Concerned_Indiana_RLC

2nd Ballot For National Delegates

2010-06-11T21:30:00.000-04:00

As I was delievering my route today I got to a co-workers house and noticed she had a ballot for national delegate in her mail. Not thinking much about it I thought she must have called for a replacement since she had informed me she lost her ballot earlier in a conversation in the office this week.
Imagine my surprise when I got to my house and I had one too. I had just sent mine in so I knew something was irregular now.
So when I open it up it says an administative error was made on the first ballot and this was the only way to fix the situation. Well since I am not privy to exactly what the administrative error was I guess I just have to take their word for it that this was the only way to fix things.

One thing I do know this was expensive and I hope a lot more members vote because they are going to pay for it.

HR 173 209 co-sponsors. Is You Rep one of them?

2010-06-11T21:06:00.000-04:00

H.RES.173 -- Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of its 6-day mail delivery... (Introduced in House - IH)

HRES 173 IH

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. RES. 173

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of its 6-day mail delivery service.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 13, 2009

Mr. GRAVES (for himself, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, and Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of its 6-day mail delivery service.

Whereas the United States Postal Service has announced that it may need to reduce the frequency of its mail delivery service from 6 days a week to 5 days a week;

Whereas 6-day mail delivery service is an essential service that the American people have relied on since 1912, particularly working families that depend on the Postal Service for the timely delivery of their paychecks;

Whereas Social Security is the primary or sole source of income for many senior citizens, and any delay in the delivery of their Social Security checks would make it difficult for them to purchase even essential items, such as food and medicine; and

Whereas reducing mail delivery service to 5 days a week would inevitably cause not only delays in the delivery of mail, but higher postal costs, due to the many hours of additional overtime that the Postal Service would require in order to handle the resulting back-up of mail: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should take all appropriate measures to ensure the continuation of its 6-day mail delivery service.

A few questions for those that read this blog.

2010-06-08T15:17:00.000-04:00

I have been asked to post this to see how some of you feel about a few issues we will be dealing with this coming year.

I really like your blog. You ask thoughtful questions and I know a lot of my friends read it faithfully.

It's inevitible with the new national steward proposals, possible loss of members if we get a 5 day work week, etc. that we're facing possible dues increases both nationally and statewide. Here's a few questions I'd like your readers to answer to help the board and the finance committee.

Would you consider paying an additional $50-$75 per year to add 2 additional full time assistants? How much would you consider for a dues increase?

Do you think you've been adequately represented by your state stewards in the past? Have you been called back in a reasonable amount of time? Was the information you were given correct? Could your question have been answered by email? Could we set up new policies that require non-urgent questions be asked by email? How many of our members don't have email capability?

Would you consider paying the same as other states with the same number of members?

Would you like to be considered as an assistant state steward?

Would you consider setting up certain times, for example 8-4 daily M-F, when stewards can be contacted (except in emergencies of course) to avoid paying weekend and after-hour wages? Now that most members have cell phones, do we need to keep our stewards on duty from 6 AM - 10 PM every day Sun-Sat?

There are only 2 ways to save money, reduce expenditures or increase revenue. Which of the following would you consider?

1. Reduce the state convention to a 1 day convention?

2. Reduce the amount paid back to the counties?

3. Reduce the amount we pay to the auxiliary?

4. Reduce the boosters to 1 per year?

5. Reduce steward attendance at county meetings?

6. Increase dues?

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks!

National Delegate Announcements

2010-05-07T11:12:00.002-04:00

National Delegate Announcements

Have you been nominated for a national delegate position?

Let the members know a bit of your perspectives that you will take to the national convention if you are selected as a national delegate.

Full-Time Assistant State Stewards @ 48K Pay?

2010-05-07T11:10:00.000-04:00

Full-Time Assistant State Stewards @ 48K Pay?

Although I have not been to a conference yet to hear what the proposal from national is on this national stewards program some that have seen the presentations from other conferences say this is part of the proposal or one of the proposals.

What are your thoughts on this subject?

Can You Become a Member? Yes if you pass the test.

2010-04-16T23:07:00.000-04:00

National Association of Parliamentarians

The National Association of Parliamentarians, founded in 1930, is the largest non-profit organization of professional parliamentarians in the world. Headquartered in Independence, Missouri, the association helps organizations of all sizes conduct business efficiently through education and advocacy of effective meeting procedures and the accreditation of meeting professionals.

Membership in NAP

We welcome all persons interested in parliamentary procedure, and provide information via this website and our many publications. You will learn even more by becoming a member of NAP and attending our study groups throughout the U.S. and Canada. Read more about the benefits and types of membership in NAP, and see how you can become a member.

How Should Stewards Be Chosen?

2010-03-27T06:45:00.000-04:00

The following is an article sent to me from a member of another state association that I thought was appropriate to put on here in regards to the push to nationalize the steward system.

This year is crucial for us all. The evaluated system is deteriorating before our eyes. Decisions will

have to be made soon about this because the craft may not be able to survive in its current

condition. The high mileage routes are simply behind the battlefront but that doesn't mean

that they won't feel the effects of losing the war.

The other battlefront is within our union. It will be over who will have control over who

represents you in your office as a steward.

By now you all know how weak our union is. We may not be responsible for the immorality of the

Postal Service but we have definitely invited them to take advantage of us. We have

embraced every change they threw at us almost never resisting their efforts to abuse the

evaluated system.

Our own organization has become a "smoke-filled good old boy" backroom, a political machine

that refuses to empower its own membership. Only National delegates vote for National officers.

And these are the persons who make the decisions that affect you all. They are the ones

who decide when to fight, when to give up, or when to go to arbitration.

Unfortunately that's not enough for them anymore. They now want to choose who will be

the local steward in your office. They also want to keep you from kicking them out of

office for an extra year by having biennial national conventions.

They believe that only they have the knowledge to make important choices that affect all of

us. We are not a bunch of hillbillies unable to make intelligent choices. Isn't it time that our

stewards became ACCOUNTABLE to the dues-paying members that they are supposed to

represent? We need to quit underestimating our own members' abilities and overestimating

the abilities of our appointed stewards. It may take time to gain experience but experience

is no guarantee of good representation.

Some will never learn and some will never admit their weaknesses in order to become

better. In the end, it's those whom they represent that will judge the best.

If a steward can't or won't do his job then, people, kick him out and choose another

THROUGH THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS! In other words, ELECT him.

You will be hearing a lot of hype about how the National Board needs to control who

becomes a local steward so that we aren't sued for failure to represent (DFR).

They already have the power to remove "bad" stewards. Do they really think they

can play God and predict who will be a "bad" steward?

What is there to prevent them from appointing a "bad" steward?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

Letter Carriers Union Urges House to Pass Health Care Bill

2010-03-21T21:40:00.000-04:00

Letter Carriers Union Urges House to Pass Health Care Bill

March 20, 2010 by Lu

Filed under: Congress, NALC, politics, press releases

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) union urged Congress today to approve health care reform legislation and send it to the White House for signature by President Obama. The action followed unanimous approval by the union’s 28-member Executive Council of a resolution to endorse the legislation.

NALC President Fredric V. Rolando called on all members of the House of Representatives to support the interests of working families when they vote on the legislation this weekend.

“The time for debate is over. The time for legislative courage is at hand,” Rolando said.

“Lawmakers must not be swayed by the hyperbole and vitriol of many reform opponents who have misled the public about this legislation,” Rolando said. “Over time, this legislation will reduce the deficit, slow health care inflation for nearly 300,000 active and retired letter carriers (whose premiums have doubled over the past 10 years) and strengthen the Postal Service’s finances. We urge every member of the House, in both parties, to stand up for a better health care system for our nation.”

Winchester Post Office to host National Passport Day event

2010-03-20T23:36:00.002-04:00

Winchester Post Office to host National Passport Day event

Published: Sunday, March 7, 2010 5:39 PM EST

The Winchester Post Office will host a Passport Fair Saturday, March 27 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to provide passport information to U.S. citizens and to accept passport applications. The Postal Service is joining the Department of State in celebrating Passport Day in the U.S.A., a national passport acceptance and outreach event.

U.S. citizens must present a valid passport book when entering or reentering the United States by air. U.S. citizens entering the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda at land borders and sea ports of entry must present a passport book, passport card or other travel documents approved by the U.S. government.

We are happy to leverage the convenience of the Postal Service and partner with the Department of State to help our customers apply for passports," said Kim Yates, communications program specialist for the Greater Indiana Postal District.

Information on cost and how to apply for a passport book and/or passport card can be found at www.usps.com/passport/ or www.travel.state.gov. U.S. citizens may also obtain passport information by phone, in English and Spanish, by calling the National Passport Information Center toll free at 1-877-487-2778.

The Winchester Post Office is located at 130 N. Meridian St., Winchester.

--Bill Richmond

Elkhart County postal carrier spared prison

2010-03-20T23:31:00.000-04:00

Elkhart County postal carrier spared prison

It's probation for stockpiling undelivered mail.

By JEFF PARROTT

Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND — A judge has sentenced an Elkhart County postal carrier to two years of probation for stockpiling undelivered mail.

Bruce Graybill, 56, admitted to letting unclaimed mail accumulate in vacant boxes, then storing it in parcel lockers at a mobile home park when he learned his route might soon be audited.

Federal prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Robert L. Miller Jr. to send Graybill to prison for five months after Graybill pleaded guilty to unlawfully detaining and delaying mail entrusted to a postal employee.

