We Must Be Proactive— Not Reactive
By Jimmy Warden
NAPS Secretary/Treasurer
NAPS state convention season is fully underway! After finally getting through COVID-19, it’s great to see NAPS branches back together, meeting for the betterment of their members and our association. The enthusiasm and drive I am seeing are incredible and inspiring.
Attendance is greater now than during pre-COVID state conventions. It’s also encouraging to see many first-timers; they are the future of NAPS. There will be a time when the baton needs to be passed. It’s great to see many new supervisors become engaged in the work of our great association.
Mentoring is key to developing our future leaders. We need to share our knowledge, wisdom and experiences with them so they have the ability and opportunity to succeed.
Now, let me speak about membership. The previous few DCO reports have been transmitted earlier in the month. We are trying to gradually move up the time when branches receive their direct deposits into their accounts. Historically, the DCO deposit that reflected the prior month occurred at the end of the month.
By moving the deposit to earlier in the month, we hope to allow branches to see their reports earlier so they can reach out to nonmembers and verify their change reports, as well as better track members they have signed who now are on their DCO reports. Running the reports and developing the DCO earlier in the month will help shorten the timespan the DCO reflects. This change will be a great help to the branches, as well as receiving their dues earlier.
In addition, you will notice on your upcoming DCO report that nonmembers will increase for most branches. Because we now officially represent postmasters, they soon will be added to our nonmember reports. This will give branches the opportunity to contact nonmember postmasters to inform them of the many benefits of membership in NAPS.
Another change coming on your DCO report is the branch affiliation will change and no longer be based on your work finance number; it now will be based on the work location (domiciled) finance number. This change was requested per a resolution passed at the 2022 NAPS National Convention in New Orleans.
Once implemented, this change will eliminate most requests for branch affiliation exception changes based on where a member is domiciled. The Postal Service is in the process of implementing these changes in their systems.
With the April announcement and implementation of the new SWC calculations, I urge all branches to verify their SWCs to see the vacancies and work with their respective districts to get them filled. During the second week of each month, I usually obtain a SWC report for every office and station in the country.
This report is shared with the NAPS Executive Board region and area vice presidents who should be sharing this report with their respective branches. The report is updated by the Postal Service in the first week of each month. Any active member can pull up and review this report on the workforce section of the Blue page.
The SWC report is located under “Staffing Tools.” Members should be using this report to monitor staffing in offices and stations. Branches should not wait until a supervisor is no longer authorized to then look at the staffing. Offices and stations should review the report; if they have an office or station near the zone of tolerance, contact the postmaster or manager to discuss. We need to be proactive—not reactive.
As you probably have heard, additional supervisors are being added as relief supervisors. This is long overdue and greatly needed. Past postal leadership took the position that SWCs already accounted for a relief position based on earned credits; we disagreed. It resulted in using acting supervisors or additional hours by supervisors when they were on their scheduled day off—if they even got a day off.
Current postal leadership recognized this need. Relief supervisors will be granted not just to Customer Service, but also to Mail Processing, Logistics and Maintenance. Installations currently with five or more supervisors will be receiving a relief supervisor. The same is the case for Plants, Logistics and Maintenance.
We are reviewing the criteria for the relief supervisor position to see if more should be authorized in installations or facilities that have four or fewer supervisors and will discuss this issue with Postal Headquarters. Regarding the start of the implementation based on the 5:1 ratio, approximately 2,500 positions have been authorized.
Now, we need our commitment, engagement and leadership to get these positions filled, as well as inform newly promoted supervisors of the benefits of being a NAPS member. I would like to thank all those who have continued to actively recruit new members. Please keep up the great work.
You represent our association with great pride and dedication! Remember, increasing membership demonstrates leadership. Stay safe.
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