In the 30 plus years as a carrier, 2009 will go down as the worst I have seen as far as mail volume goes. Companies drastically lowered their advertising budgets which translated to lower mail volume for the Postal Service

2009 was the year Article 12 played a big role in the Postal Service especially in the clerk craft. Our craft is not immune to Article 12’s excessing provisions. With reduction in mail volume and the implementation of Flat Sorting machines, we too can be subject to excessing. New York City is not scheduled for the flat sorting machines anytime soon, but surrounding areas are, such as New Jersey and Long Island. This affects residual vacancies which are held for the possibility of excessed carriers coming here from other Postal Districts. This also has a domino effect. We have part-time flexible carriers waiting to make regular and Transitional Carriers waiting for the hiring freeze to end to become career employees.

We started the year with high expectations of our new President in the White House. I for one was not expecting a quick fix to the nation’s problems. It took eight years to make this mess. Let’s give Mr. Obama more time. Hopefully the White House will focus on creating jobs in 2010.

We did have successes in the legislative front. FERS employees will be able to count their sick-leave toward their retirement benefits. We were also successful in lowering the Postal Service’s payment toward future retiree health benefits.

It was looking positive for healthcare reform from Congress, but then we had the U.S. Senator election in Massachusetts. The results of this election took away the majority in the Senate needed to pass healthcare reform. I am not giving up. There are too many Americans without healthcare. Perhaps they can come up with a bipartisan healthcare reform bill.

Even with the disappearance of overtime, Branch 36 carriers continued to attend MDA fund-raisers and continued to contribute to COLCPE. As in the past, whenever there is a disaster here at home or abroad carriers donate. I had the honor of donating $1796.00 to the Red Cross Haiti Disaster Relief Fund on behalf of Branch 36 carriers. A bulk of this money was collected at a MDA fund-raiser that we had on January 23rd by the participants.

I am hopeful that 2010 will be better than 2009. I don’t have a crystal ball, but how can it get worse?

MIARAP will continue in 2010 to be used to adjust routes. A newer version is due in March and is being negotiated at the present time. Branch presidents let our national officers know what we think are the pros and cons of MIARAP. One thing we do agree on is we do not want to go back to six-day count and inspections with management standing over carriers for a week and messing with the numbers.

One issue still on the table in 2010 is the six-day mail delivery. Our friends in Congress are against taking away the statute of six-day mail delivery but the Postal Service continues to keep it on the table. This equates to all of us actively working to keeping our friends in office. 2010 is an election year for all our House of Representatives and here in New York our U.S. Senator is up for reelection. We have to be NALC E-Activists, donate to COLCPE and Get Out The Vote on election day.

At first I couldn't believe the stories coming from shop stewards on how management is manipulating the numbers to reach their goals. I told the shop stewards to show me proof. Shop stewards have done just that. Some in management are changing clock rings to have no after 5:00 p.m. return times for carriers. Some are changing end tours, making deals with some carriers to make it up to them. THAT IS FRAUD!

In many of these stations management is changing carriers' clock rings from a foot route operation to a truck operation, even though these carriers are delivering mail on their routes. It seems that there isn't a problem with a carrier on a truck operation working after 5:00 p.m.

Here lies the problem. The carriers' route is not getting the credit for the time that the route was switched to a truck operation (737 or 738). We have the joint NALC and USPS MIARAP process that relies on actual clock hits to adjust routes. If we have a ten-hour route and only seven hours are showing on the foot route operation code, more territory will be added to this route. In most cases management is changing those operation codes without the knowledge of the carriers. Carriers find out in some cases when MIARAP comes into their station and adds to a route instead of reducing territory to make it an eight-hour route.

Management, in making these changes, does leave a fingerprint. They have to use their employee ID number in order to make these changes, which remain as part of the TAC reports.

We, the Branch 36 officers, have had a meeting with both Bronx and Manhattan Postmasters, and have asked for an investigation. It required a letter by me for a second follow-up meeting and grievances filed to make them realize that this is serious.

They did not take this seriously, even after one station manager was investigated by the Office of Inspector General because of a grievance filed by a shop steward resulting in this manager receiving a removal notice. This removal was grieved by the Supervisors' Association and it was modified to a seven-day suspension

They did not take it seriously when a shop steward proved that his manager was fudging the numbers. We showed that it is impossible to get the numbers he was getting. Upper management's first reaction was "but he is getting great numbers."

