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Memories

Memories
By Tommy Roma
NAPS Northeast Region Vice President

As I sit back and reflect on my 24 years as your New York Area vice president and Northeast Region vice president, I truly can say I left it all on the field when it came to representing my members. I fought hard representing every member’s rights.

My mentors—Charlie Scialla, Vince Palladino, Ruby Handelman, Ray Perri, Frank Spatola and John Santoro—taught me to fight the good fight, do it with dignity and respect and never demean your opposition. I remember Frank telling me to read the management instructions issued by the USPS monthly that contained all the information about the job and its latest updates and changes.

Vince and the others told me to fight to the end when I knew I was right, but to know when to back off when a settlement was the only option. I am the last of the original SWCs team to be active with NAPS and the USPS. We worked hard with our USPS partners and came up with 1,068 new supervisory positions.

It took almost five years to achieve this goal. That is something of which I am very proud. Thanks to my partner Jim Warden, my team members and the USPS for seeing this through.

NAPS was able to partner with the USPS on the newly established Supervisor Apprentice Program; Brooklyn was chosen as one of the test sites. Brooklyn Branch 68 President Jamaal Muhammad selected me, concurred with by NAPS President Ivan D. Butts and the USPS, to represent NAPS.

The original plan was for Brooklyn only to have the Customer Service side represented. I reminded the Postal Service that we have two sides of the house—the Customer Service side and the plant side—and both should have a class. The Postal Service added the plant to the program, much to my delight.

I am happy to report that, on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024, members of the first Supervisor Apprentice Program —both Customer Service and plant—graduated and became EAS-17 relief supervisors. We suffered some hiccups along the road to success, but, in the end, the pilot program was a success.

I look forward to the next class in Brooklyn. I’m also happy to report that NAPS has 12 new members because of this successful program.

I wish I could be as positive about the next challenge in which I am involved—using EAS employees to deliver mail. I never have and never will be a proponent of EAS employees delivering mail. Because of hiring shortages and retention of said employees, the Postal Service feels it can use EAS employees to pick up the slack. That belief, in my opinion, is not true.

While NAPS does not have a collective bargaining agreement, the craft organizations do; it clearly states EAS employees cannot perform craft work. The Administrative Support Manual clearly states EAS employees cannot perform craft work except in a time of emergency. Ditto for the Employees & Labor Relations Manual.

Our M-39 and the carriers’ M-41 clearly state that EAS employees cannot cross crafts or they will be subject to grievances. And boy, have we paid them grievances for keeping their mouths shut and hands open. So, I ask you, where are the savings if we are paying all these grievances and the safety of EAS employees is at stake?

While I must admit the USPS is slowly rectifying this problem, fixing it is the only solution so it won’t happen again. I want to remind all our members that “today’s favor is tomorrow’s assignment.”

My promise to our members is I will see this through until the end. As we say in Brooklyn, “Stay Tuned.”

Stay strong.