The government argued that Graybill was caught only because a maintenance worker at the mobile home park discovered the two years' worth of mail in April. Postal inspection agents ultimately recovered 2,177 pieces of mail, including 578 first-class items.

Graybill resigned when Postal Service investigators confronted him with the allegations.

But Miller this week determined that Graybill deserved a break, because much of the unretrieved mail was bulk mail that would not have been returned to the sender in any event, and because Graybill did not attempt to open or steal any of the mail.

Miller called the crime "one of omission rather than commission."

The judge noted, however, that this was the second time Graybill had abused the public's trust. Before becoming a postal carrier, Graybill had been an attorney until he resigned from the bar in 2002 after pleading guilty to stealing money from a client's estate.

He received no prison time for that crime.

Staff writer Jeff Parrott:

jparrott@sbtinfo.com

(574) 235-6320

Nominate Candidates For Office

2010-03-09T20:21:00.000-05:00

Nominate Candidates For Office

Let's see how this works out.

I am putting up this page to see if any of you will nominate someone to run for a particular office.

You can do this anonymously if you like but I think this may be something positive for both the ones considering a run for office to see if there might be some support for them and for some of you silent majority types to give your input on what you would like to see happen.

So lets see what you think with your online nominations here.

Also suggest people you would like to see on the delegate list.

How about it? Let's see if we can get a string of comments started right here for a positive cause.

I have to do this here because it would not allow comments to be made on a separate page.
Let's see if we can generate a string of comments of support for those you would like to support and for where you would like to see them serve.

New Feature. Constitution On It's Own Page.

2010-03-09T19:39:00.000-05:00

We can now have muliple pages on the blog and so I have taken advantage of that option to post the constitution on it's own page.
There is a link at the top of the main page just below the title that will take you there.
I hope this will be useful to those of you that may be using this site to help with constitution changes and resolutions to be submitted.

Comments now require word verification.

2010-03-09T19:17:00.000-05:00

I have had to change the settings on the blog to now type in a word verification when leaving any comments.
I was hesitant to do something like that because I thought it would make people less likely to leave comments.
I am not sure how much less likely that would be since very few are commenting at this point anyway.
The reason I had to do this was because the blog got spammed and the suggestion is that this will make that less likely to happen.
It was either this or moderate all comments which I don't want to do either and if I have to resort to that all comments made previously will not show up.
There are new options available on blogger now and I am experimenting with them a bit. Hopefully This will eventually evolved into something more will want to take part in.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
RLB

Is This Format Confusing?

2010-01-24T11:46:00.000-05:00

It has been suggested to me that this format is confusing to people that are used to just opening up a link to a web page and having everything displayed on one page.
My appologies to all if this is in fact the case.
I have left the archives at the right side of the page so that when you click on them it opens up the month they were published and further the title of each entry is displayed.
I hope that is helpful to some of you that will use this site to help you with changes you may be planning to submit to the constittuion or resoloutions you may be working on.

New Poll on Blog

2010-01-24T11:28:00.000-05:00

I have posted a new poll on the blog.
The question is do you favor a plan to nationalize the steward system?
I realize that many don't know the details of any plans but overall I think people have an idea if they favor steward selection being made on the national level or retaining it at the different levels of the association.
What do you think in general?

Who Appoints Stewards?

2010-01-10T08:26:00.000-05:00

We have been told there is a plan or plans to nationalize the steward program. I am not sure of the benefits of such a plan but I wonder what would become of all of the state associations if such a plan was eventually put into place?
On one hand I can see it being beneficial taking the politics out of appointing stewards but I don't think any plan to nationallize the system will do that. I think it will just further centralize the the decision making process of who is deemed fit to be a steward. And along with that since the steward system is really the backbone of our union I think any such plans will virtually make all of the state associations less relevant and more so the social clubs that many members believe them to be now.
I think rather than being more controlling of who can be a steward we should expect an effort in negotiations of giving a larger roll to area stewards and the expectation that they be compensated for their duties in all step 1s by the employer. That has been a needed thing for many years.
Maybe stewards would then be less busy running around repeatedly putting out the same fires because the employer would have ante up.
What do you think?

The Saga Continues

2010-01-09T22:03:00.000-05:00

Well it's been awhile since I had posted anything here so lest anyone think I have forgotten all about what's been going on rest assured I haven't.
I have been hearing some rumblings about people thinking some things on this blog should be deleted.
I have not heard of anything specifically that anyone thinks is particularly offensive but I get the impression that people are being suggested to that they should not post anything here. Is that true? Or is it that certain subjects should not be addressed here?
It's even been suggested that I should remove some things I have posted here. Again nothing particular has been pointed out to me. If you want to point it out to me something in particular that should be removed you can either post a response to this post anonymously or otherwise and I'll take the suggestion under advisement. Or you can call me at 260-499-1514.
As I have said before I think I have been as factual as I can possibly be given my limited access to information. Are the facts what bother folks?
I hear it's been suggested to some that all of this stuff should be put in wraps until the convention and then we can get things all worked out.
The problem with that therory is only 3% of the membership show up for the convention the way it is and with the way things have been suppressed from the membership lately I look for that figure to not improve and possibly drop.
Maybe that is what the goal is. Further reduce the participation of the membership so certain ones can do what they want. Why should that surprise anyone after the fiasco of this last year?
What I am quite disappointed in is I have put my proposals out there for all of you to look at right now and I was hoping to get some constructive dialogue going with some folks so as to get well worded proposals put together so things could be presented that would be appealing to the delegation. I guess we still have time but it is getting shorter.
This is what I tried to point out to a board member who took particular offence at some things I have posted.
But they weren't able to see past their bruised ego.
I'll end here with this. I have tried to generate interest locally in getting to the convention and it's kind of funny yet sad with the reaction I get from members when I tell them why we need more participation.
In general the attitude is with what our employer is going through and what they may be going to try to do to the employees that are left, don't you folks have better things to do than keep these personal dramas going?

Combined Delivery Units/Forwarding System

2009-12-13T19:54:00.001-05:00

I have been wondering if anyone is getting told about their delievery units being either moved or combined with other delivery units?
I had not heard anything about ours being moved until about a week ago at a party when another USPS employee asked me if I had heard the latest plan about our routes being moved to Middlebury.
I had not heard of that plan and this person seemed surprised that I had not been informed of it.
I too thought if there was such a plan that I as local steward should have been made aware of it.
So the next day I sent an email to the SS asking if he was aware of such a plan. The SS replied that our unit was not being moved to Middlebury but there was a potential plan of combining us with Topeka about 14 miles to the south of us.
Knowing how crowded the Middlebury office is now I was a bit relieved that this plan was apparently not what was being discussed and I thought being combined with Topeka made more sense in that respect.
But after some thought on this I really don't understand reasoning on this since there is no plan to completely close our office.
So if the office is to remain open what sense does it make to move 4 routes 14 miles south that would have to have those miles added to the evaluations of all 4 routes. I don't see cost savings as a reason for this.
The next subject is the forwarding system. It doesn't work folks. I'm sure that is not news to carriers that have to deal with it daily.
I told out PM having the whole nations forwarding system in one location is like McDonald's making all of their hamburgers in California.
Why they can't have PC's in every office plugged into the system that generate new address labels locally just does not make any sense to me. But then of course I know I don't see the big picture. But don't worry about explaining it to me. Explain it to people that move and have to wait 2 weeks before they get any mail.

Click on archives to see articles and all comments.

2009-12-13T18:34:00.000-05:00

I wanted to pass on this note to the few of you that have been reading this blog over the last couple of months.
Rather than having to scroll the whole page go over to the right side of the screen and click on a particular article archive that is of interest to you and that will open a page of that article along with any comments that have been made in regard to that article below it.
Thanks for reading and happy holidays to all.
RLB

Proposed Constitution Amendment Article X Sec 1

2009-11-26T00:18:00.003-05:00

ARTICLE X

Steward System

Section 1 Selection

The official State Board shall appoint the State Steward.

The official State Board upon the recommendation of the State Steward shall appoint Assistant State Stewards.

The official State Board upon the recommendation of the State Steward shall appoint area Stewards.

Proposed Language

ARTICLE X

Steward System

Section 1 Selection

The official State Board shall appoint the State Steward.

The official State Board upon the recommendation of the State Steward shall appoint Assistant State Stewards.(Minimum of 1 per executive committeeman's assigned area.)

The official State Board upon the recommendation of the State Steward shall appoint area Stewards.
(Minimum of 1 per executive committeeman's assigned area.)

Reason for change:
To minimize the cost of sending assistant state stewards on extended trips to take care of problems that could be taken care of by a steward nearer to the area and thus reduce the need for appointing more full time stewards that may not be needed at all times.

Copy of Constitution

2009-11-25T22:33:00.000-05:00

I have put a copy of the current state constitution on the site so that it will be easier for all including me to copy and paste rather than having to type everything on changes any of us would like to submit.
I hope this will make it easier for all of you read and put forth your ideas on changes you would like to see.

2009 State Constitution

2009-11-25T22:27:00.004-05:00

Constitution Of The Indiana Rural Letter Carriers’ Association
Approved at the 107th State Convention, Fort Wayne IN, June 21, 2009.

ARTICLE I
Name
The name of this Association shall be the “Indiana Rural Letter Carriers’Association.”
The Indiana Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (INRLCA), byits Secretary/Treasurer, maintains custody and control of the State Association name as well as any State Association logo or symbol. Unauthorized
use of the State Association name, logo, or symbol shall be addressed by the filing of an internal union charge or legal action or both.