We have two additional stations where management agreed that they changed codes. The shop stewards in those stations grieved these violations. Through the grievance procedure, management agreed to change the clock rings back to the proper codes. In one station the assistant manager also agreed to issue corrective action to the linesupervisors who changed the codes. Meanwhile, I am sure that the supervisors were following this person's orders.

We will be meeting with upper management shortly. Carriers need to report to their shop stewards any clock ring changes that are in violation. This will only end with all carriers working with their shop stewards. Carriers should not fall into any traps by making deals with supervisors looking for shortcuts. You could end up being complicit in their fraudulent activities.

All of the NALC E-Activists deserve a big thank you. Your participation was a crucial part of this success. The rhetoric coming from the opposition was a big hurdle to step over, but we did it.

Bowlers are needed for the nationwide one-day Bowl-A-Thons taking place on Sunday, November 1st. We have two locations. One is in Harlem and one near l4th Street. The proceeds will benefit Muscular Dystrophy Association.

There are other rumors hat I won't dignify by repeating. Branch 36"s Website: www.NYLCBR36.org should also be visited and, of course, this newspaper Branch 36's Outlook should be read. The NALC's monthly magazine Postal Record is another source of accurate information.

The next time management tells you that there is an agreement between the NALC and the U.S.P.S., or between the New York District Postal Service and Branch 36, ask to see the signed agreement. All agreements are done in writing with signatures.

I wish Bill a long, happy and healthy retirement. It was great working with him over the years. I look forward to working with Fred as President. Fred's experience in different NALC positions in Washington, D.C. gives him the needed qualifications to lead the 300,000 plus members of the NALC.

My next goal was to sign up as many shop stewards attending the quarterly Branch 36 seminar to sign up for COLCPE payroll deduction. The same result occurred. Not one shop steward said, "No." There were over 80 in attendance. There were some who already have three payroll allotments so they gave cash donations. The shop stewards realized that if they are not signed up, how can they ask carriers in their station to sign up.

We have made it very easy to sign up for COLCPE payroll deductions. I asked Sonny Guadalupe to come up with a form to make it easy to sign up. We know that carriers don't have time to gather the needed information, namely their Postal Record number and go online to start the deduction. Sonny knew that all the pertinent carrier numbers were in our possession. All we need is the carrier's permission to sign them up. Sonny created a simple form which makes it very easy to sign up. I knew Sonny was the right person to ask. He is a graduate of the NALC Leadership Academy.

These forms are rolling in. Sonny does the rest. He enters the information into the website dealing with postal payroll deductions. I want to thank the carriers in Murray Hill, Williarnsbridge, Washington Bridge, Morrisania, Cathedral and Trinity for taking the lead and signing up the most carriers to date.

For those of you who have no idea what COLCPE is, I will explain its importance I want everyone to remember how my predecessor Frank Orapello explained it. He said think of it as an insurance policy. We all have car insurance, life insdrance, home insurance and health insurance. Why not "job insurance"? Our jobs and benefits can be changed with a stroke of a pen by the U.S. President or Congress. As a matter of fact, a line in the President's budget can change our benefits.

COLCPE, which is an acronym for Committee On Letter Carriers Political Education, is a letter carriers' political action fund. It is used to keep our friends in office and to defeat those who want to hurt our wallets

With todays economy in the United States and in particular the U.S. Postal Service, the need for friends in Washington, D.D. couldn't be more important

I am happy to say that all House members from New York State are now cosponsors of HR22. This House of Representatives legislation will significantly help the financial outlook of the Postal Service, if passed and signed into law.

Our Branch 36 Legislative Chair Roberto Perez called each House of Representative person in New York many times, as well as sending them e-mails until they became co-sponsors of HR22. Roberto is doing a great job for letter carriers of Branch 36 as our Legislative Chair. He updates everyone at Membership and Executive Board meetings as well as writes articles for this Outlook.

The NALC is asking for $5.00 per pay period for COLCPE. I know that not every carrier can afford $5.00 per pay period. The NALC is looking for l.0% of the members in each branch to sign up. I am looking for more participation than 10%. If every carrier signed up for $1.00, $2.00, or $3.00, we would have more COLCPE funds than 10% at $5.00 per pay period.

For those of you who think that $1.00 per pay period is too much, look at it like this, that is one less coffee every two weeks. That is not a lot to pay for "job insurance."

1 wish everyone could afford $5.00 per pay period, but I know that many of youhave family members who are now unemployed and that you are helping them get by.

I have listed the names of officers, shop stewards and carriers of Branch 36 who are signed up for payroll deduction for COLCPE. I sincerely hope your name will be listed in the next issue of the Outlook.

