By the time this article is published, the following event should have taken place between March 1st and March 15th the next phase of vacation bidding should have been posted.

These events are sponsored by Branch 36 as fundraisers for M.D.A. The goal this year for Branch 36 is to send 50 children to the M.D.A. Camp. All stations should try to participate in some moneymaker enterprise that will help the Branch reach these goals. Some stations are preparing for future events within their stations. Manhattanville Station is preparing for a bus ride to Atlantic City an May 31, 2008. It will be their 6th Annual Bus Ride for M.D:A. All are welcame to join this annual event. Other stations that participate in the charitable practice of fundraising for M.D.A. are Hellgate and Cathedral. Parkcheser Station out of the Bronx, has a Bowl-A-Thon. The new stewards have started collecting money to help this cause within their stations. Other stewards can call Manftattanville, Hellgate, Cathedral, Parkchester, or the Branch office to get help .with ideas.,The stations mention are the frontrunners in trying to make this M.D.A. "send a kid to camp" happen.

The Empire Branch 36 Credit Union Annual Credit Union Meeting Will take place on March 27,2008, at 5:00 p.m. in the Percy T. McRae Meeting Hall at 347 W. 41st Street. Annual reports will be presented and the election of new officers will take place. Refreshments will be served after the meeting. Only credit union members will be welcomed.

Most of the transitional worktirs.(T.E.'s) that were hired under the new contract should be reaching their 9lst day as postal employees.You are entitled to the first two quarters of uniform allowance which should be the total amount of $149.00. The third quarter of allowance will be issued after 181 days of service, The amount is $74.50. After 271 days, you will receive the final allowance of $74.50. Any amount not spent from quarters 1,2, and 3 may be applied to the 4th' quarter allowance, The amount of all four quarters should total $298.00.361) days, after the first term of appointment begins, any remaining allowance is forfeited. All transitional workers (TE's) will receive their uniform Letter of Authorization from their station manager with the amount posted on it.

In the year 2008, under Branch 36's direction, there will be many changes and new planning for the new year. These changes include minor route adjustments, and finding new ways to incorporate TEs into our workforce. Our plans include educating the new stewards in grievance procedures. We have also planned many fund-raising events for M.D.A. These worthy events bring our postal family and communities closer together to work as a totality. We are planning to send 72 M.D.A. children to camp. We will need the support of all stations and all union members to make this a reality, Look for bulletins on these events that will take place under Branch 36 direction. We will have our Annual Food Drive. This will start in May. We need all carriers to show some participation in getting their customers to give a little more than they did last year.

Congratulations to all those letter carriers and their families and retirees who elected to switch their health insurance to CIGNA. By now, everyone should have received a burgundy card, which is your official member ID card. Upon going to your doctor or hospital, you should present this card, along with your new blue CIGNA access network card. These cards provide key information that is important to both processing and for pre-certification. We have also provided a clear plastic hold to help protect your cards. If you have not received your cards, contact NALC Health Benefits at 1-888-636-6252

Look out for the next National Agreement Cost of Living-which is in March, 2008. Under the National, TE's will also receive this cost of living increase. To TE's and all new members, the second Thursday of every month there is a General Membership Meeting which is posted and all are welcome. All meetings will be posted in every station with the date, time and place.Until the next time, I will look forward to providing more information to keep you informed about events that will take place in the future.

Remember this is the vacation bidding season for January, February and March. Bids must be submitted by December 15,2007 and management should post the successful bidders by December 3 1,2007. The NALC Health Benefit Plan is number one in Consumers' Checkbook Poll according to the Washington Post dated November 13, 2007. The new rates for the NALC Health Benefit Plan are more economical than those of other PPO's. The health care providers are now Cigna. Letter carriers should look at this plan very closely and compare the changes to the other health plans. The news about the NALC Health Benefit for 2008 continues getting better.

