MOUNDcitycarrierOfficial Publication of Branch 343St. Louis, MOChartered 1892

June 2010Volume 61, No. 6

MOUNDCITYCARRIER

MOUNDcitycarrierOfficial Publication of Branch 343St. Louis, MOChartered 1892

Official Publication of Branch 343

1950-2010

60Years of Excellence St. Louis, Missouri

Chartered 1892

GET UP STAND UPDON’T GIVE UP THE FIGHT

President’s Article … By Bill lister

These words from an old Bob Marley & the Wailers song describes the action we must take and sup-plies the encouragement we will need to continue fighting Mr. Potter’s attempt to reduce the Postal Service to a footnote in a history book. As Mr. Potter continues on with his effort to cut delivery

days, achieve his goal of a part-time workforce and ultimately break the unions, we must stand together in a fight for our very survival. Not that his vision of the future won’t have letter carriers, it most certain-ly will, however those few remaining carriers will make less money per hour, work less hours and have far fewer benefits than we now have and presently enjoy. We must stand together to assure that Potter’s vision becomes a bad dream for this country and nothing more.

After submitting his plan for our future to the GAO in March, Potter went on a media blitz in an at-tempt to convince Congress and the public that if his plan was not enacted, the service would lose 238 billion dollars by the year 2020. His plan even stated that this was a worst-case scenario, if absolutely nothing was done and mail volume declined to their projected levels. He even said that with current ac-tion taken by the service under present law, that number would be reduced by 123 billion dollars, leaving a 115 billion dollar deficit by 2020. Then he admitted that if we could get the 75 billion dollars that we have overpaid to the CSRS annuity fund, that we would not need to cut any days of delivery. This was only a temporary setback for Potter who is singing a different tune since the GAO issued their report in April.

The GAO report was a mirror of Potter’s plan, quoting the same numbers and projections that Potter had already created, with absolutely no independent investigation performed. Instead they simply regur-gitated exactly what Potter had fed them as if he was their employer rather than them being an indepen-dent arm of the federal government. They both went to Congress again in April and now Potter is saying that the 75 billion dollar reduction would only be a short-term solution to the problem and he still needs the authority to reduce delivery to five days. When asked by Congress to substantiate the 238 billion dol-lar projection, the GAO stated they could not because they had simply relied on Potter’s plan. Now there

2 June 2010/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

MOUND CITY CARRIERPublished monthly by:

Branch 343, NALC1600 South Broadway

St. Louis, MO 63104-3806

are some independent minds at work. Thus far Congress appears to be question-ing Potter’s math as well as his entire plan.

Potter’s plan of destruction is now with the Postal Regulatory Commission who will report to Congress in October unless prompted to do so earlier in September. The PRC is now holding town hall meetings across the country in an attempt to accurately predict what the outcome of reducing delivery days would be to the public, small business and the service itself. Its chairperson, Ruth Goldway, has already found Potter’s plan, his projections and his testimony to be questionable at best. She has even come out with a list of ideas for the Postal Service to use in order to bridge the gap from deficit to profit for the future of

the service and with retaining six days of delivery. Our action and involvement on this issue, along with a positive action proposal from the PRC, will stop Potter’s goal of turning the service into a part-time company with a part-time workforce.

Our victory will rely on the PRC report, congressional hearings and our involvement. Therefore, now is the time to “Get Up Stand Up” and take action to save your jobs and the Postal Service. Congress current-ly has a resolution (HR-173) sponsored by 6th District Congressman Sam Graves from Missouri that states, “Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of its 6-day mail delivery service.”

Every letter carrier in Branch 343 must call, e-mail and especially write your congressman and sena-tors about supporting this bill and letting them know that you support the continuation of the U.S. Postal Service by retaining 6-day delivery. The information you need on how to do this is found below. You have from the time you read this until the end of August to do this … several times. This action is critical to our survival, therefore, have your spouse, your children if eligible to vote, your relatives, your neighbors and anyone else you can convince to do this as well and do it now. Do not let any of this get you down. Stand up for your rights and “Don’t Give Up The Fight.” More! Later!

UNITED STATES SENATORSMISSOURI

CHRISTOPHER S. BOND274 Russell Senate Office Bldg.Washington, D.C. 20510(202) 224-5721Mo. Phone # (314) 725-4484

CLAIRE McCASKILL717 Hart Senate Office Bldg.Washington, D.C. 20510(202) 224-6154Mo. Phone # (816) 421-1639

ILLINOISRICHARD DURBIN309 Hart Senate Office Bldg.Washington, D.C. 20510(202) 224-2152Ill. Phone # (312) 353-4952

ROLAND BURRIS387 Russell Senate Bldg.Washington, D.C. 20510(202) 224-2854

UNITED STATES CONGRESSMENMISSOURI

WILLIAM “LACY” CLAY1st District

2418 Rayburn House Office Bldg.Washington, D.C. 20515(202) 225-2406Mo. Phone # (314) 367-1970

TODD AKINS2nd District

117 Cannon Office Bldg.Washington, D.C. 20515(202) 225-2561

RUSS CARNAHAN3rd District

1710 Longworth House Office Bldg.Washington, D.C. 20515(202) 225-2671Mo. Phone # (314) 962-1523

JO ANN EMERSON8th District

2440 Rayburn House Office Bldg.Washington, D.C. 20515

UNITED STATES CONGRESSMENMISSOURI

BLAINE LUEKENMEYER9th District

1118 Longworth House Office Bldg.Washington, D.C. 20515(202) 225-2956Mo. Phone # (573) 886-8929

ILLINOISJERRY COSTELLO

12th District2408 Rayburn Office Bldg.Washington, D.C. 225-5661Ill. Phone # (618) 233-8026

PRESIDENTBARACK OBAMATHE WHITE HOUSE1600 Pennsylvania Ave.Washington, D.C. 20500(202) 456-1111

All members of Congress can be reached by e-mail by typing U.S. House of Representatives or U.S. Senate in your search engine. You will be prompted to enter your zip code where you can contact your respective representative.

June 2010/MCC 3

MOUND CITY CARRIER

executive vice President’s Article… By Nicki l. Prado

UNION BROTHERS AND SISTERS — WAKE UP — THESE ARE YOUR JOBS

ON THE LINE

Please don’t think your union waving the flag and blowing the horn is an exaggeration in an attempt to get your attention to help save

YOUR JOB! Stay in touch thru the NALC Web site and your Postal Record.

The NALC Web site is continually updated with information on postal issues. Currently the Postal Regulatory Commission is reviewing and holding hearings to gather input on the USPS’ proposal of less than 6-day delivery, and the NALC will pro-vide detailed testimony and evidence to support our view that eliminating Saturday delivery would have a negative downward spiral.

