Legislative Action

 Please contact your Local Representive and let them know that they need to support H.R. 5746 and H. Res 173. You can click on the link below and see what each bill is about as well

Attention Branch 212 members:

The end of mail delivery to your door: A bill in the House, H.R. 2309, would end direct mail delivery for 90 percent of homes and businesses that now receive doorstep delivery, among other destructive effects the measure contains. "If H.R. 2309 becomes law, virtually all residents and business-owners would lose the door-to-door delivery they have long relied on," NALC President Fredric Rolando said. That's why the NALC is undertaking an extensive grassroots campaign to inform Americans and those organizations that would be most affected by the destructive H.R. 2309 of the facts about postal finances—and of the most effective ways to restore financial stability to the Postal Service. Click here to find out how you can take action and help save America's Postal Service.

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This Article courtesy of Branch 12

 Ignoring Your Own Voice

     You bring your car in for an oil change and the mechanic tells you the car has an oil leak that needs to be fixed. He assures you it’s only a slow leak right now, but it left as is the leak could worsen to a point where your car’s engine could cease. What would you do?  Would you ask the mechanic to fix the leak? Or ignore the mechanics advice and warning and just continue to drive the car hoping the leak won’t worsen and you can continue to drive your car for years to come?  

      Let’s take that analogy a giant step further. You go to your doctor because you aren’t feeling well. They run some tests and find you have a serious health condition. The doctor tells you that since they’ve caught this condition in its early stages of development it is treatable, but you must act right away before things get much worse and spiral out of control, or would you wait and see if you start feeling better, hoping for the best. 

     I think in either scenario any one of us would act immediately, following the advice of the professional, the person in the know, before either situation got any worse. Most people are logical enough to know that taking necessary action to stave off future horrific happenings make sense. It’s better to act while things are still manageable and haven’t reached a point where damage isn’t repairable. 

     I apply this similar logic to the current problems facing letter carriers when it comes to the uncertain future of our jobs. I put it in perspective and look in our own back yard of Branch 12. Here we have 6 officers, elected by the membership of almost 1,000 active and retired letter carriers, to mainly enforce the National Agreement and lookout for the rights and best interests of letter carriers. Of these 6 officers, 4 of them have worked full careers with the Postal Service and their collective experience speaks volumes when it comes to representing and advising letter carriers. Whether it is known or not, the positions these 6 officers have allow the certain perspective and pertinent information to share with the membership, which otherwise may be overlooked. With the current plagues facing the Postal Service there is information being disseminated each day from sources keeping a close eye on the best interests of letter carriers. One of the jobs of these 6 officers is to educate the membership with information received.  

     The recent Congressional Elections educated us all on a few things; across this state the middle class showed up at the polls to return all Democrats to office; nationwide, however, Republicans were able to take control of the house; despite this the Democrats kept control of the Senate. Locally, a few dozen members took part in standouts for Congressman Jim McGovern. 

     For quite some time now officers of this branch, all the way up to the national level, have been trying to educate the membership on issues facing the Postal Service. What is painfully glaring is a vast majority of letter carriers either aren’t taking the effort to keep informed or simply just don’t care about whether they are employed by the Postal Service in the years ahead. This was absolutely obvious at the two stand-outs we had for Congressman McGovern. Of all the members this Branch has only a few dozen combined showed up to hold a sign. No one was being asked to participate in a phone bank, or canvas neighborhoods, or even give monetary donations. And of the few dozen who showed up, the majority was either a senior carrier or a retiree. The Worcester stand-out, which was held outside the very garage where the employees park, was certainly the most disappointing as far as overall involvement goes. As a few letter carriers stood holding signs, the vast majority simply walked by, turning their heads, as if their brother and sister letter carriers weren’t there. A few offered their weak excuses of not knowing about the stand-out or they forgot a change of clothes. They weren’t fooling anyone. And some of the same junior carriers who have expressed concern about their futures with the Postal Service of whether they’ll be converted to full-time, or excessed, or outright laid off were the most disappointing. If these folks won’t bother to lift a finger to help save their future employment, who in the hell do they expect should? Hey, if you are looking for sunshine and rainbows to be blown up your backsides you’re reading the wrong article this month. I certainly could be a lot harsher on those who feel their future employment is completely someone else’s responsibility.  

     So back to the scenarios where we started… if someone who you elected to protect your contractual rights and educate you on what you need to know to protect your future employment emphasized to you the need to become more active in your Union to combat immediate threats to your livelihood, what would you do? Would you heed their advice and take the necessary step and guidance you are being given, or would you do like the majority of letter carriers have been doing thus far (NOTHING)? 

     Thank you to those who not only rose to the occasion for their job, as well as for the jobs of those who didn’t bring a change of clothes.  

Kenny Janulewicz 

Executive Vice-President  

Branch 12

As the branch Vice-President of Branch 212 I cannot read something like this and not share it with the members of Branch 212. Here Kenny makes a lot of valid points. Many members throughout the country have forgotten their roots as members of the NALC, Why is it that the members that do all the complaining never want to lift a hand in helping their own jobs they want to sit back and let the other guy do it. Well I cannot agree with Kenny more. Members of the NALC need in fact to wake up and smell the coffee, before they find themselves out the door because they didn’t want to help themselves. Oh but when you find yourself out the door, or are being excessed to another office 500 miles away, DON”T COME CRYING TO ME. Heed Kenny’s advice here start now or be shut out, only you can make that choice. Start now get involved with the Union.  

To contact your local Representatives click on the link below

Massachusetts

		District 1 [View Map] Rep. Olver, John [D-MA1]
		District 2 [View Map] Rep. Neal, Richard [D-MA2]
		District 3 [View Map] Rep. McGovern, James [D-MA3]
		District 4 [View Map] Rep. Frank, Barney [D-MA4]
		District 5 [View Map]  Rep. Tsongas, Niki [D-MA5]
		District 6 [View Map]  Rep. Tierney, John [D-MA6]
		District 7 [View Map]  Rep. Markey, Edward [D-MA7]
		District 8 [View Map]  Rep. Capuano, Michael [D-MA8]
		District 9 [View Map]  Rep. Lynch, Stephen [D-MA9]
		District 10 [View Map]  Rep. Delahunt, William [D-MA10]

Senators

		Sen. Brown, Scott [R-MA]
		Sen. Kerry, John [D-MA]

New Hampshire

		District 1 [View Map] Rep. Shea-Porter, Carol [D-NH1]
		District 2 [View Map] Rep. Hodes, Paul [D-NH2]

 Senators

		Sen. Gregg, Judd [R-NH]
		Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH]