Messages from the President

Laurie Duarte

Non-Profit OrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDSan Jose, CA

Permit No. 5593

Published by:National Association of Letter CarriersBranch 193P.O. Box 5721San Jose, CA 95150-5721

Return Service Requested

BulletinNo. 1 - 12 June - July 2011

Campbell Gilroy Los Gatos Milpitas Morgan Hill San Jose Saratoga

Branch 193 Bulletin 1060 Minnesota Ave., Suite 9

San Jose, CA 95125-2461(408) 288-8138

www.nalcbranch193.com

The Branch 193 Bulletin is published by Branch 193, National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO. Opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of Branch 193. We invite all members to contribute articles for publication. The Editor retains the right to edit, delete, or reject any article for the good of the Branch.

Check Out Our Website at.www.nalcbranch193.com

3999’s

What is a PS Form 3999? This is where management goes out to the street with the carrier and conducts a one day walk and stays with the carrier all day collecting data usually in a handheld device. This information does not set how long your route is on the street it is merely to be used in the transfer of territory when adjusting routes.

After a 3999 has been conducted management is required within 3 business days (whenever possible) to explain the examiner’s comments and the reasons for any time recorded as nonrecurring street time, as well as any editing of the original PS Form 3999, to the carrier. The carrier will have the opportunity to write his/her comments on an attachment to the original unedited copy of the PS Form 3999. The carrier should also ask for a copy of the PS Form 3999X for their records and keep a copy of any comments that were discussed or made by you. This information is something to bring up when a route consultation is conducted under the JARAP 2011 process.

Although the Workhour/Workload posting and the 3999 3-day examiner’s comments with the carrier requirement is in the JARAP 2011 agreement this is also required with the FSS adjustment process in which Branch 193 is currently under. I would like to remind carriers that management alone is doing the initial adjustments for the FSS offices the Union is not involved. 60-days after implementing route adjustments then there is a joint (Union and Management) route review to ensure the routes are as near 8 hours as possible. If you are skipping a break or lunch even if it is just a few times a week you are shortening your route and not allowing your body to rest which will result in your route being reviewed as a shorter route than it actually is during the 60-day route review period.

Workhour Workload Report Many of you have seen the Workhour Workload Report (exhibit below) posted at

your office and you may be wondering what does this show and why is this being posted. Let’s start with the why. In the new Joint Alternate Route Adjustment Process (JARAP) 2011 agreement between the NALC and USPS dated March 22, 2011, it was agreed that the Workhour/Workload Report for all routes, for the previous day, will be posted daily in a convenient location to ensure Data Integrity. Now lets get to what does it show. It shows the data (numbers) for your route: Your actual AM and Street times that you used / AM and Street assistance time if you got help / projected AM and Street time by adding your volume (AM time) and base street time for you to deliver your route (time in computer that management has projected your route should take on a daily basis) / AM and Street time variance (+ or – from your volume and standards (AM) or + or – from your base street time) / any PM office time or assistance (standard in PM is 5 mins.) / PM office time variance / actual total for your route (office + street) / projected total (computers computation of volume and street time-this will show the projected OT or Pivot (was management honest with this information?)) / total variance (+ or -) and your cased letters and flats volume, DPS, FSS, Sequence mail, parcel post, and total delivered pieces of mail. OEI/SEI/TEI are Office efficiency/Street efficiency, and Total efficiency indicators.

Now what is really important for all carriers to look at on a daily basis is that if you received auxiliary assistance that it shows on the report and has been credited to your route, the right volume has been credited to your route, if you didn’t received any auxiliary assistance see that the right amount of time you worked on your route is correct. Now you have a tool to make sure that the right data is being credited to your route if there are problems with the data notify your Supervisor and Shop Steward in writing to get it corrected and always keep a copy of the information that you submitted to them.

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Three people are sitting around a table that has on it a plate of one dozen cookies. One person is a corporate executive, one a public employee, and one a Tea Party-er. The corporate executive grabs 11 cookies, turns to the Tea Party-er and tells him, “You better watch out for that other guy…he wants part of your cookie.” More on that later.

Fifteen NALC members representing our local Branch 193 attended the state con-vention held in San Diego, April 28-30. Training classes on a variety of subjects were held all day on Thursday. On Friday and Saturday several guest speakers addressed the convention. They included Congressional representatives from various districts in California, the presidents of the NALC state organizations of Hawaii and Nevada, labor leaders, State President John Beaumont , our National President Fred Rolando, our former national president, President Emeritus William Young, our Business Agent Chris Jackson, and Director of Health and Safety Manny Peralta. This brief report focuses on some of the common themes that these distinguished speakers addressed. There are two general subjects that I would like to cover: the political climate in California and the nation and how it is impacting the current and future state of the labor movement, and what we can do about it.

