Jordanna Garland, a recent graduate of the University of Delaware, conducted a Zoom interview with NAPS President Ivan D. Butts to discuss the accomplishments and challenges of 2024 and look ahead to 2025:
JG: How did you first get involved with the National Association of Postal Supervisors?
IB: I joined the post office in 1983, working different jobs, doing different things. I started as a 204(b) around 1988-87. Then, in May 1989, I was promoted to supervisor of Mails, an EAS-16 position.
On my first night on the job, the Tour 1 MDO and NAPS branch president came up to me, said, “Congratulations,” handed me an 1187 and said, “Here, fill this out.” At first, I didn’t even know what I was filling out, but I took it and filled it out because it was joining NAPS.
Before that, I was a clerk in the union, so it was a natural transition for me to join a management association that would be representing me as I moved in my career. In the beginning, I would go to local branch meetings and hear what was going on; I didn’t get too involved.
I really started getting involved in NAPS after my first national convention in 1992. After coming home from that convention, I decided I wanted to get more involved in NAPS. I credit that to the people I met at that convention.
I met Junebug Wardell and the whole Detroit gang. Meeting them really made a big impression on me coming in as a new member. Junebug and her fellow Detroit members took me and other first-timers under their wing. They took us around to meet people and introduced us to networking. That’s one of the biggest advantages of being in our association.
That really inspired me to want to do more in the branch. But then, as I became more active, advocacy took over. When I first started, somebody happened to call me who needed help and I responded.
After that, it was like, “Wow, I like advocacy.” That took me in a whole new direction. I wanted to be a leader—not just a member or participant.
JG: How long have you been president of NAPS?
IB: I was elected NAPS president in 2021; that was our hyphenated term because of COVID-19. We should have had a convention in 2020, but it was canceled due to the pandemic. Then-President Brian Wagner’s term carried over because we did not have a convention that year; it was deferred to 2021. The following year, Brian retired and I was elected president.
JG: What are your values and stances as president?
IB: I have a number of values; they all center on serving. I’ve pretty much centered my whole career in NAPS on serving others. I think any good leader has to be a servant. And if you want to be a great leader, it means you have to be a servant to all.
That has some biblical ties to it, but the value of it, nevertheless, is true. If you really desire to be a leader of people or a leader of an association—or leader in anything—it’s not about you. It has to be about the peo-ple you want to serve.
And that’s what my leadership model has developed into over time. One of the things I’ve always talked about, even leading up to running for office, was my integrity. I wanted to show that I would be a leader with integrity—you could count on me.
I wanted members to know they could count on me to do the right thing and do what’s in their best interest when I make decisions or collaborate, whether it’s with the Postal Service or with other NAPS Executive Board leaders. What I do always is done under the umbrella of wanting to have integrity and show integrity.
These are the values on which I ran: integrity, vision, accountability and innovation. They also were the values I ran on back in 2014 as vice president when I came on the board; I made that a part of my mantra. It was a part of my character I wanted to bring, present and use to the benefit of the members of our association.
JG: As the year comes to a close, what has been some of the work you’ve done for NAPS this year?
IB: A lot of what I and others have done this year is work maintaining the structure—trying to use the Executive Board in a way that could be beneficial not just to our membership, but to our board members, as well. I want to give them opportunities for our members to see their talents; for instance, using them on our Executive Board committees and things of that nature.
Regarding our lawsuit, everyone talks about it and the status. Really, it’s maintaining right now. We had some great outcomes in the beginning. The appeals court affirmed that NAPS legally represents postmasters and we are the only postal management association that can represent all EAS employees, wherever they work—Headquarters, the Field or Areas.
Those were some major, major victories for us, but that was 2022. Over the past couple years, I think we’ve done well with pay—not great, not perfect, but we’ve done better.
I consider a 14.5% raise in EAS pay over a little more than a two-year period is a good thing, especially considering where we’ve come from. That’s definitely something we’ve tried building on. This year has been about building on those accomplishments.
We just finished negotiating with the Postal Service to increase the pay-out scales for this year’s NPA. The Postal Service made increases, but not to the level we felt was warranted, especially looking at all the things going on with our economy, as well as issues that we’re having with the “Delivering for America” (DFA) plan rollout. Then we dealt with natural disasters. This has been one of the worst years for natural disasters. All these issues have impacted NPA.
We would have liked the Postal Service to take all of that into account, but we don’t feel they did. They changed some financial growth issues we’re still seeing, although we didn’t see it to the degree we wanted. Those are the pluses we’ve seen.
I’ll be honest—it’s been a challenging year. We’ve had 32 separate reductions in force (RIFs) that have impacted hundreds of EAS employees. NAPS has been the only postal management association addressing and dealing with the RIFs, making sure all these EAS employees are finding positions.
We’ll probably see more RIFs impacting EAS employees in the coming years as a result of the DFA. On one hand, I think we’re positioning NAPS well because we do it better. I don’t think any other management association can manage a RIF better than NAPS. The devastation from POStPlan is proof of that.
We’re getting better and that’s good for us. But it also means we will continue to be in this sea of change with the Postal Service while it tries to get the DFA on stable ground.
JG: How is the DFA changing the landscape? How is it affecting supervisors and postmasters?
IB: It’s changing the entire landscape of the Postal Service and how we serve the American people. When you look at the concept of the DFA on paper, it lays out well, but the application just is not going well. The frustrating part for us as managers in the Postal Service is the typical resistance to change.
