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May 14, 2021 Update from Dan Heins, UPMA National President

Posted by Frank Augustosky on 05/14/21

Friday Message – May 14, 2021

Training Session – Next Thursday, May 20th, we will have the second of our monthly training sessions beginning at 9:00 PM EDT.    Here is the information to sign up for the session and then you can just log on when the class starts.     The topic is one that many of our members should find very useful.

Title: Grievance Handling and Request for Information (RFI)

Presenter: Jim Dunlap

Date: Thursday, May 20, 2021
Time: 9:00 PM EST

Meeting Link: https://ltcpartners.webex.com/ltcpartners/onstage/g.php?MTID=e44608b280f8aff081a0f18c14c83a87c

New Deputy Postmaster General- Earlier this week, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced that the USPS Board of Governors had voted to approve the appointment of Doug Tulino as the new Deputy Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service.   In addition to his duties as Deputy PMG, Doug will continue in his role of Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) for the USPS.    Prior to accepting his appointment as the CHRO, Mr. Tulino served for many years as the Vice President of Labor Relations.     I want to wish Doug well in this new assignment and I look forward to working with him and the rest of the Executive Leadership Team at Headquarters.

Postal Reform Legislation – The United States House of Representatives Oversight and Reform Committee conducted the mark-up of a Postal Reform bill on Thursday.   The bill passed on a voice vote with bi-partisan support.   Now we will be awaiting the schedule to be set when the full House will take up the bill.    As we have more information, we will make sure that we get information out to you asking for your support to reach out to Congress to help get this bill across the finish line in the House and then we will tackle getting it moving in the Senate.    We have been meeting with members in key leadership positions in the Senate, as well as the House, to hopefully get it passed in both houses of Congress, so it can be put on the desk of President Biden for his signature.    In talking with our Government Relations Team, we do not want to appear overconfident, but we are definitely optimistic that a bill will get done this year.

Membership Promotion – Within the next two weeks you will be receiving a copy of a special edition of the UPMA Leader magazine that is focused on reaching out to prospective members.    The issue will be an excellent ice breaker for you to make contact either in person, or via telephone, with non-member post offices.   If you do not know who the non-members are in your chapter, please reach out to the membership chair for your chapter and have them provide you with that information.    As a reminder, remember that any new EAS member receives one-year free membership in UPMA which will give them the opportunity to become familiar with the organization at no cost for the first year.

Pay Consultations – We will be having our next pay consultation meeting this coming week.   As I shared last week, we have provided our proposals to the Postal Service and they are researching the feasibility of implementing some of the changes and modifications we are requesting.    I am looking forward to the opportunity to work through this process and have a package that is acceptable to both parties and can move us forward.  

As always, take care and stay safe and follow the guidelines as presented by the CDC and the Postal Service.    

Have a good week!

Dan Heins
UPMA National President