California stops ‘ems cold. The Red Tide that swept across America on Election Day 2010 ended at the Sierra Nevada. According to President Beaumont, there were no Congressional losses in California as labor-friendly Democratic candidates kept their seats, and both Senator Barbara Boxer and Jerry Brown fought back the unprecedented hundreds of millions of dollars spent by their filthy rich opponents to win their races. The money could not overcome the efforts of thousands of labor volunteers who daily manned the phone banks or walked the precincts for weeks prior to the election as more and more people opted for early mail-in voting. The NALC was at the forefront of that effort. Up and down the state, bus loads of letter carriers would travel to closely fought districts to support both those state and national candidates (virtually all Democrats) that supported letter carrier’s agenda as well as candidates for local offices endorsed by local labor councils. The efforts did not stop at the state line as we carried the fight into Nevada preserving Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid’s seat against a fanatic Tea Party Republican. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that labor is under tremendous attack. You would have to be living in a cave not to be aware of the attacks that public employees have faced around the country and in Wisconsin in particular. Republicans have taken control of state houses around the country as a result of the resounding defeat that Democrats suffered in No-vember, an election that did little to inspire the Democratic voters and the young voters that had rallied to Barack Obama’s campaign two years earlier and who, for the most

part, stayed home this time around. The apathy has had profound effect as Republicans have been able to sell their anti-union propaganda to a public that until recently didn’t seem to understand what was happening. Public employees across the country and the unions that represent them in contract talks have given back benefits previously negoti-ated, but in the eyes of Republicans it hasn’t been enough as they repeat the mantra “Blame them for the economy.” Brothers and Sisters, you need to understand some-thing. Well below 10% of workers in this country are unionized. Only approximately 15% of public employees are unionized as states around the country expand right-to-work laws, code name for union busting.

For letter carriers and the Postal Service the danger is real. California’s own Con-gressman Issa, chairman of the House subcommittee that has oversight of postal issues is on a mission to destroy the Postal Service and postal worker unions. In recent hear-ings he and his allies relentlessly bashed the Postal Service for a contract negotiated with the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), and attacked 6-Day delivery and binding arbitration. The negative effects of the hearings and subsequent publicity on NALC negotiations remain to be seen. While Issa’s efforts will never survive the Sen-ate or President Obama’s certain veto, he and his cohorts are pit bulls; they won’t let go.

Despite the grim state of affairs, not all is lost. Over the last few years disagreements between unions both public and private have split and weakened the labor movement. President Emeritus William Young, speaking to the convention on Friday afternoon, sarcastically thanked the Wisconsin governor and his Republican legislature for single-handedly unifying labor around the country for their outlandish, possibly illegal, attacks on public employee unions in their state. The firestorm that exploded over the anti-labor legislation has resulted in the possible recall of not only the governor but also 5-7 of the irresponsible legislators. The backlash is real and the outlook for pro-labor Democrats in next year’s election brighter than it has been in months.

There is work to be done. Brothers and Sister, we need your help. We need to fight back the efforts to privatize the postal service – the ultimate goal of Issa and his ilk – and to strengthen our position for contract negotiations starting later this year and into 2012. The simplest thing to do is to commit to gaining knowledge. How do you get valuable knowledge related to our union and its political efforts? Attend the meetings, talk to your active leaders, visit our website, www.nalc.org, and sign-up for e-activist. Be open to your steward when he or she asks you to donate $5/pay period to COLCPE, and make sure that he or she is donating as well. Then we can keep our cookies!

Fraternally Yours,Bob Krauth, Delegate

Cookies, Anyone?

On behalf of Branch 193, I would like to thank all carriers and management for their hard work in support-ing the 19th Annual National Food Drive on May 14, 2011. Thank you also to Bob Krauth, Moe Bedolla and all station coordinators and stewards who are all a great help in coordinating this very important event at each of your stations. I understand and appreciate all that is needed from everyone to ensure that this day is a suc-cess. Through all our efforts we help keep the shelves full through the summer and fall at the Second Harvest Food Bank.

This was our 3rd year passing out plastic bags and

wearing Food Drive T-Shirts. I realize the additional time and workload involved with the bags; however, they greatly increase customer participation. The T-Shirts seem to be well liked by carriers. All extras ordered by the branch were gone as soon as they hit the workroom floor.

Thanks again to everyone who volunteers their time on this day and the many weeks prior. A JOB WELL DONE!!

