MOUNDcitycarrierOfficial Publication of Branch 343St. Louis, MOChartered 1892

January 2011Volume 62, No. 1

MOUNDCITYCARRIER

MOUNDcitycarrierOfficial Publication of Branch 343St. Louis, MOChartered 1892

Official Publication of Branch 343

1950-2011

60Years of Excellence St. Louis, Missouri

Chartered 1892

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?PRESIDENT’S ARTICLE

… By Bill lister

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you are aware of the USPS’ contin-ued effort to fix our problems by cutting service. Fewer employees, fewer delivery days and increased violations of our contract equal less service

to the public. That same public who feel that letter carriers are the most trusted of all government employees, may decide our future in 2011. After posting an $8.5 billion loss in 2010, that same public may not be as supportive as we will need

them to be. Unless, that is, we inform them of the facts and convince them that the USPS is broken but not broke.

The Postal Service is finally trying to convince Congress to use the $55 billion we overpaid to the CSRS pension fund to pay off our pre-funding obligations for future retiree health benefits. Of that obligation, $5.5 billion is included in the $8.5 billion we lost in 2010 and $4 billion of our losses in 2009 are also due to our pre-funding obligation. That combined debt places our total debt to the Treasury Dept. at $12 billion which has a cap of $15 billion that we cannot surpass. Instead of concentrating on fixing this problem as the NALC has, the service preferred using our losses as the reason to go to five-day delivery. With this relief and a few changes to OWCP, our debt to the Treasury would be zero and there would be no need to even consider going to five-day delivery.

Not only has the service delayed the possibility of resolving this issue, they are still lobbying Congress and the public on changes that will not benefit letter carriers or the public. They still maintain that they need a more flexible workforce, a mandate to arbitrators that they must consider the financial state of the service in any future contract negotiations and, of course, five-day delivery. All three of these are aimed at breaking the unions and strong-arming the workers into accepting less pay and benefits in the future. We have already agreed to a flexible workforce with the TE memo last contract. How much flexibility do they want? Concerning our current and established method of negotiating a contract, arbitrators already consider the financial health of the service and the USPS knows it. They have made that argument over

2 January 2011/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

MOUND CITY CARRIERPublished monthly by:

Branch 343, NALC1600 South Broadway

St. Louis, MO 63104-3806

the past several contracts, and now they have the gall to say that the negotiations are slanted toward the union. So, how do you fix that if you’re the USPS? Well, you lie about it and then try to get this language so it will be an unlevel playing field, unfairly slanted in their favor.

Their attempt at attaining these things would be laughable if the service wasn’t so close to actually do-ing it. But with the current economy and without some kind of relief on our prefunding issue, we may be experiencing the perfect storm. So, this year we need to immediately focus on writing our congressmen and convincing the public that six-day delivery must continue. Tell them that anything less would result in 80,000 more lost jobs, that the $55 billion to $75 billion overpaid to the pension funds is our money, and that this money should be used to pay the pre-funding debt. This is not a taxpayer bailout, it’s our money. Tell them we haven’t taken tax subsidies in more than 25 years and that going to five-day delivery will immediately result in less service and over the long term will result in no service and no post office.

The only response from the service has been to hire more leaders with matchbox degrees and promote lower level management solely on their willingness to yell, intimidate, lie, cheat, steal and abuse their power by issuing discipline to everyone. Apologies to those few who actually have brains and a heart, and for the rest, go to work at Wal-Mart where you will still be woefully under-qualified. Carriers have received 50 removals in 2010, which means that either we are the worst workers in the country or man-agement is managing by intimidation instead of actually managing. They’re not trained to interact with the workers, but to haphazardly input volumes and then use a computer printout to tell you whether you’re a good worker or not. In their defense, they are yelled at from their superiors, told they’re worth-less and trained to beat on carriers to get them back on time. None of this works, of course, and it proves that our leadership has broken all trust and respect between craft and management. They choose to ignore the unions, acting as if we are the only ones stopping them from running this company right. When they realize that we are the ones attempting to save the service and finally choose to work on these problems together, it will be too late. Until then, we have no choice but to do everything within our power to fight them, inform the public and convince Congress on the direction the Postal Service needs to go in order to survive successfully. More! Later!

CALE

NDAR

Jan. 13 Regular Branch Meeting

Jan. 17 Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Observed

Feb. 2 Retiree Meeting

Feb. 3 Shop Steward Meeting

Feb. 10 Regular Branch Meeting

Feb. 26-27 Regional Rap Session Crowne Plaza Hotel — Downtown, St. Louis

Mar. 1 Deadline for the John H. Haake Scholarship

Branch 343 President Bill Lister welcomes CORO Fellow Virgil Looney

The CORO Fellowship trains ethical diverse civic leaders nationwide to gain experience in government, business, labor and not-for-profit organizations. Virgil is a graduate of Emory University in Indiana and hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Virgil spent the last two weeks learning the intricacies of union life at the Branch Hall.

January 2011/MCC 3

MOUND CITY CARRIER

ExECuTIvE vICE PRESIDENT’S ARTICLE… By Nicki l. Prado

made in how workers’ compensation costs are calculated.

So, $5.5 billion for pre-funding the PSRHBF, $2.5 billion for future workers’ compensation costs and the actual $500 million of business losses, adds up to the $8.5 billion figure stated as lost in fiscal year 2010.

T H E U N ION IS ST ILL U PHOLDI NG T H E CON T R ACT A N D PROT ECT I NG C A R R I ERS

FROM U N J UST DISCIPL I N EWith 1,444 grievances and several more weeks ’til

years end, Branch 343 is still upholding the contract and protecting carriers from unjust discipline. Man-agement is just running rampant with contractual violations and issuing discipline as though they are not being held accountable by their superiors. Oh, they’re not! What a costly unnecessary expense. Makes you think management in their fair ways, will find a way to sharpen their pencil to blame the union with all the unnecessary expense. Just a thought!

We were more than ready to say good-bye to PMG Potter only to find ourselves worse off with his successor, Deputy PMG Donahoe. Remember when Deputy PMG Donahoe made the outlandish, crass decision on his own to implement letter car-rier full-time casers and full-time delivery positions with total disregard for our contract; you know, the National Agreement between the National Associa-tion of Letter Carriers AND the United States Postal Service. Our national union stepped in and put a stop to it. Be careful what you ask for!

