May 2024 Consultative

NAPS President Ivan D. Butts, Executive Vice President Chuck Mulidore, Secretary/Treasurer Jimmy Warden and Executive Board Chair Chuck Lum attended the May 14 Zoom consultative meeting. Representing the Postal Service were Bruce Nicholson, James Timmons and Paulita Wimbush, USPS Labor Relations Policies & Programs.

Agenda Item #1

NAPS has been made aware by EAS employees in the field that a national directive from Postal Headquarters is requiring carrier start times to be uniformly set at 10 a.m. for Sunday Amazon delivery. Why was this directive made?

These EAS employees are being forced to stay later Sunday in many instances. Amazon is ready much earlier than 10 a.m., but carriers are not permitted to start prior to 10 a.m. What is the rationale for this policy?

This is a management strategy designed to improve Sunday performance by reducing or eliminating carrier wait times. We are analyzing the workflows and processes to identify areas for improvement or inefficiencies that may be contributing to wait times.

By implementing a strategy to eliminate carrier wait times, the organization could potentially improve Sunday performance metrics, including productivity and efficiency.

Agenda Item #2

NAPS asked what the USPS plan is for ballot collection in offices operating under the optimized collections process. This process not only affects national elections—U.S. House, Senate and president—but also local elections in many communities for mayor, council and others.

As postmasters, station managers and supervisors are on the front line of this process, how will the USPS ensure communities that have only one dispatch per day will get ballots to local election boards for timely counting?

Currently, the ballot collection for offices operating under the optimized collection process are called Key Activities. These activities are in place for federal general elections and primaries. When state and local elections occur simultaneously with these elections, they will receive the benefit of the Key Activities; otherwise, no additional efforts are in place.

These activities consist of the following:

  • Will begin four days prior to the primary and continue through the state’s required received date for ballots.
  • Every collection box will be opened, collected and scanned.
  • All postmasters must clear Collection Point Management System (CPMS) to include AM/PM all clear survey, nightly with assistance from Field Maintenance Operations (FMO) as necessary.
  • Any collection boxes/receptacle unable to be accessed require an immediate phone call to the district manager and Headquarters Command Center.
  • Completed ballots destined for Boards of Elections (BOEs) will be culled out of mail returned by carriers, all retail counters and all collection boxes/receptacles.
  • Completed ballots will be separated for BOE sites and postmarked by managers.
  • Transport of completed ballots will be made by units to local BOEs.
  • Centralized HUBs will be used to transport completed ballots to BOEs outside the local destination if the destination can be reached before the poll closes. If the destination cannot be reached before closing, ballots will be transported to the plant for processing with a hand-to-hand exchange by EAS employees.
  • All movement of ballots will be memorialized on compliance surveys with Headquarters oversight.
  • Postmasters will record all issues on the Political/Election Mail log.
  • Local management, in coordination with manager, Customer Relations, will continue outreach with local BOE offices.
  • Local management will intercept/ deliver ballots with known mailer misprints in the barcode, i.e., wrong ZIP or address at wrong destination.
  • Any absentee ballots outgoing to customers tendered to delivery units after transportation will be transported to the plant for processing with a hand-to-hand exchange by EAS employees.

HUB-specific Key Activities:

  • Non-BOE sites will relay ballots to assigned HUB locations.
  • Each HUB will have one team lead with the following responsibilities:
    • —Counting ballots
    • —Validating postmark (only one postmark is authorized)
    • —Survey completion to confirm receipt/delivery of ballots from each spoke site
  • BOE HUBs will deliver all ballots to their local BOE office.
    • —Ballots will be postmarked by a manager with the current day’s postmark prior to delivery
    • —No ballot will receive more than one postmark
    • —Complete survey to confirm receipt/ delivery of ballots from each site
    • —Indicate on survey hand-to-hand exchange with EAS employees at plant

These Key Activities explain the process and responsibility of EAS employees in the units of concern. There currently are no plans in place for the general election outside of what already has been communicated.

Agenda Item #3

NAPS noted that aisles in both the Memphis P&DC and NDC are less than the required 8 feet and still operating powered industrial trucks (PITs). These violations create safety violations and possible accidents. These concerns were raised with local senior leadership at those facilities with no resolve.

Local safety concerns should be reported immediately using PS Form 1767—Report of Hazard, Unsafe Condition, or Practice—to document the condition. Employees who wish to remain anonymous can file PS Form 1767 directly with their installation’s safety personnel.

Without revealing their name, they immediately will give the report to their supervisor for necessary action. (In such cases, safety personnel must not disclose the name of the individual submitting the report.) Additionally, supervisors and managers have a responsibility of identifying and eliminating hazards.

District Safety conducted a site visit of the facility; the issue was resolved.

Agenda Item #4

NAPS has become aware the Minnesota-North Dakota District approved on-the-clock training at the UPMA Minnesota Chapter convention. NAPS assumes this training will be given by district, area or Headquarters officials.

In order for NAPS members to be availed of this on-the-clock training while attending NAPS conventions with USPS officials present, what
is the process for getting approval? Does USPS Headquarters approve this by encouraging districts to provide this type of on-the-clock training?

This is a local matter that should be addressed with the district manager who has the authority to authorize training for employees.