Theresa Hernandez

FOOD DRIVE STATION FY 2010 FY 2011

Almaden Valley 8332 9661Bayside 3396 3604Berryessa 8186 6114Blossom Hill 11629 9679Cambrian Park 7825 6381Campbell 7085 8594Cortese 9623 9522Foothill/ST. D 5956 4888Gilroy 7213 6018Hillview 12170 14847Los Gatos Dell 8068 6083Los Gatos Main 4206 2888Milpitas 6655 4776Morgan Hill 8665 8754Parkmoor 7072 Robertsville 12428 8055Saratoga 11098 9622Seven Trees 12492 8013St. James Park 5759 4832Station D 1461 Willow Glen/PMS 6974 10266

TOTALS 166293 142597

Boycott the Hyatt Regency

At our April Branch meeting a motion was made and passed by the members present to back a South Bay Labor Council’s (SBLC) request that NALC Branch 193 support the boycott of the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara for its poor treatment of its low paid service workers, particularly the housekeepers.

Why would we be interested in supporting this cause that does not really have any impact on letter carriers? A reasonable ques-tion easily answered – it’s the right thing to do. Tony Cortese, our branch president for over 20 years, was an active member of SBLC acting as Sergeant of Arms. Our branch has several members that are currently delegates to SBLC and have received support among the members for our political agenda (i.e., 6-day delivery, collective bargaining, binding arbitration). We, in turn, have been involved in phone banking and neighborhood canvassing in support of labor-backed candidates in local, state, and national election. More importantly, we need to support the efforts of all workers in this country to organize. The politically weakest individuals in this country are the poorest paid and most exploited often by abusive, wealthy, and politically powerful corporate employers. It’s well known today that both public and private unions are being attacked and labor rights weakened. More, not fewer, unionized employees in this country are needed to strengthen the middle class and bring more people into its ranks.

More information on this and other related fights can be found at www.hotelworkersrising.org.

Bob Krauth, Retiree

MDA: It’s Time to Get SeriousAs many of you know the NALC annually raises funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association

(MDA). This relationship between our union and MDA goes back to 1952, our union being the first national organization to have such an arrangement.

Muscular dystrophy is a general description of 40-50 diseases that attack voluntary muscles leading to increasing degeneration of the muscles and loss of mobility primarily in young children. Cur-rently, there is no cure. Donations are used for research and programs including therapy and summer camps for the children. Last year our union raised nearly $2 million nationwide.

Last week, at our state convention in San Diego, a young wheelchair-bound school-aged girl broke our hearts. She was smiling, very upbeat, and grateful to our union for supporting MDA, and then she said that the best week of the year was summer camp – it was the one time of year when she felt like a normal kid. Summer camp is made possible only because of the donations, and that alone is reason enough to support our efforts at fundraising.

Over the last three years our branch through the efforts of many of our members has raised over $10,000 for MDA. The fundraising events included the bowl-a-thon the last two years, River Rock Casino Trips, a dunk tank event at last year’s picnic and various raffles. We have a right to be proud. At the convention Branch 193 was recognized as the top fundraiser in the state with fewer than 1000 members (currently we have about 980 in our branch). Well done but we can do better. For com-parison, San Diego Branch 24 has only a couple hundred more members but raised over $70,000 in that same period. More impressive is the total raised last year alone by New Jersey Merged Branch 38 with a walloping $128,434, top in the country.

We are considering several new ideas to involve our membership in a positive way along with a major effort to increase participation in the bowl-a-thon, our largest single day event so far. Possibili-ties include simple bake sales at branch meetings, additional raffles possibly linked to a golf tourna-ment or a 10k race/walk, a special National “fill your satchel” event in October, and a shirt or poster drawing contest with special prizes. If you have any ideas or can volunteer some time (service hours for the kids, perhaps) or money, please let us know through your steward or by calling our branch of-fice at 288-8138. It’s time to get serious.

Thanks for Your Support,Bob Krauth, MDA Coordinator

Branch 193 Shop Stewards

The Deadline for the August/September 2011 issue of the Branch 193 Bulletin is

Friday, July 29, 2011. News stories, articles, letters to the editor, drawings, cartoons, business cards, and/

or photographs should be submitted to:

Editor • Branch 193 Bulletin • P.O. Box 5721 • San Jose, CA 95150

Important Dates

Deadline

WELCOME NEW MEMBERSReza Alaguena Willow Glen

Eric Hsu Bayside

Almaden Valley ......................................................... Pam WestBayside ...................................... Ernie Arrañaga & Bob Foster Berryessa .............................Henry Semillano & Collie Turner Blossom Hill ...................................Steve Miller & Tom Cerna Cambrian Park ......................Ray Gauthier & David MartinezCampbell .............................................Rosie La’auli & VacantCortese ............................. Tommy Rivera & JoAnn FranciscoFoothill ............................................... Art Parrilla & Al LopezGilroy .................................................................Debra MastenHillview ........................... Manny Aguilar & Victor BarrientosLos Gatos ............................................................ Kevin JantonLos Gatos Dell ........................................................ Ian DaviesMilpitas .................................................................. Joel Baclig Morgan Hill ................................................ Angel MontelongoRobertsville ...................Theresa Hernandez & Mike CisnerosSt. James Park ..........................Chris North & Maria MarquezSaratoga ..................................................... Robert VanderpoolSeven Trees ...........................Jason Davalos & Ronnie HodgesWillow Glen .....................................................Jack Dusthimer, Sean McArthur & Craig Wiles

