April 2014Volume 65, No. 4

Mound CityCarrier St. Louis, Missouri

Chartered 1892Official Publication of Branch 343

President’s Article … By Bill lister

Gi ve to CoLCPe! No w!C urrent events are making it more and more obvious that outside interests are beginning to take their toll

on our efforts to save the Postal Service. President Obama has called for five-day delivery in his 2015 budget. Missouri Dem. Sen. McCaskill has just voted to bring a bill out of committee that would all but

destroy the service, and PMG Donahoe continues to cut service and career employees. There is no solution on the Donahoe front except to remove him from office, immediately. He brings nothing to the table other then a moronic mentality to cut, cut, cut until we are small enough to dismantle and privatize. He’s accomplishing this by closing plants and offices, changing our mode of delivery, promoting people that have surpassed their own level of incompetency and replacing career positions with non-career positions. New programs like “load leveling” are only further examples of diminishing the current delivery standards in order to show the public that we are even slower than the unfair moniker of “snail mail.”

While it is obvious that Donahoe is the worst excuse of a PMG that we have ever seen, the thing that makes this really scary is that his efforts are now convincing the politicians that once supported us, to believe him. After seven years of us telling these politicians that the reason for our financial decline was due to the unfair prefunding of future retirees’ health benefits over a 10-year period and the economic recession, they have stopped listening. They’re hearing loss may be due to the fact that even with the prefunding issue we are now showing signs of recovering, or it could be that they view us as a cash cow that may provide them with billions of dollars. Everyone would love to raid a company that has fully funded pensions for all current career employ-ees and has annual revenue of over $65 billion a year. The key for us is to convince enough of the politicians from all sides of the aisle, that we provide a service and a benefit to all Americans and will continue to do so. The only way to do that is with money — boatloads of money — to shovel wherever we have to in order to con-vince a majority of these politicians to save our Postal Service.

Pres. Rolando informed us at the COP meeting on March 16, that all four postal unions have formed an alli-ance in an effort to show unified support on halting any bad legislation currently in the House and the Senate. This coalition along with the complete support of Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont will help,

MOUND CITY CARRIER

2 April 2014/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIERPublished monthly by:

Branch 343, NALC1600 South Broadway

St. Louis, MO 63104-3806

CALENDAR

however, we still need to convince everyone that we can to be on our side on this issue. Our Political Action Fund, known as COLCPE, is the best way that we have to accom-plish that end. Giving as a payroll deduction of just $5 a paycheck, could end up saving the service and ultimately your job. Please consider this now because the alternative will result in the destruction of the good middle-class jobs of letter carriers and all postal employees.

If you choose not to fight, then be prepared for massive changes beginning in 2015. Changes that will result in privatization and a push to community type mail boxes similar to Canada, and private delivery providers that will charge higher rates similar to

England. None of these options are good for the American public who want and deserve a continuation of the best and most extensive delivery network in the world. As Pres. Rolando stated, the prefunding issue is now 50 percent funded and by simply restructuring the remaining 50 percent would now fix the problem. The prefund-ing issue devised by Congress and not followed or forced upon any other business, either public or private, needs to be addressed. Through COLCPE contributions, we will address this issue and turn this ongoing fight into a victory for the middle class, the letter carrier and this great country. Give to COLCPE NOW!

AMAZON SUNDAY PARCEL DELIVERY, NOT IN ST. LOUIS!

We have just learned that the deal with Amazon to deliver parcels for them on Sunday and throughout the week will be indefinitely delayed in St. Louis. No reason was given for the indefinite delay, however, I will venture a guess. First of all, the nearest Amazon parcel sorting facility is in Kentucky and they may want to first build one in or closer to St. Louis. Additionally, the scanning percentages here have not been up to Amazon’s standards which should improve when we get real scanners this summer. And lastly, because I believe many of the hubs for this project were not set up for the PASS/DSS system required to deliver these parcels from Amazon. The current scanners we are using are outdated and many times do not function properly, however, new Director of City Delivery Brian Renfroe informed us that a new state-of-the-art scanner has been tested and should be rolled out across the country very soon. These scanners will be easier to use as they were pre-tested by actual carriers in three states and given the thumbs up. These babies can even warn you about a COA, an upcoming dog hazard or misdelivery problem and, yes, they will have GPS. As for why we were not included as one of the 2,000 zip codes delivering Amazon parcels, I can only guess. More! Later!

Apr. 10 Regular Branch Meeting

Apr. 12 Texas Hold ’em and 7-Card-Stud Tournament for MDA - Letter Carriers Hall (see ad)

Apr. 26-27 18th Annual MDA Bass Tournament (see ad)

May 1 Shop Stewards’ Meeting

May 3 Ole Timers Day - Letter Carriers Hall

May 7 Retirees’ Meeting

May 8 Regular Branch Meeting

May 10 NALC Food Drive

May 25 6th Annual Basketball Tournament for MDA (see ad)

June 29 Run, Ride & Roll for MDA (see ad) Please note date change from Rotating Day Calendar

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April 2014/MCC 3 .

100% UNION HONOR ROLLCHOUTEAU

COYLE

CUBA

FERGUSON

GRAVOIS

MAPLEWOOD

OLDHAM

PIEDMONT

SALEM

ST. ANN

STE. GENEVIEVE

ST. JAMES

South County

Union

UNIVERSITY CITY

WARRENTON

WASHINGTON

WENTZVILLE

WEST COUNTY

Happy

Easter

MOUND CITY CARRIER

4 April 2014/MCC

executive vice President … By Barry linan

A pril 2014 greetings to all of the brothers and sisters of NALC Branch 343. Postal management just contin-ues their suicidal rush to degrade the service to our

customers. In many offices in southern Missouri, man-agement has changed the first class delivery standards. They have implemented a noon-time “Dispatch of Value,” meaning that no uncanceled mail leaves those offices after noon each day. Any mail deposited by the custom-ers or picked up by carriers after noon is simply left in the office until the next day! Then here’s the best part of this idiocy. Since management has contracts with truck drivers for mail dispatch, those trucks are still coming to the post offices for evening dispatches. Only now instead of picking up the uncanceled mail, they just “bump the dock” and drive on. Hey, you can’t make this stuff up folks! Management will never let reality get in the way of another one of their ideas. There must be a bonus in there somewhere right? I would just like to ask these fools when our customers’ bill payments don’t get to their creditors on time, how long do they think it will take before our customers say “to hell with you” and just start paying all their bills online? If I lived in southern Missouri, I would certainly be telling all my congressmen and senators just what I think of this asinine plan.