AS T H E N EW Y E A R BEGI NS

Letter carriers continue to fight for the Postal Service to get their own money back by getting Congress to authorize the transfer of the $50

billion to $75 billion CSRS overpayment to the retirement health benefits fund thru HR-5746. When the union is successful and the retiree health benefit fund becomes fully funded, the union will be in a good position to fight for the repeal of postal reform’s pre-funding mandate.

Letter carriers continue to struggle to save six-day delivery. The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) gathered public commentary and reviewed testimony on the USPS’ proposal to eliminate Saturday mail delivery, that would save the USPS only about 4 percent of its operating costs.

The headline grabber that the Postal Service had lost $8.5 billion in fiscal year 2010, blamed the losses on increased use of e-mail, text messaging and paying bills online. However, postal losses really amounted to $500 million, considerably less than $8.5 billion.

The 2006 Postal Reform Act legally required a 10-year mandate for the USPS to front-load the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund (PSRHBF). Although there’s already enough cash to cover current and future retiree health benefits for decades to come, the USPS once again made a $5.5 billion payment toward pre-funding its Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund. No other agency/corporation is required to pre-fund benefits at such an ambitious level.

And the USPS had to recognize on its balance sheet a non-case expense of $2.5 billion due to an adjustment

HARRIS FEDERAL LAW FIRM Federal Workers Compensation

Specializing in Letter Carrier/Postal Worker Injuries

(Ex. carpal tunnel, shoulder, knee, etc)

mail@harrisfedeml.com

www.harrisfederal.com

1204 Winchester Road, Suite 275 / Lexington, KY 40505

Toll Free (877) 226-2723 / Fax (859) 273-1520

Branch 343 Members Currently Serving

on Active Military DutyRaymond EdisonGeorge SemancoSuzanne SippelDavid Smith

Please Keep Them in Your Thoughts and Prayers

4 January 2011/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

vICE PRESIDENT’S ARTICLE… By Barry liNaN

January 2011 greetings to all of the broth-ers and sisters of NALC Branch 343. Happy new year to all and best wishes throughout

the new year. I want to personally thank all of the stewards and Formal A reps of Branch 343 for processing a record 1,450 (and counting) grievances this year. The officers of this branch couldn’t be successful without all your hard work. We are in this together and we will con-tinue to enforce the provisions of our contract.

I would like to share with you my “top ten” USPS new year resolutions for 2011:

President Obama appoints some new mem-1. bers to the USPS Board of Governors who actually care about preserving service to all of our customers, six days a week! The USPS eliminates their misguided 2. EVA bonus program for management and persuades them to actually care about USPService, instead of just making their numbers.The USPS takes down the bogus, propa-3. ganda, misguided, and premature “Five-Day Delivery” section on their Web site. The USPS abandons the misguided plan for 4. “Five-Day Delivery” and instead concen-trates on expanding service to the 150 mil-lion deliveries we make six days a week.The USPS hires some new accountants and 5. actually makes a determined effort to get back the $50 billion to $75 billion that was overpaid into the CSRS account. The USPS uses that 6. $50 billion to $75 bil-lion surplus to fully fund the future retiree health benefits obligation and eliminates the current onerous $5.5 billion yearly payment.The USPS ceases the National Reassess-7. ment Program (NRP), stops sending injured employees home, paying them compensation, and instead provides lim-ited duty work.The USPS stops violating the overtime 8. provisions of Article 8, properly uses the

OTDL carriers to get the work done, and saves the USPS money in the end by doing so. The USPS demotes all supervisors/manag-9. ers who exhibit no communication skills or any capability to treat all employees with dignity and respect. That all postal employees cease paying 10. their bills online and instead make further use of the delivery services of the company they actually work for.

2011 ANNUAL LEAVE: 631xx OFFICES

Every office should have a schedule posted of all first and second phase selections. Please re-view the schedule for accuracy of your selections. A schedule of approved PAL days should also be posted. Stewards, please make copies of both schedules for your own records and reference for incidental leave requests throughout 2011.

Per our local agreement: “Any unfilled vaca-tion periods (below 14.5 percent) will be avail-able for incidental leave. All incidental leave requests of a week or less will be approved on a first-come, first-serve basis. Seniority breaks a tie. Requests for incidental leave should be made no more than 30 days or less than 14 days prior. Each station or branch will have an annual leave calendar posted, listing unfilled periods.”

“When requesting other annual leave above 14.5 percent, employees will be notified of approval or disapproval within five employee working days following submission. If not so notified, the leave will be approved. Such leave requests may not be submitted more than 30 days prior to the first leave day to be covered by the request.”

Associate offices not in 631xx should refer to their own local agreements regarding annual leave selections. Any stewards needing a copy can call me at the hall.

January 2011/MCC 5

MOUND CITY CARRIER

RECoRDINg SECRETARy’S REPoRT … By keN JohNsoN

Greetings my fellow union brothers and sisters. I trust everyone had a wonderful holiday season and honored all fam-

ily members serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Happy retirement, Mike, and congratulations to NBA Dan Pittman. We start the New Year in a hole we must fight our way out of. We are in this state because greedy, elitist people believe the working class, union workers deserve nothing but the opportunity to serve them and help them become richer. Missouri may now join the list of right-to-work states, if Missouri legislators have their way. The fight for six-day delivery is heating up again. We need all letter carriers to put aside their petty differences and stand united, solid in the belief we have a right to make a living wage for our families.

The USPS is run by evil people. That is the only explanation I can come up with. Why would

you throw away employees injured on the job? Why would you cheat, lie and manipulate the figures to overburden carriers so you can get a bonus, take 3-hour lunches and strut around repeating how great you are in hurting employees. These employees make you look good on a daily basis. When the USPS fails, you will be out of work also. Management people create the most havoc for carriers, clerks and others. They just don’t understand, and think they are raising children. They fit right in to the plan to privatize the USPS. After they bust the unions, they have a free run on disrespecting workers. If you want to see a change, stand up together, be professional and work in a safe manner. It’s time to make a stand and stand up for your rights and the pursuit of happiness for you and your family. It’s not about self anymore. Yours in unionism.

6 January 2011/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

HEALTH BENEfITS PLAN … By Mike david

and veggies, low-fat or no-fat milk and cheese, more poultry and fish, beans and almonds.