Ultimately, Congress is the one who decides if the Postal Service will be delivering mail six days a week. Letter carriers have a lot of friends in Con-gress, and we must contact and remind them we need their support! So, when our national union asks us to contact our representatives on the bill, we must take action. Our national officers can-not do this by themselves. Those individuals we elected to Congress to represent us need to hear from ALL of us.

So, go to www.nalc.org to find out if you need to contact your representative if they are not among the 180 House members who have signed on as co-sponsors of House Resolution 173, in support of USPS taking all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of its 6-day mail delivery service.

Sign up to be an e-Activist on the national Web site. Contribute to COLCPE. The allure of letter carriers having every Saturday off could also mean having Monday thru Friday off as well!

BRANCH 343 ST. LOUIS CARDINAL

SEASON BASEBALL TICKETS

Cardinal baseball tickets are purchased each sea-son for attendance prizes at the regular branch meet-ings. This is the second year one-half of the 81-game season tickets were made available for purchase by branch union members for a flat $100 although their value was considerably higher. This was a nice ben-efit made available to branch members to experience Busch Stadium from great seats in the Redbird Club if they weren’t lucky enough to win a pair of tickets while attending their branch meeting.

I’m happy to advise all the Cardinal tickets that were available have SOLD!! And the branch has been reimbursed the monies. The Cardinals starting out with outstanding players and heading up first place in the standings has peaked the interest of our sports fans!

2010 LETTER CARRIERS FOOD DRIVE — HATS OFF TO BR. 343 VP LINAN

The letter carriers’ food drive was once again a tremendous success across the country on May 8. Br. 343 VP Barry Linan did an outstanding job orchestrating this huge endeavor for our branch. With the arrival of the food drive cards just a week prior, Barry engineered not only the delivery of the cards to every office, but also advertising the event thru radio/television and picture promo with race car driver Ashley Force Hood at the local raceway. Thanks to the following who took the time to help publicize the food drive on local TV Channel 5, Today on St. Louis: VP Linan, myself, letter carrier Marilyn Krieger and retired carriers McNeil, Besch, Breakfield, Kluempers and Haake.

Additionally, hats off to the “1st Cup” Coffee Hut in Fenton (my neck of the woods) for advertising the letter carriers’ food drive gratis on Thurs., Fri. and Sat. on its scrolling sign on the outer road of Hwy. 44. Fenton was very successful in collecting over 13,650 lbs. of food for “Stamp Out Hunger.”

June 10 Regular Branch MeetingJune 27 MDA Dart TournamentJuly 1 Shop Stewards’ Meeting July 5 Independence Day ObservedJuly 7 Retirees’ MeetingJuly 8 Regular Branch MeetingCALE

NDAR

4 June 2010/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

POSTAL R EgU L ATORY CH A IR m A N RU T H Y. gOLDWAY

SU PPORTS LET T ER C A R R I ER S’ POSI T ION TO

R ETA I N 6 -DAY DEL I V ERY

The following ideas respond to U.S. Postal Service forecasts for a future of declining mail volume and shrinking customer service through the year 2020. The list is excerpted from testimony delivered on April 15, 2010, by Postal Regulatory Chairman Ruth Y. Goldway before a joint House hearing on the future of the Postal Service.

Develop mail products based on value to the customer not necessarily on volume. This is I. the fundamental tenet needed to fix the Postal Service’s broken business model.Convert the bulk of its vehicle fleet to run on electricity reducing annual fuel and main-II. tenance expenses by more than $400 million per year and increasing America’s indepen-dence from foreign oil.Have a range of products that are fully trackable and traceable and comparable with those III. of private package companies.Provide a one-stop shop for government services. Not just passports but national park IV. passes, regional EZ passes, identity cards, etc.Participate as a full partner in the nation’s 2020 census, thereby saving the country hun-V. dreds of millions.Building on the money order services now offered, introduce and implement a system to VI. provide assistance to the unbanked, replacing usurious “pay day” operations with reliable fair service.Commit to having a network of post offices in key locations that are open more hours than VII. in 2010 and even on Sundays and guarantee at least one 24-7 post office in every big city.Implement a comprehensive Vote-by-Mail system that suits the needs of all the states in VIII. the union for federal, state and local elections held at any and all times of the year.Reinvent the letter carrier: Empower him/her to measure real-time service: to be accessible IX. to the community by e-mail; to be the eyes and ears of the community; and to be the sales and service point for small businesses.Reorganize the workforceX. — not to make them part time employees — but to enhance their skills thereby adding flexibility in the processing centers, new energy conservation tech-nology to logistics and motivated outgoing sales people at retail counters.Commit to having ten other ideas in place and operating within the decade.XI.

“Just as limiting access and declines in service create a self-fulfilling prophecy, improvements which may seem small can create the incremental reinvigoration that begets real growth.”

June 2010/MCC 5

MOUND CITY CARRIER

vice President’s Article… By Barry liNaN

June greetings to all of the brothers and sisters of NALC Branch 343. My heartfelt thanks and appreciation to everyone who worked so hard

on the letter carriers food drive this year. This is the 18th annual food drive and nationwide letter carriers have collected over 1 billion pounds of food in those 18 years. The Branch 343 results are printed in this issue of the MCC. Locally we col-lected a little less than last year and I think maybe the bad economy was a factor. Still, our branch collecting over 400,000 pounds of food in one day is fantastic!

Thank you to all of our local food drive “part-ners,” St. Louis Area Foodbank, Cambells Soup, United Way, USPS, Shop-n-Save, and Schnucks. I would also like to make special mention of my hard-working coordinators at our main hub sites: Affton, Derek Crumer; Clayton, Martine Benford; Creve Coeur, Paul Strickland; Jennings, Paul Pitts; Kirkwood, Kim Taylor; South County, Mike Chenot; Southwest, Mike Scott; Town & Country, Tom Schulte; U-City, Frank Enlow; and Weathers, Gregg Baker. We already have some new ideas to try and increase our food totals for next year.

USPS N R P = NO R E AL I T Y PROgR A m???

Although management has used their NRP to create new jobs for themselves, clearly their aim is to rid themselves of taking care of those in-jured on the job. Why don’t you just say it boss, “Sorry, you’re damaged goods and we don’t want you anymore.”? Management is making bogus limited duty job offers to injured carriers for one - two hours a day. Even though many of those same injured carriers were already work-ing eight hours a day prior! Management ap-pears to be aiming to starve these carriers into either a miraculous recovery or disability retire-ment. It apparently doesn’t matter what ELM 546 or federal regulations say anymore, on with their show! Since their NRP is not found in any hand-book or manual, they can just make up the rules as they go along.

Any carrier on light or limited duty who is contacted by management for an NRP job offer/consultation, needs to contact the hall immediately! Request representation from the hall and do not talk to management on your own. This union will be aggressively pursuing grievances over management’s misuse of their bogus NRP process. At this point, management is using NRP as an excuse to do anything they want. I even heard management recently told a PTF that “NRP says” he can’t have a hold-down on a route. Huh???

There is a national level Step 4 agreement (M-01706) on NRP that clearly states, “NRP has not redefined or changed the Postal Service’s obligation to provide limited duty or rehabili-tation assignments for injured employees. The ELM 546 has not been amended and remains applicable.” Obviously management doesn’t give a rip about our national level settlements, on with their show!

100% UNION HONOR ROLLAFFTON BONNE TERRE CLAYTONCOYLE CREVE COEUR CUBAEAST PRAIRIE FREDRICKTOWN GAFFNEYGILES GRAVOIS HARRIET WOODSJENNINGSKIRKWOOD MACKENZIE POINTE MAPLEWOOD MOCUNEW MADRID NORTH COUNTY

O’FALLON OLDHAM PIEDMONT ROLLASALEM ST. ANNST. CLAIRST. JAMES STE. GENEVIEVE SOUTHWESTSTEELE TOWN & COUNTRY UNION WARRENTON WASHINGTONWELLSVILLE WENTZVILLE WEST COUNTY

6 June 2010/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

recording secretAry’s rePort … By keN JohNsoN

Greetings my fellow union brothers and sisters. I hope everyone spent a little time giving honor to our veterans on Memo-

rial Day. If you didn’t, there is still time to thank a veteran for their service. We have some members serving now, so give them thanks also. After watching miniseries like Band of Brothers; The Pacific; and Why We Fight, the story of the black veterans, you have just begun to understand the sacrifices’ made by the middle class working man to ensure rights and keep us free. This country is based on the sacrifices of some for the good of all. The union is based on the same principle. Have you ever thought about the sacrifices made by some of the same veterans in presence and spirit to ensure all the benefits and wages you now enjoy? It is a slap in the face that postal management

states you are not that important. The working middle class went to war and died. The working middle class demanded respect on the job with benefits and wages. The union makes us safe to voice our opinion in numbers and safe from reprisals. There are forces trying to close the Postal Service for whatever reason. Trying to take away your means of providing for your family. Trying to shut you up by eliminating the union. Trying to eliminate the last good public service keeping this country strong — not outsourced overseas. If you don’t care, just sit back and wait on Potter to knock on your door and give you a job. He has a very good non-union part time, minimum wage gem for you. Support your union, for it will support you. Yours in unionism.

June 2010/MCC 7

MOUND CITY CARRIER

HeAltH Benefits PlAn … By Mike david

H BP N EWS

Greetings and salutations! Summer is just around the corner and as I write this, the prediction for the next weekend is sunny

and in the low 90s. We are all tired of the cold weather and ready for some fun in the sun. With that said, let’s make sure that this fun does not harm our skin from sun damage. The American Cancer Society projects 60,000 new cases of mela-noma this year with resulting deaths close to 8,000. Women between 20 to 29 years old are showing an even greater rise in this disease due to the increase use of tanning beds. Avoiding the sun in our job is not an option, but using tanning beds is a conscious decision to damage your skin because you think it looks more attractive. You may be paying a high cost for a temporary cosmetic effect. The Mayo Clinic recommends using a sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 30 or higher at least once a day to any area of your body that is exposed to the sun. Wear a broad brimmed hat whenever you are outside for work or play. Use a moisturizing lotion after you bathe to help trap moisture in your skin. Also, bathe in warm water rather than hot as hot water depletes natural oils from your body. Last, but not least, think lots of water. Being well hydrated moisturizes your skin from the inside out.

OCW P N EWSThe new message that is being

sent to injured-on-the-job employ-ees is do the job or get out of the way. The post office, with their lack of compassion or sense of responsibility to injured employees, has decided to throw all these employees under the bus. The post office has a legal responsibility to try to find work for its injured employees and in the past have done a fair job of meeting their respon-sibility. Now, under the guise of NRP, National Reassessment Process, they claim that there is no work available for these employees other than the carrier work they are already doing, which gives them no more consideration than someone injured off the job. These employees are then told that they can apply for compensation from OWCP for the remaining hours of their day, but there is no guarantee that they will receive it.

V ET ER A NS COR N ERIf you are a military veteran, Lowe’s Home

Improvement will give you a 10 percent discount on anything that you buy from their store. I’m not sure that all stores in this national chain give this discount, but the one that I tried in south St. Louis city does. I called the store manager and she said that the discount applies to everything in the store and all you need to do is show some proof that you are a veteran, either a DD 214 or a military ID would suffice. If you are not a veteran, I would hope that the fact that Lowe’s offers our veterans this huge discount would affect your decision to shop at their stores. Please remember that our troops are still involved in two wars, so keep them in your thoughts.

Okay, that’s all for now.You all be safe out there.

Branch 343 Members Currently Serving

on Active Military DutyHakim BrownMichael DeleonRaymond EdisonSean JacksonGeorge SemancoSuzanne Sippel

Please Keep Them in Your Thoughts and Prayers

JUNE 14

8 June 2010/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

nAtionAl Business Agent’s rePort… By Mike Weir

The next phase of the national joint alternate route adjustment process (JARAP) has been rolled out into the field. It maintains most of the provisions

of the previous process, but it does not call for review-ing every route twice during 2010. Instead, only those routes/offices selected by each member of the district lead teams will be evaluated and adjusted over the course of the year. Also, there is a stronger emphasis on making all the participants aware of their respective re-sponsibilities to make the process proceed as smoothly and fairly as possible. The fact that mail volume has stabilized somewhat from the free fall we were experi-encing over the past couple of years gave the parties the opportunity to provide relief for those who were feel-ing “adjustment fatigue” after three rounds of reviews over 18 months. On the other hand, those whose routes are out of adjustment, whether over or under eight hours, can still have their concerns addressed. And, of course, both management and the union can choose to review routes where they feel it is warranted or neces-sary. All four of Region 5’s district lead team members from MIARAP will be overseeing this process as well. Given the level of experience and expertise that they bring to the table, I feel very confident that letter carri-ers and the process will be well served.

While conducting a joint intervention at an installa-tion in the Hawkeye District, my management coun-terpart and I discovered a relatively simple solution to what had appeared to be a complex problem. From a distance, the issues seemed too overwhelming to be ef-fectively addressed. This is often the case when things have deteriorated to the point that an intervention be-comes inevitable. The labor/management relationship is strained, workroom atmospheres are oppressive, the contract is treated as if it is little more than a guideline and everyone hates to come to work. In this case, the climate surveys painted a very different picture. Al-though there were a few offices where all of the above were prevalent, most of the stations had not degraded to that point. And there was a common theme driving the issues throughout the installation: the excessive use of mandatory overtime. Certainly, understaffing is one of the culprits, as is the arbitrary usage of a dispatch of value at each of the offices. But while my management partner and I can, and do, have legitimate differences of opinion on these issues, we both agreed that the major obstacle to addressing their problems was the improper application of Article 8. Non-ODL carriers were being mandated to work overtime on a daily basis

while ODL carriers were not being fully utilized on their non-scheduled days or even on their scheduled ones for that matter. Unfortunately, the district would rather worship at the altar of the DOIS gods than recognize the reality of how much money they could save by sim-ply assigning the overtime to the carriers who want it.

