Featured News

Friday, December 10^th, 2021

UPMA regularly meets with the Chief Retail and Delivery officer, Dr. Josh Colin, to discuss all things delivery and retail. It seems like we are mastering the "Peak Season Like No Other," albeit with the usual pockets of problems. It is elementary to become overwhelmed at this time of year. Do not allow unreasonable instructions or impossible expectations to pass without challenge. We all must follow the instructions of our direct managers (unless it is unsafe to do so), and then if we believe that the instruction is improper, to challenge it through the proper channels, for UPMA that is the Consultative issue Log. Reach out to your Chapter President for guidance if you need it.

Scanning integrity:

It is vital to protect the Postal Brand concerning scanning integrity. Do not allow the pressure to clear all scans every day to lead you to scan packages just to get off the list incorrectly! If we failed in service for any reason, let's not cover up the failure with a false scan. Over the coming days, you will begin to see a focus on scans performed in a post office after 5 PM local time. Take the loss, take the failure and deal with the reasons for the failure. Deliver the package tomorrow and properly scan it then.

NPA 2021:

Earlier this week, UPMA received official notification that the national level NPA for FY21 is a cell four which means a 2.5% raise for all EAS. While UPMA is glad, all members will get some pay adjustment this year. It goes without saying that 2.5% is not enough. In any other year, Installation Heads would be able to mitigate NPA for situations beyond their control. The Service has said that there is no unit-level mitigation because there was a national-level scorecard. In fact, the need for a national-level scorecard is because of the reorganization, again totally beyond the control of UPMA members generally. UPMA would argue that all of the problems with NPA this year are beyond our control, and a National Mitigation should be applied to the final number. We will be officially asking for this by the time you read this.

NPA 2022:

The Postal Service shared with UPMA the initial NPA goals for FY22. We have some concerns with the "Functional Effectiveness" for Postmaster NPA goals. Specifically, TEI % SPLY CSV/SOV Opportunity % SPLY and Employee Retention raise issues for UPMA for various reasons. TEI is a solely city delivery metric and is not dependent on volumes. Any comparison to SPLY is unfair and not a good measure of effectiveness because of the pandemic and the unique situations that arose. Employee retention (measured at the district level) is not a fair judge of performance at the local unit. Field EAS has no control over who gets hired into our units; why do we get measured on their retention in our units? This dialogue has extended the release of the already very late goals for FY 22.

Supervisor Differential Adjustment:

The Supervisory Differential Adjustment (SDA) ensures that EAS who supervise two or more full-time employees are compensated at a higher level than the employees they manage, per Title 39. Therefore level 18 Postmasters (both types) may not qualify for the SDA. Please check your occupation code on your form 50

Level 18: Non-exempt: 2301-0018 (No SDA) Exempt: 2301-6118 (SDA)

Level 18B: Non-exempt: 2301-0118 (No SDA Exempt: 2301-6218 (SDA)

USPS compensation reviews exempt vs. non-exempt statuses annually and send letters to those who move between the pay bands.

Pay band adjustments:

The 2021 pay package included (at least) a 2% raise to the top of each EAS pay band, with the same dollar amount applied to the bottom of the pay band. Recently UPMA and NAPS were informed that now the Service would be using a 2.2% raise to the top (and the same dollar amount to the bottom). While the change is good, UPMA has asked the compensation department to revisit this decision and apply a 2.5% (and that same amount to the bottom) across the EAS pay bands. The federal raise this year will, reportedly, be as much as 3.7%, and UPMA feels that seeing as NPA is going to be at least 2.5%, then those EAS at the top of the pay band should be able to put all of that into their base pay for 2022.

UPMA National Membership Academy:

As of 12/10/2021, the following Chapters have registered with National that they will attend. AL, CO CT, FL, IA, IN, MN, MO, MS, PA, TN, TX, and WI. Chapter Presidents, I know it's peak season, but please send your information for this critical early January meeting. Here is the link for registration https://www.unitedpma.org/events/events/events-details/2022/01/15/default-calendar/upma-membership-academy-2022. You can mail it or scan the sheet and email it to Gerri, or you can fax it:  703-683-0923. The registration deadline is December 20th, 2021.

UPMA Super Bowl Watch Party and Legislative Summit 2022:

Again, it is never too soon to organize National UPMA events. Here is the link for registration https://www.unitedpma.org/resources/legislative-registration

Have a successful week. "Together We Can."

Edmund