REGION FIVE RAP SESSION

Thanks to President Lister and Branch 343 for sending some officers to the Region 5 Rap Session held in Kansas City. NBA Dan Pittman and his staff provided training sessions all day on Saturday. On Sunday, NALC President Fred Rolando spoke for several hours. He talked about our legislative challenges with the bad bill S. 1486 being passed out of committee. Our own clueless Senator Claire McCaskill voted for this hideous bill. On a good note, Fred did say that President Obama was considering some new appointees to the USPS Board of Governors. The Board has been a dysfunctional mess for years, with only five of the required nine members seated. Perhaps we can get some new governors who actually care about preserv-ing the service, instead of cutting it into oblivion. Pres. Rolando also spoke about organizing, training, and pro-moting our CCA carriers. Like it or not, the CCAs are our letter carriers of the future and we all need to show them

the right way. Fred also talked about the Article 8 task force that has been jointly exploring ideas regarding “si-multaneous scheduling.” That is when insufficient ODL and CCA carriers are available, manage-ment resorts to drafting non-ODL carriers for overtime. Fred stated that while some of the ideas discussed might have value in some smaller offices, we are not giving up penalty overtime. I had heard that some local managers said the NALC “signed off” to give up penalty overtime. The answer is that is not true, this was only a task force exploring Article 8 ideas and not an agreement.

Thanks to President Rolando for commuting in the nasty weather to give everyone at the Rap Session updates and for answering questions.

BRANCH CARDINALS BASEBALL TICKETS

After the regular branch meeting on Thursday, April 10, we will be selling our branch Cardinals tickets to the members for $110 cash or check per game. The branch has two season tickets for each home game in the Redbird Club, section 249, row 6, seats 5 & 6. These are excellent seats behind home plate in the second deck. We will draw line numbers after the meeting and then pull a number. That member will be first in line and everyone else lines up in number order behind them. Each member in line can buy two games at a time, only one game of Cubs, Yankees, or Red Sox. Members can get back in line as many times as they wish. Any remaining games will be divided up for branch meeting attendance prizes. If there are extra games remaining after that, they will be for sale on a first-come, first-serve basis to the members. Call me at the hall for further information of any remaining games availability.

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April 2014/MCC 5 .

vice President FinAnciAl secretAry… By roBert rapisardo

A s you begin to read this article, Branch 343 is about one month away from the 22nd Annual Food Drive. Every effort has been made to visit stations to

encourage even more participation than in the past few years. Shop ’n Save has informed us they will not be sponsoring us with Food Drive bags next year. This year they will only be providing us with one third of the number of bags as is the past. We thank them for their past support, but we will make every effort to obtain more bags for this year. Unfortunately, we were not noti-fied of these changes until mid-March.

We will have to find alternative ways to raise more money and collect more food than in past years. I’m certain that with the caring carriers from this branch, we will still have a record-breaking year. One avenue of collecting more is to have greater participation raising money at the stations. The St. Louis Area Foodbank has an unbelievable administrative cost of only 3 percent. We have been fortunate to secure the Shop ’n Save loca-tions in Maplewood and Lemay to collect money and food the two weekends prior to the Food Drive. We need many volunteers to help after work or on Sunday, May 4. Please give me a call for the dates and times.

I wanted to thank the membership for allowing me to attend the C.O.P. meeting in San Diego with President Lister. This session was most informative and good to hear that some of our issues are not just isolated to our district. Many topics were discussed including: FMLA usage, handling of UBBM, window of operation griev-ances, route inspections and others. The two topics that really caught my interest was the inconsistency of Step B teams from district to district and management’s abuse of emergency placements.

It appears that there have been other branches which have endured long-term off-the-clock suspensions. De-spite winning arbitration cases and getting carriers back pay, getting them paid in a timely manner has been a problem. These types of scenarios are no good for those who have been without a paycheck for a long period of time. One branch had seven carriers put off the clock at the same time. One branch is going to submit language at the National Convention for the NALC to attempt to

negotiate with the USPS for a maxi-mum time a carrier can be placed in a non-pay status. President Rolando responded by hearing our concerns and saying that they will attempt to negotiate this with the USPS. It was discussed at the last contract negotiations, but without resolution.

The discussion about inconsistencies with Step B decisions was a lively one. As I have previously stated, it is almost impossible to decipher some decisions. Nearly everyone agreed that not every issue is the same, but there is no reason to have wide discrepancies in deci-sions regarding similar issues. Supposedly, there is a teleconference, weekly, with NALC’s vice president and the business agents to discuss topics like this. There was talk about some districts having another Step B team that can settle impasses from districts with a high ratio of impasses. Some other ideas discussed were, in my opinion, leading to less accountability than there is now, for those who render decisions.

“Listening is a gift to ourselves.” Karen Casey

“Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.” George Iles

“Faith is different from proof: the latter is human, the former is a gift from God.” Blaise Pascal

“Within every adversity lies a slumbering possibility.” Robert Schuler

Hand Surgery AssociatesTreating hand & wrist problems since 1986

Bruce Schlafly, M.D.Board Certified Hand Surgeon

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

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

MOUND CITY CARRIER

6 April 2014/MCC

HeAltH BeneFits PlAn … By Chet Drain

A n accidental injury, as defined in the 2014 Health Benefit Plan brochure, is a bodily injury sustained solely through violent, external, and accidental

means, say for example; minor repair of laceration and immobilization of sprain, strain, or fracture. Violent in this context simply means an action that was disruptive or abnormal, causing the minor injury.

If you receive care within 72 hours after an accidental injury, the plan pays 100 percent of the cost at a PPO facility. At a non-PPO facility, you pay nothing, but you would be charged the difference, if any, between the plan allowance and the billed amount for the medical services. In both cases no deductible applies.

There is a distinction between what is considered an accidental injury and a medical emergency. A medical emergency condition, on the other hand, is defined as a sudden and unexpected onset of a condition or injury that you believe endangers your life or could result in se-rious injury or disability, and requires immediate medi-cal or surgical care. Medical emergency conditions, if not treated promptly, might become more serious, such as deep cuts and broken bones. Others are emergencies because they are potentially life threatening; such as heart attacks, strokes, poisonings, gunshot wounds, or the sudden inability to breathe.

In the case of a medical emergency, at PPO facilities you will incur a charge of 15 percent of the plan allow-ance towards your deductible. At non-PPO facilities you pay 15 percent of the plan allowance plus any difference

between the plan allowance and the billed amount.

If you are a member of the NAL-CHBP be mindful that the plan does include coverage for urgent care facili-ties. In occurrences of minor injury or illness, it may be feasible to seek treatment at an urgent care rather than at a hospital emergency room. A $20 copay is attached to outpatient treatment at an urgent care facility, but any nonsurgical services you or your family member receives are covered at 100 percent. Also, if you disagree with the way charges are applied and believe your medical claim qualifies as an urgent care claim, you can contact the plan at (703) 729-4677 or 1-888-636-NALC (6252) to provide additional documentation and have the claim reviewed.

We encourage you go to the, www.nalc.org/depart/hbp website, click on health center, then CIGNA resources, then on Web tools, to select the OAP provider network directory to find an urgent care facility that is assessable and in close proximity to where you live. It would be wise to have this information on hand in advance should an unexpected medical necessity occur.

We have furnished in this month’s issue a list of some of the urgent care locations in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

NOTE: Though Concentra Medical is listed by CIGNA Healthcare as a part of the PPO network, Br. 343 does not endorse nor recommend the use of those facilities.