As previously announced, the cost of living in 2008 for retirees under the Civil Service Retirement System will be 2.3 percent and the COLA for retirees under the Federal Employees Retirement System will receive a 2.0 percent increase.

Until the next time, I will look forward to providing more information and keeping you informed about events that will take place in the future.

I wish you and your family a safe, blessed and happy holiday. Have a prosperous New Year. SEASONS GREETINGS!

Open season for health care is coming up in the next two months and you need to give the NALC health plan a good look. The rates are more reasonable compared with last year's and the work provider will be Cigna.

In the near future all of our brothers and sisters will need to come together to support the best Dinner-Dance, which is sponsored by Branch 36. The 3 lStA nnual Dinner-Dance will be held on November 11,2007 at the Marina Del Rey, in the Bronx. We will be honoring the retirements of Cleveland Morgan and Ruben Santiago.

Cleveland Morgan has served Branch 36 as a member for 44 years, and has served on every committee sponsored by Branch 36. This annual Dinner-Dance was Morgan's baby, He turned it into what it is today through hard work and diligence. Ruben Santiago has served Branch 36 for 42 years. He has been an officer for 20 years of the 42 years. Ruben Santiago took charge of the Branch 36 softball team for many years and he has been one of the best Recording Secretaries that Branch 36 has ever had.

During the month of October this year the Postal Service will be receiving transitional employees (TEs). This will be the first time a TE can be a union member and can be represented under the grievance procedure. All employees should welcome the TEs and bring them into the letter carriers' family.

Here is an item to be aware of : There is an overflow of Letters of Demand. If youknow you owe it, make arrangements to pay it, but if you have no idea and nobody can explain what you owe and why you owe it, you should fill out a Form 3074 and get in touch with your steward. Stewards have been trained as to what to do when they receive a Letter of Demand. Until the next time, I will continue to look forward to providing you with more information and keeping you informed about the events that will take place in the future.

1. The Begianing: Eight-Hour Day

Throughout the 1880s, labor activists in many industries across the country campaigned for a national law to create an eight-hour day. It's easy to forget that not so long ago, workers had no protection--no labor laws--to stop employers from enforcing 12-hour shifts, sometimes seven days a week. If you couldn't keep up, you were fired--with no unemployment, no "safety net" of any kind. Brutal conditions and starvation wages were the rule, not the exception, in most industries--including the federal Post Office
Department.

However, even before the formation of a national union, carriers who were labor activists were able to influence Congress in 1888 to legislate an eight-hour day for letter carriers. This victory inspired carriers to form a national organization Throughout the 1 880s, labor activists in many industries across the country campaigned for a national law to create an eight-hour day. It's easy to forget that not so long ago, workers had no protection--no labor laws--to stop employers from enforcing 12-hour shifts, sometimes seven days a week. If you couldn't keep up, you were fired--with no unemployment, no "safety net" of any kind. Brutal conditions
and starvation wages were the rule, not the exception, in most industries-including the federal Post Office Department.

2. Birth of a Union

In 1889, the Milwaukee Letter Carriers Association organized the founding meeting of the National Association of Letter Carriers. With approximately 60 carriers attending from 18 states, NALC was born August 29, 1889 in a meeting hall above Schaefer's saloon in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

This event marked the beginning of NALC. Even beyond that obvious fact, the founding convention is proof that letter carriers knew early on--even before workers in many other industries--that they would achieve more if they could form a national union. In many cities, carriers had "mutual benefit" associations that tried to win improvements for carriers in those cities. But NALC's founders realized that true power would only come when every carrier in the country joined together. Those hours in Schaefer's Saloon marked the very beginning--the birth of a union that would eventually become one of the most powerful and influential organizations of federal and postal employees.

3. Enforcing the law

As noted above, an 1888 law provided that letter carriers work only an eight-hour day. The Post Office Department, however, first ignored the law, then interpreted it to mean eight hours a day for seven days a week--or 56 hours a week. This meant that the Department would work a carrier nine hours a day for six days, and still require him to work two additional hours on Sunday!

