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Be a Leader! Help Increase Membership

Be a Leader! Help Increase Membership
By Jimmy Warden
NAPS Secretary/Treasurer

I hope everyone has a safe, happy and healthy holiday season. The holidays are a good time to reflect on the positives in our lives and be grateful for them. John F. Kennedy said, “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” Let 2022 be the year we live by our words. Thank you for all you do!

As I am sure most of you have seen, our membership is steady at 74%. I continue to ask everyone to reach out to the nonmembers in your branch. On your recent DCO nonmember report, you might have seen the names of members who retired now listed as nonmembers. Every year during peak season, many districts hire retirees—former EAS employees—to work at post offices.

Although temporary, these retirees are placed in a pay status. Therefore, they show up as a nonmember if they are not already a NAPS associate member. Once peak season is over and they no longer are working, they will come off your nonmember list.

Unfortunately, this has created another situation. If a retiree who is an associate member decides to work temporarily during peak season, they will remain an associate member until their temporary employment term ends. They then are removed from the Postal Service’s payroll; therefore, they also are removed as an associate member.

NAPS Headquarters no longer receives associate dues taken from the DCO, but the branch still is collecting dues from the associate member. This has raised concerns as we have had branches submit registrations for retirees to attend the national convention and LTS, but they no longer are members based on our records. There are retirees holding officer positions in branches, but are not associate members.

To rectify this, I need all branches to verify their respective associate member list and ensure those who are associate members are, indeed, listed. If someone has been dropped—meaning they no longer are listed—please have them submit Form 1187-A. Our retirees are a great asset to our association. Their experience and knowledge are priceless!

Recently, I have been able to obtain a biweekly listing of those who have received promotions and had their Form 50s processed during that specific pay period. This listing has been sent to all NAPS Executive Board members to share with their respective branches. The report can be drilled down to specific districts. NAPS Membership Director Emily Christophersen has helped me with this report and annotated those who already are members and those who are not.

Although the report shows all promotions nationwide, the primary intention of sending this report is to see who just was promoted to an initial-level position. More than likely, those newly promoted employees are not NAPS members. This gives us a great opportunity to increase membership. I urge all branches and National Executive Board members to reach out to the newly promoted supervisors and encourage them to join our association.

This report allows you to know who was recently promoted; we no longer have to wait until the next Supervisor Training class to sign them as members. Regardless, we still should attend all new Supervisor Training classes. Using this listing and knowing who was promoted will help us touch base with them before other associations do. This will make recruitment easier!

As a reminder, please continue to monitor your DCO Change Report. Due to the recent RIFs, many members have been placed in new Finance numbers; hence, they have been placed into other branches. Please contact those members who remain domiciled in your branch to ask if they want to remain in your branch. If so, have them complete an exception request found on the NAPS website and submit it to your respective area vice president.

At the recent Western Region Training Seminar, Pacific Area Vice President Chuck Lum gave an excellent presentation on membership. He challenged everyone to work on increasing membership and informed them of the benefits of being a NAPS member. Thanks, Chuck! I encourage all regional and area training seminars to have a session on membership. Increasing membership demonstrates leadership.

Stay safe!