We have a station manager who is like Teflon. Nothing sticks to him. He has been at war with the shop stewards in this station for years. His hand-picked shop steward was voted out of office years back and he doesn't enjoy dealing with really educated shop stewards. One of the last things that he took objection to was the removal of his assistant manager from his station. He used her to go after shop stewards and other carriers he did not like. The shop stewards filed a grievance against her and she lost.

This manager vowed revenge against these shop stewards. One shop steward has been emergency suspended many times. This shop steward has proven management wrong each time, and he received all back pay. Yet, this manager remains in this station. He definitely seems to have something on someone to whom he's subordinate for him to be covered in Teflon.

This last situation is an outrage to all decent people. He and his buddies in the Office of Inspector General (O.I.G.) had one of the shop stewards arrested. His O.I.G. buddes went out to her route at the end of the day, and had the N.Y.P.D. arrest her putting her in handcuffs in front of her customers. The O.I.G. agent's left, and the N.Y.P.D. took her to the Precinct. This shop steward asked many times why she was being arrested and was told the same reply from the N.Y.P.D., "We don't know. The O.I.G. told us to arrest you." This shop steward has young children at home who would be expecting her to be home. She pleaded with the cops to allow her to use her cell phone. After taking her belt and shoelaces, they gave her her cell phone. She was able to get in touch with her children and severd Branch 36 officers.

The N.Y.P.D. kept her in a jail cell for six hours. She was never given any of her rights by the N.Y.P.D., nor the O.I.G. At the end of six hours, she was given a desk warrant citing petty larceny as her charge.She was then released. her fellow shop steward was able to pick her up and drive her home. She was told that she had to appear in court to answer the charge on February 23rd This was four weeks later.

This shop steward returned to work the next day where this manager had an emergency suspension waiting for her. I was able to negotiate with upper management to allow this shop steward to work in a different station until the court case was adjudicated, rather than spend four weeks without pay.

I made a call and found out that this shop steward was charged with six counts of petty larceny for her fundraising duties as a shop steward. There were supposedly six statements from four T.E.'s and two PTF's. As soon as I heard T.E.'s and P.T.F.'s I knew it was this Teflon manager influencing them. He controls the amount of hours they work. One of these carriers was asked about her statement and she replied that she did not write a statement.

At the January Executive Board Meeting made up of shop stewards and officers, I asked for a motion to authorize the use of Branch funds to retain a lawyer for: this shop steward. This motion was made, seconded and unanimously passed. I repeated this at the February membership meeting with the same result.

We retained a competent attorney. This attorney has an excellent record dealing with the Postal Service.

On February 23d our shop steward appeared in court and all charges were dismissed. Our shop steward has returned to her station.

This is a clear example of management abusing their power, and a clearer example of Branch 36 unity. As long as we stick together, Teflon managers will never have a chance to succeed with their misuse of power.

The two most recent examples that were brought to my attention happened in Lenox Hill North Station and in Ansonia Station.

At the time Shop Steward Ernie Twornley from Lenox Hill North Station was about to enter one of the buildings on his route, he saw one of his customers Mrs. Reyes and her daughter Valeria. The 11-year-old girl

Ernie went back to his station that afternoon and told Valeria's story to his fellow letter carriers. They decided to donate money to buy Christmas gifts for Valeria. Valeria was one happy girl thanks to the letter carriers of Lenox Hill North.

Ansonia Station employees put money into a Hearts and Flowers Fund, which is used to buy flowers when there is a death in one of their families. Thank God, there weren't too many deaths in 2008, and the Fund had money left over. Everyone decided to use the money to answer letters to Santa. Ansonia put smiles on many children's faces this Christmas.

Branch 36 members were "going Postal" in other ways in 2008. We participated in the biggest one-day Food Drive in the country. We raised over $35,000.00 for M.D.A. to send Jerry's kids to summer camp. There are many laudable examples of letter carriers "going Postal", which makes me very proud.

We currently have the interim route adjustment process moving forward. This will,continue in 2009. The weeklong count and inspections will be a thing of the past, in my opinion. The goal of this process is to have eight-hour routes. In some stations this equates to decreasing the number of routes due to low mail volume.
We do have a few stations where routes increased.

We did have one station where two routes were taken out. The carriers felt that two routes should have been added. Upon investigating, we found out that that station has carriers coming in early and casing mail off the clock and working through breaks and lunch. These carriers say that they were doing their boss a favor, and they did not want to work overtime.

