (TE) letter carriers. I believe that in some areas of Region 15 we could be promoting some PTFs. Unfortunately, only the business agent has access to all of the data. He has yet to share all of this information with the Presidents in Region 15. I will.
- Finally, I will create a committee of leaders to rebuild efforts to advocate for a form of area wage/locality pay that the Congress has already embraced for other federal workers.
Many of the things that I have stated will not be popular with National leaders.
Being your National Business Agent should never be a popularity contest about me. Everything that I commit to do will be about you, the members.