GOD BLESS ALL AND PEACE

BELOw IS A PARTIAL LIST OF LOCAL URGENT CARE PROVIDERS

Downtown Urgent Care 916 Olive #2 (314) 436-9300

North City Urgent Care 6113 Ridge Ave. (314) 436-9300

Lemay Urgent Care 2900 Lemay Ferry Rd. #101 (314) 543-5294

SSM Urgent Care Brentwood 8820 Manchester Rd. (314) 963-8100

Fast Track Urgent Care LLC 2686 N. Hwy 67 (314) 921-7300

SSM Urgent Care Maryland Hgts. 2022 Dorsett Village (314) 590-0520

Fenton Urgent Care 714 Gravois Rd. #100 (636) 326-6100

Mercy Urgent Care 1125 Main St. Imperial, Mo. (636) 464-4900

St. Luke’s Urgent Care 233 Clarkson, Ballwin, Mo. (636) 256-8644

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notes From tHe mAnAging editor… By tom schulte

I make no apologies for my utter contempt for Post-master General Patrick Donahoe. In my opinion, this man has no business running a 7-Eleven much less

the United States Postal Service. No matter how many times he’s called to testify before a congressional com-mittee he never, ever brings up the “Sword of Damocles” hanging over our heads, the prefunding of future retiree health benefits. I would like to know why?

In February the Postal Service released its financial report for the first quarter of the 2014 fiscal year, which covers the last three months of 2013. Excluding our prefunding obligation, the USPS earned a net income of $1.1 billion which includes an operating profit of $765 million. In fact, package revenues resulting from online shopping during the holiday season rose 14 percent. Along those lines, the USPS has partnered with Amazon

to provide parcel delivery on Sundays making us the only delivery provider operating seven days a week.

Now, one could certainly draw the conclusion that things are looking up for the Postal Service. Should Sunday delivery take off as expected, there is no reason to believe that other businesses won’t jump on the band-wagon and secure additional contracts for our exclusive delivery services. In other words, the future looks bright for the USPS, unless you are Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.

As the U.S. Senate debates financial solutions to the problems plaguing the Postal Service under Senate Bill S. 1468, PMG Donahoe never fails to offer his gloom and doom scenario as he sees it. We need to eliminate a day of delivery, we need to renegotiate union contracts, we need to downsize and close facilities, we need to down-grade delivery standards. Never does he mention or even argue the onerous prefunding obligation imposed on the Postal Service for future retiree health benefits for the next 75 years, nor does he ever argue that if we have to pay it, why not stretch out the payments over 25 years instead of the 10 years that Congress mandated. If we could at least get that monkey off our backs, we have a better chance at survival. Unfortunately, we have Dona-hoe as our leader.

We can’t deny that first class mail pieces are in decline and have been for a decade or more. Yes, email has most assuredly had an impact on those numbers, but certainly shrewd executives find new ways of generating revenue. The new parcel contracts are just a start. Some members of Congress are talking about banking and even licensing services. We have the buildings and the network. We have the largest f leet of delivery vehicles in the world. We have the personnel with the knowledge and the community connections to serve the American public. The only thing we lack is leadership. What we need is a postmaster general who serves as an advocate for this company. The right leader can easily turn this ship-of-state around.

GLOOM AND DOOM DONAHOE

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8 April 2014/MCC

nAtionAl Business Agent … By dan pittman

T he Regional Rap Session which just concluded was a tremendous success despite Mother Nature and all her elements. This event is built around the membership,

strictly for their education and enjoyment. An event of this size cannot be put on without numerous helpers and others just saying what can I do to help, or do you need anything? I have had the pleasure to be in this office for 24 years, 20 as a regional administrative assistant working with four national business agents and four years as your NBA. This year was one of the most rewarding for me with all the help and sup-port that this office received from the membership. I want to express my deepest thanks to a few of the ones who gave up their time to support the region and this office.

First and foremost I want to thank our National President Fred Rolando for taking time out of his busy schedule for our region. Fred has been to our last three Rap sessions and I cannot thank him enough. We also owe a debt of gratitude to your RAAs Mike Birkett and Mark Sims. They constantly were answering questions and helped with the logistics of such an event. Both put numerous hours into making this Rap an educational event for everyone. Thanks also to Charlie Sexton for stepping in and doing the stewards training while answer-ing questions on residual vacancies; David & Jan Davis for helping out with the hotel contract and getting the training and reception rooms ready for each event; Rod Holub for keeping all the audio visual equipment set up for the various events; the Missouri state officers headed by Kevin Boyer in their help at registration, NBA reception and the pull tabs; Dave Stew-art and Gail Wade who generously gave up their time while taking care of the raffle. A special thanks to my own Branch #30, David Teegarden and Melvin Moore for being the host branch. Everyone appreciated Melvin Moore for acquiring the services of the D.J., Ben, for the reception on Saturday night. I want to thank those who brought door prizes for the reception and especially Karen Tompkins from Columbia, Missouri. I would like to say a big thanks to Gary & Anita Franklin of Independence, Missouri for being there for transportation issues and helping with the gifts; from Iowa, our own Regional Field Coordinator Meredith Place for giving us an update on the current situation in Washington. I also want to thank our leadership graduates who helped with the handouts and train-ing: Chris Grunke & Chuck Walls from Omaha, Nebraska; Larissa Parde, from Lincoln, Nebraska; and Tom Bolen from Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Last but not least I want to give an

honorable mention to Field Secretary Cheryl Stout for putting up with all the commotion within the office and for putting the bags together for the members. Most of all I want to thank all of you who made this Rap session a very successful event and one that will be remembered.

Politics, Post Office and CCAs — what’s the connection? Despite the efforts of a lot of letter carriers, Senate Bill 1486 (S. 1486) recently was voted out of committee and may well be-come law. To be clear, under its present form NALC does NOT support this bill, but the bill does for the time being preserve six-day delivery. With this preservation the Postal Service has effectively been halted from continuing its area mail process-ing plans and most of the proposed plant closures will be put on hold. We have received notice that some have already been canceled. Since most of the withholdings which have prevented the conversion of PTFs and CCAs to full-time status are likely going to be lifted, we anticipate seeing even more movement promoting and converting our PTF and CCA members. This office is monitoring the cancellation of the AMP events as we work to implement the provisions of M-01824 and hopes to see many more promotions and conversions in the near future. For those who are losing hope, don’t give up, this may be the light at the end of the tunnel. It was refreshing to see two newly converted regulars from Jefferson City, Missouri, sitting in the front row at our recently concluded Rap session.REGION 5 DATES TO REMEMBER:

Kansas State Training will be held April 25-26, 2014, at the Holiday Inn, 549 S. Rock Rd., Wichita, Kan.

Nebraska State Training will be held April 26-27, 2014, at the Holiday Inn Express, 3615 Cimarron Plaza, Hastings, Neb.

Iowa State Training will be held May 5-7, 2014, at the Prairie Meadows Hotel & Casino, 1 Prairie Meadows Dr., Altoona, Iowa.

Missouri State Convention will be held June 7-8, 2014, at Tan-Tar-A Resort and Conference Center, 494 Tantara Dr., Osage Beach, Mo. NALC DATES TO REMEMBER:

22nd Annual Food Drive, May 10, 2014. 69th Biennial Convention, July 21-25, 2014, Philadelphia, Penn.We would like to express our sincere condolences to the

family of Michelle Vaske of Branch 5, Omaha, Nebraska, on Michelle’s tragic and untimely passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.