OWCP N EWSNotify management as soon as possible of any 1. on-the-job injury. Fill out OWCP Form 2. CA-1 “report of traumatic injury,” get copies of front and back of CA-1. Management is required to give you copies and must inform you of your right to continua-tion of pay. Request medical treatment, preferably from 3. your chosen doctor or the ER. Management must inform you of your right to choose your own doctor. Management must provide you OWCP Forms CA-16 “medical authorization” and CA-17 “duty status” to take to your doctor. Keep copies of all forms. See that your doctor fills out form CA-17 and the “physician’s re-port” attached to the CA-16. Give this informa-tion to management upon returning to work. If you choose to go to the contract doctor because your chosen doctor is not immediately avail-able, you may still go to your chosen doctor the next day. If you do choose to go to your doctor, do not return to the contract doctor! If man-agement refuses to give you forms CA-16 and CA-17 for your doctor, see your steward or call the Union Hall immediately! These forms are crucial to your OWCP claim!Upon returning to work with medical restric-4. tions on Form CA-17, management must issue you a written limited duty job offer. Before signing the job offer, review it to ensure the job duties do not exceed your restrictions. If you have any issues with the job offer duties, hours, or off-days, you can sign the offer “under pro-test” and then see your steward immediately!

You all be safe out there.

Greetings and salutations! I hope all had a merry Christmas and a happy holiday!

H BP N EWSOkay, so most if not all of us ate way too much

over the holidays and now it is time to engage in damage control. If you are a retired carrier or if you have a mounted route it is likely you do not get anywhere near the amount of exercise you need to stay healthy and lose those extra pounds you picked up over the holidays. Obviously, it is easier to do this during the warmer months, but here are some suggestions:

Park your car a little bit further from the •store than usualInvest in a stationary cycle and exercise at •home.Join a gym, or simply go to your local mall •and walk.

Cholesterol — Do you know your numbers? High LDL or bad cholesterol is a major risk fac-

tor for heart disease. Here are the 3 types of cho-lesterol and the numbers associated with them:

LDL is the cholesterol that clings to the walls •of our blood vessels and forms plague. This is bad cholesterol and you should try to keep your LDL level at 160 or lower. HDL is good cholesterol and does not cling •to blood vessel walls. It may even help lower your LDL numbers. You should try to keep your HDL numbers at least above 40 and above 60 would be better as it greatly reduc-es your risk of heart disease and stroke. Triglycerides are another type of fat found •in the blood and which build up on artery walls. A good goal for your triglyceride level is below 150.

To lower your bad cholesterol (LDL) and trig-lyceride level get plenty of exercise, eat a diet low in saturated fats and high is soluble fiber, and cut down on simple carbs like processed sugar. Think about losing weight and reducing your alcohol intake. Some good, heart-healthy foods you might include in your diet are whole grains, fresh fruits

January 2011/MCC 7

MOUND CITY CARRIER

NoTES fRom THE mANAgINg EDIToR… By toM schulte

one more time. The results of this action will most probably prove catastrophic for the middle class.

The Bush tax cuts have been in place for every American for the last eight years. So where are the jobs? If tax cuts are the answer to all of our prob-lems, why are we in the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s? The Republicans say that there is too much spending. The Repub-licans have made the term “taxes” synonymous with death.

Taxes, for lack of a better word, are good. Taxes build roads and bridges. Taxes fund schools, police and fire departments. Taxes fund Social Security and Medicare. Taxes provide the funds to support and maintain sewer and water lines, electric grids and alternate renewable energy sources including solar and wind. Taxes support student aid and medical research. Taxes put a man on the moon and returned him safely to the earth and with it, all the technical advances we enjoy today. Collectively, taxes provide jobs. No taxes, as we’ve seen in the last eight years, pro-vide no jobs.

Because politicians continue their effort not to address the important social issues facing all Americans, everyone’s future is at risk. Already there is talk about longer years of service and reduced annuities. Those who have are doing an excellent job trying to take away what little the middle class has left. Federal agencies’ pension plans are already targeted for revision, including the Postal Service’s.

Because special interests in Washington D. C. control the politicians, what should we, the work-ing class, expect? While Wall Street and the banks made out like bandits with our taxpayer monies, we, the middle class, will be asked to sacrifice what little is left of our retirement to save the economy. Who is fighting for the middle class? The wall is in sight and the can is being kicked up against it.

For fifty years, we’ve seen documentaries and special news programs discussing the baby boom generation, Americans born between

1946 and 1964, roughly 78.2 million people. The documentaries always ask the important question, “What happens when those 78+ million Americans retire?

In 1935, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, the life expectancy of the average American was 61.4 years. Since most Americans retired in their mid to late 50s, Social Security was only supposed to provide retirement income for a few years at most.

Fast forward to the present day. Through advanced medical care and treatment, the life expectancy of the average American is now 78.3 years. While employer and employee contributions into the Social Security fund have increased over the years, the reality is that Social Security, the retirement fund for the middle class and the Baby Boomer retirements are a train wreck about to happen.

For decades, both political parties have kicked the can down the road, each hoping the other would address the issue and in so doing, commit political suicide. There are only three options available: 1. Raise taxes. 2. Cut ben-efits and 3. Raise taxes and cut benefits. They are the only options and any politician who mentions them is destined to be a one term politician.

An avenue became available to do something about the Social Security problem with the recent vote on extending the Bush-Era tax cuts. Both parties postured, the Democrats to con-tinue the tax cuts for everyone who earned up to $250,000, while the Republicans held out for tax cuts for everyone including the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans who are sitting on an estimated $1.3 trillion in collective wealth. The politicians decide to kick the can down the road

T H E C A N’S AGA I NST T H E WALL

8 January 2011/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

NATIoNAL BuSINESS AgENT’S REPoRT… By daN PittMaN

Since this is my first article as your national business agent, I would like to begin by thanking my family for the tremendous

sacrifices they’ve endured while allowing me the privilege of working for this great union for more than 30 years. Without their unlimited support I would not have traveled this far in my union career.

I want to thank those who have served in this position before me. NBAs Charlie Coyle, Joe Miller, Art Buck, and Mike Weir have all taught me the skills that I will need to represent the membership in Region 05.

I also want to thank my closest friends who have helped me through good times and bad times and have always been beside me regardless of the challenges we faced. You all know who you are and I cannot say “Thank You” enough.

With the staffing shortage currently being expe-rienced by O.P.M., our new and soon to be retirees are under a major financial strain. Currently 38,000 federal employees are awaiting their well-deserved retirement. We are asking our retirees to apply four (4) months before retirement. We believe, until this is cleared up, the individual retiring should have five (5) months cash reserve. At the February Rap Session we will have a retirement training seminar.