Of course, the fact that the area acknowledges the error inherent in this behavior does not immediately, or even necessarily, translate into the district embrac-ing the message. The devil is always in the details; and convincing the district to reevaluate its understanding of those details will, by no means, be a simple task. Still, we have taken a step forward and opened the door a crack. In the coming months, we will continue to press for a reasonable approach to resolving this issue.

Over the past few weeks, we have been following up with the branches to gather data on the with-holding and excessing throughout the region. The other regional offices are doing the same. This is an extremely important undertaking. It is also very difficult, given the large number of excessing events with overlapping radiuses that extend across state and regional lines. The goal is to develop a national tracking system to hold management accountable for the number of assignments they are withholding. If we can demonstrate that they have fulfilled their projected numbers for any of the numerous withhold-ings across the country, we can insist that they convert PTFs to regular in the affected offices. Additionally, we have been contacting local offices regarding the assignment of new deliveries. Since the signing of the memorandum of understanding on the assignment of city delivery, 1.4 million new addresses have been added across the country. Given the provisions of that MOU, the overwhelming majority of that new devel-opment should have gone to city delivery. Up to this point, it has not. We simply want to enforce the terms of that MOU so that we receive the full benefit from the agreement. The additional deliveries would cer-tainly help to offset the loss of routes due to declining mail volumes. This is the message we are delivering to the local branches. It is just one more component of the overall strategy we are employing to enhance our job security and strengthen our position relative to the rest of our fellow stakeholders as we work toward reshaping the Postal Service into a vibrant and viable entity in an ever-changing marketplace.

June 2010/MCC 9

MOUND CITY CARRIER

notes from tHe mAnAging editor… By toM schulte

Other than knowing that I was born under the horoscope sign of Pisces, I really don’t know very much about my presumed

tendencies. My daughters tell me one of my char-acteristics is that I’m supposed to be fickle. I don’t know about that. I rarely change my mind; well … I guess I do. Who knows?

At any rate, I’ve been fairly consistent over the last several months of bashing management at every turn. For the most part they deserve every shot I took at them and more. We’re in the midst of a real struggle for our careers here and each and every one of us needs to understand the danger the Postal Service is threatening. While the lead story is always about the elimination of Saturday delivery, that’s just the precursor of the overall intentions of Mr. Potter and his misguided cronies.

Take a good hard look at the subtext of his proposals:

Opening up the contract, i.e. concessions on •our hard won rights and benefits including pay.Flexibility in the workforce, i.e. part-time •workforce with flexible work hours and assignments.And finally full privatization of the Postal •Service.

These business models are the basis of Postmas-ter Potter’s ultimate plan to break the unions and make a Walmart out of the U.S. Postal Service. We cannot sit passively and allow this abomination to take place. These are our jobs and our careers.

My alter Pisces ego is telling me that perhaps I’ve been too harsh on postal management, so I’d like to offer an alternative suggestion to actually save the Postal Service money and in the long run preserve our jobs.

When we enter contract negotiations, let’s negotiate bonuses for bosses. No, I’m not nuts … well maybe I am. But here’s a thought. We nego-tiate that all managers get a 3 percent per year bonus automatically … no questions asked … with just a few provisos. For every letter of warning

management issues, they lose 2/10 of one percent of their bonus.

Second: Other that scanning delivery confirma-tions and accountable mail, the elimination of all other scan points on a route. Since these scans provide the basis for the EXFC score which lead to management bonuses, we’ve eliminated the neces-sity to scan, which also stops the aggravation it causes carriers.

Third: Get out of the way and let us case our DPS mail. What is wrong with eliminating miscas-es and misthrows altogether and providing quality service to the customer?

If we can negotiate management bonuses, we’ll essentially be paying them to do absolutely noth-ing but stay out of our way. Not so nuts now, is it?

Uh … oh … here comes my alter Pisces ego again. Once management bonuses are negotiated and we’re essentially paying management to do nothing, then we go to Congress and tell them how to save the Postal Service. Implement the above suggestions and fire all management. Post office saved!

Finally, we had a very successful food drive thanks in large part to sister Keri Bowling who procured the services of a very enthusiastic girl scout troop plus a devoted group of letter carriers. While our totals are still unknown at this writing, I do know we managed to fill a 53 foot trailer, per-haps not a record but a good days work nonetheless. I wanted to thank all the carriers and volunteers for their commitment. Let’s do it again next year.

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

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

10 June 2010/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

retiree’s rePort … By ray Breakfield

Meeting called to order at 12:46 p.m. by Chairman Jim McNeil. Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance led by brother Gus Frank. Jim Kluempers is providing lunch next month.

Sick Call: Burnell Ludwig Treasurer’s Report: Jim Kluempers reported a current balance of $498.35. Ole Timers’ Day 50/50 brought

in $120. $60 was donated back. Jim will again participate in Memorial Day services at his VFW post. He invited all to attend.

Branch 343 Report: President Lister talked about the great time everybody had at Ole Timers’ Day. The Mound City Carrier seems to be delivered on time now, after complaints were filed with the USPS. It seems there are not enough people now to work the machines downtown. Many have been excessed to the carrier craft. President Lister said we all may have to write letters soon to voice our concern over what is happening to the Postal Service.

Chairman McNeil then brought Tom Shelby up to have his picture taken receiving his 50-year pin. Chairman’s Report: No COLA. Carnahan has always backed Social Security. There is now a bill for

Social Security COLA increases. Chairman McNeil thanked Brian Hellman from D.C., NBA Mike Weir, and RAA Mike Burkett for attending Ole Timers’ Day. The annual picnic is at Fenton Park in September. The food drive is May 8. Retiree of the Year awards were given to Art Buck and Bill Jimas. Vice Chairman Walt Besch gave a talk about Social Security benefits. He spoke about a booklet that everyone should have from OPM with their individual retirement information in it. If you don’t have one, contact OPM.

The 50/50 was won by Clif Nelson. Meeting adjourned at 1:20 p.m.

m I N U T ES OF T H E m AY 5 , 2010 , m EET I Ng.

In Memoriam

“Big Daddy” Richard Mosblech, (C) flanked by former VP Gery Vonder Haar (L) and Jimmy Kluempers (R).

Branch 343 regrets to announce the passing of 50-year Gold Card member, Richard “Big Daddy” Mosblech. Over his legendary career Big Daddy wore many hats as a member of Branch 343. Dick served as a shop steward, a shop steward trainer, original tournament director of the annual softball tournament and as member of the board of trustees. There were many tall tales attributed to Big Daddy, most too color-ful to print.