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retiree rePort … By ray Breakfield

M eeting called to order by Vice-Chairman Walter Besch. Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance led by Chaplain Gus Frank.Sick Call: Chairman of Retirees Jim McNeil is still out with an illness. We are all anx-

ious for his return.Treasurer’s Report: Jim Kluempers reported a current balance of $676.07 in our account. There are still a couple

of food bills outstanding.Branch 343 Report: President Lister thanked Ken Meyer for his help with the cost of the new refrigerator. The

Branch Hall needs a new roof. The first bid was for $47,000. The second bid was for $37,000. More bids are on the way. It will cost nearly $10,000 just to patch the roof. New members are signing up. Some are quitting the USPS. There are Cardinal tickets for sale. They will be for sale at the next branch meeting. President Lister was interviewed about the new contract the Postal Service has with Amazon. More part-time employees were due on Feb. 15. It is now a month later and still no people. Enemies of the Postal Service, Issa and Carper, are busy putting out more bills that are bad for the Postal Service. There will be instructions on Amazon packages to leave the packages at the door.

Chairman’s Report: Walter Besch held a discussion on the location of the September picnic. It was decided to have the picnic on September 3 at Fenton City Park. There will be Retiree of the Year at Old Timers’ Day in May. Tom Schulte reported he has investigated getting cancelled meetings on the scroll for school closings. There are lot of hoops to jump through. More to come. Walter talked about S. 1486. This bill would cut Saturday delivery, end door delivery for all businesses, and allow many cuts to service standards.

Closing prayer by Chaplain Gus Frank. Meeting was adjourned at 1:29 p.m.

MINUTES OF THE MARCH 5, 2014, MEETING

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10 April 2014/MCC

mAc Pointes … By John mclaughlin

G reetings from the Pointe. Ac-countability — who is account-able in the post office? Carriers

will soon get new scanners that will more easily track our every move. We are accountable for every min-ute of our time. Is there any other postal employee who is held to this standard? No. Any other employee can stop and chat about the funny thing their kids did last night or discuss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. If a carrier would dare talk to a customer about these things while being walked with, the Postal Service considers this a time-wasting practice with disciplinary repercus-sions. What they don’t get is, this is customer service. It is a big reason the public likes us and we are still in business. Also, it is why manage-ment still has a job.

I would like to see an indepen-dent auditing agency review what

management spends most of their time doing. I’m sure that a majority of their time would fall into the time-wasting practice. They should have a scanner to document what they do every minute of the day. Their ve-hicles should be tracked. They should have a camera pointed at them while they sit around and talk about how lazy and worthless carriers are.

At a recent arbitration I did, I witnessed a level of arrogance every carrier should see for themselves. The unmitigated gall and utter disrespect for the letter carrier and the job we do was astonishing. The individual I speak of has not been in the post office but a handful of years. His natural instinct to fabricate history was simply amazing. What concerns me the most is that I do not believe arbitrators will fully grasp the exact depth to their indifference and ineptitude with which the Postal Service is running

this company into the ground. To tell you the truth, I don’t think I would believe it myself if I was in his shoes. Luckily, we had very good testimony from carriers to refute the sewage coming from his mouth.

I guess the moral of the story is that everybody, not just stewards and officers of the union, need to step up and say enough is enough. We don’t have the luxury of sitting back and letting others wage our battles for us. We cannot be everywhere all the time. As a letter carrier, your first instinct should not be to run and tell the shop steward of a wrong you witnessed, it should be to step up and call them out on it yourself.

Until next month, do your job safely and accurately. We don’t write the rules; we just have to play the game. Sláinte.

1930 2014DAN J. GOULD BRANCH 343

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS

HONORINGRETIRED MEMBERS AND PAST PRESIDENTS

SATURDAY, MAY 3, 2014

SERVING TIME NOON REFRESHMENTS TILL 3 P.M.BRANCH 343 UNION HALL

1600 S. BROADWAY

85th Annual Ole Timers’ Day

BILL LISTERPresident

Branch 343, NALC

JIM McNEILRetirees

Chairman

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April 2014/MCC 11 .

scenes From tHe 2014 mdA BowlAtHonSUNDAY, MARCH 9, 2014

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12 April 2014/MCC

LegisLative actionof Interest to all Letter Carriers

It ’s imperative that all letter carriers, both active and retired follow the progress of any and all bills being presented in the United States House of Representatives and in the United States Senate which will have a direct impact on the operation of the United States Postal Service.

Presently, there are several bills introduced in the House and Senate that can potentially affect either the preservation of or the elimination of Saturday mail delivery. We must make every effort to contact our respective legislators to muster their support to preserve six-day delivery.

U n f av o r a b l e P r o p o s e d L e g i s l a t i o n

LEGISLATION OF NOTE

SENATE BILL S.1486On February 6, the Senate committee with Postal Service oversight, the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, finished its mark-up of the modified Carper-Coburn Postal Reform Act of 2013 Senate Bill S. 1486, and approved the measure by a 9-to-1 vote. This bill fails to address the onerous $5.5 billion per year prefunding of future retiree health benefits legislation which has crippled the Postal Service and its operations since 2006. Additionally S. 1486, in its present form would allow the Postal Service to eliminate a day of service if mail volumes drop to 140 billion pieces annually beginning in 2017-2018, eliminating 20,000 to 30,000 middle class jobs. The measure would also eliminate door-to-door delivery for up to 30 million households and businesses, diverting them to centralized cluster boxes and seriously damaging the Custom Connect program which has generated over $5 billion in sales and services. Furthermore it allows the USPS to restructure pension and health-care financing and forces USPS to begin prefunding workers’ compensation benefits in addition to the prefunding of future retiree health benefits.

“Unnecessary and damaging attacks on the Postal Service’s vital networks and its employees — such as those unfortunately included in S. 1486 — would only send the USPS on a downward trajectory,” said NALC President Fred Rolando. USPS’ profits are on the upswing. Encouraging results in first quarter profits due to the Amazon Sunday parcel delivery show $479 million in new revenue. Degrading the network and reducing services to the public and businesses, at this time, would only jeopardize the postal turnaround.

Every letter carrier, his family and friends should be encouraged to write, call or email your Senators to oppose S. 1486 in its present form.

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April 2014/MCC 13 .

tHere’s no need to end sAturdAy mAil deliveryBy: sen. Bernie sanders, i-Vt.

The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, March 5, 2014

T he U.S. Postal Service is one of our most popular and important government agencies. It provides universal service, six days a week to every corner of America, no

matter how small or remote. It supports millions of jobs in virtually every other sector of our economy. It provides decent-paying union jobs to some 500,000 Americans, and it is the largest employer of veterans.

Whether you are a low-income elderly woman living at the end of a dirt road in Vermont or a wealthy CEO living on Park Avenue, you get your mail six days a week. And you pay for this service at a cost far less than anywhere else in the indus-trialized world.

Yet the Postal Service is under constant and vicious attack. Why? The answer is simple. There are very powerful and wealthy special interests who want to privatize or dismember virtually every function that government now performs, whether it is Social Security, Medicare, public education or the Postal Service. They see an opportunity for Wall Street and corporate America to make billions in profits out of these services, and couldn’t care less how privatization or a degrada-tion of services affects ordinary Americans.