ARTICLE II
Purpose
The Purpose of this Association shall be:To improve methods used by the Rural Mail Carriers;
To cooperate with the U S Postal Service and the public for the good ofthe service;
To promote a fraternal spirit among it’s members; and
To benefit their conditions of labor.
As membership is the life blood of any organization, this Association strongly supports the active recruitment of non-members by encouraging the development of membership campaigns within all levels of this Association, including but not limited to, rural academies, new employee orientations, individual visitations, letters, etc; and
This organization shall not affiliate or merge with any other organization or group without a majority vote of the delegates at a national or special convention, or a majority mail referendum vote of all members voting.

ARTICLE III
Members
Section 1 Member in Good Standing.
A "member in good standing" is a member who has made timely payment of dues and has not voluntarily
withdrawn or been expelled or suspended by the Association.
Section 2 Classifications The active membership of the Associationshall be composed of:
Bargaining Unit Member. Membership is open to the following rural carriers:
Regular Carriers (Designation Code 71), including regular carriers whoare in Injured-on-Duty/Leave Without Pay (IOD/LWOP) status and assignedto (980-989) rural routes;
Part-Time Flexible Rural Carriers (PTFs, Designation Code 76);
Substitute Rural Carriers (Designation Codes 72 and 73);
Rural Carrier Associates (RCAs, Designation Codes 74, 78, 79);
Rural Carrier Reliefs (RCRs, Designation Code 75);
Auxiliary Rural Carriers (Designation Code 77); and Rural Carriers in the Armed Forces of our country provided they were members when their duty began.
Bargaining Unit Members in good standing are entitled to all voting rights and to hold both elective and appointive office at all levels of the Association.
Retired Member. Retired membership is open to Rural Carriers who were members in good standing at retirement on an annuity. Eligibility for Retired membership expires on June 30 of the year following retirement.
Failure to pay dues for one full membership year terminatesRetired membership. However, a Retired carrier whose membership has lapsed, due to extenuating circumstances, may apply for reinstatement to the National Secretary-Treasurer by providing proof of prior membership and the current year’s dues.
The National Secretary- Treasurer shall present the request for membership to the National Board for a decision.
Retired Members in good standing are entitled to all voting rights with the exception of ratification of National Agreements.
Retired Members may not be elected to National office.
Associate Member. Associate membership is open to Rural Carriers whowere members in good standing and are now either working in other non-managerial Postal Service jobs or have left the service and are not
receiving an annuity. Failure to pay dues for one full membership year terminates Associate membership. Associate Members shall not be entitled to vote or to hold elective or appointive office in the Association.
Retired Associate Member. Retired Associate membership is open to Associate Members who have retired on an annuity.
Eligibility for Retired Associate membership expires on June 30 of the year following retirement.
Failure to pay dues for one full membership year terminates Retired Associate membership. Retired Associates may not apply for reinstatement.
Retired Associate Members shall not be entitled to vote or to hold elective or appointive office in the Association.
Honorary Member. Honorary membership may be bestowed by the Association at the National Convention upon recommendation of the National Board. Honorary Members shall not be entitled to vote or to hold elective or appointive office in the Association.

Section 3 Restrictions
Inasmuch as it is an unfair labor practice under the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) for any employer (including persons acting in that capacity) to dominate or interfere with the administration of any labor organization, it follows that employers, while they may be members, may not be candidates for office or serve as officers.
Members are prohibited from participation in the Association while serving in managerial or supervisory positions, such as Officer-in-Charge (OIC), Acting Supervisor (204-B) or Postmaster Relief (PMR) or acting in any capacity normally performed by a manager. Members who accept managerial positions shall be deemed to have resigned from all elected and appointed positions within the Association, and shall be prohibited from holding any elected or appointed union positions for a period of one year from the last day served in that capacity.
Section 4
Affiliation Membership of local branches shall consist of: Any member of this Association living in adjoining unorganized counties and any member of this Association who is so located that it would be more
convenient for them to attend the meeting of said local branch.
Section 5
Family Plan
The annual State Auxiliary Per Capita dues shall be designated as follows, plus the National Auxiliary per capita dues as defined in the National Auxiliary Constitution.
Regular Rural Carriers; $8.00
Part-Time Flexible Rural Carriers; $8.00
Substitute Rural Carriers; $5.00
Rural Carrier Associate; $5.00
Rural Carrier Relief; $5.00
Auxiliary Rural Carriers; $5.00
Retired Rural Carriers; $5.00
Those members who have signed an authorization for deduction of duesform 1187 and those that have paid by cash shall have amounts deducted pro-rata from defined dues amounts by the NRLCA and remitted
to the National Auxiliary quarterly.
Those NRLCA members who have signed an authorization for deduction of dues form 1187 or have paid by cash and do not wish to participate in the Family Plan may request a refund of Auxiliary dues. Such refund
request must be made in writing to the NLRCA Secretary-Treasurer not more than twenty (20) days and not less than ten (10) days prior to the beginning of the NRLCA fiscal year. This refund request will stay in effect each year until the member notifies the NRLCA Secretary- Treasurer otherwise.
Section 6 Dues
The yearly dues for:
Regular, Part-Time Flexible Rural Carriers and Associate members shallbe $263.00;
Substitute, RCA and RCR $112.00;
Retired $47.00;
Plus National Association per capita dues as set by the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association.
Five ($5.00) dollars for each regular member, part-time flexible carrier;
And Two ($2.00) dollars for each substitute, RCA and RCR; and;
One ($1.00) dollar for retired members shall be returned to each organized county.
Will be paid to the Indiana Auxiliary:
Twelve ($12.00) dollars of the yearly dues collected from each regular,
Part-Time Flexible Rural Carrier
Nine ($9.00) dollars for substitutes, RCR, RCA and retired; and
This money is to be paid to the auxiliary within fifteen (15) days of receipt by the State Association.
If the member does not wish to make this contribution to the Auxiliary, a
written request each year for an exemption may be made to the State Auxiliary Secretary for reimbursement.
The Auxiliary shall make a detailed report of the revenue and expenditures for the fiscal year available to the State Association and in the state newspaper.
Association funds will not be utilized to purchase alcoholic beverages.
Proviso: The dues increase will be in effect for (3) years beginning July1, 2008 and ending June 30, 2011. The increase funds collected will be placed in a separate bank account.
Section 7 Membership Year
The membership and fiscal year of this Association shall be from July 1st to June 30th of each year.
Section 8
Standards of Conduct for the Association and its Members
The following standards of conduct are prescribed for this Association.
Maintain democratic procedures and practices;
Ensure members’ rights to participation in the affairs of the Association through periodic elections, fair and equal treatment under the governing rules and due process in any disciplinary proceedings;
Prevent discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, gender, religion, creed, national origin disability, or on the basis of marital, economic, social or political status;
Maintain the fiscal integrity of the Association;
Prohibit business or financial interests on the part of its officers and
agents which conflict with their duty to the Association.