The fledgling NALC immediately squared up for battle against this abuse. Using a completely unexpected tactic, the union sued the federal government. Even more startling was the result: In 1893 NALC won the case and the U.S. Supreme Court awarded letter carriers a total of $3.5 million, settling thousands of overtime claims.

4. No more gags

In the early 1900s, indeed until 1970, carriers depended on Congress to improve their wages and working conditions. But in 1902, in response to the growing power of NALC and other groups representing government employees, President Theodore Roosevelt issued a "gag order" forbidding all postal and federal employees, "directly or indirectly, individually or through associations," to lobby members of Congress for wage increases or try to affect the passage of any other legislation.

Other presidential orders forbid postal employees from discussing their working conditions in public and even from answering Congressional requests for information on their pay and working conditions!

NALC protested vehemently, and found a sympathetic listener in Robert LaFollette, a progressive Republican Senator. He spearheaded a Congressional campaign that in 1912 resulted in passage of the Lloyd LaFollette Act rescinding all gag rules.

5. No more Sunday work

As a result of intense lobbying efforts by NALC, in 1912 Congress also passed the Reilly Eight-in-Ten Hour Act, which stated that postal employees could not be forced to spread their eiqht-hour shift over more than ten consecutive hours. Equally important was a law passed at the same time--the Mann Sunday Closing Act-which closed post ofices on Sunday, thus guaranteeing postal employees at least one day off every week

6. First Workers' Compensation Law

Another reality of turn-of-the-century working conditions that seems especially brutal to workers today is that when carriers were injured on the job, they had no guarantee of receiving any kind of compensation for that injury. In fact, the employer could actually sue the injured employee for being careless! If you were lucky, a company representative would appear with a proposed settlement-a few dollars, perhaps enough to cover a funeral if the employee had been killed--an in return the employees or their families had to agree not to sue the company.

That harsh reality changed for letter carriers in 191 6. Intensive lobbying by NALC resulted in a landmark piece of legislation--the first Federal Employees Compensation Act. This law ensured that postal and federal employees who were injured on the job would receive compensation and medical benefits. Again, dedicated union leadership backed by the full support of members now totaling some 32,000 carriers in 1,694 branches achieved a powerful victory that literally saved carriers' lives and livelihoods.

7. Bitter struggle for pensions

Although injured carriers now had some relief and support, carriers approaching retirement age could anticipate no such comfort. If a carrier could no longer bear the strain of the job--which was intense in those days of unpaved roads and heavy mail loads he face literal starvation. Leaving a Post Office job meant no more income, no more benefits. And in the early years of the century, older carriers were being pushed out of work by a particularly oppressive Postmaster General, Albert Burleson. Burleson insisted that all carriers who "couldn't keep-up with the work" be fired.

In 191 5 such a dismissal in Fairrnont, West Virginia prompted a form of strike as Fairmont's 25 carriers resigned in protest. The workers were arrested and thrown in jail; 24 were given fines and released. The 25th worker, a carrier named W. H. Fisher, hung himself in his cell the night before his trial.

Outrage at this incident and other excesses authorized by Burleson encouraged NALC leaders to press for relief from Congress. The Civil Service Retirement Act, taking effect in May 1920, allowed carriers to retire at age 65 with annuities ranging from $180 to $270 a year. In June 1920 Congress passed a bill providing sick-leave benefits for carriers, followed by a salary bill increasing the maximum wage to $1,800 a year. Again, the combined power of carriers carried the day.

8. Exclusive Recognition

Although NALC leaders had achieved impressive victories through lobbying Congress, they continued to press for full collective bargaining rights. And on January 17,1962, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10988, which replaced the 1912 Lloyd-LaFollette Act. Labor organizations in the federal government including the Post Office could hold elections to gain national exclusive recognition and could then represent employees in grievance proceedings and negotiate a national contract with management.