My philosophy is very straightforward. I intend to utilize the talents that are available within our membership to improve the representation region-wide. With that philosophy in mind, this region will focus more than ever on providing more comprehensive training due to the ever chang-ing economy, politics and our workroom floor environment.

I have just returned from my first Executive Council meeting. I congratulate President Rolando on his masterful approach at running those meet-ings and our union. I learned a lot about the work-ings of our Executive Council and the task that they face and I am proud to be a member.

After returning from the Executive Council meetings, I will begin meeting with all the district

managers in Region 05 (Mid-America, Hawkeye, Central Plains, and Gateway). We will be attempt-ing to bring these individuals out of the comfort of their office and into the field where we have some abusive and manipulative managers. I will use the energy you provide and power you have entrusted me with to force management to abide by the contract and bring to light those managers who repeatedly violate not only our rights, but our dignity as well. In addition, I will be insisting that they hold their own managers accountable in situ-ations that have become abusive.

In order to do all this, my office must have the support of the entire membership. One person cannot change the entire world overnight, so I am asking the membership to work with me in a spirit of cooperation and teamwork. In that spirit, I will also be asking for your help in increasing our par-ticipation in Customer Connect, COLCPE, MDA and other events important to the NALC.

The “U” in union stands for US. The business agent and staff work for the membership and, sim-ply put, that is our agenda for the next four years. Let’s get started.

Yours in unionism

REGIONAL RAP SESSIONFebruary 26-27, 2011

Crowne Plaza Hotel — Downtown St. Louis

Charles J. Coyle Ravioli “Toast”

Saturday, February 26, 20115 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Join us for an aggressive training session on issues concerning letter carriers

January 2011/MCC 9

MOUND CITY CARRIER

RETIREE REPoRT … By ray Breakfield

Meeting called to order by Chairman Mc-Neil at 12:47 p.m. Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance by Chaplain Gus Frank. Jim

thanked the Branch 343 officers for a great lunch.New Member: Mike David from South CountySick Call: Tom Harman, Dickie Weber, and Ken

Johnson who is recuperating at home.Treasurer’s Report: Jim Kluempers reported a

balance of $196.09. Jim talked again about Honor Flight. World War 2 vets need to call Jim if they want to go.

NBA Report: Mike Weir gave his last report as our NBA. Mike will attend the installation of officers in D.C. Dan Pittman will be installed as the new Region 5 NBA. Mike is looking forward to retirement. NALC President Rolando will do a good job with the newly sworn in officers. Two hundred letter carriers were released for the past election. Carl Rove put a lot of money into the 3rd District election. Russ Carnahan won anyway. Mike said it was a big mistake for the Supreme Court to allow corporations to fund political campaigns. The new postmaster general replacing Potter is even worse than he was. Mike ended his report by saying he is looking forward to joining the Branch 343 retirees’ group.

Branch 343 Report: President Bill Lister report-ed there were 1,401 grievances in Branch 343 this

year so far. Bill congratulated Mike Weir on his retirement. Several Branch 343 members participated in “Treats for Troops.” They made up 1,000 boxes this year.

Chairman’s Report: President Obama is in favor of a 2-year pay freeze. Jim talked about the USPS proposal to Congress to go to 5-day delivery. Con-gressman Shattuck from Arizona favors extending Bush tax cuts. He is against extending unemploy-ment benefits because “they just save it.” There will be $700 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy. The tax laws are wrong. Warren Buffet pays less in taxes than his secretary. Geno lberg has gener-ously thanked the retirees for working for active carriers. Jim thanked Geno for his generosity and the nice note that came with it. There will be a free seminar on Social Security on December 6. See Jim for details.

Vice-Chairman: Walter Besch spoke about the OPM brochure we should get every year. It’s about health benefits open season which closes on De-cember 13.

Gus Frank then spoke about all the Carnahan signs stolen off lawns.

50/50 of $27 won by Jim Kluempers. He donated it back to the treasury. Closing prayer by Gus Frank. Meeting adjourned at 1:39 p.m.

EDIToR’S NoTES … By ray Breakfield

Last month I mentioned we can’t believe everything we see on the Internet. I should have men-tioned newspapers. It seems newspapers and TV news aren’t entirely interested in reporting the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It’s all about selling advertising time and selling newspa-

pers. What’s the old newspaper slogan, “If it bleeds, it leads.As you have probably seen in the Postal Record and the MCC, The Washington Post had an article that

was very critical of the Postal Service. It advocated 5-day delivery. It said letter carriers are paid too much, and that the Postal Service is getting “bailout” money. The article went on and on slamming the Postal Service. There is a method to their madness. The Postal Service is a direct competitor of the Post for advertising dollars. Do you think that would influence their reporting? It’s obvious The Washington Post (and all newspapers) would benefit if the Postal Service were to cease to exist. Where would all those advertisers go if the Postal Service wasn’t there to deliver their circulars? Of course the advertis-ers would have only the newspapers. Might that be the motive behind the distorted and untrue report-ing? Integrity sure got kicked out the door at The Washington Post. Surprise! Surprise! One of the most well-thought-of newspapers in the country has become a slave to greed and the almighty dollar. It’s where the country seems to be headed, sad to say.

10 January 2011/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

Greetings from the Pointe. Goodbye 2010 … Hello 2011. We have a new

postmaster general, U.S. House and U.S. Senate. The new PMG Donahoe made two comments. One is a long time in coming; the other makes me wary. The first one is his comment about trying to get more of the parcel business. I still recall to this day something a past PM of St. Louis once said in response to a carrier about the parcel business. He said that even though we already have the infrastructure to handle it, the service was not going to actively pursue it. Just goes to show the Postal Service has sur-vived in spite of stupid decisions like this over the years.

The new PMG’s other com-ment was that he wanted the Postal Service to be more nim-ble. I take that to mean he would love nothing more than to have

the service full of TEs by the time he retires. I am afraid that the new Congress in Washing-ton will help PMG Donahoe in whatever way it can to help him achieve this goal.

The new Congress will be nothing but a headache. Al-ready, one new Republican Missouri U.S. representative has called the Postal Service a burden on taxpayers. The new Republican Missouri U.S. sena-tor indicated he will not support 6-day delivery or even the postal monopoly. When we start taking hits over the next two years, just thank the nearly one-third of your fellow carriers for voting against their own interest.