Until these carriers work their routes the way they should be worked on the clock, these routes will be out of whack. We will find out when the route adjustment team reviews the station whether or not the carriers are still working off the clock.

We are going from the worst president in history to one who will strengthen the middle class by lowering taxes and turning around this sick economy until it is well again and functioning at its best.

President Obama should be able to fulfill his promises on health care. ending the Iraq war. and more with the additional labor-friendly seats gained in the House and Senate.

I am also very happy to see that Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney was reelected by a landslide to the New York 14"' Congressional District. Congresswoman Maloney was oiir honoree at this year's dinner-dance on Sunday, November 2, 2008, She has heen reelectcd to her ninth term in Congress. She serves on the Oversight and Rcform Government Committee which has jurisdiction over the Postal Service. Maloney is also chair of the House Financial Services Committee's Financial Institutions Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the nation's banking systern.

Congresswoman Maloney has always been a strong supporter of the NALC. She voted for the 2006 Postal Reorganization Act and is co-sponsor of HR 282 a resolutioton to ban contracting out our delivery service. She also votcd for The Employee Free Choice Act.

We have Carmen Flores as the NALC liaison for Congresswoman Maloney's District. Carmen was instrumental in working out the logistics to have Congresswoman Maloney attend our dinner dance which took place two days before Maloney's reeleclion. Thank You Carmen

Everyone was uplified by Congresswoman Maloney's speech at the dinner dance and it helped to get the vote out.

We also payed tribute to the lives of Brannch 36 officers Leon Brown and Awad Mikael who passed away since our last dinner-dance. Awad's wife Nangwa, and Leon's wife, Joann were in attendance. Leon's two sons David and Leon, Jr., daughter Allyson, sister Daisy, brother Edward and nephew John also attended .

I pointed out the many contributions made by Awad and Leon to Branch 36 to those in attendance.They were both dedicated officers of Branch 36. We miss both of them

The NALC Health Benefit Plan keeps getting better. This year they have added twenty new benefits and reduced out-of-pocket costs for you and your family.

I want you to compare what you are paying in premiums and co-pays in the health plan that you have with the NALC Health Benefit Plan. We have made this easy to do. Go to our website: www.NYLCBR36.0RG and click on page 2. There is a direct link to O.P.M. to compare Health Benefit Plans. It is as easy as putting in your zip code and clicking on the plans which you would like to compare.

Why are you paying those high premiums and receiving less benefits from your health plan when you can pay less and receive more with the NALC Health Benefit Plan?

While preparing to leave the office a few days later to attend Leon's wake, John Springman received a call that William Morales' Dad passed away, and within a week Tony Ortiz' sister passed away. Although I wasn't able to attend all the funerals, my condolences go out to all these families.

The old adage comes to mind, "Live today to the fullest because tomorrow , isn't promised." Leon was at work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. He advocated a grievance in arbitration on that Monday for Branch 36 and handled grievances on Tuesday as well as working as a member of The Joint Route Adjustment Team. Leon was not the type of person to complain. If he was feeling ill that week, he didn't reveal it.

I knew Leon for many years. We worked as letter carriers in FDR Station. Leon worked residential route #38 and I worked business route #13. Leon became a shop steward in FDR Station in 1992 when I became a full-time officer. I often sought Leon's advice as a Branch 36 officer. This was made easier when Leon became a Hearing Officer and then a part-time officer of Branch 36 because he was up at Branch 36 headquarters nearly every day.

Many letter carriers owe their jobs to Leon's brilliance in defending them through the steps of the grievance procedure. Leon had the style which I admired when it comes to fighting cases. When you know what you are talking abaut such as contract language, there isn't any need to yell and scream. Leon won his cases by being knowledgeable. When you are knowledgeable as was Leon, respect came to him naturally from fellow letter carriers and management.

I was able to get to know Leon's family, especially his wife Joann. Joann usually accompanied Leon to conventions and dinner-dances. Leon was very proud of his family. Leon's daughter Allyson and son David have attended Branch 36 functions. Leon also has a son Leon, Jr. and daughter Crystal. Leon's daughter Kim predeceased him. He is also survived by eight grandchildren.

Leon proudly served this country as a member of the Army for five years prior to becoming a letter Carrier.

Leon's name and memories come up on a daily basis here at Branch 36. Leon wore so many hats at Branch 36 that it will take around ten people to fill his shoes. I will truly miss Leon, the friend and confidant, most of all. Rest in peace my friend.