For years, antigovernment forces have been telling us that there is a financial crisis at the Postal Service and that it is go-ing broke. That is not true. The crisis is manufactured.

At the insistence of the Bush administration, Congress in 2006 passed legislation that required the Postal Service to prefund, over a 10-year period, 75 years of future retiree health benefits. This onerous and unprecedented burden — $5.5 billion a year — is responsible for all of the financial losses posted by the Postal Service since October 2012.

Without prefunding, the Postal Service would have made a $623 million profit last year. Excluding the prefunding mandate, the Postal Service estimates it will make more than $1 billion in profits this year. This is not surprising, since the Postal Service made a combined profit of $9 billion from 2003-06, before the prefunding mandate took effect.

The mandate allows the antigovernment crowd to proclaim that the Postal Service “is going bankrupt.” Their solution is to slash hundreds of thousands of jobs, close thousands of post offices, eliminate hundreds of mail processing plants, end Saturday mail, and substantially slow down mail delivery.

In the House, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., passed a bill through his committee that would do all of these things. The bill would drive more customers to seek other options and will lead to a death spiral-lower-quality service, fewer customers, more cuts, less revenue and eventually the destruction of the Postal Service.

In the Senate, Sens. Tom Carper, D-Del., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., also passed a postal reform bill through the Home-land Security and Government Affairs Committee. While not as destructive as the House proposal, the Carper-Coburn bill could lead to the loss of about 100,000 jobs, allow the Postal Service to eliminate six-day mail delivery, substantially slow down the delivery of mail, and lead to the loss of more mail processing plants and post offices within the next few years.

There are much better ideas that would strengthen, not de-stroy the Postal Service, and they are in the Postal Service Pro-tection Act that has been introduced by Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., in the House and by me in the Senate. The House bill has 174 co-sponsors. The Senate bill has 27 co-sponsors.

First, prefunding must end. The future retiree health fund now has some $50 billion in it. That is enough. This step alone will restore the Postal Service to profitability.

Second, the Postal Service should have the flexibility to provide new consumer products and services — a flexibility that was banned by Congress in 2006. It is now against the law for workers in post offices to notarize or make copies of documents; to cash checks; to deliver wine or beer; or to engage in e-commerce activities (like scanning physical mail into a PDF and sending it through email, selling non-postal products on the Internet or offering a noncommercial version of Gmail).

A recent report from the Postal Service inspector general suggests that almost $9 billion a year could be generated by providing financial services. At a time when more than 80 million lower-income Americans have no bank accounts or are forced to rely on rip-off check-cashing storefronts and payday lenders, these kinds of financial services would be of huge social benefit.

It is time for Congress to save the Postal Service, not dismantle it.

Mr. Sanders is an independent senator from Vermont.

MOUND CITY CARRIER

14 April 2014/MCC

G reetings sisters and brothers of Branch 343. How’s everyone doing? Fine I hope. Sunday

delivery, is it going to happen or not? The Postal Service hired plenty of CCAs to deliver Amazon parcels to customers requesting Sunday deliv-ery. The Postal Service postponed the startup three times already and I have to wonder are we going to deliver parcels on Sunday here in the Gateway District or not? Amazon is a powerful company to get the Postal Service to deliver parcels on Sun-days. I don’t know what the demand is, but there is a market out there and it’s taking off.

What does this mean to you as a letter carrier? Job security! This is why it’s so important for you and me to look for businesses on our appointed routes to do business with the Postal Service. Just think about it, if we as letter carriers get our customers to choose the Postal Ser-vice first, each and every time they decided to ship parcels we could cut out the middle man, meaning our competitors UPS and FedEx. We’re already delivering 25 percent of their parcels the last leg of the way, so let’s cut them out and have our customers choose the Postal Service first. The Postal Service is investing money into new scanners to help track parcel delivery for our custom-ers. It is most important for us to scan those bar codes to provide that information. We want our customers doing business with us Monday thru Sunday. I spoke last month about scanning parcels that are picked up and I also gave instructions. I’ve

received a couple of questions on this while visiting Mackenzie Pointe Post Office, so here are the instruc-tions again.

Step 1: Scan the parcel bar code.•Step 2: Press • Enter.Step 3: Select • Pick Up on your scanner.Step 4: Select • Priority Mail Ex-press, Priority Mail, First Class, or Parcel post whatever it is.Step 5. Select • EnterStep 6. Enter destination zip •code and you’re done.

Thank you Mackenzie Pointe for correcting my missed step, now I know you’re reading the Mound City Carrier, and I’ll be sure to bring 20 White Castle sliders instead of 10 on my next visit. LOL.

Every Door Direct Mail 17.5 cents apiece and that’s the best price in town for any zip code and any route. It’s the season for f lyers to be placed in mail boxes without postage. Do not let local businesses get away with

free advertisement on your appointed route. If you see f lyers in mailboxes without postage, remember to take three f lyers back to your station, give them to your supervisor. They should contact those businesses to cease and desist and hopefully offer them EDDM service to spread their message.

Moving on. Congratulations to the first four $1,500 dollar John Haake Scholarship winners.

Food Drive is fast approaching and I have to say this year Bob Rap-isardo ordered red and pink shirts, so if you have not yet ordered, make sure to do so today.

The MDA Bowlathon was last month and there is still time for each and every station to give $100 or more to help raise money for the cure.

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

customer connect … By pam stepney

MOUND CITY CARRIER

April 2014/MCC 15 .

ALL GAMES AVAILABLEAPRIL THRU SEPTEMBER CUBS, YANKEES, RED SOX

GREAT SEATSSec. 249, Row 6, Seats 5 and 62nd Level Behind Home Plate

$110 for two seats, must be present and paid for on April 10These same seats resold by the Cardinals would be up to $150 for premium games.

Our previous partner decided to give up their half of the season and we thought it would be a good opportunity to offer these great seats to you, the membership. All tickets will be available with approximately 30 games raffled off as attendance prizes at the regular branch meetings. Show up by 9 p.m. on April 10 after the regular branch meeting and enter the draw-ing. Order of choice will be by lottery and limited to two games. Any games left after the first round will be available in the same order for an additional two games. Payment by check, money order or cash must be tendered on April 10.

Only one set of Cubs, Yankees and Red Sox tickets per pick of two games. REDBIRD CLUB SEATS, SECTION 249, ROW 6, SEATS 5 and 6

No sales before April 10, 2014, at 9 p.m.********************************************

BRANCH 343 CARDINALS TICKETSON SALE 9 p.m. APRIL 10, 2014

Immediately following Regular Branch Meeting

********************************************

JUNE1 SF2, 3 KC13, 14, 15 WSH16, 17, 18 NYM19, 20, 21, 22 PHI

APRIL7, 8, 9 CIN11, 12, 13 CHI25, 26, 27 PIT28, 29, 30 MIL

MAY12, 13, 14, 15 CHI16, 17, 18 ATL20, 21, 22 AZ26, 27, 28 NYY29, 30, 31 SF

JULY4, 5, 6 MIA7, 8, 9, 10 PIT18, 19, 20 LA22, 23 TB

AUGUST1, 2, 3 MIL5, 6, 7 BOS14, 15, 16, 17 SD18, 19, 20 CIN29, 30, 31 CHI

SEPTEMBER1, 2, 3 PIT12, 13, 14 COL16, 17, 18 MIL19, 20, 21 CIN

AVAILABLE GAMES AND DATES VS. OPPONENT

MOUND CITY CARRIER

16 April 2014/MCC

T he 26th Annual 10-Ball Pool Tournament for MDA was a mild success to say the least. Poor weather conditions limited the participation and resulted

in a low turnout. When the chalk dust finally settled Dave Hancock a retiree from Ferguson Station was the winner. Hot on Dave’s heels was second place winner Kevin Dufour and rounding out the field was third place winner Nate Smith. Old friend Mike McCoy, a retiree from West County, made his presence felt, but finished in fourth place.