July 13 ..................Regular Branch Meeting/Retirement Q&AJuly 27 .............................................Executive Board MeetingAug. 10 ...............................................Regular Branch MeetingAug. 20 ........................................................ Retirement DinnerAug. 31 .............................................Executive Board Meeting Sept. 5 ........................................................Labor Day HolidaySept. 11 ................................................................Branch PicnicSept. 14 ..............................................Regular Branch MeetingSept. 28 ............................................Executive Board MeetingOct. 10 ................................................. Columbus Day HolidayOct. 12 ................................................Regular Branch MeetingOct. 26 ..............................................Executive Board Meeting

Branch Meetings begin promptly at 7:00 PM:Italian American Heritage Foundation425 North 4th Street San Jose, CA 95112

Board Meetings begin promptly at 7:00 PM:Union Office

1060 Minnesota Avenue, Suite 9, San Jose, CA 95125

CONGRATULATIONS TOOUR NEW RETIREES

In Memoriam

Rebecca Garcia ..................................... Hillview

David Gibbons ................................Willow Glen

Robert Krauth .................................Willow Glen

Pin Li..........................................Almaden Valley

Stephen Marentis ......................................Gilroy

Deepest Sympathy to the families & friends of our departed brothers and sisters.

Anthony Armetta Jr. Izumi KawakamiBruce Sweeney

Laurie Duarte...........................................................PresidentStanley Halfacre ..............................................Vice PresidentBill Cunningham................................. Second Vice PresidentPat Mulligan .......................................... Recording SecretarySharon Epp ............................................. Financial SecretaryLaurel Halfacre ....................................................... TreasurerGuillermo Martinez.............................................. Sgt at ArmsRobert Krauth .................................................HBP/MBA RepVince Ramirez ............................................................ TrusteeJim Miller ................................................................... TrusteeJoe Rosa ..................................................................... TrusteeKelvin Kamachi .......................................................... TrusteeLin Zhou .................................................................... TrusteeGuillermo Martinez.................................. Legislative Liaison

OFFICERS

MovingLet us Know of any changes in your mailing address!

Name

Address

City

State

Zip

Telephone number

Mail changes to: NALC Branch 193, P. O. Box 5721

San Jose, CA 95150-5721

JACKPOTSharon Garinger Retiree from Cambrian Park

Station was not at the April Branch Meeting and Mona Mannina from Willow Glen was not at the May Branch Meeting to collect the $321 when their names were called for the jackpot.

2011 Howard Quackenbush Scholarship WinnersThe Branch received a total of 24 applications for Category I and 36 applications for Category II Scholarships. The following applicant’s were drawn at the April 13, 2011 Branch meeting for the $1000.00 scholarship.

Category I (High School Seniors) Category II (College Students)Vincent M. Ramirez Sundeep Manik Helen Wong Navjot KaurKaitlyn Vian Allen Tam Andrea Hernandez John Vicente IIHillary Estrella (Alternate) Sam Rossi (Alternate)

Congratulations to all the winners and their proud parents. It is always a joy to review the applications received and see how well the children and grandchildren of our members are doing in their educational pursuits. Special thanks go to Danny Laffan for heading the Scholarship Committee.

SAN JOSE SABERCATS NIGHT

Branch 193 is having a night at San Jose Saber-cats at the HP Pavilion on Saturday July 9, 2011 @ 7:30 pm. This is the Sabercats final regular season home game vs. the Orlando Predators prices are $13.00 per ticket family and friends are also invited to attend seating is in the lower level field goal sec-tion. This is fast moving arena football at its best. If you’ve never seen the Sabercats play come check it out. Deadline for seats is June 29, 2011. See your Shop Steward or call the Union Office (408) 288-8138 for tickets.

RETIREMENT DINNERThe Retirement Dinner will be on Saturday, August 20, 2011 at The Italian-American Heritage Hall 425 N.

4th St. San Jose, CA 95112. Tickets are $5.00. Cocktail hour 6-7 p.m., dinner 7 p.m. and dancing 8-10:30 p.m. Great food, drinks and dancing for only $5.00. Retiree’s are free just notify the Union office. Bring your spouse or friend and have an evening out for a small price. See your shop steward for tickets.