The North Carolina Letter Carrier
The Official Publication of the NC State Association of Letter Carriers
Founded July 4th, 1899 in Greensboro, North Carolina

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President's Corner
Craig Schadewald

Election Consequences

    If you enjoy the money you make, or you will make as you move up the pay scale, if you want a union bargaining for contracts, if you enjoy federal benefits or will when you convert to career, then you need to join in the fight.
    
     If you’re not sure what you can do, just contact me, any state officer or an officer in your Branch.
    
     For starters, if you’re not giving $5 per pay period (equates to under 0.50 cents per 8 hour day) to the Letter Carrier Political Fund (LCPF), get on board today!
    
     If this issue arrives to you prior to the mid-term elections in November, I ask you to please volunteer with the Labor 2018 campaign to help Get Out The Vote (GOTV) for the NALC and/or NC State AFL-CIO endorsed candidates. There are several competitive races here in NC. Consider volunteering in memory of Tom Foust and Johnny Holland, they both fought for you!
    
     I’ll tie this up with some fitting song lyrics I was listening to today from the band Skillet.
    
     “Make a change; make the world a better place
    
     “Cause tomorrow could be one day too late”
    
     Sisters and Brothers, the time is now to get involved. To those of you already involved, thank you for all you do.
          Together we can make a difference!
 






     Hello Sisters and Brothers, I hope everyone is enjoying some cooler fall weather. The summer brought NC delegates to Detroit for the 71st National Convention. NC was well represented with delegates from both small and large branches. 

     Summer also brought us sad times with the passing of former North Carolina State Association of Letter Carriers Executive Board Officers; Tom Foust, President (1994-2007) and Johnny Holland, Secretary (1992-2007). Johnny Holland was also a past Editor of this publication. These two long-time state officers and labor activists will surely be missed by many.
    
     More troubling news during the summer was President Trump and his administration’s views regarding our employer, the US Postal Service. Trump’s proposal of reductions in service (delivery days), reduced worker pay and benefits and privatization is not good for Letter Carriers or America’s residential and business communities.
    
     As of this writing, The President’s task force on the USPS has not yet released its recommendations to the public; however it is believed they will echo the administration’s proposals. A private postal company that reduces delivery days, eliminates door delivery, reduces wages and benefits would certainly lower costs but would also drive away business and harm communities across this country in both urban and rural areas, while having a negative effect on our nation’s economy.
    
     In past articles, I’ve asked how bad it will need to get before those members not taking action begin to take action. Are we there yet? Whether the task force recommends what the White House proposed or not, the NALC has already spent many resources fighting against the Trump proposals.
    
     Brothers and Sisters, elections have consequences. This is the reason we need friends in Congress and the White House. By friends I mean anyone who supports our issues, including door delivery at least six days per week and is opposed to privatizing the USPS, and reducing or eliminating our federal benefits and collective bargaining.
    

   
    

   

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President's Corner
Craig Schadewald

Vote By Mail: It's Easy and Convenient

   
     Greetings Brothers and Sisters, I hope everyone is doing well. We continue our attempts to educate and convince our U.S. House Representatives from NC to cosponsor our three House Resolutions concerning Six-day delivery (H. Res.15), Door delivery (H. Res.28) and USPS delivery standards (H. Res.31).
    
     As of this writing, our most recent member of Congress to sign on in support of Six-day delivery is Walter B. Jones, representing the 3rd congressional district. Jones had already cosponsored H. Res. 28 Door delivery, so now he has cosponsored two of our three Resolutions.
    
     Thanks to all of our letter carriers from the 3rd district who contacted the congressman’s office urging his support. The following NC members of Congress have cosponsored all three resolutions; they are G.K. Butterfield 1st district, David Price 4th district and Alma   Adams 12th district.
   
     With the 2018 election campaigns in full gear it’s important to support those who support our issues that affect the USPS and our rights and benefits as letter carriers and federal employees both active and retired. It’s also important to know and act within the guidelines of the Hatch Act.  This is serious and nothing to take lightly.  
    
     In general, whether it’s through social media or otherwise: Be off the clock, out of uniform (and government vehicles)
and off government property when you engage in any partisan political activity and make sure the activity is in a permissible category.
    
     For more on Letter Carriers and the Hatch Act, go to the NALC website at, www.nalc.org/government-affairs/political-activity/letter-carriers-and-the-hatch-act. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has updated its Hatch Act for Social Media and Email Guidance for federal employees. Letter Carriers should review this guidance to avoid inadvertent Hatch Act violations. It can be accessed via the internet here, https://osc.gov/Pages/Hatch-Act-Social-Media-and-Email-Guidance.aspx.
    