To those who knew him, Dick was a larger than life fig-ure: gregarious, good natured, (unless you ended up on his dark side), hilarious and generous to a fault. In fact, in recent years Richard Mosblech’s name appeared each month on the

Political Action page of the Mound City Carrier as a gold star contributor, (someone who donates $100 per month). As reported at the May regular branch meeting by Political Action Committee Chairman Tom Harman who asked Dick why he was so generous with his money, Dick replied, “Because the union was good to me all these years and I just wanted to give back.”

Branch 343 wishes to express its sincere condolences to his wife, Anne, his family and to Big Daddy’s many friends and union brothers and sisters. He will be missed.

June 2010/MCC 11

MOUND CITY CARRIER

mAc Pointes … By JohN MclaughliN

Greetings from the Pointe. The Postal Commission is conducting “town hall” meetings over 5-day delivery and as Paul

Harvey would say, “… and now … the rest of the story.”

In Sacramento, California, the commission heard from our #1 customer … the mailers. Large and small alike argued vehemently against it. One small businessman said that, by dropping from 6-day to 5-day delivery, it would delay shipments, disrupt work flow and threaten the livelihood of his 26 employees. A representative from eBay said the USPS handles roughly 80 percent of their pack-age volume and generates $1.7 billion in revenue for the USPS. He said one huge draw to the USPS is the 6-day delivery and low mailing rates for the 7 million sellers. He said it would push more sellers to FedEx and UPS. He believes that as eBay grows, so grows the USPS.

So, not only would 5-day delivery mean some 40,000 USPS employees would be added to the unemployment lines, but the reverberations across the entire nation would be enormous. With unem-ployment hovering around 10 percent, this country can ill afford to allow 5-day delivery to occur.

The latest route adjustment program is here. It is called JARAP. At the time of this writing, it looks as though only a few stations this go round will be under the microscope again. I just don’t think we’ll see such a dramatic downturn in volume like we did in ’07 and ’08 any time soon. Changes will be incremental.

We had a very successful food drive this year. We were pretty much done by 5:30 p.m. I think this may be the earliest ever. Our station does a great job. With one exception, every carrier picked up food. A lot of the same people stuck around this year to help again. I would like to send out a special thanks to Rob, Gena, Vicki, Al, Charley, Judy, Wayne, Gerri and Lori for talking their kin-folk into helping out. Heck, even supervisor Lloyd and manager Mike helped out.

Keep all our fighting men and women overseas in your thoughts and prayers. Until next month, do your job safely and accurately. We don’t write the rules; we just have to play the game. A.H.

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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

MDA Dart TournamentJune 27, 2010

The Trophy Room5099 Arsenal St. at Brannon

Doubles and SinglesBlind Drawing

$15.00Start Time: 2:00 p.m.

Attendance Prizes and SnacksContact: Rob Robinson — 314-569-2653

12 June 2010/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

food drive results - 2010

H U B SI T ES# POU N DS

1. CLAYTON 60,221 2. AFFTON — Mackenzie Pointe, Sappington 49,583 3. CREVE COEUR — Des Peres, Gaffney, Olivette, West County 43,317 4. SOUTH COUNTY — Coyle 32,867 5. SOUTHWEST — Maryville Gardens, Chouteau, Gravois, Maplewood, Benton Park 32,465 6. TOWN & COUNTRY 16,779 7. WEATHERS — Wheeler, Oldham 16,094 8. KIRKWOOD 14,878 9. JENNINGS — Normandy, North County 12,482 10. HARRIET WOODS (U-CITY) 8,293 11. SCHNUCKS CORPORATE OFFICE 4,824 12. FERGUSON 3,100 13. UNKNOWN 300 TOTAL 295,203

ASSOCIATE OFFICESOF F ICE COOR DI NATOR S # POU N DSARNOLD Anne O’Neil 22,250BONNE TERRE Ken Jenkerson 850EAST PRARIE Anthony Scherer 1,000FARMINGTON Bob Arnett 5,050FENTON Stacie Herman 13,652FREDRICKTOWN Manny Thomas 1,439MEXICO Paul Gray 3,930NEW MADRID TJ Gantner 1,000O’FALLON Danny Bartlett 18,930PARK HILLS Sharon Burr 2,781PIEDMONT Jim Hutchison 1,830ROLLA Mark Hill 2,642ST. ANN Charlie Harris 3,370ST. CLAIR Jeff Winchester 3,706STE. GENEVIEVE Rose Hecker 3,730ST. JAMES Bill Kaltenbach 1,250SALEM Jerry McCracken 1,200SIKESTON Steve Shoemaker 2,735UNION Leon Haynes 2,750WARRENTON Theresa Roberts 7,050WASHINGTON Tim Brown 7,750WELLSVILLE Steve Cobb 550WENTZVILLE Jack Oehler 11.951 TOTAL 121,396

GRAND TOTAL 2010 416,599

June 2010/MCC 13

MOUND CITY CARRIER

scenes from tHe nAlc food drivesAturdAy, mAy 8, 2010

14 June 2010/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

John J. Beausang James A. Besancenez John P. Brielmaier

Allen R. Henske William J. Lenihan Daniel J. Liddy

Angelo A. Ottolini Melvin O. Seiler

50 Year Members

Ole Timers’ DayAt the 81st Ole Timers’ Day celebration on Saturday, May 1, 2010, twenty-seven members were pre-

sented with Gold Cards for attaining the status of 50-year members in Branch 343. There were also eight 60-year members honored. Brothers Arthur Buck and Bill Jimas were recognized as Retirees of the Year.

60 Year Members

Jerome F. AllenRichard AllisonJoseph V. ApplebaumPaul V. Armbruster Jr.Harry A. BlechaDaniel J. BogdajewiczKenneth J. BreedenSalvator F. CilufoWilliam B. Craig

Wade B. CrossEugene R. DayHutcher L. DixonRobert L. EckerLester W. ErxlebenClyde E. GriffithVernon C. HerringtonRonald B. JohnsonLonnie L. Jones Jr.

Michael A. KellyDick C. LeongRichard H. MirianiClifton NelsonPietro OrlandoErman W. ParrottEdward J. RoachWalter W. SchriberThomas G. Shelby

Br. 343 President Bill Lister, NALC Director of Safety and Health Brian Hellman and NBA Mike Weir honor the 50 and 60 year members at the Ole Timers’ Day celebration.

June 2010/MCC 15

MOUND CITY CARRIER

8 1 s t A n n u a l O l e T i m e r s ’ D a yS a t u r d a y, M a y 1 , 2 0 1 0

16 June 2010/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

it’s over in overlAnd … By JohN Miller

Greetings from Stalag 14. A fellow stopped me on the street the other day.