Although the Executive Order limited the terms that could be bargained, it was a giant step forward for NALC. In March 1963 the union and the Post Office Department signed their first national agreement.

9. Strike

In 1969 and 1970, a series of dramatic failures in communication and negotiation between NALC national leaders, the White House and NALC membership led to the climactic postal strike of March 15-18 , 1970. (A detailed account of events leading to the strike appears in the March 1995 Postal Record.) Members of New York City Branch 36 were the first to walk out; the work stoppage spread quickly through the metropolitan area, then to cities and towns throughout America. By March 23, there were almost 250,000 postal employees on strike.

The strikers agreed to return to work so that contract negotiations could begin, and by April 2 NALC had achieved an agreement that included a 14 percent pay raise, collective bargaining with binding arbitration and a reduction from 21 to eight years for carriers to reach the top step of their grade level.

Postal reorganization became reality on August 12, 1970, with a law creating the U.S. Postal Service. NALC and other postal unions were accorded the right to bargain collectively over wages, hours and working conditions.

10. Equity for all carriers

Almost a century after NALC's successful protest of management's violation of the Eight-Hour law, national union leaders again helped achieve fair treatment for carriers whose rights had been violated. In the mid-1970s, a series of private lawsuits was initiated on behalf of carriers charging the Postal Service with violating the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, a 1938 federal law governing wages and hours of work. As the dispute played out, one group of union members became pitted against another. Some members received financial benefits while other members were left out.

In February 1979, NALC's leadership and legal staff found a way to intervene in the private suits to represent the interests of the thousands of carriers who were not a part of those suits. In October 1982, a federal judge approved a comprehensive $400 million settlement of the case. The settlement achieved equity for all carriers by securing payments based on the formula that had been used to settle the earlier private lawsuits. This settlement, made possible by the determination of NALC's leaders to achieve equal treatment and nothing but equal treatment for all carriers, maintained the union's tradition that "an injury to one is an 'injury to all."

Tip of the iceberg
Of course these ten moments are not the sum total of NALC's achievements. Rather, they are particularly distinctive examples of the union's power as an institution and a force for change in letter carriers' working lives. Throughout the union's history, other victories have been won, often against tremendous opposition and predictions of failure from such powerful forces as postal management, the U.S. Congress, and a series of U.S. Presidents opposed to any union success.

What is important about these ten moments is that they illustrate, sometimes quite dramatically, that the support of members and the dedication of union leaders can overcome even the fiercest resistance. With these examples, branch leaders can remind carriers that NALC relies on the support of its members to triumph in such difficult and decisive moments.

I hope these facts teach you and help you to understand why it is so important to be a union member. As we all unite to learn from history, we will become better educated and become better equipped to contribute to the present and future success of Branch 36. If you'd like to know more information, go to www.nylcbr36.org

Letter carriers are human beings who care about their customers, the Postal Service and the communities they serve. Letter Carriers are the eyes and ears of the Postal Service.

Letter Carriers are ambassadors of the federal government for many Americans, the face of their letter carriers is the face of government. Unlike many other government employees, the letter carrier's job brings him or her into personal contact daily with members of the community. How the carrier acts helps determine how citizens view the postal service.

Free communication the freedom to easily exchange ideas and information is a central foundation of our democracy. Every day, the mail links individuals and organizations throughout the country, binding our large and diverse nation together. Letter carriers fulfill a crucial function by safely and efficiently moving that mail.

After casing the mail, the carrier either places'it in trays in delivery order, or bundles it with' rubber bands. Then the carrier can begin his or her route, delivering and collecting mail. Most carriers deliver mail from postal service vehicles, and carry all of the day's mail with them. Other city carriers deliver on foot. Their bundles of mail are transported by truck to boxes along the route. A letter carrier carries a maximum of 35 pounds in a shoulder satchel, delivering one-load of mail and then pickhg up more at the relay box, until the entire route is delivered. Some carriers roll satchel carts to deliver mail; they can handle more weight at one time.