Most people are resistant to change, but, regarding the DFA, it’s the unmentioned changes that are causing fallout. We’re opening RP&DCs and S&DCs, as well as LDCs. Now, we have transfer hubs opening. So much is happening; it’s changing the whole concept of how we used to process America’s mail and get it home.
It’s really been a struggle. And our service scores show it continues to be a struggle. So, that’s probably the biggest issue I see. Can this structure work to continue to deliver America’s mail? Absolutely! But it’s going to require a willingness by this agency’s leadership to commit to the resources we need to ensure the mail can be delivered.
Right now, Postal Service leadership is not committing to resources. In fact, leadership, at every turn, is looking to cut resources, which is keeping us where we are, especially with service scores.
The scores have gotten better, but, from our understanding, it’s because of the mail that is alleged to be on trucks but actually is on planes. That’s disturbing because it points to leadership acknowledging the plan is not working. They are applying a Band-Aid instead of fixing the problem.
JG: What challenges have you faced this year?
IB: I don’t look at these issues as challenges. I look at them as opportunities to engage. It’s been challenging for me, though. Going into this year, how was I, as president of this association, going to lead us through all the RIFs I knew we were going to face?
I knew we were going to face them coming out of 2023, so I was really challenged because you have timelines. Now, it’s a matter of coordinating and making sure you’re watching the timelines, making sure you’re reaching out to every member who’s impacted.
I was proud I was able to reach out to every member who was impacted in the RIF or attempt to reach out to them to make sure they understood we were going to support them and be there for them. But that was burdensome.
It took me a while to learn after maybe the 30th time when I started reaching out to the board and our area vice presidents and let them take over that responsibility and engage with our members. And I’ve been getting a great response.
I have to give a shout out to Illini Area Vice President Luz Moreno and what she did in Busse at the Chicago Metro Surface Hub to make sure all EAS employees got placed and continued to follow up. It’s that kind of support leadership from our board that has helped me. That was my biggest challenge of this year.
Other times, we have pay consultations with the agency. We meet and consult; we don’t agree, agree or agree not to agree. It’s various things, but they’re not challenging. That’s the normal course of business.
The real challenge this year has been the RIFs that impact members because that’s pay! We’re about to go into pay talks, hopefully by February or March. That will be my next year’s challenge—to try and find a way to really make pay more sustainable for EAS employees, as well as sustainable for the growth of the Postal Service as we move forward.
JG: What are you looking forward to accomplishing in the upcoming year?
IB: I just touched on pay talks. One area we need to focus on is fixing the middle. We’ve been talking about this for a couple years now. We have to fix the middle of our pay grades. Every year, the Postal Service raises the maximum and the minimum of a pay range based on the percentage of pay the president gives all other federal employees.
On the surface, it seems odd we’re getting increases in our pay ranges while other federal employees get increases to their pay. With that being said, we need to address what’s been happening over the years. An increase to the maximum raises it so that person at the top can get a little more; then you raise the minimum, so the person at the bottom is going to get a little more, but you do nothing with everyone else in the middle. As a result, over the years, that pay keeps getting pushed further down the scale. We need to address that.
It was really frustrating in 2022 when craft employees got an 8% COLA. With the supervisor differential adjustment, it really impacted supervisors in Customer Service. That transition may not have been 8%, but whatever the cost of living was, that raise translated into an almost $8,000 pay raise for Level-17 Customer Service supervisors, on top of them just getting their SDA. That gave them a really nice pay raise.
But it really exasperated this issue of the pay in the middle because that shot them up so high and closer to their managers, it made the disparity of this pay level more visible and financially impactful to everyone. So that’s one of the things we really have to work with the agency to fix. How do we create that parity within the pay scales where everyone moves up equally and fairly?
We’ve never been big proponents of the NPA process after 2009. NPA was a great thing in the beginning, but, after 2009, they took everyone’s NPA without any rhyme or reason because they felt they could. Then, after four years, they gave us no NPA at all; President Obama gave us 1% that one year.
Through that time period, the whole NPA process was so corrupt that we believe there is no good in it. Although, the federal court said the Postal Service has the right to have a performance-measuring system.
Our position is that a performance-measuring system should not be the basis of employee raises. Craft employees don’t get raises based on performance, they get annual percentage raises, just like other federal employees get percentage raises every year. We feel we should not be excluded from that. We should be included in that annual percentage raise process.
If the Postal Service wants to have a pay-for-performance system, it should purely be a bonus system; we would applaud that. But EAS employees need to begin to have yearly pay increases, just like every other federal employee. That’s something we’re always going to strongly advocate for. We look forward to presenting the data from our experts in the upcoming pay talks.
JG: Is there anything you’d like to add?
IB: No, thank you. This interview was less painful than I thought it would be! It probably will be published after the holidays; hopefully, everyone’s had a great holiday with their family.
I always like to thank our EAS employees. I used to say they’re the straw that stirs the drink because that’s what we really do. Our members are out there, working hard and keeping America’s mail moving. I really appreciate what they do.
And we’re here at NAPS Headquarters to keep fighting and do our very best to support you and try to make your life better financially and improve your work life.
JG: Thank you so much for speaking with me, Mr. Ivan.
IB: You’re welcome, Jordanna.
Jordanna Garland is a recent University of Delaware alum, having graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in English. She currently works as a freelance writer for APG Chesapeake, a media company in Easton, MD. In her spare time, Jordanna enjoys listening to music and watching musicals. Her mom, Angela Garland, is president of Delaware State Branch 909.
Categories: The Postal Supervisor