Despite the horrible weather and the poor turnout, those who did show up enjoyed the spirited competition, reminisced about old times, drank to everyone’s good health and had a fun afternoon.

This was the 26th year that I have held some kind of Pool

mdA 10-BAll rePort … By nick grillo

Dave HancockFirst Place

Kevin DufourSecond Place

Nate SmithThird Place

Tournament for MDA and I am always pleased to see re-turning friends and even some new blood show up to parti-ciple in helping out the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

I want to ask all my fellow brothers and sisters in Branch 343 to become more active in your union and to participate in as many MDA events as you can. There are so many different events which take place through-out the year. Check your Br. 343 rotating day calendar to see an event that peaks your interest and get involved. Everything you do helps those who are less fortunate than us.

Until next time, keep your eyes peeled for news of my next Pool Tournament.

Two separate poker Tournaments For Muscular Dystrophy Association

Texas Hold’emAnd

7 card studSuggested donation of only $30 includes: 5,000 poker chips, chili and beverages

Saturday, April 12, 2014, at 7 p.m. start time Doors open at 6 p.m.

Letter Carriers’ Hall (raising money for MDA for over 60 years)

1600 South Broadway in Soulard

20 minute blinds for Texas Hold’em20 minute antes for 7 Card Stud

Guaranteed prizes for all final table players Prize pool will be 50 percent of total entries

To pay in advance or for more information call: Bob: (314) 941-1589 or Tom (314) 258-0442

MOUND CITY CARRIER

April 2014/MCC 17 .

OFFICIAL ENTRY BLANKA. BOAT OWNERS NAME: _______________________ADDRESS: ______________________________________CITY: ___________________________________________STATE: _________________________________________ZIP: ____________________________________________PHONE: ________________________________________B. BUDDY’S NAME: _____________________________ADDRESS: ______________________________________CITY: ___________________________________________STATE: _________________________________________ZIP: ____________________________________________PHONE: ________________________________________

❒ YES, I will be attending the dinner.

Total attending __________________

❒ No, I will not be attending the dinner.

ENTRY BY MAIL ONLY Entry fee of $140 must be postmarked by April 11, 2014. Checks, money orders and cashiers checks will be accepted. All en-tries received after deadline will be subject to a $25 LATE FEE, accepted in cash only during check-in.

MAKE CHECK PAYABLE TO:MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOCIATION

Help Reel in a Cure Bass Tournament 530 Maryville Centre, Suite 410

Town & Country, MO 63141

TOURNAMENT TO BENEFIT THE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOCIATION - ST. LOUIS

AT LAKE OF THE OZARKS

TOURNAMENTAPRIL 26-27

6:30 A.M. - 2:30 P.M.

REGISTRATION DINNER AND MEETINGSATURDAY, APRIL 26, 6-8 P.M.

AND … MEET MDA AMBASSADORS

AND GUEST SPEAKER AT THE DINNER!

FUN - BARBEQUE - SILENT AUCTION - 50/50 RAFFLE

18th AnnuAl

Need Lodging or Have a Question?Call Ken Young at Southwest Station

314-645-6312or Check Out

7/24outdoors.comor

mobassin.com

First Place

$1,500 Guaranteed!

Top teams receive percentage of entry fee.

Entry fee is $140 per boat.

Includes Big Bass

REEL INA CURE

OPENBUDDY BASSTOURNAMENT

MOUND CITY CARRIER

18 April 2014/MCC

A patron had a complaint and went to a local television sta-tion. Reporter went to Vaughn

and she did the expected thing. Threw the carrier under the bus. It’s the DPS cupcake! It’s now sorted by building, not by suite number. So if David Martin DDS, doesn’t use his suite number, how is he suppose to get his mail? Better still, how is the carrier suppose to sort his mail? In the back of his LLV or in the hallway? If more than one dentist office in that building and goof ball Martin isn’t smart enough to understand this, return the mail to sender. How about those soda and candy prices? Here, $1.75 for a 50¢ soda and $1.25 for a 25¢ bag of chips. Starting times are being changed again here to 7:30 a.m. even though other stations have been at 7:30 for some time. Why change after this bad ass winter? It should have been before things got worse.

That’s right, Kathy, it doesn’t snow by a desk. How many vehicle and employee accidents did the Gateway Team encounter before anybody pulled their head out and realized the seriousness of the situation. The carriers knew it and tried to explain it. Thank you carriers and clerks for your true professionalism, from an aging craft employee. For those of you who still don’t get it, let me ex-plain. The definition of stealing: Tak-ing something that doesn’t belong to you. If you’re a non-ODL carrier and you come in, you’re stealing from an ODL carrier. Everyone on the ODL must get 12 hours before you can get drafted. You know this, you’ve done it before. There is no excuse like “I didn’t know I didn’t have to come in.” Liar. If you want the page and article number, I’ve got it and I’ll make you a copy. Stop stealing from the ODL! If you want the money, get on

the list. You’re not entitled to it. Don’t be non-ODL carrier on vacation and come in, what a shame. “Remember it’s light mail today, come up and volunteer for under-time before I assign.” “Stop the clock scans, it’s Saturday.” Why retire when I can hear that lovely voice. If anyone can find the definition of undertime in a dictionary, google it or find it in our contract, show me and I’ll buy you lunch. Any station. If it’s not in our contract and no definition, how can we do it. When will the local supervisors and managers be allowed to run their own stations. Conference calls are nothing more than words coming from someone who doesn’t have a clue about what the hell he or she is talking about. Let the locals do their jobs and stop harassing them. There are actually some competent supervisors and managers out there. Somewhere.

west county rAncH … By c Jameson

or Call TOLL FREE Roy Tailors1-800-543-0379

ROY TAILORS

Call one of our Area RepresentativesRETIRED LETTER CARRIERS OF BRANCH 343

SUPPORT YOUR UNION BROTHERS

Walter Besch37 Raintree Ct. Fenton, MO 63026636-343-3775

UNIONM A D EIT DOES MATTER

USA

WHEN QUALITY & SERVICE COUNTUnion Made Uniforms for the Postal Service

Endorsed by U.N.I.T.E. AFL-CIO

George Cooper10443 Halls Ferry Rd.St. Louis, MO 63136314-541-1503

JUNE 29, 201410 A.M. TO 2 P.M.RUN!

RIDE!ROLL!FOR MDA

Look for details in the May MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

April 2014/MCC 19 .