He recently moved to Overland and told me that he had put in a change of address two months earlier to start having his mail forwarded. Weeks passed by without anything happening. So, he put a second COA in. And weeks after that, the poor guy still wasn’t getting his mail forwarded to his new address. He told me that he talked to the regular carrier at his old address about the problem and that the carrier told him that he would continue to deliver his mail to the old address. So, even though this man moved two months earlier, and did what he was supposed to do to get his mail forwarded, he has to drive back to his old address regularly, since that’s the only way he can get his mail. He was just about at his wit’s end and asked me what he should do.

I told him that I sympathized with him and felt his frustration. Anything I suggested doing, he had already done at least once

before. So, I told him to talk to management one final time about the lunacy he has been put through, and if he gets nowhere again, to contact his congress-man about the issue.

This fellow’s story is the worst one out on the street I have heard yet about mail forwarding issues, but it certainly hasn’t been the only one. Another major problem has been the lack of timely noti-fication of a COA on the carrier end. I can’t tell you how many times a person has put in a COA via computer, through USPS.com, on my route, but I don’t find out about it until weeks and weeks after it has been put in. The only way I find out at times that a forwarding order has been sub-mitted is by seeing a USPS gener-ated letter in the DPS announcing the address change. What’s wrong with this picture? We have a system in place where the carrier on the originating route at the for-warding request is then the last to know, sometimes by a month or more, that a COA has been sub-mitted. This is absolute idiocy.

Hello? Is anyone in

management listening? Is anyone in a managerial position listen-ing who has the ability to do something about this? Anyone in upper management with a clue? Anyone in upper management who gives a damn about any-thing that matters?

To all managers out there: To summarize, we have a mail forwarding system that is not serving the public well, at all. And here’s a simple idea for fixing it: Give the forwarding responsibilities back to the origi-nating carrier. Once upon a time, we had a forwarding system in place that seemed to work pretty well. That’s quite likely due to the fact that the regular carrier on the route where the forwarding order originated was in the loop and involved in the process from the outset. And if one thinks about this logically, that’s really how it’s supposed to be, isn’t it? How in the world can the USPS hope to have a work-able forwarding system when the carrier where the order is filed is kept in the dark half of the time? It simply makes no sense.

Ex. VP Nicki Prado along with Shop Steward George Walker Jr. offer congratulations to new Des Peres station retiree Dwight Brinkley (C).

June 2010/MCC 17

MOUND CITY CARRIER

West county … By PaMela stePNey

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

out there? Fine, I hope. Once again food drive was a success. I have to start out by saying thank you to each and every one of you for a job well done. I have to give a special thanks to Mark Bimslager for barbecu-ing the chicken wings with the special sauce. They were deli-cious. Thanks to Charlie Brooks aka Charles-Lee, the clerk who went to the store, purchased all the food for the barbecue, stayed all day to cook and brought his family up to help us out. Thank you over and over again. Thank you to Sandy for baking those made-from-scratch cupcakes for the kids, big and small. Thanks you to Wayne Casey’s wife, Linda, who never fails to make the homemade potato salad, even when we ask the week of food drive. Thank you to Wayne Casey’s son Nathaniel, and nephew Curstan Smallwood for leading the pack in unloading and sorting the food. Thank you to James William’s daughter An-gelica for helping. This was her first time. Thank you, hope to

see you again next year. Thank you to Dave Maloney’s wife, Kim, who came up to help. Even though it was Mother’s Day weekend, she packed and sorted for hours. Thanks to Kurt Mul-lins aka Moon’s wife, Paula, who brought their cute daughters Claire and Gracie by to help out. Thank you to Diana Merrill’s children Recayla, Rickie, and Rikia for helping sort the food and taking care of the break room. Thanks to back end clerk Cassie who cleaned up the back dock before we could get back from Clayton, and thank you to her grandson Gregory Robinson III for sorting food, unloading vehicles and for going back to school telling his classmates and teachers of the hard work he did helping the letter carri-ers on food drive day. Thank you to all the letter carriers who took the bags and double sets of cards and stayed to the end unloading, packing, sorting, cleaning, eating and whatever. Thank you to the truck drivers Derrick Williams, Rance Hope, Ed Wilder, Cliff Jameson and the tractor-trailer driver who took our last load over. Thanks to Jim

Clemons for taking all left over collected food to St. Richard’s church. Thanks to Eugene Voi-ghtman for helping Charlie. An extra special thanks to our very own retired secretary, letter car-rier, veteran Kenny Johnson who came up, oxygen tank and all, to sort, pack and enjoy visiting with the letter carriers. He never once complained, even when we asked him to sit on the sidelines and let the others work. If you as a letter carrier did not want to participate in the food drive, you really missed out on a treat. Maybe next year you will try it out because it really feels good to come together and give a helping hand to someone in need. I almost forgot to thank Kathy, our station manager, for her donation to the food drive barbecue, thank you. If you have food drive bags left, they make great hold order and parcel bags, just a thought.

Get ready, get ready, get ready for route inspections. Remember to tell the co-leader and his team member about your route, for instance markups, collections, new growth, whatever, tell them about your assignment. In clos-ing remember to do your best, leave the rest, don’t stress, God bless and thank you for coming.

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Toll Free (877) 226-2723 / Fax (859) 273-1520Ferguson Shop Steward John Knowles and Br. 343 V. P. Barry Linan congratulate Bob “Griper” Wiele as he joins the Last Punch Bunch.

18 June 2010/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

co-leAder: miArAP minor Adjustment Process … By charles sextoN

The new agreement on mi-nor route adjustments is in place and will be called

JARAP this time. The language in the agreement has been clari-fied even more specifically (23 pages worth) than before and several new (better) provisions have been added. Some of these are as follows:

There is a scripted JARAP •stand up talk, evaluation script, and adjustment script all clearly and separately agreed too.The evaluation of which sta-•tions or routes will now be done jointly.We will jointly adjust in-•dividual routes or whole stations.Not all routes are required •to be adjusted, only the ones selected jointly.There is only one round •of adjustment this year with the fall (Sept.-Oct. 15) scheduled to be used as a review and possible correct-ing period for routes that were evaluated and adjusted incorrectly in this round of adjustments.There is now a provision re-•quiring the teams to inform carriers of their routes evalu-ation prior to adjustments. Before, a carrier did not find out the value (evaluation) of the route until after adjust-ments were completed and then proposed.The adjustment consulta-•tion has been more clearly

defined. The carriers’ com-ments during the adjustment consultation regarding the possible adjustments will be written on a copy of the 1840 and reviewed for any pos-sible changes or corrections by the individuals who did the proposed adjustments.

It is obvious that our national officers have listened to the problems and general concerns from those in the field. The

process will never be perfect, but it is improving as we go along. I feel like these are help-ful improvements to the MIAR-AP or now JARAP process.

Until next time, attend the union meetings; be professional and consistent in your carrier duties throughout the year. Re-member, the more informed you are, the better it is for you and everybody around you. Hope to see you at the meeting.

JA R A P: Joint Alter nate Route Adjust ment Process CONSU LTAT IONS

Joint consultations will be conducted with each carrier to ob-tain his/her input regarding the evaluation and proposed adjust-ments. No adjustments will be finalized until after the carrier consultations have taken place.