     While on the topic of campaigns and elections, I‘d like to turn to voting, specifically Vote-By-Mail (VBM). The states of Oregon, Washington and Colorado conduct their elections entirely through the mail. Evidence shows all have boosted voter participation. These three states also ranked in the top four regarding least costly and integrity of the votes.
    

   

      In polling places across the country there is malfunctioning and aging voting equipment, long lines and untrained poll workers. Nearly half of the eligible voters who did not vote in 2016 cited reasons as too busy, had to work, sick or disabled, lack of transportation and inconvenient polling places. The    Department of Homeland Security notified 21 states of Russian efforts to hack their election systems in 2016.
   
     Voting by mail fixes these problems while saving states money and increasing voter participation. It’s good for America and good for the postal service and letter carriers.
    
     Did you know here in North Carolina we can vote by mail?  It’s called Absentee-by-Mail Voting and no reason or excuse is needed to vote absentee by mail. Although we must request a mail in ballot unlike the states above where ballots are automatically mailed to voters, it is still easy for us to do. Go to the following link at the NC Board of Elections website, www.ncsbe.gov/Voting-Options/Absentee-Voting , click on the Absentee Ballot Request Form link, print out and complete the ballot request form, mail it to your county elections office and they will mail you a ballot.  Complete the ballot and mail it back.
    
     No computer or printers?  No problem. Write a short note to your county election board requesting a form and they will mail a form to your address.
    
     Remember, a request form must be received for each election that a voter desires to vote with a mail in absentee ballot. In other words, if voting in the primary election - complete a ballot request form; voting in general election - you’ll need to complete and mail in another ballot request form.
    
     I encourage you to spread the word about vote-by-mail and use this method of voting. It’s easy, convenient, and secure and supports our livelihood.
    
     As we get more and more North Carolinians voting by mail, maybe we can convince our NC Legislature to adopt Vote-by-mail as the only way to vote!







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Voting By Mail Is Fair, Safe, and Easy. Why Don't More States Use It?

President's Corner
Craig Schadewald

Change That Will Pay Dividends

   

     Hello, Brothers and Sisters. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is doing well.

     During the second week in November, I and other State Chairs (Presidents) traveled to NALC Headquarters for a legislative and political briefing and meetings with our Government Affairs Department, National President Rolando and other National officers. Many topics were discussed such as, but not limited to: provisions considered in legislation that directly attack the benefits and livelihoods of all federal employees (including active and retired letter carriers), the role and status of State Associations, current and possible proposed legislation, increasing legislative and political activity amongst our members (both long time and new members) and mapping out a route to achieve our goals.

     Of course, each State Association is geographically and demographically different, so each State Chair also met individually to discuss the road ahead.

     Earlier in 2017, NALC was hopeful there was a chance for the much needed postal reform bills to reach the floors of Congress during 2017. At the time of this writing, it doesn’t look like that will happen. There’s a lot of activity on Capitol Hill regarding the government debt ceiling, the 2018 federal budget and tax reform, all taking precedent over postal reform. However, we cannot let our guard down. Those of you, who are not legislatively tuned in, need to be. Your job and financial well-being are at stake. When there’s talk about reducing the federal budget and reducing taxes, Congress will need to find ways to replace the money from these cuts and all too many times they look at federal employee benefits.


    Here are some of the budget proposals that were approved by the House side of Congress: let’s take a look.

     Raising federal employee pension contributions, resulting in a $3,600 per year take-home pay cut for active letter carriers; eliminating COLA’s for FERS retirees; reducing COLA’s for CSRS annuitants; reducing pension benefits for new retirees by basing annuities on high-5 years versus the current high-3 years; eliminating the FERS annuity supplement; slashing the interest rate in the TSP G Fund, costing active and retired postal employees $32 billion over 10 years, and cutting $46 billion in vaguely defined cuts to the USPS, most likely eliminating Saturday delivery and reducing door delivery.

     Did I get your attention? Thankfully, these were not included in the Senate version of the budget and the House, by a 216-212 vote, agreed to the Senate version, but that doesn’t mean proposals like these are gone for good. The approval of the budget clears the way for tax reform cuts and like I said early, the money will need to come from somewhere.

     Active and retired letter carriers, are you okay with your member of Congress slashing your pay and benefits? How dark will it need to get before you see the light and understand you cannot sit by and do nothing in the legislative and political arena? We need to build relationships with all members of Congress, without regard to their party affiliation. If you don’t ring their bell, they won’t know you’re there or that you care how they vote. You need to let them know, who you are and how the decisions they make will affect you, your family or our postal customers. Calling members of Congress is easy and only takes a few minutes.