BRANCH343’S

6TH ANNUAL

BASKETBALLTOURNAMENT

FOR MDA

North County Eagles Landing/Golf/Swimming/Gym Rex-Plex 2575 Redman Road St. Louis, Missouri 63136

(Gymnasium is the f irst building on the left) Date: Sunday, May 25, 2014

Time: 9 a.m. till 2 p.m. Trophy round games begin at approximately 10:30 a.m. Beautiful fully air-conditioned location Plenty of free parking

County licensed food vendor on site Free throw and three-point shooting contest 5-minute kid’s game

Come out and support your local letter carriers as they play for the Branch 343 Championship

Contact Terrance at 314-363-6326 or Paul at Jennings 636-219-7303 to register your team

Admission: $2 per person. Children under 6 free!

Branch 343 MDA 6th Annual Basketball Tournament Team Entry Form

$60 per teamTeam Captain ________________________________________________

Station/Branch _______________________________________________

Mail this form with entry fee by March 31, 2014 toNALC BRANCH 343

1600 South BroadwaySt. Louis, MO 63104

(or fax to 314-241-2738)

MOUND CITY CARRIER

20 April 2014/MCC

BRANCH MEETINGBRANCh 343, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

MARCh 13, 2014

Summary of Branch Action Highlights

Recently Retired Members

MSC To pay the branch bills MSC That Branch 343 donates a set of Cardinal base-

ball tickets to the 2014 MDA Bass Tournament on April 26-27, 2014.

NBA Dan Pittman informed the members that starting in April when they try to get on the postal website LiteBlue they will need a new eight-digit pass-word for security reasons. Dan reported the Postal Service is changing the service standards on bulk rate mail in order to implement a new program called “Load Leveling.” This program is intended to spread the mail volume evenly over the six-day week and reduce carrier overtime, especially on Mondays.

EVP Barry Linan reminded the members not to go to Concentra when they get hurt on the clock. Con-centra is contracted by the Postal Service and they are not your friends.

President William Lister read the names of 88 new CCAs applying to become NALC members. The membership unanimously voted them into our union and Branch 343.

President William Lister informed the members that the Postal Service is getting ready to come out with the new scanners know as Mobile Delivery De-vice or MDD. He discussed how we need to embrace this updated technology which will allow us to keep up with our competitors. President Lister informed the members the postmaster of St. Louis is continu-ing to hold routes off bid postings saying manage-ment is considering them for reversion. She is holding them for one month and them posting them. This is nothing more than an effort to circumvent Article 41.1 postings and in turn hold up CCA conversions to full-time regular status. The branch has grieved these actions and is in the process of trying to reach a resolution.

Respectfully Submitted Charles L. Sexton Recording Secretary

Letter carrier Fred Guercia from Gaffney Station punches out for the last time. Offering congratulations on his retirement is shop steward Brian Litteken

Laura B. Keim ......................... Sappington ................................... 01/31/14Frank S. Guercia ..................... Gaffney ........................................ 02/28/14George L. Long Jr. .................. Ferguson ...................................... 02/28/14Edward G. Perry ..................... Creve Coeur .................................. 02/28/14Eugene J. Voigtmann .............. West County ................................. 02/28/14

Gene Voigtmann, West County, joins the Last Punch Bunch

MOUND CITY CARRIER

April 2014/MCC 21 .

Edward C. Bailey Jr. ................ Maryville Gardens ......................... 03/13/14Jasmine N. Ball....................... Jennings ....................................... 03/13/14Jesse R. Barton ....................... West County ................................. 03/13/14Deangelo R. Beasley ............... Maryville Gardens ......................... 03/13/14Shikeyia D. Beverly ................. Maryville Gardens ......................... 03/13/14Kelly Ann Brinton ................... Fenton .......................................... 03/13/14Michael J. Brison .................... Coyle ............................................ 03/13/14Shavonne L. Broadnax ............ Oldham ........................................ 03/13/14Candace A. Brown .................. Sappington ................................... 03/13/14Frederick A. Brown ................. Gaffney ........................................ 03/13/14Christopher L. Buckner ........... Affton .......................................... 03/13/14Cameron B. Buress ................. Affton .......................................... 03/13/14Tashyra S. Calvin .................... Sappington ................................... 03/13/14Shawannia M. Casson-Lumpkin Normandy .................................... 03/13/14Rebecca Chase ....................... South County ................................ 03/13/14Deldrick J. Chatman ............... Chouteau ...................................... 03/13/14Eric L. Chism .......................... South County ................................ 03/13/14Alisha R. Coleman .................. Normandy .................................... 03/13/14Michelle Combs ...................... Southwest .................................... 03/13/14Corey J. Cotton ....................... Mac Pointe ................................... 03/13/14Autumn B. Day ....................... Ferguson ...................................... 03/13/14Sherry L. Dean ....................... Sappington ................................... 03/13/14Jesiah Dennis ......................... North County ................................ 03/13/14Taneshia R. Dilworth .............. Southwest .................................... 03/13/14John F. Duffield ...................... Wheeler ....................................... 03/13/14Lindsay E. Edison .................... Clayton ......................................... 03/13/14Nicholas C. Fannon ................. South County ................................ 03/13/14Raymond Fields Ill .................. Clayton ......................................... 03/13/14Patrease D. Frazier ................. St. Ann ......................................... 03/13/14Jamond L. Frederick ............... Harriet Woods .............................. 03/13/14Malik D. Gay ........................... Maryville Gardens ......................... 03/13/14Noah J. Gibson ....................... Harriet Woods .............................. 03/13/14Tamaira C. Goodrum ............... Mac Pointe ................................... 03/13/14Domonique L. Gordon ............ Sappington ................................... 03/13/14William E. Greer ..................... Des Peres ...................................... 03/13/14Dionne R. Gregory .................. Gaffney ........................................ 03/13/14Joseph U. Griffin .................... Olivette ........................................ 03/13/14Kendrick A. Griffin .................. Normandy .................................... 03/13/14Alka Hamilton ........................ Jennings ....................................... 03/13/14Laurietta M. Hamilton ............ Mac Pointe ................................... 03/13/14Terrance L. Hardy ................... Maryville Gardens ......................... 03/13/14Rafe L. Healy .......................... Southwest .................................... 03/13/14Lester E. Hill ........................... Harriet Woods .............................. 03/13/14Channing Himbrow ................ Clayton ......................................... 03/13/14