ARTICLE IV
Subordinate Units
Section 1
Subordinate Units
Any county or combination of counties, not holding a local branch charter, may apply to the State Secretary-Treasurer for a local branch charter, upon the payment of regular state and national dues for each of it’s
members and the election of a President, Vice-President and a Secretary-Treasurer; and failure to hold a meeting at least once a year shall cause forfeiture of the local unit charter.
Any member from adjoining counties, upon formation of a local branch in their own county, may transfer without fee.
Any local branch failing to comply with the foregoing sections of this article, by the first session of the Annual Meeting, shall be reported delinquent by the State Secretary-Treasurer; and the delegates of such branch shall not be eligible to participate in the deliberations of this Association until such local branch completes the required reports and has been reinstated by a majority vote of the delegates present and voting.
Any combination of counties, holding Local Branch Charters, may apply to the State Secretary for a combined Local Branch Charter.
Any organized county may apply to become a part of an existing Local Branch, providing State and National membership dues have been paid. The Local Chapter and the State Secretary must approve the application.
Section 2
Officers
All duly elected Officers of local branches shall assume their duties immediately following the meeting in which they are elected. A report of these elections shall be forwarded to the State Secretary-Treasurer and the appropriate District Executive Board member within ten (10) days following election.
Section 3
Unit
States shall have authority to establish subordinate units. No unit’s Constitution shall conflict with the NRLCA Constitution.
Section 4
Trusteeship
Purpose. The National Board may place any subordinate unit in trusteeshipfor any of the following reasons:
To uphold the principles of this Constitution;
To prevent or correct corruption or financial mismanagement;
To ensure performance of collective bargaining agreements or duties of a bargaining representative;
To restore democratic procedures;
To otherwise carry out the objectives of the Association.
Authority. The trustee shall assume immediate control of the subordinate unit with full authority over all officers and property.
The trustee shall act in such capacity for the duration of the trusteeship.
Hearing.
A trusteeship hearing shall be held before a committee of three members within 30 days of imposing trusteeship.
The members shall be selected as follows: one member selected by the National Board, one selected by the Board in trusteeship and a chairman selected by the other two members. The committee shall have sole discretion regarding the conduct and procedures of the trusteeship hearing. Only Bargaining Unit Members may serve on this committee. No member of this committee shall be chosen from the State Association or Unit in trusteeship, or from the National Board. The committee shall report its findings and recommendations to the President as soon as practical following the hearing. The National Board shall determine whether to continue or to terminate the trusteeship.
Termination.
The affected subordinate unit may petition the National Board to terminate the trusteeship at six month intervals following the decision of the National Board. The board of the subordinate unit in trusteeship may appeal the decision of the National Board as provided in this Constitution. The National Board may terminate a trusteeship at any time.
ARTICLE V
Officers and Appointees
Section 1 Officers The elective officers of this Association shall be: President, Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer, and six Executive Committee Members, to be elected annually, excepting the Executive Committee members, whose term shall be for three years, with two members to be elected each year;
Section 2 Duties of Officers
The President shall;
Preside at all meetings of the Association;
Enforce all rules;
Make interim appointments to fill all vacancies of the Board of Control, unless such vacancy shall be filled by an election;
Appoint the Chaplain;
Appoint Sergeant-At-Arms;
Appoint three or more members of the following committees; Credentials, Finance Review, Resolutions, Constitution, and any other committees needed;
Report of their official acts at each annual meeting; and Perform such other duties as the laws and usages of the Association may require.
The Vice-President shall:
Preside in the absence of the President;
And in case of death, resignation, disqualification, refusal or neglect of the President to discharge the duties of office, the Vice-President shall become President and serve until such time as their successor shall be
duly elected and installed;
The Vice-President shall report all official acts at each annual meeting;
The Vice-President shall be responsible for Booster meetings set-up; and
Shall assist the Secretary-Treasurer.
The Secretary-Treasurer shall;
Keep a full and correct record of all proceedings of this Association;
Keep a correct account between the Association and local branch, including the name, number and location of each local branch;
Keep an itemized account of all money received and disbursed;
Remit on a regular basis to the National Association, all national dues collected from the membership;
Give a monthly financial statement to the Finance Committee; Handle all correspondence relative to the office of the Secretary-Treasurer; shall report all official acts to each annual meeting;
All formal action of the Board of Control, membership and all receipts and disbursements for the preceding year;
The Secretary-Treasurer may close the Association books on May 31st of each year; and
The Secretary-Treasurer shall have no less than (7) seven days and no more than (30) thirty days to give all Association equipment and material to the newly elected Secretary-Treasurer and finalize the disbursements
and receipts of the Association finances that occurred during his/her watch.
Section 3 Appointees
The Auto and Homeowners Insurance Representative shall;
Oversee, under the conditions imposed by the contract between the Indiana Rural Letter Carriers’Association and the Underwriters, the Auto and Homeowners Insurance made available by such contract; Shall provide an annual activity report at each State Convention; and The Auto and Homeowners Insurance Representative shall hold office until their resignation or relieved by action of the Board of Control.
The Sergeant-At-Arms shall preserve order at all meetings and perform such other duties as the President may require of that office.
Section 4 Election
To become eligible for any elective office in the State Association or as a delegate to the National Convention, a member must be in good standing at the time of their election and or seating as a delegate, to the extent that they are current with their dues.
The nomination and election of officers shall take place during the last session of the annual meeting.
The election of Officers shall be by secret ballot except where there is only one candidate placed in nomination.
Where only one candidate has been nominated, the President and/or Secretary/Treasurer shall declare
the election by consent.
All officers shall be elected by a majority vote. When there are more than two candidates for the same office, the one receiving the lowest number of votes shall be dropped at each ballot after the second until a majority vote is obtained for one candidate of elected delegates to the State Convention.
The installation of Officers shall take place immediately before adjournment of the annual meeting.
The members of the Executive Committee shall be elected from the following geographical area, as designated on the official district map included in the Constitution;
North districts to consist of the Northwest and Northeast district with one elected from each district;
Central districts to consist of the West Central and East Central with one elected from each district;
South districts to consist of the Southwest and Southeast district with one elected from each district; and
The candidate for position of Executive Committee Person in each district shall reside or work in an office within that district. If no such candidate is available then candidates residing or working in adjoining districts
may be nominated for that district. In the event there are no candidates available within the adjoining districts, candidates from other association districts may be nominated.
One of the two oldest members, in respect to term of office, shall be Chairman of the Executive Committee.
The State Association will comply with all reasonable requests of any candidate to distribute campaign literature by mail to all members in good standing.
The campaign literature must be furnished to the State Association in envelopes which are already stuffed, sealed, and contain proper postage or post cards already prepared for mailing; and
All other expenses for mailing, such as labels and having them attached must be paid in advance by the candidate.
Any request for distribution of campaign literature should be directed to the State Secretary-Treasurer.
Local Units - Election.
Only members in good standing shall be eligible to nominate, vote or hold office in a Local Unit. Election of officers shall be by secret ballot and shall take place at the annual meeting.
The Unit President shall make appointments when necessary to fill vacancies in elective positions until the next annual meeting. All delegates to the State Convention shall be elected by secret ballot. Notice of the annual meeting for the purpose of election of Unit officers shall be given in writing to each member not less than 15 calendar days prior to the meeting date. The annual meeting must be held at least 40 days prior to the State Convention. The meeting notice shall be mailed to each member at the last known address.
Section 5 Salaries, Expenses and Benefits
This Association shall pay:
The President, an unaccountable expense account of Five Hundred ($500.00) dollars per annum:
To each of the following officers, President, Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer, Chaplain and members of the Executive Committee, it shall pay mileage at the USPS standard rate, while on official duties during
the interim services rendered this Association under the direction of the Board of Control;
The Board of Control shall receive actual expenses for called meetings; and The Secretary-Treasurer shall receive Six Hundred ($600.00) dollars per month to be payable bi-weekly; and The Secretary-Treasurer shall receive the USPS rate per mile both ways per county meeting attended.
The Board of Control shall also be reimbursed for each day of annual and sick leave lost due to requirements of official duties;
Each member requesting reimbursement for a lost day of annual or sick leave will submit a full copy of their pay stub with the appropriate timely voucher.
The Secretary-Treasurer shall be authorized to pay the USPS rate per mile both ways to the State Board members and Assistant State Stewards, who attend a county meeting in the area they represent, except
when attending one’s own county meeting. No expense shall be charged to the Association.
All members of the Board of Control, (President, Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer, and six members of the Executive Committee), StateSteward and Assistant State Stewards not assigned to an area, shall receive USPS rate per mile, both ways, per county meeting attended.
The Secretary-Treasurer shall be authorized to pay the Auto Representative Fifteen (15%) percent of the fee the Insurance Company pays the state.
Any outgoing State Officer has Ninety (90) days to submit any monetary claims, or forfeit all claims.
Section 6 Removal Any member of the Board of Control, who becomes separated from the rural delivery service by committing any act that would bring disservice to themselves or the Rural Carrier Association,
shall resign at once.
Section 7 Association Property Officers shall account for and deliver to their successors or to the State Board all monies, books, papers, securities or other property of the Association at the end of their term of office or when requested by the State Board.
ARTICLE VI
Section 1 State Convention The annual meeting of this Association shall be held in June, with the last day of business to be held on Sunday each year on the dates set by the Board of Control;
Section 2 Site Selection
The Annual Meeting will be held in the following order; Northeast, EastCentral, Southeast, Northwest, West Central, and Southwest.
If for any reason the place so prescribed shall be undesirable, the Board of Control shall have the authority to change such place by giving notice through the Official Newsletter of Official Notices of the Annual Meeting.
It will be the responsibility of the Executive Committee person from the respective area to find the site. There is no requirement that the annual meeting be held within the district, which has the meeting responsibility.
When an area has been awarded a State Convention, it shall be granted two hundred and fifty ($250.00) dollars one (1) year before the scheduled convention for its use to compensate its area committee expenses
and other convention expenses not authorized for payment by the State Association. Any unexpended funds of the above shall accrue to the area association treasury.
Section 3 Delegates
Each organized local branch shall be entitled to one delegate, in addition to one delegate for each five members or major fraction thereof.
Each unorganized county shall be entitled to at least one delegate, and an additional delegate or delegates for each five members or major fraction thereof, after the first five members.
The annual dues forwarded to the State Secretary-Treasurer, not later than the first business session of the Annual Meeting, shall be used as the base for delegate computations.
The delegates shall be elected by secret ballot.
The delegates shall be elected by secret ballot at a called meeting.
The local branch officers shall sign the credentials for such delegates.
The voting unit of the Annual Meeting shall consist of all delegates designated in the previous section; all of who must be members in good standing and have the proper signed credentials from their local branch
officers. Each delegate shall be entitled to one vote. There shall be no voting by proxy.
The voting unit shall be seated separately from the visitors during all business sessions.
Section 4 Quorum Nine members representing at least six local branches shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, but a lesser number may adjourn to a future time.
Section 5 Order of Business Dispensing with the reading of any report required by these bylaws at a business session of the State Convention is acceptable, provided that copies of those reports are given to the