On a humorous note, the irony has not escaped the Pointe. The postal micro-management team has posted signs saying, “Every piece, every day, no mat-ter what.” They place these signs

right next to backed-up routes, palates full of parcels, bins full of 2nd-class magazines, priority mail, hidden hot case mail, you name it. As expected, carriers have shared their slogan ideas. Most of these are not fit to print. I particularly like, “Every piece, whenever we get around to it,” “We deliver last week’s mail to you next week, guaranteed,” or “We start later, so you get your mail earlier.” If you were to ask anybody on the third floor downtown, carriers are nothing but lazy, shiftless time stealers. The way they are reducing bod-ies downtown, they may soon have the opportunity to become one of those lazy, shiftless time stealers. Walk a mile in our work boots before you judge us.

During the holiday (holy day), keep all of our fighting men and women in your thoughts and prayers. Do your jobs safely and accurately. We don’t write the rules; we just have to play the game. A.H.

mAC PoINTES … By JohN MclaughliN

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR . DAY - JANUARY 17

January 2011/MCC 11

MOUND CITY CARRIER

Happy new year every-one!Word has come that

the excessing of personnel from the plant will continue in 2011. Seventy-three clerks have already been notified that they could be moved to other posi-tions within a 400-mile radius. Another 50 from the mail-han-dlers are slated to be excessed in a few months. Currently, route assignments are being withheld within the Gateway District for that purpose.

Nationally, right in line with the political shift, Postmaster General Jack Potter retired at the end of 2010. After piloting the Postal Service into a tail spin, Potter has abandoned ship. But, with an $8 million retirement parachute, you can be sure he’ll land safely. Wonder if we’ll continue to work in the world of wizardry now that Potter is gone?

Speaking of wizardry, we underwent 3999s last month.

Without prior notice, a swarm of management route examiners showed up. You would think that since it was early December there wouldn’t be a problem with the mail volume. Well, think again. The mail volume mysteriously plummeted to an unexpected low. Take me, for example. Normally I have a good amount of UBBM for my Rt. 3689. On the day of my 99 there was only a single piece. That’s one piece of UBBM for the entire route.

During the 99s, mail volume was down Wednesday through Friday and you can just imagine what the DPS looked like — a joke. Magically, come Saturday we were greeted with multiple tubs stacked at every case. There has always been suspicion that management hides the mail during inspections. That sure seemed to be the case during our 99s. The strongest evidence was on Friday when we received mail bundles with Wednesday’s

labels on them. By the way, the same source that provided the news on the plant’s excessing process informed us that there was no shortage of mail stacked up or overtime being worked out at the NDC during the same time our 99s were going on. The NDC is the Network Distribu-tion Center, formally called the BMC (Bulk Mail Center).

Why does management do things the way they do? They delete clock rings to save hours. They lie to win grievances. They cheat to make quota. They alter figures to meet goals. They fab-ricate numbers to get bonuses. Why don’t they realize that if you shade the numbers, in the long run you’re only hurting yourself?

Carriers aren’t stupid! If you hide the mail to alter the figures to screw up my route, when all is said and done, I’m still not go-ing to work myself to death on your over-burdened route. It’s as simple as that. It’s just not going to happen. We’ll just see how it turns out as we roll into 2011.

God bless all and peace!

JENNINgS JIvE … By chet draiN

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12 January 2011/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

Greetings sisters and brothers of Branch 343. How’s everybody doing

out there? Fine, I hope. I have to stop and say that Branch 343 is going to really miss our great retiring Business Agent Mike Weir. My first encounter with Mike was when I called down to the Union Hall about a griev-ance. At that time, he was vice president. He started to ask these questions concerning the issue I was calling about. I knew then that he was somebody special because not only did he tell me exactly how and what to do about the issue, but also sent out everything I needed to argue my points. He then turned around and called to make sure I completely understood and to see if there were any questions I had. If you, as a steward, did not get a chance to work with him,

you really missed out on total knowledge of the contract and a great friend. Mike Weir is the kind of person that knows his stuff; and if he does not know, he will find out for himself and let you know what he found out and pass it on to you, so you will know for yourself. If you never had a chance to hear him speak so informatively at the Union Hall, you really missed out on empowering yourself about issues concerning let-ter carriers. I just want to say I am really going to miss him as business agent for our branch and I wish Mike and his bride, Jeanette, long and happy retire-ments. May God bless them for many years!

Look out stations and branches. I will be seeing you all real soon because I am the new customer connect coordinator

for our district. So, if you have any leads, make sure they are being inputted. If you see any packages stacked up and brown is there picking them up, then ask the questions. How about giving us a chance to save you some money on shipping. Who’s in charge of shipping in your office? Ask for the business card of the shipping person, and then bring it back and ask your customer connect coordinator to put your lead in and wait and see if we are backing up to the dock to take those packages. Fi-nally, stay tuned for my contact information. I will be providing it soon. In the meantime, if you have any questions, I will see you when I get to your station.

In closing, remember to do your best, leave the rest, don’t stress, God bless and thank you for coming.

WEST CouNTy … By PaM stePNey

ScholarshipDeadlines

John H. HaakeMarch 1

and

Charles J. CoyleMarch 31

January 2011/MCC 13

MOUND CITY CARRIER

Greetings from Stalag 14. Kiplinger.com reported in November that USPS

Saturday delivery of mail will end at some point in 2011. Jim Ostroff of The Kiplinger Letter re-ports that “Congress will grudg-ingly go along.” Mr. Ostroff reports that “postal officials haven’t ruled out restoring full mail service on Saturdays dur-ing the year-end holiday sea-son,” and that “limited Saturday service to deliver mail-order prescription drugs to consum-ers” is also under consideration.

Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) Chair Ruth Goldway recently stated on prc.gov the following: “By years end, we expect to issue our advisory opinion in docket N2010-1 evaluating the Postal Service’s pro-posal to eliminate Saturday mail service to homes and businesses nationwide.” By the time you read this, that advisory opinion should be posted on prc.gov.

In a PRC press release dated 2 December 2010, Ms. Goldway said the following in remarks before a Senate postal oversight subcommittee: “We believe con-gressional action to address pen-sion and retiree benefit issues remains the key element of any reform effort.” The press release further states that, “Commis-sion studies show that the Postal Service may have over-funded its pension plan by as much as $55 billion and could possibly reduce annual health benefit outlays by as much as $2 billion while meeting congressional objectives to pre-fund its future retiree health benefits.”