Except for a half-hour lunch break and two ten-minute rest breaks, the carrier works steadily until all of the mail is delivered. While out on the route, the carrier works independently, without direct supervision. The average route has over 500 delivery stops, although this figure varies widely depending on the route's location and volume of mail. Routes in small towns, for example, would have fewer stops than those in an area with many large buildings. City carriers delivering on routes whose customers regularly receive large amounts of mail would have as many stops as those working on rontes with a low volume of mail.

While out on the route, the carrier must do. more than simply put mail in mailboxes. Some types of mail require special handling. For example, carriers must get signatures to confirm delivery for such items as registered, certified and insured mail. The carrier also collects postage -due and cash-on-delivery (CCOD) fees. If a customer is not at home, the carrier leaves a notice indicating where the special mail or parcel can be picked up.

When all the mail is delivered, the carrier returns to the post office to turn in the mail collected from street letterboxes, homes and businesses, along with any receipts and money. Once he or she has punched out on the post office time clock, the working day is over. Letter carrier routes should be set up so that office work and mail delivery can be completed in eight hours usually split between two or three hours of office time and five to six, hours of delivery time. Many mail carrier routes, however, frequently require overtime work.

Not every city letter carrier delivers mail door-to-door. Some have specialized jobs such as delivering parcels exclusively or only collecting mail from letterboxes. Others are routers, and case mail all day in the post office. Relay drivers take sorted mail out to relay boxes, where other carriers pick it up and deliver to the appropriate address.

The NALC negotiates a National Agreement on behalf of all letter carriers that guarantees their wages, benefits, working conditions, and rights on the job. The Agreement contains job security provisions, a grievance procedure to ensure fair treatment, holiday and leave benefits, and many other worker protections.

All letter carriers begin their employment with the Postal Service as part-time flexible (PTF) empolyees, working a variable schedule. Some PTF's work less then 40 hours per week some carriers have to work on Saturday. These carriers have another day off during the week.

Letter Carrier enjoy secure retirement plans administered by the US goverment, along with health benefits and life insurance

Carriers must be honest and reliable because they are responsible for the safe passage of the mail. Good interpersonal skills are needed, as the job demands constant interaction with the public. Carriers answer questions, handle complaints and explain postal service products and services to their customers. They must be able to cope with the stress caused by high volume of work.

Letter carriers must enjoy working outside. They need to be generally healthy, with considerable endurance. An average carrier spends five to six hours every day working in the open, often walking several miles under extreme weather conditions. They should also have the strength to load and unload parcels weighing up to 70 lbs.

Letter carriers are servants to the communities and the Postal Service. They give of their time as well as their hearts. Letter carriers helping the donations of CFC - Combined Federal Campaign.) Once a year the letter carriers help to feed the people in the communities by sponsoring an annual food drive. Letter camers help support M.D.A. by giving donations throughout the year. They keep their eyes on the elderly fulfilling the principles of a new program called, Carrier Alert Program. When the elderly sign up for the program, the letter carriers then keep a watchful eye on the customers' mailbox to make sure hel/she is retrieving mail on a daily basis. Carriers had a strong voice in changing legislation in the passing of the Postal Reform bill.

The DOIS program cannot see all the things that letter carriers do in a day. Management is still trying to push the DOIS system down the letter carriers throats without listening to the needs of the letter carriers on a day-to-day basis. Management should know that letter carriers cannot be machines that they can program on a day-to-day basis of operation. The United States postal letter carriers truly exemplify what customer services are defined as.

Tips For Writing Clear Statements:
Thirty-word sentences are too long. The reader's mind wanders off after reading a couple of lines.
Keep sentences short and crisp.
When writing a long sentence, read over your work and use a sharp "scalpel" to fix it.