Postal management, in a recent meeting with NALC officials at USPS Headquarters, asserted that they had restricted the ability of local supervisors to access the Delivery Operations Information System (DOIS) and alter the base times that had been entered.

Only DOIS administrators now possess the capability of making such changes and NALC received repeated assurances that, absent a new PS Form 1840 from a new route count and inspection, no such changes would be made.

NALC President William H. Young said NALC members are keenly aware of the problems we have encountered when overzealous managers altered route base data using one-day counts in direct contradiction to controlling handbooks and manuals.

“If what is being asserted here is true, one significant problem with DOIS could be resolved,” Young said. “In order to ensure such is the case, I am requesting that each shop steward request the latest DOIS ‘Route Base Information Report’ and the latest PS Form 1840 in order to complete the form that is being provided to you by your National Business Agent.”

Young asked stewards to send the completed forms to the attention of Director of City Delivery Fred Rolando at NALC Headquarters.

“While additional issues remain, it would be nice to know that one of the stumbling blocks had been removed and we can now move on to another,” Young said.

Nearly 200 branch officials have already registered to attend NALC educational sessions in Baltimore and Pittsburgh for branch secretary-treasurers and other local and state officers chiefly responsible for financial administration in NALC branches and state associations.

The deadline to register for the Baltimore seminar is January 24, and for the Pittsburgh seminar, February 13.

Secretary-Treasurer Jane E. Broendel said the sessions will feature expanded class time to allow for more discussion between participants and seminar instructors.

The sessions, and accompanying materials, are designed to assist branch and state officers in managing the “business” side of their local union organization.

Training will cover: taxes, including payroll withholding requirements; accounting systems and maintenance of proper controls; reporting to the U.S. Department of Labor, including LM 2, 3, and 30; fiduciary duties under the Landrum-Griffin Act; bonding of branch officers; NALC dues; legal limits on certain types of union spending; and IRS reporting requirements, including Forms 990 and 990-T.

The sessions will be held:

Each session will begin at 8 a.m. and will conclude by 3 p.m. on the second day. Branches will be responsible for transportation and lodging. Rooms have been blocked for Feb. 14 and 15 in Baltimore and March 6 and 7 in Pittsburgh.

Hotel reservations must be made directly with the hotel. Make sure to mention you want the special room rate for the NALC Secretary-Treasurer Seminar.

The deadline for the Baltimore seminar has passed and the Pittsburgh seminar is filled!

Secretary-Treasurer Seminar Registration Form Register me for the NALC Secretary-Treasurer Seminar checked below: February 14-16, Baltimore, MD. (Registration deadline January 24, 2006) March 6-8, Pittsburgh, PA (Registration deadline February 6, 2006) Name ______________________________________________________________ Branch or State Position ________________________________________________ Branch # ______ Branch City ____________________________ State ___________ Your Address: Street ___________________________________________________ City_____________________________State_______ZIP__________ Return to: Secretary-Treasurer Jane E. Broendel National Association of Letter Carriers 100 Indiana Ave., NW Washington, DC 20001-2144

National Arbitrator Shyam Das has upheld NALC’s claim that the Postal Service has improperly excluded the Territorial Cost of Living Allowance (TCOLA) from the computation of the quarterly lump sums paid to letter carriers who experience a promotion pay anomaly. In an award issued January 6, 2006, Das fully sustained the union’s position that the exclusion of TCOLA violated the promotion pay settlement executed by the parties in June 1990.

The promotion pay settlement addressed situations in which letter carriers actually earn less after a promotion from Grade 1 to Grade 2 due to the loss of waiting time toward their next step increase. The settlement provides that “no employee will, as a consequence of a promotion, at any time be compensated less than that employee would have earned if the employee had not been promoted but had, instead, merely advanced in step increments in that employee’s grade....” Under the settlement, employees who experience the so-called promotion pay anomaly receive a quarterly lump sum payment to make up the difference.

The grievance before Arbitrator Das was initiated by Branch 4319, Anchorage, Alaska, when it discovered, for the first time, that the Postal Service had been excluding TCOLA from its computation of quarterly anomaly payments. TCOLA is a special allowance provided by federal law to postal and federal employees in locations, like Alaska, outside the continental United States.

In sustaining the union’s argument that the exclusion of TCOLA violated the promotion pay settlement, Das rejected the Postal Service’s claims that the parties had never intended to include TCOLA, and that TCOLA is not part of the basic pay on which the lump sum is calculated. “There is no question,” the arbitrator observed, “that not including TCOLA in the calculation of [the anomaly] payments results in an employee being compensated less than if the employee had not been promoted, contrary to the basic principle agree to in” the promotion pay settlement.

The arbitrator remanded all remedy issues to the parties for determination consistent with his award.

Registration forms for branches that are participating in the 14th annual NALC National Food Drive on May 13 are due at NALC headquarters no later than January 25 in order that coordinators’ packets can be sent to those branches. The packets will include a form for ordering FREE Campbell Soup/U.S. Postal Service postcards for delivery to postal customers.

To date, 546 NALC branches have registered for the 2006 drive.

Branches must reregister for the 2006 drive to receive the postcard order form.

Postmaster General John E. Potter has again delivered the unqualified support of the Postal Service for the drive.

In a letter to NALC President William H. Young, Potter said there has been no time when the need was greater.

“It is a source of personal pride and pleasure to express the full support of the Postal Service for the 14th annual NALC National Food Drive and to participate as a cosponsor,” Potter said. “This activity exemplifies the public service contributions of the Postal Service and its employees, and illustrates the power and reach of universal delivery in this country.”

Registration forms for the 2006 “Stamp Out Hunger” drive were included with a letter from President Young to branch presidents in December.

Young urged all branches to participate, noting the impact of Hurricane Katrina and how it uprooted the lives of thousands of people and then put an additional burden on food banks in the Gulf Coast area and across the nation where hurricane refugees temporarily relocated.

“The need by America’s food banks this May will be enormous,” Young said. “Many are already desperate for help. We simply MUST have a successful drive, the best ever.”

Questions regarding the registration should be directed to Drew Von Bergen, national coordinator of the food drive, at (202) 662-2489, by email at vonbergen@nalc.org or by mail at NALC headquarters.