All along, I’ve been telling my patrons on the street who asked that I strongly believed that six-day deliveries would remain. I believed then, and still do, that correcting this over-funding flaw of retiree health benefits would go a long way toward addressing USPS’ financial woes. Indeed, back in October, the USPS’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) found, as reported by Kate Muth of dmnews.com, that “the U.S. Postal Service could fully meet its finan-cial obligations, extinguish debt and have substantial cash flow if Congress rectifies the organiza-tion’s possible over-funding of its pension and retiree health care funds.” The DIG report stated that, “If our proposals to recover the over-funded amounts were placed in effect, the Postal Service could potentially recover $142.4 billion.” This is an arm of post office management making this declaration. And yet, the PMG continues to press forward with this terribly misguided plan to eliminate Saturday delivery.

So why did Congress place this onerous burden on USPS to pre-fund its retiree health benefits in unsustainable fash-ion? Well, George W. Bush was president at the time that this was legislated, and both houses of Congress were controlled by the Republicans. Was it a plot by the Republican party to drive USPS out of business and priva-tize mail delivery? It sure seems that way to me.

NALC President Fred Rolando recently testified before a Senate subcommittee that eliminating

Saturday delivery would result in 80,000 lost jobs during a time when we are already in a reces-sion. And handing Saturdays over to our competitors on a sil-ver platter would lessen demand for USPS services. It makes absolutely no sense to do away with Saturday delivery. Period. And if it happens, it’ll rank right up there with giving the parcel business to UPS as the single most nearsighted and grossly incompetent blunder ever perpe-trated by USPS management.

Now, on to Topic #2. On Mon-day, 6 December 2010, Gaffney Station received a mandate from the Crystal Palace downtown to deliver all Red Plums and Local Values on the same day. This stupid directive resulted in a massive amount of station overtime on that day and points out yet again how uncaring and vindictive the management people downtown are. I have never, in my nearly 50 years on this planet, worked for an employer who cares as little for its employees as does USPS. The people calling the shots simply don’t give a damn about the health or safety of its most valu-able asset, namely the carriers who, in spite of mind-boggling and inept micro-management, continue to do their jobs and do them very well. Upper manage-ment continues to put its worst foot forward every day with little on its mind other than making the job as difficult and unsafe for the people who actu-ally do the work as it possibly can.

IT’S ovER IN ovERLAND … By JohN Miller

14 January 2011/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

Has your station fallen victim to the dread-ed 3999 team? What the heck is going on? Don’t be surprised if 10 to 15 managers

and supervisors just show up at your station and start doing 3999s with all the routes. Oh, by the way, two stations will be going through adjust-ments in January. Also, as I am writing this article, we are still waiting to hear from the national par-ties as to what the next agreement will be for route adjustments.

Management has established a 3999 team of managers and supervisors who apparently are not needed at their own stations. We all already knew that, though. When carriers are asking for an unedited copy of their 3999, the leader of this team is telling them to ask their manger. He is saying he is not responsible for giving carriers a copy. The truth is, he is too busy baby-sitting this team to take the time to print you a copy. While uploading the data from the DCD he could and should print you a copy. I suggest asking for an unedited copy of your 3999 in the morning when you find out they will be walking with you. Make them commit to giving you one. If you don’t get a copy at the end of the day, make sure the steward knows what is going on.

The postmaster’s new seek-and-find system for DPS can work to our favor if we simply ring out to the street before getting DPS. If they order you to pick it up while still on office time, remember to ask for more “fixed office time” in the next consul-tation for adjustments. Just explain how it can take up to ten minutes of searching when questioned why.

If it’s still cold out when the 3999 team shows up, don’t put your cold weather gear on until you clock to the street. The reasoning is simple. Cold weather requires extra time to properly dress for our street duties, not our office duties. We are only given five minutes personal time while casing and pulling down our routes. If we use more than five minutes during our office time we lose it. If we wait and do it on street time, we get all the time that is needed. Therefore it should be

done on street time. This is not only reasonable but necessary. Management should put this time under “personal needs.” Be sure they don’t delete this time. Again this is one more reason to get an unedited copy of your 3999.

Both Kirkwood and Gravois will be going through adjustments in January. The data shows a mail increase, and time needs to be added at both stations. Any changes will be implemented before the end of February. As for the next round of adjustments, we will just have to wait and see if the national parties come to an agreement. As soon as we know anything we will pass it along.

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays with family and friends. Until next time, attend the union meetings, become informed, and make yourself and those around you stronger. Also be professional and consistent in your carrier duties at all times. Hope to see you at the meeting.

NALC Co-LEADER: JARAP mINoR ADJuSTmENT PRoCESS … By charles sextoN

or Call TOLL FREE

Roy Tailors 1-800-543-0379

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Call one of our Area Representatives

RETIRED LETTER CARRIERS OF BRANCH 343SUPPORT YOUR UNION BROTHERS

Walter Besch37 Raintree Ct. Fenton, MO 63026

636-343-3775

Jack C. Northcott8952 Blackpool Dr.St. Louis, MO 63123

314-638-2498

John Constantin1635 Chesley St. Louis, MO 63136

314-869-1585

George Cooper10443 Halls Ferry Rd.St. Louis, MO 63136

314-541-1503

January 2011/MCC 15

MOUND CITY CARRIER

EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE RECORDS

The records of a disciplinary action against an employee shall not be considered in any subsequent disciplinary action if there has been no disciplinary action initiated against the employee for a period of two years.

Upon the employee’s written request, any disciplinary notice or decision letter will be removed from the employee’s official personnel folder after two years if there has been no disciplinary action initiated against the employee in that two-year period.

Article 16 Sec. 10, 2006-2011 National Agreement

BOND: GOP SHOuLD RECONSIDER “RIGHT-TO-WORK” (FOR LESS)St. Louis — Retiring U.S. Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond said Republicans in the Missouri

Legislature should reconsider pushing a “right-to-work” (for less) plan.Republicans are planning to move a bill through the Legislature, which could be vetoed by

Gov. Jay Nixon or bypass Nixon by putting a “right-to work” (for less) proposal directly on the 2012 statewide ballot.

Bond — in an interview with the St. Louis Beacon, a non-profit, online news Web-site — re-called that organized labor won a similar ballot fight in 1978 by a three-to-two margin.

The campaign turned out to be “a disaster” for the GOP, Bond told the Beacon.“It wiped out every single Republican from top to bottom,” Bond said.The Beacon reported: “When asked about this year’s possible renewal of the fight, Bond

replied that Republicans in the state Legislature should reconsider, and think about what hap-pened in 1978.”

“In any case, if the Legislature passed a right-to-work law it would be up to Nixon — a Demo-crat seeking re-election in 2012 — to sign or veto the measure. Since labor is among the Demo-cratic Party’s most powerful blocs, the assumption it that Nixon would veto the bill,” the Beacon reported.