delegates before the election of new officers. Any questions concerning these reports will be “In Order” after the distribution of the copies.
Section 6 Booster Meetings
The Winter Booster Meeting will be held in January or February (with the exception of 2010, it will be held in May) and the Fall Booster Meeting in October or November each year and located in the Indianapolis Metro Area plus 50 miles. Business sessions shall not commence before 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. for the transaction of Association business; and
Section 7 Special Meetings Special sessions may be held at such times as agreed by the Board of Control. Special meetings shall:
Be called by the President and Secretary-Treasurer within thirty days after receipt of signed petitions from at least one-half of the local branches in good standing;
The local branch President and Secretary must sign these petitions;
Initiation of the above mentioned must be taken by the local branches at a regular or special meeting;
No other business shall be transacted at a special meeting except that for which the special meeting is called; and
Representation and rules of procedure for special meetings shall be the same as required for annual meetings.
ARTICLE VII
National Convention Delegates
Section 1 Eligibility
Each state association shall be entitled to representation by one delegate for every 100 members or major fraction thereof and one Delegate-at-Large. Membership shall be based on the number of dues withholding
and cash pay Bargaining Unit and Retired Members. In order for a state to receive credit for cash pay members, dues must be received no later than the close of business on the first day of the Convention.
Only Bargaining Unit Members and Retired Members in good standing may be nominated, elected or seated as delegates. Such “good standing”status shall be the sole prerequisite for determining eligibility or entitlement to service as a delegate or to any payment or benefit, except that a state may establish reasonable rules to ensure attendance at the
Convention.
A member who from the time of nomination through the end of the convention holds any position in USPS management or a job which competes with the USPS or this Association shall be ineligible to serve as
delegate.
Section 2 Nomination
Within each state association, nominations for National Delegate shall be submitted by U.S. Mail to the Secretary-Treasurer on a nominating ballot or copy. The nominating ballot shall be signed and show the name and address of the member making the nomination, and may include self nomination.
The nominating ballot shall be published in the February, March, April and May issues of The National Rural Letter Carrier.
Nominations must be received in the office of the State Secretary at least 40 days prior to the opening of the state convention.
Upon receipt, the State Secretary shall send a notice of nomination to the candidate by U.S. Mail.
Section 3 Election
A member must be on the rolls at least 40 days prior to the opening of the state convention in order to be eligible to vote for National Delegates.
The State Secretary shall prepare a ballot listing the candidates for National Delegate.
The order of the listing of names will be determined by a blind draw conducted by a Association member whose name does not appear on the election ballot. Instructions on each ballot shall include the number
of delegates to be elected, the deadline for return of the ballot and the mailing address of the designated post office box. The number of votes cast on each ballot shall not exceed the number of delegates to which
the state association was entitled at the previous convention.
The State Secretary shall cause the ballot to be mailed to eligible members at least 20 days prior to the opening of the state convention.
In addition, the State Secretary/Designee shall arrange for the rental of a post office box for the receipt of the ballots and another for the return of undeliverable ballots.
An envelope marked "Ballot" shall be provided in which to seal the ballot.
To permit verification of membership and to maintain the integrity of the voting procedure, an outer envelope, also marked "Ballot" which clearly identifies the name and address of the member, shall also be provided. The sealed envelope containing the ballot shall be placed in the outer envelope by the member and mailed to the designated post office box.
An Election Committee shall be appointed by the State President.
No candidate for National Delegate may serve on the Election Committee. After the deadline for receipt of ballots, the Election Committee shall collect and tabulate the ballots at the state convention. The post office box designated for the return of ballots shall be accessible only to the Election Committee. Any candidate or designee may observe the ballot tabulation. In reporting the results of the election, the candidates shall be placed on a roster in the order of votes received. The number of delegates to which the state is entitled shall be declared regular delegates; the remaining candidates shall be declared alternates.
Each state association shall be entitled to one Delegate-at-Large from the roster of elected regular delegates. That position shall be filled by a state officer in ranking order, beginning with the State President.
A state officer may not be automatically declared a delegate by virtue of office unless elected by direct vote of the membership.
National-Paid Delegates shall be named in accordance with the plurality of votes received.
The State Secretary shall prepare credentials in duplicate for the Delegate-at-Large, regular delegates and an appropriate number of alternates immediately following the state convention and send originals to the National Secretary-Treasurer. The duplicate shall be provided to the delegate for identification. The state’s seal shall be embossed on the face of credentials.
Delegates holding proper credentials shall be seated at the National Convention if their state has paid National Per Capita Tax for members in good standing. The National Secretary-Treasurer shall notify each state association of the status of its National Per Capita Tax at least two weeks prior to the National Convention.
All elected National Delegates shall confirm their intentions to attend the
National Convention not later than the 15th day of July.
Section 4 Compensation of State-Paid National Delegates
The Secretary-Treasurer shall be authorized to pay from the treasury of this Association:
A sum of money, not to exceed, One Hundred ($100.00) dollars for per diem per day during sessions of the National Convention;
Plus the same as paid by National per mile by direct route to help pay the expenses of each delegate attending the National Convention.
(Except the Delegate-At-Large and the National paid delegate).
A member of the INRLCA who has moved out of state and has been elected to National Delegate will be paid travel expenses from the last office they worked at in the State of Indiana.
A regular elected delegate attending a National convention must be present at all roll calls if the state allows per diem. Failure to be present at any roll call, unless duly excused by the Chairman of the Delegation,
shall deprive the delegate of their per diem for that session. Chairman of the Delegation is to furnish the State Executive Committee with the roll call.
ARTICLE VIII
State Board
Section 1 Members
The President, Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer, and the six members of the Executive Committee shall constitute the Board of Control.
Section 2 Duties The Board of Control shall;
Convene within seventy-five days following the adjournment of the Annual meeting;
Review the minutes of the preceding annual meeting;
Have general supervision of the business of the Association during the interim between sessions;
Examine all bills and approve same if found correct;File the bond of the Secretary-Treasurer with the President; Appoint and supervise the Auto and Homeowners Insurance Representative;
Act as Trustees of the Association;
Each member shall report all official acts to the annual meeting; and All minutes of the Board of Control meetings shall be signed by a majority of the Board of Control.
ARTICLE IX
Committees
Section 1 Convention Committees
The duties of the Credential Committee shall:
Start at the beginning of the general registration;
They shall receive and examine the credentials of all members entitled to vote at the Annual or Special meeting at which they are serving; And furnish each delegate with a distinctive badge entitling such delegate
to a seat in the voting unit;
At the beginning of the first business session, they shall report the number of delegates registered; and
At the beginning of each subsequent session, they shall report any additional delegates registered since their last report.
The Finance Review Committee shall:
Examine the Secretary-Treasurer’s accounts and records covering the period from the preceding annual meeting to the annual meeting for which appointed, and report their findings and recommendations; and
They may break down their audit to cover the period from the preceding annual meeting to May 31st, then audit from May 31 to the annual meeting for which appointed, if this is the practice used by the Secretary-
Treasurer.
It shall be the duty of the committee on Constitution:
To examine and report, with or without recommendation, all proposed amendments to this Constitution; and
They shall examine and correct all amendments as provided for the government of local branches, so they will not conflict with the Constitution of the State and National Association.
To ensure that the current and future amendments to this Constitution are placed under their respective categories or indexes.
The committee shall have the authority to place amendments proposed with the improper article into the proper indexed article;
Will, by reading the current Constitution while comparing it to the previous
Constitution shall determine if placement is correct. The Secretary shall present copies to the committee of all adopted amendments from the previous year to assist in this requirement; and
The committee, along with the Secretary, will ensure that each change to the Constitution is in bold lettering from year to year and will be permanently bound with staples.
Section 2 Special Committees Other committees, that may be appointed, shall at each annual meeting report on such matters as may be referred to them.
ARTICLE X
Steward System
Section 1 Selection
The official State Board shall appoint the State Steward.
The official State Board upon the recommendation of the State Steward shall appoint Assistant State Stewards.
The official State Board upon the recommendation of the State Steward shall appoint area Stewards.
Section 2 Compensation
The Secretary-Treasurer shall be authorized to pay from the treasury of the Association to the State Steward:
A 48 Hour evaluation at Step 12;
Plus $600.00 per month;
And all benefits previously paid by the Postal Service;
Plus the USPS rate per mile;
Reimbursement for actual expenses in connection with their duties.
The Secretary-Treasurer shall be authorized to pay from the treasury ofthe Association;
To the Assistant State Stewards, Three Hundred ($300.00) dollars per month;
And Area Stewards, One Hundred ($100.00) per month;
Plus the USPS rate per mile;
And per diem in the amount of their salary for any day that their
official duties as stewards are required; and
Reimbursement for actual expenses in connection with their duties.
The Secretary-Treasurer shall be authorized to pay the Local Steward the sum of fifteen ($15.00) dollars upon the presentation of their steward card at the steward meeting of the Winter and Fall Booster meetings.
Section 3 Duties and Responsibilities of Stewards Refer to the Stewards manual and Article XIV, Steward System, of the National Constitution.
ARTICLE XI
Appeals
Section 1 State
A member aggrieved by any action of a state association, officer or steward shall have the right to appeal to the State Board.
Appeals must be in writing and be filed with the State President within 30 days of having knowledge of said action.
Within 10 days of receipt of the appeal, the State President shall notify all members of the State Board and the assigned NRLCA Executive Committeeman and shall request that the Charging Party provide a letter
outlining the specific charges and any relief sought. This letter of specificity, along with complete documentation, must be returned within 20 days of receipt of the President’s request.
Upon receipt of the letter of specificity, the State President shall forward a copy to the Charged Party for response. The Charged Party shall have 20 days to respond in writing and provide documentation to the State President.
The State Board shall review the Charging Party’s letter of specificity, documentation, relief sought and the response of the Charged Party.The State Board is authorized, in consultation with the NRLCA Executive
Committeeman, to take the necessary action to resolve the issue within 30 days. Extension of this 30-day time limit, when necessary, shall not exceed 15 days. The Charging Party(s) and Charged Party(s) (hereafter
referred to as the Party or Parties) shall be notified in writing of the decision of the State Board.
Section 2 National (For instructions to appeal to the National Board refer to Article VII and XV of the National Constitution & Bylaws)
ARTICLE XII
Parliamentary Authority
The parliamentary authority of this Association shall be Roberts Rules ofOrder – Newly Revised, except as otherwise provided by this Constitution.
ARTICLE XIII
Amendment of Constitution
This Constitution may be amended at any annual meeting by a 2/3 vote of the registered delegates, present and voting. All proposed Constitution changes must be presented to the Secretary/Treasurer no later than
three days prior to the first day of the business session of the annual meeting, with the exception of all standing committees.
Any previously adopted or defeated Constitution change may be brought back up under new business.
This Constitution is adopted subject to the provisions of the Constitution of the National, which if in conflict with any provision therein shall be regarded as automatically repealed.
The Constitution of this Association shall be indexed in the following order with additional Articles as needed:
Article I: Name
Article II: Purpose
Article III: Members
Article IV: Subordinate Units
Article V: Officer & Appointees
Article VI: Meetings
Article VII: National Convention Delegates
Article VIII: State Board
Article IX: Committees
Article X: Steward System
Article XI: Appeals
Article XII: Parliamentary Authority
Article XIII: Amendment of Constitution
Article XIV: Auxiliary