If the regular city carrier requests a copy of the representative PS Form 3999 during the consultation, a copy will be provided to the city carrier by the District Evaluation and Adjustment Team as soon as practicable. If the city carrier has additional comments after reviewing PS Form 3999, such comments will be immedi-ately forwarded to the District Evaluation and Adjustment Team for consideration in the evaluation and adjustment.

JARAP Memorandum of Understanding

Floyd Davis Jr., Gaffney Station, receives congratulations from Br. 343 VP Barry Linan and Shop Steward Marlon Harden.

June 2010/MCC 19

MOUND CITY CARRIER

soutHWest sAys … By Wally rutherford

Bartender please … a shot of Jägermeister for each of the following and a toast

to their efforts:Michael Bertram (U.S. Navy),

son of Mike Bertram and Che-rie Gray who recently gradu-ated from Cryptology School at Corey Station, Pensacola, Florida. Many thanks for your service!

Southwest carrier Dave Smith (U.S. Army) once again deployed to the Middle East.

Doolittle Cupples also came to the aid of ex-bunky Mark Ebert. As Mark recovered from sur-gery, Chris stepped up to cut the grass at his former abode!

Mac Pointe’s Marge Rich-ardson as she beautifully and dutifully picks up the Express Mail, bringing morning joy to

SW. And to Marge’s husband, John, who played in the band Crown Water at the Boy’s Club of St. Louis alumni dance. Excellent Beatles renditions, if I might say!

Mike Scott led another suc-cessful day as SW food drive hub-coordinator, as well as Larry Brackett who stepped up on short notice to man the BBQ grill. And to EVERYONE (in-cluding spouses and offspring) who worked to make the food drive a success.

Maria Keena of KMOX (1120 AM) for both arranging and conducting interviews with Branch 343 VP Barry Linan. For more than a decade, while press coverage has been minimal, Ms. Keena has consistently sup-ported us. Unbeknownst to the

radio audience, Maria is HDTV gorgeous.

A Jäger bomb is sent out for MDA Bass Tournament director Kenny Young. He works non-stop to make this event success-ful, this year raising a record $11,000. With support from Southwest Auto Parts Joe Bar-baglia, Red Oak Resort’s owner and staff, retirees Bob Carnaghi and Smoker Simmons along with son Scott and son-in-law Steve, Kenny leads the show! Next year’s event is scheduled for April 16 and 17, 2011.

Finally, congratulations to SW carrier Mark Schilling, who on Mother’s Day became engaged to his girlfriend, Christine. An Illini alumnus, Mark is search-ing for an orange tuxedo. The best to both!

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20 June 2010/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

mAryville gArdens … By diaNe carter

I would like to open my article this month with this: A fellow carrier brought

to my attention that a carrier at Maryville was surprised to hear that the Postal Service overpaid the CSRS Retirement Fund by $75 BILLION. That’s $7 billion a year since 1972. This fact was in the newsletter that the union sent out. Here is a quote from NALC President Fredric Rolando’s last letter. “Let me emphasize this point: The Postal Service cannot unilater-ally implement its action plan. Only Congress can authorize five-day delivery and many

other legislative changes that the postmaster general seeks. And many other proposals in the plan (such as increased workforce flexibility) all must be negotiated with the NALC and the other postal unions. With your help, the NALC will make the voices of city letter carriers heard in Washington and at the bargaining table and do all in its power to preserve the long-term viability of the Postal Service.” Please do yourself a favor and go to www.nalc.org and be pre-pared to support any action the national asks of us. We are 300,000 members strong!

The new route adjustment process called “JARAP” is fast approaching. If you want training, see a steward and the union will set up a time and place for it.

With regards to the food drive: We sent our cards out twice here at Maryville. So did a few other stations. The carri-ers who I went out with picked up twice as much food this year. It is greatly needed in this economy. Thanks to all the car-riers who picked up food and to those who took trucks over to Southwest Station.

HAlf HeArted in creve coeur … By Paul stricklaNd

It is 8:30 on May 8 and the house is quiet, so as I write this I have a chance for

silent reflection. The food drive is over and to my knowledge every carrier helped in a chari-table cause to pick up food on their routes.

There are many things a steward hears at work. “It’s your fault!” “You need to do that!” “The union does not do enough!” What a steward rarely hears is: “Can I help?” “What can I do?” “Would this be of help?” But, that is exactly what took place this day. There were many helpers from the food bank, but, I wish to focus on the

carriers. Bill Fisher and Glen Goode have long been retired, but found it in their hearts to come in and help the less for-tunate by loading cans of food onto the trucks heading for local food banks. Both men stayed most of the day, helping out in a worthwhile endeavor. Neither man is a spring chicken. This proves once again, while youth and strength can be gauged, heart can not be measured.

I saw the other carriers on the dock doing extra work. Kevin and Kim were both out there loading gaylords with can items and Kevin brought his barbecue pit to work so the food bank

workers and carriers could be fed. Patty spent time cooking for the carriers and then there was Robby, Harold “Robbie” Rob-inson. For the second straight year, he came out of retirement to co-lead here, a hub station. He bought food for the workers, helped cook the food, loaded trucks with the other volunteers, stayed around to help with the considerable clean-up. Then he went to another station to pick up food that did not make it to our hub site and transported it to the food bank himself. Other than that, he did not do any-thing. What a slacker!

Until next time, be safe.

June 2010/MCC 21

MOUND CITY CARRIER

NATIONAL DELEgATESWalter BeschMarvin A. BookerDan BrauchleRay BreakfieldAudry BrownLatisha S. BrownArt BuckDiane CarterMike ChenotMike DavidChet DrainStuart “Stuey” EastKimberly EdwardsFrank EnlowBill FisherGus FrankKeith GentryJohn HaakeMarlon HardenWalter D. HayesRobinette HensleyTina M. HuntGeno IbergTony JasperKen JohnsonKim JohnsonFred KoehlerJohn P. KonopkaBarry Linan

Bill ListerBrian LittekenJohn McLaughlinMel McNairJim McNeilKen MeyerClifton “Clif” NelsonTerrence PastchalMyra PerkinsPaul T. PittsNicki L. PradoBob RapisardoRaquel RogersThomas SchreiberThomas SchulteSteve SchwentCharles SextonLucille SnowGreg StelfoxPam J. StepneySaronda SutherlandDarlene (Reed) TateMichael “Thumper” TharpRichard T. ThurmanGeorge M. Walker Jr.Mike WeirKiesha WileyDerrick WilliamsDennis Wisnewski

STATE DELEgATESWalter BeschMarvin A. BookerDan BrauchleRay BreakfieldAudry BrownLatisha S. BrownArt BuckDiane CarterMike ChenotDerek W. CrumerMike DavidChet DrainStuart “Stuey” EastKimberly EdwardsFrank EnlowBill FisherGus FrankKeith GentryMarlon HardenAndre HayesWalter D. HayesRobinette HensleyTina M. HuntTony JasperKen JohnsonKim JohnsonJim KluempersFred KoehlerJohn P. KonopkaBarry Linan

Bill ListerBrian LittekenJohn McLaughlinMel McNairJim McNeilKen MeyerJoanne MuellerClifton “Clif” NelsonTerrence PastchalMyra PerkinsPaul T. PittsNicki L. PradoBob RapisardoRaquel RogersThomas SchreiberThomas SchulteCharles SextonLucille SnowGreg StelfoxPam J. StepneySaronda SutherlandDarlene (Reed) TateMichael “Thumper” TharpRichard T. ThurmanGeorge M. Walker Jr.Mike WeirKiesha WileyDerrick WilliamsDennis Wisnewski

Above are all the branch members who placed their names and accepted nomination to be delegates to the 2010 national and state conventions. As per the Branch 343 by-laws, we would take 37 delegates to the state and 46 to the national convention, after an election of which the candidates receiving the highest number of votes, up to those limits, would represent the branch as paid delegates to both conventions. At the October 2009 branch meeting there was a motion to set aside Art. 5, Sec. 2(a) and (b) of the by-laws and then another motion that Branch 343 designate all delegates who properly accepted nomination and will qualify under the by-laws, to be paid delegates. That motion was successful. Therefore, after all can-cellations and disqualifications, Branch 343 will be taking 40 delegates to the state and 47 to the national convention. In doing so, the branch avoided the high cost of holding an election. Thanks to the delegates and the members.

convention delegAte BAllot

22 June 2010/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

Under the legislative report, President William Lister made the membership aware of House bill HR-173 in favor of 6-day delivery, so be ready to act. Art Buck and Bill Jimas

received Retiree of the Year award reported by Chairman Jim McNeil. Tom Harman ex-pressed sympathy with the death of political union activist Rich Mosblech.

Executive VP Nicki Prado reminded the membership of the two MDA events coming up: Run, Ride and Roll; and the second annual Branch 343 Basketball Tournament. VP Barry Linan’s picture is

in the May 4th NALC Bulletin. President William Lister talked about the contributions of deceased mem-ber Rich Mosblech. Bill strongly stressed the importance of supporting HR-173 on keeping 6-day delivery. Bill briefly discussed the new JARAP route adjustment process.

BRANCH MEETINGBranch 343, St. LouiS, MiSSouri

May 13, 2010

Respectfully submitted,Kenneth W. Johnson, Recording Secretary

Summary ofBranch Action

Highligh

ts

MSC To pay the branch billsMSC That Branch 343 pays an

additional $25.00 to each delegate to defer some of the cost for bag fees and transportation to and from the airport and the national convention hotel in Anaheim, California. This amount will be in addition to what the Branch 343 by-laws cur-rently allow for.

MSC That the branch hosts a John H. Haake Scholar-ship dinner for Barbara Anderson and husband along with the scholar-ship committee who worked on the 2010 scholarship awards.

Charles M. Eichenlaub .................Retired ................................. 04/14/10Richard G. Mosblech ...................Gold Card ........................... 04/21/10

Recently Retired Members

Deceased Members

New Member

Denise A. Moore ..........................St. Ann ................................ 04/09/10

Dwight I. Brinkley .......................Des Peres ............................. 04/30/10Floyd L. Davis Sr. .........................Gaffney ............................... 03/31/10James H. Holt ................................Affton .................................. 03/31/10Steven L. Philippi .........................South County ..................... 03/31/10Robert K. Wiele ............................Ferguson ............................. 04/30/10

BRANCH LEGAL PLANAdvice and Consultation on

General Practice and Civil Actions.BARTLEY, GOFFSTEIN, BOLLATO

& LANGE LAW FIRM531-1054

editor’s notes … By ray Breakfield

That’s not funny at all. It wasn’t meant to be. There is talk that PMG Potter is intentionally trying to ruin the Postal Service so it can be dismantled and taken over by private companies.

There is big money to be made if they pay $6.50 an hour with no benefits. Some say that private enterprise can run it in a more “ef-ficient” manner. “Efficient” is a euphemism for GETTING RID OF THE UNIONS.

If an employer offers no health insurance, the vast majority of employees won’t purchase any because they simply can’t afford it. If they need medical care, they simply go to an emergency room.

Who will pay for their care? Those of us with health care do. What it all boils down to is, if a place like Walmart doesn’t offer health insurance, those of us with health insurance pay for their employees’ health care. No wonder Walmart is so wealthy. That’s a clever way to have even those of us who don’t like Wal-mart add to their bottom line.

MAIL DELIVERY

EASY OUTSIDE WORK

START AT $6.50/HR.

APPLY AT YOUR LOCAL WALMART

JOHN GREWE JR.HH

NICKI PRADOH

TOM HARMANH

KEN JOHNSONH

JOHN HAAKEHKEITH GENTRYHCHARLES SCANLONH

JAMES BRUGGEMANH

BILL ZIMMERSHBARRY LINANH

FRANCIS RYAN HH

GUS FRANKHBILL LISTERHTONY JASPERHKEN MEYERHART BUCKHBOB STEELHJAMES O’DAYHWALTER BESCHH

MIKE WEIRHDAN LIDDYHJOHN CHUDYHGENO IBERGH

HENRY DEIBELHEUGENE HILKEHJIM McNEILHDICK LEONGH

TOM SCHULTEH

BOB FLAHERTYHJAMES KLUEMPERS HMICHAEL WHITSONH

JOSEPH POLITTEHCLIFF JAMESONH

JOHN LEWANDOWSKIHTHERESA ROBERTSHTHOMAS FITZSIMONSHLAWRENCE McHAYNES JRH

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

Tony RehagenBill HoffmanWilliam JonesClifton NelsonAngelo OttoliniJames Oldenburg

Chet DrainKenneth LoehrBenny MoncadoVictor KeitelJames Angeli

John KarayJohn BucheitMichael JenningsDonald BassLarry Brown

Stanley TaylorJohn MulderigGerald GalleanoL. G. LaytonMichael Chenot

Rocky RakowieckiTony Powers

Mike ChenotJanet Frank

John Kunderman

(Donations are not tax deductible)

ROBERT LEHMKUHLHHHHHHHHHHHH    RICH MOSBLECHHHHH

Carol McNeilJames Angeli

POLITICAL ACTION H HONOR ROLL

June 2010/MCC 23

MOUND CITY CARRIER

Deadline for articles for the JULY issue is

JUNE 14, 2010

H H H

REGULAR BRANCH MEETINGTHURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2010

7:30 pm

H H H

SHOP STEWARDS MEETINGTHURSDAY, JULY 1, 2010

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

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 OFFICEMike Weir — (314) 872-0227