“The new Republican leader in the state Senate, Sen. Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, announced shortly after his selection that one of his top issues would be the passage of legislation to make Missouri a right-to-work state.”

Under “right-to-work” (for less), companies and unions would be barred from requiring all workers in a union-represented unit to pay union dues as a requirement of employment, and thus allow “free-riders” and “freeloaders” to enjoy the benefits of union contracts and union representation without contributing a penny.

“Mayer and his allies contend that Missouri has lost jobs, particularly in the auto industry, because businesses have migrated to right-to-work states, such as neighboring Arkansas,” the Beacon reported.

“The Missouri AFL-CIO contends that Missouri is losing jobs to Mexico and China, and that right-to-work wouldn’t change that.”

St. Louis Labor Tribune, December 2010

16 January 2011/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

By making a COLCPE allotment through Postal EASE, you are doing so voluntarily with the under-standing that your monthly contribution is not a condition of membership in the National Association of Letter Carriers or of employment by the Postal Service, nor is it a part of union dues. You may refuse to contribute without any reprisal. COLCPE will use the money it receives to contribute to candidates for federal office and undertake other political spending as permitted by law. Your selection shall remain in full force and effect until cancelled through the PostalEASE system. Only NALC members, NALC executive and administrative staff, and their immediate household family members may contribute to COLCPE. Contributions to COLCPE are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.

January 2011/MCC 17

MOUND CITY CARRIER

100% UNION HONOR ROLLBONNE TERRE CHOUTEAUCLAYTONCOYLE CREVE COEUR CUBAFERGUSONFREDRICKTOWN GAFFNEYGILES GRAVOIS HARRIET WOODSJENNINGSMACKENZIE POINTE MAPLEWOOD NEW MADRID

NORTH COUNTY PIEDMONT ROLLAST. ANNST. CLAIRST. JAMES STE. GENEVIEVE STEELE TOWN & COUNTRY UNION WARRENTON WASHINGTONWEATHERSWELLSVILLE WENTZVILLE WEST COUNTY

Growing Labor unions Will Grow Our Economy!By: Dr. richarD a Levins

Ask anyone, and they will tell you that the subprime mortgage mess brought down our economy. Otherwise, the economy was “fundamentally sound.” I’ll agree that tanking mortgages pushed us over the edge, but the subprime train wreck was only a symptom of a much larger problem. If subprime mortgages hadn’t gotten us, something else would have.

Here’s what I think happened. Beginning around 1980, labor union strength began to decline and wage growth slowed dramatically. For a while, working families compensated by more family members taking jobs, but eventually stagnant wages and rising costs took their toll. More families became trapped in debt as they tried to maintain a middle class way of life on wages that were no longer up to the task.

Even though wages were stagnant, American workers continued to become more and more produc-tive. This is something all of us can be proud of. But since there were not enough labor unions to bar-gain that productivity into higher wages, super wealthy owners fattened up on what should have gone to the American middle class families. Since 1980, the share of wealth and income going to the upper one per cent of Americans more than doubled.

As the super rich got even richer, they became more powerful. They changed banking rules to allow them to play fast and loose in ways that were once illegal. They changed the tax system in ways that would benefit them at everyone else’s expense. Rather than build factories that put Americans to work, they sent jobs overseas. Rather than pay workers middle class wages, they lent money to middle class families on increasingly risky terms.

Now we have the witches brew: one part working people struggling to stay in the middle class, one part the gains from more productive growth going to the wrong people, and one part unimaginable fortunes chasing short term gains at any cost. We shouldn’t be surprised that when big money met underpaid workers, the result was too much debt and too much money for the overall system to bear.

Looked at it this way, we have a big policy problem. If we continue treating symptoms instead of problems, as we are now doing, the best we can hope for is to put things back to the way they were. If we do that, we will have more rouge banks, more people without middle class incomes, and more fat cats running Washington and Wall Street.

Lasting recovery will come only when we start treating the problem: without middle class wages, there is nothing “fundamentally sound” about our economy. We must grow our labor unions so that they can do only what labor unions can do: keep the gains from worker productivity in the hands of working people.

Richard A. Levins is Professor Emeritus of Ap-plied Economics at the University of Minnesota. He is a popular writer and speaker on issues of market power and labor. You can learn more about his work at www.middleclassunionmade.com

This article was first printed in the St. Paul Labor Advocate.

BRANCH LEGAL PLANAdvice and Consultation on

General Practice and Civil Actions.BARTLEY, GOFFSTEIN, BOLLATO

& LANGE LAW FIRM531-1054

18 January 2011/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

BRANCH MEETINGBranch 343, St. LouiS, MiSSouri

DeceMBer 9, 2010Summary of

Branch Action

Recently Retired Members

New Members

Highligh

ts

Deceased Members

MSC To pay the branch billsMSC That the branch pays

expenses for President William Lister to the Installation of Officers in Washington.

MSC That Branch 343 pays the lost time and admission fee for two members to attend the “Labor Law & Labor Arbitration” train-ing to be April 15, 2011, in St. Louis and provided by the Labor Arbitration Institute.

MSC That Branch 343 host a dinner for the Mound City Carrier committee for their continued efforts preparing the publication every month on behalf of the members of Branch 343.

Holiday greetings were in order by NBA Dan Pittman from retired NBA Mike Weir. President William Lister introduced the CORO Fellow to the membership. The St. Louis

Labor Council sent the branch paperwork about fighting the movement to make Missouri a “right-to-work” state. Executive VP Nicki Prado explained holiday scheduling to the mem-

bership. VP Barry Linan reminded the mem-bership to check listing of the bids, and please do

not bid blind. President William Lister stressed to the membership we must now educate our families and the public on what the USPS is doing and the real issues beyond the misinformation out there in voting education.

Essence U. Douglas ......................TE-Gravois .......................... 12/09/10Alexius L. Robertson ...................TE-Gravois .......................... 12/09/10Joseph M. Schneider ....................TE-Maryville Gardens ....... 12/09/10

Mark E. Bramel .............................Rolla ......................................11/01/10Freddie J. Davis ............................Des Peres ............................. 12/03/10Emmanuel W. Thomas .................Fredricktown .......................11/01/10

Eugene E. Cashel ..........................Gold Card ............................10/10/10

Respectfully submittedKenneth W. JohnsonRecording Secretary

Hand Surgery AssociatesTreating hand & wrist problems since 1986

Bruce Schlafly, M.D.Board Certified Hand Surgeon

(314) 842-220010004 Kennerly Rd., Suite 259B

St. Louis, MO 63128(St. Anthony’s Medical Offices)

The above honor roll gives special recognition to those members who give $50 or more. Each star represents $100

IS YOUR NAME LISTED? WHY NOT?SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS PAYABLE TO BRANCH 343, P.A.C.

