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Friday Message – October 8, 2021

Legislative Summit – It is not too early to start making your plans to attend our 2022 Legislative Summit which will be held February 13-16, 2022.    While we realize that this not only falls over Valentine’s Day, but it also happens to be Super Bowl Sunday on February 13^th.    We will be looking into options to have a large Super Bowl Party and if you bring your significant other, you can spend Valentine’s Day learning some valuable information and still have time to celebrate.   The registration form will be available online in the near future and will also be included in an upcoming issue of the UPMA Leader Magazine.   We are very hopeful that this Summit will give us the opportunity to thank those members of Congress that supported the Postal Reform Act of 2021 and to continue to work with then on other issues including WEP/GPO reform, if that has not passed by that time.   

 If you were at the Summit just a few days ago now and you were not able to schedule a visit with one of Senator’s or Representative’s offices, please continue to reach out and make sure the message gets shared with them.   If you need help feel free to reach out to the National Office, or the members of the Government Relations Team for assistance.

 Chapter Member Representative Academies – We have completed the first two of our four Chapter Member Representative (CMR) Academies and we are looking forward to the last two which will take place later this month.   On Saturday, October 16 we will be having a session in Boise, Idaho and on Saturday, October 23^rd we will be in Omaha, Nebraska.  If you have not registered yet, I would encourage you to speak with your Chapter President and have them get you signed up.    This training is appropriate whether you are a seasoned veteran CMR, or if you are just wanting to get some information on the program.   You will find it very beneficial either way.    While we are past the original deadline for registrations, we can most likely still get you into the hotel and we will make room in the training session for you.   Again, you need to be registered by your Chapter President.

 Special Exempt Pay – On Thursday, September 30^th, I received a letter from Postal Service Headquarters extending the eligibility of FLSA Special Exempt Pay for Postmasters that was authorized last year until November 30^th.   The letters are both posted on our website.

 NPA – The Fiscal Year 2022 Goals should be finalized by the end of October at the latest.   They are still being developed by the team at Headquarters and then they will need to be presented to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) at Headquarters and once the ELT has reviewed them and given their input, they should then be presented to the USPS Board of Governors at the end of October for the final approval.   It is looking very much we will see Functional Effectiveness as one of the components and I know that when this was first introduced last year as a new component (that was not included as part of the final scorecard this past year) there were a lot of questions in the field as to what this meant and where the numbers are coming from.   With each functional area having different goals in this component and so each area having different items they will be measured on, I have requested that when the scorecard is finalized and we know what the components are that Headquarters should roll out training for all EAS members to help them understand what the entire scorecard is, with special emphasis on what the Functional Effectiveness component is since it looks like it will constitute 30% of the goals for FY 22.     When I know what that training component is supposed to look like I will share that with you so that we can monitor if that training is being done, or not, and work with the Postal Service to make sure that everyone is receiving the same message and the same information.

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

 Have a good week!

Dan Heins, UPMA National President