New MembersDemond Hobbs ...................... Sappington ................................... 03/13/14Glenda L. Hogan ..................... Gravois ......................................... 03/13/14William L. Horton ................... Clayton ......................................... 03/13/14Chaka N. Howard.................... Coyle ............................................ 03/13/14Ashley R. Hubbard .................. Gravois ......................................... 03/13/14Breanna’ M. Jones .................. Des Peres ...................................... 03/13/14Matthew M. Jones .................. Sappington ................................... 03/13/14Harry Keely ............................ Gaffney ........................................ 03/13/14Dan Keru ................................ South County ................................ 03/13/14Doug P. LaMar ........................ Coyle ............................................ 03/13/14Lance S. Lancaster .................. Wheeler ....................................... 03/13/14Tiffany R. Lane ....................... West County ................................. 03/13/14Jasmine S. Lockhart................ Clayton ......................................... 03/13/14Dion L. Mathis ........................ Oldham ........................................ 03/13/14Raquel M. Mayfield ................ Harriet Woods .............................. 03/13/14Antuan M. McClenton ............. Sappington ................................... 03/13/14Emauni I. McDaniel ................ Jennings ....................................... 03/13/14Keith S. McDowell .................. Gaffney ........................................ 03/13/14DaMya M. McPherson ............. Jennings ....................................... 03/13/14Elizabeth J. Meyer .................. Oldham ........................................ 03/13/14Brandy K. Miller ..................... Sappington ................................... 03/13/14Brian E. Miller ........................ Sappington ................................... 03/13/14James W. Moore ..................... Mac Pointe ................................... 03/13/14Kyle W. Moore ........................ Union ........................................... 03/13/14Timothy B. Nelson .................. Creve Coeur .................................. 03/13/14Lloyd M. Nesbitt-Ward Sr. ....... Gravois ......................................... 03/13/14Martiha T. Pounds .................. Gravois ......................................... 03/13/14Donnell L. Redden .................. Harriet Woods .............................. 03/13/14Matthew I. Schenck ................ Fenton .......................................... 03/13/14Willie A. Shipp Jr. ................... Southwest .................................... 03/13/14Melanie T. Sutherland ............ West County ................................. 03/13/14Matthew A. Thomas ............... St. Ann ......................................... 03/13/14Christopher A. Tramble ........... Gravois ......................................... 03/13/14Evan S. Waller ........................ Maryville Gardens ......................... 03/13/14Terrell J. Washington .............. Mac Pointe ................................... 03/13/14Aaron O. Watson .................... Southwest .................................... 03/13/14Celeste Webb ......................... South County ................................ 03/13/14Phillip L. Whitehead ............... Affton .......................................... 03/13/14Sharonda Wilkins ................... Kirkwood ...................................... 03/13/14Antwaun R. Williams .............. Harriet Woods .............................. 03/13/14Darrell D. Williams ................. Kirkwood ...................................... 03/13/14Vernice C. Woods.................... Weathers ...................................... 03/13/14Brian K. Wright ...................... Sappington ................................... 03/13/14Jennie N. Yeargin ................... Oldham ........................................ 03/13/14

MOUND CITY CARRIER

22 April 2014/MCC

MOUND CITY CARRIER

April 2014/MCC 23 .

POLITICAL ACTION HONOR ROLLFRANCIS RYANHH

HENRY DEIBELHH

TONY JASPERH

BILL LISTERH

TIFFANY HAGERH

TOM SCHULTEH

BARRY LINANH

MARK SIMSH

WAYNE WENZINGERH

GENE BRADFORDHH

GENO IBERGH

JOHN HAAKEH

EUGENE HILKEH

MICHAEL McCOYH

JOE POLITTEH

KEN MEYERH

ART BUCKH

BOB FLAHERTYHH

TOM HARMANH

MIKE WEIRH

TOM DEGEAREH

THOMAS HOWERYH

JOE FITZJARRELLH

CHARLIE SEXTONH

MIKE BURKETTH

GERALD L. GALLEANOHH

JIM BRUGGEMANH

CHARLES SCANLONH

DAN BRAUCHLEH

THOMAS FITZSIMONSLAWRENCE McHAYNES JRH

JOHN LEWANDOWSKI JRH

TIMOTHY DUNCANH

Bob Reuster Mike Chenot Nicki L. Prado Dennis Wisnewski

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

MIKE WEIR612 CHARLESTON OAKS DR.

BALLWIN, MO 63021-7387(Donations are not tax deductible)

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

Branch Meeting Attendance Prizes

March 13, 2014Blues vs. Jets – Monday 3/17 @ 7 p.m. – 1. Tom Becnel, South County

Blues vs. Sabres – Thursday 4/3 @ 7 p.m. – 2. Ramona Droege, South County

Cards vs. Reds – Tuesday 4/8 @ 7:15 p.m. – 3. Darlene Tate, Creve Coeur

Cards vs. Reds – Wednesday 4/9 @ 7:15 p.m. – 4. Timmy Wicks, Oldham

Bottle Wine - Roy Taylors Uniform/Walter Besch 5. – Carolyn Moore, Oldham

Bottle Wine - Roy Taylors Uniform/Walter Besch 6. – Tiffany Hager, South County

BRANCH LEGAL PLANAdvice and Consultation on

General Practice and Civil Actions.

Walter BeachBill HoffmanBrian LittekenKelly SteinbeckerGus Frank

John ChudyBill JimasAngelo OttoliniDonald BassLarry Streib

John KarayJefferson LaytonMichael JenningsClif NelsonMike Chariot

Ramona DroegeJim KluempersLawrence McHaynes JrRocky RakowieckiJames Oldenburg

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Dan J. GouldBRANCH 343—OFFICERS—

Bill Lister ....................................... PresidentBarry Linan ........... Executive Vice President/

TreasurerRobert Rapisardo ................... Vice President/

Financial SecretaryCharles Sexton .............. Recording SecretaryDerrick Williams ............... Sergeant-at-ArmsSaronda Sutherland ............... Collector, MBAChet Drain ......... Health Benefit Representative

BOARD OF TRUSTEESJohn McLaughlin Tony JasperMike “Thumper” Tharp Tina Hunt

Stuart East

CORRESPONDENT POSTAL RECORDTom Schulte

MEMBER-AT-LARGENEGOTIATING COMMITTEE

Mike Chenot Pam StepneyMel McNair Brad Layton

DELEGATES TO THE ST. LOUIS LABOR COUNCIL

Bill Lister Keith GentryGus Frank Barry LinanMike Chenot Tony Jasper

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 ..................................... EditorClif Nelson ................................. Asst. EditorJohn McLaughlin ........................ Asst. Editor

ADVISORY BOARD

Bill ListerBarry Linan

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 OFFICE

1600 S BroadwaySt. Louis, MO 63104-3806

(314) 241-4297

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

Fax: (314) 241-2738

Website: www.branch343.org

RETIRED MEMBERS MEETINGLETTER CARRIERS BUILDING

1600 S Broadway1st Wednesday of the month.

Lunch at noon, meeting at 12:45 pm

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

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

FEMALE LETTER CARRIERS REPRESENTATIVE

Robinette Hensley, Creve Coeur(314) 432--8211

EEO REPRESENTATIVERobinette Hensley — (314) 432--8211

HEALTH BENEFITS HOT LINEChet Drain — Hall: (314) 241-4223

Tuesday 8 am to 4:30 pm

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

Thursday 8 am to 4:30 pm

SAFETY & HEALTHRichard Thurman, Jennings

(314) 867-0418

VETERANS CONSULTANTMike David — (314) 241-4297

FOR LOW COST NALC INSURANCESaronda Sutherland, MBA

(314) 535-2850

NBA OFFICEDan Pittman — (314) 872-0227

Deadline for articles for the MAY issue isAPRIL 14, 2014

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REGULAR BRANCH MEETINGTHURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2014

7:30 pm

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SHOP STEWARDS MEETINGTHURSDAY, MAY 1, 2014

The Letter Carriers Building1600 S Broadway

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