ARTICLE XIV
The Auxiliary
This Association recognizes an Auxiliary to the Indiana Rural Letter Carriers’Association. Membership in this Auxiliary shall be within those limits imposed by the Auxiliary of the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association.

Question and answer from a county meeting

2009-11-16T14:13:00.002-05:00

I was asked to share a question that was posed to me at a county meeting along with the answer. In respect for the person I will do so here. I was asked the question are we as an association still paying benefits for the Asst. State Stewards? The answer is yes.

Does Anyone Know Why Leave Replacement Vacancies Are Not Getting Posted?

2009-11-13T15:42:00.000-05:00

I have been having this discussion with my PM about why we can't get the vacancies posted in our office for a few months now and it seems that it never is a priority. So the other day after being informed that the one TRC we have now was becoming disenchanted with the opportunities I approached the PM to suggest that it's been long enough and it needs to be a priority and if it wasn't moved up on the list we would approach it through the grievance process.
After making a call to the SS and being told he would make some calls and then checking back with him I am told we are on the path to getting our vacancies posted if we haven't already.
During my discussion with the PM it became apparent that she felt she was doing as much or more than anyone else in the state in posting the vacancies and to that it doesn't appear to me that I could disagree with her on that point.
So does anyone have an idea what the holdup is on this? Do you think it might be a financial decision to drag their feet in posting these?

New Features on Blog Site

2009-11-12T18:41:00.001-05:00

While I hope you will be interested in coming to the site to see what is happening and to post your opinions I wanted to let all of you know of some new features I have added to the site.
There is a short video clip of early mail delivery posted on it along with some advertisers I have been able to post that may have items and services that are of interest to some of you.
This might be an idea the state association could consider just in case they ever decided to start maintaining a site for informing the membership as a way to offset costs of doing so.
I don't know yet if the selections I have made will interest anyone or if there will be any revenue generated but I thought it might be worth a try.

Considering A Run For State Level Office?

2009-11-11T12:48:00.000-05:00

To anyone that is considering a run for state level office in 2010 I invite you to state your intentions here on this site and commit to answer questions in regard to your announcements here.
I think it would be a good way to get your name out to the membership to learn more about you and your positions on issues and possibly generate more interest from the membership in attending the convention to support proposals and candidates of their choice.
What do you think?

Definition Of a True Friend

2009-11-11T12:30:00.000-05:00

I once had an email sent to me from an individual that held a prominent position in our state association.
It said in effect that a true friend is not someone that will always tell you what you want to hear.
To that and in regard to this site and all who may disagree with the content of this site I say, "Ditto".

What Do You Think Of This Site?

2009-11-11T12:14:00.000-05:00

I have posted reasons why I think this site is a good idea but I would like others to post their thoughts on what they think of the site.
Do you agree with me that this could be a very useful tool in communicating concerns and information to the membership or not? It would be helpful if you would articulate your reasons why you feel the way you do.
Also if you would like to make suggestions on how to improve the site, those would be appreciated.
I would like to hear from many of you your thoughts on this subject. And remember if you wish you can make your comments anonymous.
Thank you in advance,
RLB

Still Looking For Input on Proposals And Other Ideas

2009-11-08T15:24:00.000-05:00

I am still looking for input on the proposals that I have put up on the site and I would really like to see others present their own proposals.
Should I assume that since I see very little opposition posted to the site that you all agree 100% with my proposals? Somehow I doubt that, but without seeing any opposition articulated what else should I believe?
I am sorry if some are offended with some of the articles I posted early on but you should try to look at things from my viewpoint.
The state board members were not elected to be team players in my opinion. They were elected by the delegates to represent the membership. So when I and others see a total disregard for the constitution as we understand it I hope you begin to understand how we see this as a slap in the face to the ones that put you in the positions that you hold. My bet is you do realize this because if we had thought you were not rational people when we elected you, you would not be in these positions.
Anyway getting back to the point of this posting, there are proposals that I have posted and have gotten some input on and even amended a couple of them based on the input.
I think this is a good way to work on the language of our proposals so you can work on them before presenting them at you local meetings.
As I have previously said I have seen so many ideas that started out sounding good in the beginning at conventions only to see half baked amendments added that eventually made the original idea unrecognizable and therefore unacceptable to the body at convention.
I know the convention is a long way off but it seems every year that all of a sudden it is a week away and nothing got worked on to be presented.
A few years ago when I first started going to the conventions there was one individual who got a reputation for presenting a lot of ideas for the membership to consider and had valid reasons for doing so.
It's too bad in my opinion that others have not followed his lead in continuing to make us think in our quest to make our association evolve into a more workable union representing the majority rather than fighting the minority that represents self interests over representing the majority.
The only reason they can get away with this is because the majority remains silent.

When Will The Membership Find Out The Truth?

2009-11-01T19:09:00.000-05:00

When will our membership find out the truth of what went on this past year with our state board and the decisions they made?
Over 3 months have passed and some acknowledge that some controversial decisions were made but they say they can't talk about them yet.
There has been some talk that charges were filed yet 3 months later most refuse to make any comments to either confirm or deny any such actions were taken.
There was even some talk that some of the charges filed were resolved but still the board members stay silent.
If charges were filed why would that surprise anyone? Was the membership supposed to just lay down and not say anything?
And finally if no charges were filed would the membership have been told how a convention that had virtually nothing controversial happen had such drastic changes made afterwords?

county meeting attendance

2009-10-29T16:13:00.002-04:00

I know most counties are struggling to get there membership to meetings so I pose this to all of you: What has your county done that has increased attendance at local meetings? If you attend Local, State or National meetings do you pass on the information to the carriers at your office to show them what they are missing by not attending?

Looking forward to all responses.

Binding Resolution National Delegates

2009-10-25T22:35:00.002-04:00

Whereas:
Ballots for national delegates currently only have names of candidates for national delegate,
and whereas the membership have no easy way provided in order to queery candidates about their
stance on issues, or to contact candidates with concerns deemed important,
Be it resolved:
That starting with the 2011 National Convention Delegate Ballots, all ballots will include the name and current phone numbers (at candidate's option) of prospective delegates.

Reason for change:

Membership need to be able to contact prospective delegates to help them understand the stance the candidates may have on issues deemed important to the membership.
This may also increase the response rate of members actually voting since they would then have a way to determine if a particular candidate shared their views on issues.

Proposed Constitution Change ARTICLE VII Sec 3 National Convention Delegates

2009-10-25T22:22:00.001-04:00

Current Language

Section 3 Election

A member must be on the rolls at least 40 days prior to the opening of
the state convention in order to be eligible to vote for National Delegates.
The State Secretary shall prepare a ballot listing the candidates for National

Delegate.
The order of the listing of names will be determined by a blind draw
conducted by a Association member whose name does not appear on
the election ballot. Instructions on each ballot shall include the number
of delegates to be elected, the deadline for return of the ballot and the
mailing address of the designated post office box. The number of votes
cast on each ballot shall not exceed the number of delegates to which
the state association was entitled at the previous convention.

Proposed Language

Section 3 Election
A member must be on the rolls at least 40 days prior to the opening of
the state convention in order to be eligible to vote for National Delegates.
The State Secretary shall prepare a ballot listing the candidates names and current phone numbers (at candidate's option) for National Delegate.
The order of the listing of names will be determined by a blind draw
conducted by a Association member whose name does not appear on
the election ballot. Instructions on each ballot shall include the number
of delegates to be elected, the deadline for return of the ballot and the
mailing address of the designated post office box. The number of votes
cast on each ballot shall not exceed the number of delegates to which
the state association was entitled at the previous convention.

Reason for change:

The membership deserve to have an easy way to contact prospective delegates
in order to voice concerns they deem important and to queery candidates stance on
issues of concern to the membership.

Proposed Constitution Amendment Article X Sec 1

2009-10-24T17:06:00.000-04:00

Current Language

ARTICLE X

Steward System
Section 1 Selection
The official State Board shall appoint the State Steward.
The official State Board upon the recommendation of the State Steward
shall appoint Assistant State Stewards.
The official State Board upon the recommendation of the State Steward
shall appoint area Stewards.

