Welcome To Branch 2589 - Lubbock

Union Meeting is held every 3rd Thursday of the month at 7:00pm

President Report

Well here we are starting summer, and I am really stretching to find some good news to share with you. With all the recent route adjustments it may surprise many of you to know that in May and June basically every route in the U.S. will be adjusted using the new MIRAP (Modified Interim Route Adjustment Process), and then reviewed and adjusted again this September. If you take the time you are using daily on your route and deduct any time that you were on waiting time, training time, red book time, etc…, and the remaining time is less than 8 hours, you will probably be added on to. That is why it is imperative that you watch your times. More

Membership News - Congratulations

New Member: Grant D. Fisher

Retired: Pete Contreras, Robert "Bookie" Deary,

Rodney Nettles, Penny Polk, Alvin Sears

Secretary Report

The Regular Branch Meeting of NALC Branch 2589, Lubbock, Texas, was called to order by President Mitch Terral at 7:10 P.M. The invocation was given by H. Steffens. The membership then said the Pledge of Allegiance. The roll call of officers was taken. All officers were present except P. Majors. M. Terral read the attendance list for the June Executive Board and Steward Meetings. H. Steffens was added to the Steward List due to working late. E. Odle moved to approve the minutes of the last meeting as published in the June, 2010, Newsletter. The motion seconded by W. Jumper. Motion carried. More

NALC News

A threat to our collective bargaining agreement: Meanwhile, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia, introduced H.R. 5919 July 29. The NALC's interpretation of this bill is that it would give the Postal Service authority to randomly assign 12 furlough days a year, thus directly interfering with our collective bargaining agreement. The NALC will continue its efforts to pass the legislation introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), H.R. 5647 (see below), and will ask Rep. Chaffetz to make the same effort. Rep. Lynch's bill would provide the Service with significantly more financial relief than H.R. 5919 would, and it would do so with no impact on letter carriers' pay and benefits.

NALC President Fred Rolando

NALC responds to rate increase announcement: President Fredric V. Rolando issued a statement responding to proposed measures to solve the USPS' budget problems, noting that answer is not to be found by making misleading claims about labor costs. "To make this a labor issue ignores the larger financial issues at play," he said. Click here to read more.

PRC confirms USPS overcharged by 'at least $50-$55 billion': The Postal Regulatory Commission issued a report to the Postal Service on June 29 confirming the widely-held view that the USPS was massively overcharged for pension costs related to service preformed by the taxpayer-supported Post Office Department before 1971. Click here for more

Cutting Saturdays would be a 'blunder': NALC President Fred Rolando testified Wednesday before a joint congressional committee hearing on the U.S. Postal Service's action plan for the future, which includes the possibility of cutting a day of mail delivery service each week. Click here to read his complete testimony.

Leadership Academy Now accepting applications: NALC Executive Vice President Gary Mullins is now taking application forms for the 2011 Leadership Academy classes. To be eligible for next year's training, forms must be postmarked by September 30. Click here to learn more about the Academy. Please note: Previous applicants must reapply and include updated information, along with renewed commitments from their mentors. Download the application form

Congress / USPS News

Big wins for NALC activists: In two clearvictories for lettercarrier activism, the full Senate Appropriations Committee on July 29 approved Fiscal Year 2011 bills that leave six-day mail delivery intact—and also on July 29, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services marked up its bill, with language on six-day delivery untouched as well. Click here to read coverage by Bloomberg, featuring quotes from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).

H.R. 5746
co-sponsors:
35

Financial reform legislation advances: A House subcommittee has voted 8-1 to support H.R 5746, the bill introduced July 15 by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) to address the Postal Service's financial problems. If passed, the bill would implement many of the Postal Regulatory Commission recommendations. It now goes to the full House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The NALC is now calling on all legislative activists to recruit co-sponsors for H.R. 5746.

PMG Potter

One isn't enough? Buried at the bottom of a piece in a recent edition of The Washington Post on PMG Jack Potter was this quote from his remarks at April's National Postal Forum in Nashville: "The value of going to four days—removing a second day—is even greater."

H. Res. 173 co-sponsors:
238

Wait just a second: Remember, only Congress can authorize any reduction in the number of delivery days—and so far, 238 House members have signed on as co-sponsors of H. Res. 173, "expressing the sense of the House ... that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of its 6-day mail delivery service." Has your rep signed on? Click here to find out how you can contact your rep and find out if they're with us in our fight to prevent a potential Postal Service death spiral.

You can help!

The NALC has launched a nationwide campaign to stop the USPS from making "a big mistake." You can do your part by submitting comments to the Postal Regulatory Commission's website. Click here to find out how.

Related News

The NALC's legislative and political action blog

EPI: Congressional mandates are to blame: A recent report by the Economic Policy Institute agrees with a growing consensus—that postal reform’s call for pre-funding future retiree health benefits is the reason for most of the Postal Service’s recent losses, accounting for “all of the operating losses in 2007 and 2008 and a significant portion” of 2009’s loss. “Eliminating Saturday delivery would cost roughly 80,000 jobs...and would negatively affect postal customers.... Were it not for the retiree health pre-funding mandate, the USPS would not face the same short-term pressure that has led the Postmaster General to propose cutting Saturday delivery.” Click here to read the report (PDF).

COLCPE

You could win a trip or a TV: Two COLCPE raffles will be held at the 67th Biennial Convention in Anaheim in August. But to win, you must be signed up as a Gimme 5 for COLCPE contributor. Click here to find out more.

Convention 2010

Convention registration deadline approaches: Branches with 500 or more members that wish to electronically register their delegates for the Anaheim convention next August must return the postcard sent to them with the Convention Call no later than December 31. The postcards should be returned to Secretary-Treasurer Broendel at NALC Headquarters. Contact

During the convention, the branch members will be staying at the Desert Palms Hotel.

Room Type: Borrego Suite

Web site: http://www.desertpalmshotel.com/

Our Mission

This site will help bring the union members in contact with the officers and the local community.

Branch 2589 Constitution

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