TOM HARMAN 2225 BLENDON PL. ST. LOUIS, MO 63143(Donations are not tax deductible)

PoLITICAL ACTIoN - 2011 … By toM harMaN, Pac chairMaN

Brothers and sisters in unionism, faint signs of economic recovery are on the horizon, yet the num-ber of unemployed in the United States is unacceptable. While American worker’s productivity is at an all time high, wages per hours worked continues to fall.

The NALC saw politic fortunes turn in the last election cycle, with the House majority going to the Republican Party. Needless to say the future of the Postal Service will be a hot-button issue in 2011.

In the fall of 2011, the National Association of Letter Carriers will once again begin deliberations with the U.S. Postal Service for a new national contract. Barring an immediate economic recovery and a huge upturn in mail volumes, we will once again be facing a contractual fight of biblical proportions. We must be prepared.

With business interests controlling the legislation of this nation, it’s going to be even more difficult to hang on to our wages and benefits. The disappearance of the middle class in this country has never been more in jeopardy.

It has never been more vital that we support the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation which will make it easier for labor unions to enter work places and seek to organize. It’s no secret that workers with a union earn 30 percent more than those without a union.

In Missouri, efforts by the Republican-controlled legislature are afoot to make Missouri a right-to-work state, which will further erode the wages and benefits of all Missourians and march us backwards into the minimum wage paying southern states.

So, I urge you once again to please give to the Political Action Fund. Your contributions help support our political friends who support our agenda. Each and every one of us has much to lose if we are com-placent or indifferent to our own plight. There is much work yet to be done. So please give generously to the Political Action Fund.

GUS FRANKHH

NICKI PRADOH

TOM HARMANH

JIM McNEILH

FRANCIS RYANHH

KEN MEYERH

BILL LISTERH

BARRY LINANH

JOHN HAAKEH

GENO IBERGH

DAN LIDDYH

EUGENE HILKEH

THOMAS FITZSIMONSHH

JAMES BRUGGEMANH

JAMES KLUEMPERSH

CHARLES SCANLONH

Walter BeschBill Hoffman

Victor KeitelMichael Jennings

John KarayWilliam Jones

John MulderigKeith Gentry

Michael Chenot Carol McNeil Janet Frank

POLITICAL ACTION ★ HONOR ROLL

January 2011/MCC 19

MOUND CITY CARRIER

Deadline for articles for the FEBRUARY issue is

JANUARY 17, 2011

H H H

REGULAR BRANCH MEETINGTHURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 2011

7:30 pm

H H H

SHOP STEWARDS MEETINGTHURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2011

The Letter Carriers Building1600 S Broadway

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Dan J. GouldBRANCH 343—OFFICERS—

Bill Lister ................................. PresidentNicki Prado ..... Executive Vice President/

TreasurerBarry Linan ..................... Vice President/

Financial SecretaryKen Johnson ............. Recording SecretaryMarvin Booker ............. Sergeant-at-ArmsSaronda Sutherland ..........Collector, MBAMike David .. Health Benefit Representative

BOARD OF TRUSTEESRobinette Hensley Charles SextonJohn McLaughlin Tony Jasper

Derrick WilliamsChairman

CORRESPONDENT POSTAL RECORD

Tom Schulte

MEMBER-AT-LARGENEGOTIATING COMMITTEE

Tina Hunt Chet DrainMelvin McNair

DELEGATES TO THE ST. LOUIS LABOR COUNCIL

Keith Gentry Gus FrankRobinette Hensley Tony JasperMike Chenot Melvin McNair

Pam Stepney

MOUND CITY CARRIERPublished monthly by Branch 343

National Association of Letter CarriersContents may be reproduced by NALC

publications — Just mention Branch 343.

STAFFTom Schulte .................. Managing EditorHarry Blecha ............... Business ManagerRay Breakfield .............................. EditorBarry Linan ........................ Assoc. EditorClif Nelson ............................ Asst. EditorJohn McLaughlin ................... Asst. Editor

ADVISORY BOARD

Bill ListerNicki Prado

All correspondence and all articles intended for publication in this paper

should be addressed to:Ray Breakfield, Editor

1600 S BroadwaySt. Louis, MO 63104-3806

Phone: (314) 241-4297

All copy should be TYPED in upper and lower case, double spaced and written on one side only. Articles are to be limited

to 250 words and must be signed.

For ad rates call:HARRY BLECHA

Phone: (314) 645-1192

Opinions expressed intend no malice toward anyone — neither do they necessarily express the views of the editor nor that of Branch 343 N.A.L.C.

Articles may be edited for brevity and potential libelous statements.

LETTER CARRIERS BUILDINGBRANCH OFFICE1600 S Broadway

St. Louis, MO 63104-3806

(314) 241-4297

Hours: 8 am - 4:30 pm (M-F) 8 am - Noon (Sat)

Fax: (314) 241-2738

Branch 343 Web Sitewww.branch343.org

2011 AWARD WINNING WEB SITE

RETIRED MEMBERS MEETINGLETTER CARRIERS BUILDING

1600 S Broadway1st Wednesday of the month.

Lunch at noon, meeting at 1:00 pm

Jim McNeil, Chairman ..................(314) 845-2371 RayBreakfield,Secretary .............(573) 358-5266

Jim Kluempers, Treasurer ............(636) 274-0996

FEMALE LETTER CARRIERS REPRESENTATIVE

Robinette Hensley, Gwen B. Giles(314) 382-1058

EEO REPRESENTATIVESHarold Robinson — (314) 569-2653

Robinette Hensley — (314) 382-1058

HEALTH BENEFITS HOT LINEMike David — Hall: (314) 241-4223

Tuesday 8:00 am to 4:30 pm

COMPENSATION HOT LINEMike David — Hall: (314) 241-4223

Thursday 8:00 am to 4:30 pm

SAFETY & HEALTHMel McNair, North County — (314) 869-2319

VETERANS CONSULTANTMike David — (314) 241-4297

FOR LOW COST NALC INSURANCESaronda Sutherland, MBA

(314) 535-2850

NBA OFFICEDan Pittman — (314) 872-0227