Proposed Language
ARTICLE X

Steward System
Section 1 Selection
The official State Board shall appoint the State Steward.
The official State Board upon the recommendation of the State Steward
shall appoint Assistant State Stewards.
None of whom shall also be serving in an elected state level position.
The official State Board upon the recommendation of the State Steward
shall appoint area Stewards.
None of whom shall also be serving in an elected state level position.

Reason for change:
Separation of elected board positions and appointed steward positions is something long needed to insure the steward system can perform it's duties without being intertwined with the political process of our association. If the steward system is to remain an appointed position the appointments should fall on the full board to make those appointments. Having one serving in both capacities sheads a tainted light on our state association's ability to make un-biased choices.

local meeting...

2009-10-18T17:27:00.002-04:00

local union meeting October 29th at Broadacres !!!
Might as well come..what else you all got to do? Its cold outside...
And I for one dont want to hear no excuses..its MY anniversary..and Instead of
spending the evening stuffing my face at Texas Roadhouse..I will be attending this meeting!!!
Everyone always has something pressing they have to do instead of attending the meeting...and I could almost understand that...but not really...perhaps you will find that those things that were so import arent quite so important...YOU perhaps deem the inner workings of the union as of little importance.....but thats only because you dont need them at this time...

What is really weird..is those that scream the loudest the union does NOTHING for me...are the last to attend events...the last to learn their contract ...and the last to expend any amount of energy for their craft; however, they are the FIRST to scream and do so the loudest when they THINK something didnt go their way.

Instead or relying on other carriers to go and find out the new information for you or just not worrying about it at all..why dont we try something new? start small..attend 1 meeting every six months...you can pick what you want to go to!!! AT the very least...attend the upcoming count classes...help them HELP YOU....

We Need More Input

2009-10-16T07:05:00.002-04:00

We need more input from many others if we are going to make a difference in our union this year.
As noted earlier I have now found that I can add on 100 authors to this site. I have had some inquiries but so far no original postings from anyone.
For making original postings one will have to have an identity. Anonymous responses are still available to any posting.
I know people have other things going on in their lives besides what is happening within our union but let's not let a few who think they are the only committed ones think we don't care about anything because we do have a life outside of union activities.
Please get this site out to others whom may not know about it. Look at the polls and vote on them. Suggest other areas to me that might be interesting to look at through a poll question or an article.
Without participation this site means very little and we will just be blown off as a few trouble makers.
As I continue to ask please don't let this site just be one of complaints. Let it be one of positive suggestions for improvement.
We need the things that are troubling members to be identified, but then we need ideas to improve those areas too.
And please don't let my earlier reference to a legal threat be a hinderence to identifying problems either.
Regardless of if it did or did not happen we have nothing to fear as long as nobody is deliberately slandering the character of a particular individual. And asking questions because we don't understand the justification of a decision is not slandering anyones character no matter what they may think.

Booster Meeting

2009-10-12T08:32:00.001-04:00

Well the Fall Booster Meeting is over and as noted in an earlier posting we still have unresolved things that cannot be completely discussed at this point. We did have a good presentation by a state police officer who is also an RCA (as is his wife) on safe driving and the dangers of texting while driving. I still can't believe the numbers they say indulge in this practice while driving. I think is was said that 46% of teenagers that were contacted admitted to engaging in this very dangerous practice.
So please anyone with teenagers in the home do whatever you can to influence them to not engage in this.
The attendence registered was 54 which is better than some previous boosters but still not good out of a membership of in excess of 3700.
We will not be having a Winter Booster in 2010 since we will be hosting the Mid States Conference.
It would be great to get a much higher turnout for this event since we don't get to host it very often. It is moved around among several different states and I can't personally remember the last time Indiana did host it.
This event is described as a mini national convention since many of the members considering a run for national office will be present. It would be a good opportunity for those who have never been to a national to get a small taste of what it is like.

Anyone Interested In Being A Co-Author On This Site?

2009-10-12T07:52:00.001-04:00

As I understand it I can ad up to 100 co-authors who can then post original articles on this site.
Anyone that is interested in doing this please send me a private email at rlblankenship@maplenet.net.

Does This Site Merit The Threat Of Legal Action?

2009-10-12T07:34:00.000-04:00

I have looked at everything on this site and I can't see anything that merits such a threat if one was to occur.
I have expressed opinions about what I and others believe to be wrong doing within our union but I believe I have been as factual as I can be given the limited access I have of what is going on.
I think I have gone out of my way to ask for positive solutions and have expressed more than once that I don't want this site to be one of just complaints.
I continue to ask for positive solutions and I can see that some in our union are struggling to make the best out of an unfortunate situation.
I hope we continue to move forward even though the process is slow at this point.
I continue to ask for more participation and I hope we don't get sidetracked by schoolyard bullying tactics that may occur along the way.
I do understand the reluctance of some to get your families involved in things when the atmosphere is such that it is, but I hope we will continue on and emerge as a stronger association with more participation when this is over.

Positive Solutions to Problems Needed.

2009-10-10T22:46:00.001-04:00

I have added a spot to post your unrelated concerns but along with posting those concerns I would hope that we can focus on offering positive solutions to those concerns also.
We have to do more than just complain about issues if we expect to make a difference.

Open Forum Concerns

2009-10-10T22:39:00.001-04:00

Ok, I have been informed that something is needed where you can express your concerns about other things.
If you want to be an author on this blog send me a private email at rlblankenship@maplenet.net . Otherwise you are limited to posting only responses to topics already posted.

Some New Responses

2009-10-08T20:54:00.001-04:00

We have gotten a few new responses to some of the questions posed in case you haven't been reading.
I am hopeful we will hear from more as word gets out about this site.
Also I wanted to point out I have added another poll that has not gotten any responses yet.
That's surprises me a bit because the question asked is," Should the state editor be allowed to use their discretion in publishing opinion articles from the membership?"
Thanks to all who have submitted something and let's keep the conversation going. I would really like to see some other proposals submitted for constitution changes and resolutions.
It would be great to get to convention next year and actually have ideas submitted by more than 3 or 4 locals.

Response From a Board Member

2009-10-05T23:13:00.000-04:00

Bob, It was brought to my attention that you emailed my friend for his opinion. He directed me to read your blog. We as a state board are only trying to spend association fund as wisely as possible. Adding more area stewards and issues of the "Hoosier Rural Carrier" will only put us in a financial bind and need to ask for a dues increase. We aren't President Obama we can't spent now and just print more money. If you would take the time to thoroughly look over the financial statement of our association you would see that to keep us with the recommended amount in reserve we can't spend any more without a dues increase. We weren't trying to pull the wool over anyone eyes we were just trying to keep us in the black. We are about duty of fair representation.

Announcement Making The Rounds

2009-10-05T21:43:00.001-04:00

Well it appears that the master plan is falling into place.
An email I read from the current NW Committeeman claims the current secretary-treasurer will not seek re-election and he is throwing his name in to be considered as the next secretary-treasurer.
I have no ill-will toward the current NW committeeman but I wish I felt better about how this all got started but I just don't.
I wish all these board members would just stand and say what they were thinking when they voted to not uphold the constitution in the first place. But because they haven't this whole thing just leaves me feeling not very trusting of any of them.
We elected you folks to take care of the association business and to be honest and up front with us and I feel you have just failed to do so.

Article By State President on Website

2009-10-04T11:53:00.000-04:00

I am sure there have been a few that have read the article written by our state president that was posted on the website http://www.indianaruralcarrier.com/ . If you haven't I encourage you to do so.
To the ones that have I would like to ask what you think of this article and do you think the president should have allowed his views to be published on that website?
Once again I remind all that you can comment anonymously if you choose to.

Proposed Constitutional Change Aticle II

2009-09-30T22:37:00.003-04:00

Present Language

ARTICLE II

Purpose

The Purpose of this Association shall be: To improve methods used by the Rural Mail Carriers; To cooperate with the U S Postal Service and the public for the good of the service; To promote a fraternal spirit among it’s members; and To benefit their conditions of labor.

As membership is the life blood of any organization, this Association strongly supports the active recruitment of non-members by encouraging the development of membership campaigns within all levels of this Association, including but not limited to, ruralacademies, new employee orientations, individual visitations, letters, etc; and

This organization shall not affiliate or merge with any other organization or group without a majority vote of the delegates at a national or special convention, or a majority mail referendum vote of all members voting.

Proposed Language

ARTICLE II

Purpose

The Purpose of this Association shall be: To improve methods used by the Rural Mail Carriers; To cooperate with the U S Postal Service and the public for the good of the service; To promote a fraternal spirit among it’s members; and To benefit their conditions of labor.

As membership is the life blood of any organization, this Association strongly supports the active recruitment of non-members by encouraging the development of membership campaigns within all levels of this Association, including but not limited to, ruralacademies, new employee orientations, individual visitations, letters, etc; and

This organization shall not affiliate or merge with any other organization or group without a majority vote of the delegates at a national or special convention, or a majority mail referendum vote of all members voting.

The official state newspaper "The Hoosier Rural Carrier" will be published monthly.

Reason for change:

The present lack of a schedule for publication of the state newspaper raises real issues about informing members in a timely manner.
One of the obligations of any membership organization should be regular sharing of information.
And while there is a lot of talk about putting up a web site to take up the slack it should be noted that there is no guarantee that everybody has a computer and that everyone is computer literate enough to find a web page as hard as that may be to believe for some of us.
The only way the union can guarantee that their communications is getting out is to publish a newspaper on a regular basis. Then if a member doesn't read, it really is their fault when they don't know something.