     If you need help with what to say, feel free to contact your LCCL or myself, our contact info is in this publication and on our website: www.nclettercarrier.com.



President's Corner
Craig Schadewald

Moving Forward

     The 107th Convention of our NC State Association of Letter Carriers could quite possibly be one for the record books. We had possibly our highest number of delegates in attendance; nearly 30 proposed by-laws amendments (very likely the most ever); and one officer election that was decided, possibly by the closest margin in our history. This was by far the busiest state convention I ever attended. Thank you to all the delegates and committee members for your hard work and voices on the pivotal issues that were debated and voted upon.
    
     I am honored to have been elected as your State President. Thank you to those delegates who voted for me. I promise to lead our association with sincere actions and upmost professionalism. To my opponent and his supporters, I will strive to earn your confidence by listening to your concerns and leading with a strong work ethic. Congratulations to our newly elected and re-elected members of the Executive Board. I look forward to working with all of you and with our appointed Letter Carrier Congressional Liaisons (LCCL). Thank you to our Past President Eddie Davidson for his efforts and service to our State Association. I look forward to working with Eddie in his new role as NALC Legislative Political Organizer. Also, thank you to our out-going Executive Board members: Danny Straub, John Cowan, Reggie Gentle and Cassandra Scott. Thank you for
your commitment and service to our association. It has been a pleasure serving with all of you. 
    
     I’d like to clarify some changes that will occur following their passage by the delegates at the convention: Our State Association will no longer be affiliated with the NC State AFL-CIO. This was not an easy decision. Most of our delegates were in agreement that the NC State AFL-CIO does good work for working people (both union and non-union) and we have built relationships with other unions, but our own state association’s political program needs the money it was spending on affiliation with the NC State AFL-CIO, over $13,000 per year in dues and another nearly $4K sending delegates to meetings and conventions.
    
     These funds will allow our Letter Carrier Congressional Liaison’s (LCCL) to be reimbursed for expenses and time spent communicating our message through meetings and developing relationships with their members of Congress, attending trainings and communicating with our letter carrier members. We need to spread our message and issues to all members of Congress, no matter what side of the aisle they are on and it needs to start here at home with their LCCL.
    
     The delegates also passed a Resolution where our executive board encouraged all Branches to individually affiliate (by Branch) with the NC State AFL-CIO because of the good work they do. I know a number of Branches (including my own) have already taken this up at their meetings and have voted to affiliate. I encourage every branch to affiliate, whether on full or partial active membership.
    
     Another Resolution approved by delegates will eliminate the Fall (Oct) training seminar only in the odd numbered years but will add a training day on the Thursday prior to our NC State convention. With this change we will still get the same number of contractual training days.
    
    
     Prior to this Resolution approval, during the odd numbered years there was a Spring (March) NC training seminar, our NC State convention (June), a National Rap session, a Regional Rap session (July or Aug) and a Fall (Oct) NC training seminar. It was suggested by several Branches’ this was getting costly. However, the Executive Board, Branch leaders and members all agree contractual training is important, so the Executive Board submitted a Resolution stating the above. This will save Branch’s money on travel and hotel expenses, while maintaining the same number of contractual training days each year. This will begin in the year 2019.
    
     Plus, as always, if a Branch would like additional contractual training, you should contact Region 9 National Business Agent (NBA), Kenny Gibbs or our NC State Association, Director of Education, Frank Vega. Our Director of Education may provide training by the direction of the NBA.
    
     So moving forward, you need to stay informed and ready to act. The USPS is the center of a $1.3 trillion dollar national mailing industry that employees 7 million Americans in the private sector. It is truly “too big to fail.” Not to mention very important to us letter carriers and our families.    
    
     There always seems to be some type of proposed legislation that can affect letter carriers, postal and federal employees and the mailing industry. If left to postal management and some in congress; that’s exactly what may happen. We need to be informed and proactive. Download the NALC Member app to your smartphone, contribute to our NALC Political  Action Fund- “Letter Carrier Political Fund” and check our websites often (nclettercarrier.com and nalc.org) and join our NC Letter Carrier and NALC social media sites on Facebook and Twitter. Richard Thayer, our Editor of our NC Letter Carrier publication and director of our NC Letter Carrier social media accounts does a fantastic job of updating these sites frequently, sometimes several times a day! 
    
     As always, I remain dedicated to our members of this State Association and the NALC. With your action and support we can move our legislative and political program to the next level. I hope our Executive Board and our LCCL’s can count on your support! We are much stronger together.