I Have No Shame in Creating This Blog

2009-09-30T07:20:00.001-04:00

I want to stress the point that I have absolutely no shame in creating this blog because even though most of the carriers in the state don't know it I tried to communicate the concerns raised here in what I viewed as the right way by submitting an article to the paper for all to read.
And for quite awhile after I had submitted it to the editor both myself and the editor believed that article would be appearing in the paper.
Even though national reccomended that we not have op-ed articles in the paper I would point out one difference between our state and national and why I believe it wrong thinking to not allow articles from carriers in the paper.
The state association is the members next step up from local associations. It is the lowest step in the union that has an established publication.
I am not sure but I believe every state association has a state publication. Some states allow op-ed articles in their papers and I would bet those that do have a higher member interest in the paper.
Some states publish their papers every month, some every 2 months and some quarterly.
Ours was only published 3 times this past year.
While I commend the editor of our paper for the job he does I feel the paper only being published 3 times a year is a serious underserving of the membership.
I am wandering a bit in this article but I just want to reiterate to those that get a chance to read it that I attempted to express my views through the established publication but it was not allowed by the board.
So I hope as many carriers as we can get this out to will get a chance to read this blog and then I feel you will have more than one side of the story.

Added Choices to New State Steward Article

2009-09-27T19:51:00.000-04:00

Added Choices to New State Steward Article

I have added a link to the "Who Should Be The Next State Steward" article. This link is anonymous so have you say if you have an opinion.

A Request to the Readers

2009-09-27T15:11:00.001-04:00

I would like to make one request of the people that have read the articles on this site.
If you are not ready to express an opinion anonymously or not I just ask that you indicate how you feel about the particular article by checking one of the 3 boxes below the article.
This in no way allows any identification and I am not looking for a boost to my ego. I am simply trying to determine if the site is getting out to readers.
TIA
RLB

Problems with Constitution Changes and Resolutions

2009-09-26T06:54:00.000-04:00

I have thought for a long time that if we could get a site put together where many of us could meet and present ideas for discussion and stick to the pros and cons of the ideas submitted that we would come out with much better written constitutional changes and resolutions.
I have seen so many ideas submitted over the years that on the surface seemed like good ideas but got ripped apart in the ensuing discussion or got mangled by half baked amendments and failed to gain favor with enough delegates to be put into place.
I have heard others say no we don't want to put our ideas out there because that just gives opposing parties more time to come up with ways to defeat the ideas.
So I wonder if there is any inclination to bringing ideas forward to discuss or is that fear showing ones ideas until the last minute the prevailing viewpoint?
Many times I have wished we had more time to discuss issues at the convention but the body became impatient and somebody calls for the question and discussion stops. So the ideas never get fully developed there.
What do you all think?

How do we trust them to represent us?

2009-09-25T21:51:00.000-04:00

This is the question I got from a local carrier when we were discussing how the new steward assignments came into being.

Carrier
How do we trust them to represent us?

RLB
Well stewards are bound by duty of fair representation.

Carrier
But really, how do we know that in some situation they won't make a deal with some manager if they can go behind the backs of the people that go to the conventions to make their own deal?

RLB
Well I agree that one could make a case for questioning the ethics of people involved in such a plan.

I try hard to not get people to over react to what went on but to react in some way.
The over reaction is what this carrier said in summing up the whole situation.

Carrier
Well I'm writing a letter to national and letting them know that if they condone such action, I want out of this outfit. I'm damn tired of losing money every mailcount and then having the union bigwigs just worrying about feathering their own nests.

So it is a fine line between trying to inform and get them involved and sending them over the edge and having them drop out totally.

So do we keep quiet like we are expected to and let certain ones get away with what we percieve as wrongdoing and let the general membership live in ignorant bliss?
Or do we continue to do what we percieve is the right thing to do and search for accountability in leadership?

New poll posted on site.

2009-09-25T21:03:00.000-04:00

I posted a new poll on the site to see if we could get more than a handful of responses.
So far we haven't.

Phone Conversation With Local Carrier.

2009-09-22T20:23:00.000-04:00

Just today I had a phone conversation with a local carrier and I did not initiate the call. He had called me about some other topic and I brought up the subject of how the change was made with the stewards.
And not attempting to show where I was leaning on this subject the conversation went like this:

RLB
So what do you know about what went on?

Carrier on phone:
Nothing other than what I read in the paper. (Must be one of that handful that reads it.)

RLB
What do you think about what they did?

Carrier on phone
I don't like it.

RLB
You know I don't think they can do it because it was not brought before the delegates at the convention.

Carrier on phone
Well apparently you're wrong because they did it. They will do anything they damn well please because they got this little click going on.

Now this is a carrier that participates regularly on the local level and had been to some state conventions.
I just thought, now isn't it a shame that this kind of perception seeps out into the membership?
Can we do something here to help stop this perception? What do you think?

Proposed Constitutional Change ARTICLE VIII State Board

2009-09-19T21:43:00.001-04:00

Current Language

ARTICLE VIII

State Board

Section 1 Members The President, Vice-President, Secretary-
Treasurer, and the six members of the Executive Committee shall constitute
the Board of Control.

Proposed Language:
State Board

Section 1 Members The President, Vice-President, Secretary-
Treasurer, and the six members of the Executive Committee
and two at large members, one elected annually from retiree members and one elected annually from relief carrier members, shall constitute the Board of Control.

Reason for change:
One year term at large position from retiree members will add needed wisdom and experience to the board and one year at large term from relief carrier member will give younger members valuable experience in dealing with issues faced by the board.

Proposed Constitutional Change Article VI Section 3 Delegates

2009-09-19T21:23:00.000-04:00

Current Language
Article VI
Section 3 Delegates

Each organized local branch shall be entitled to one delegate, in addition
to one delegate for each five members or major fraction thereof.
Each unorganized county shall be entitled to at least one delegate, and
an additional delegate or delegates for each five members or major fraction
thereof, after the first five members.

The annual dues forwarded to the State Secretary-Treasurer, not later
than the first business session of the Annual Meeting, shall be used as
the base for delegate computations.
The delegates shall be elected by secret ballot.
The delegates shall be elected by secret ballot at a called meeting.
The local branch officers shall sign the credentials for such delegates.
The voting unit of the Annual Meeting shall consist of all delegates designated
in the previous section; all of who must be members in good
standing and have the proper signed credentials from their local branch
officers. Each delegate shall be entitled to one vote. There shall be no
voting by proxy.
The voting unit shall be seated separately from the visitors during all
business sessions.

Proposed Language:

Section 3 Delegates
Each organized local branch shall be entitled to one delegate, in addition
to one delegate for each TEN members or major fraction thereof.
Each unorganized county shall be entitled to at least one delegate, and
an additional delegate or delegates for each TEN members or major fraction
thereof, after the first TEN members.
The annual dues forwarded to the State Secretary-Treasurer, not later
than the first business session of the Annual Meeting, shall be used as
the base for delegate computations.
The delegates shall be elected by secret ballot.
The delegates shall be elected by secret ballot at a called meeting.
The local branch officers shall sign the credentials for such delegates.
The voting unit of the Annual Meeting shall consist of all delegates designated
in the previous section; all of who must be members in good
standing and have the proper signed credentials from their local branch
officers. Each delegate shall be entitled to one vote. Any votes of absent delegates will be divided as equally as possible among local unit delegates present.
The voting unit shall be seated separately from the visitors during all
business sessions.
Reason for change:

Our delegate system as it is only gives delegates a chance to represent 5 members per delegate. It truly is not a functional delegate system.
Additionally this will not limit those that have come to the conventions because it still allows in excess of 350 to be delegates.
If someone remembers a convention where we got half that many to show up please respond.
It is time to give the members who fund this association their representation.

Who Should Be The Next State Steward?

2009-09-18T16:57:00.000-04:00

Over the years there has been some suggestions that we should have an elected state steward but that idea always seems to come up short usually because someone will argue logically that we don't want a popularity contest for that position because that position has to be knowlegeable in contractual matters and must be able to show they can be persuasive and make compelling arguments to minimize disciplinary actions and get carriers jobs back when need be.
So I have a question for any of you that care to answer. Remember you can comment annonymously.
Out of the current and former assistant state stewards if you had the choice which one would you pick to be the next state steward? CAST YOUR VOTE

Some Of Us Have Stepped Forward To Express Our Displeasure.

2009-09-17T23:10:00.000-04:00

Some of us have stepped forward to express our displeasure with what we viewed as a complete disregard of the constitution by your state board. With only the ones that have done so we do not have the numbers needed to to turn this thing around should your state board continue to disregard us.Is it ok with you to have your elected leadership that had a part in making the rules tell you they don't have to follow them?
We are not asking for you to devote a lot of time and effort here. Some of us will do that but we need your support in order to move forward.
We are only asking you to spend a little bit of time to express your views and tell us what you want.
Do you want a leadership that is responsive to the membership? Or do you want a leadership that says give us your money, but don't bother participating because we won't listen to you anyway?
You make the choice, the union starts with you because you fund it.
Do you want accountability or a song and dance?

Great Idea In Publishing the Constitution in The Paper

2009-09-16T20:20:00.000-04:00

Even though we have some issues with the board I would like to commend them for the deciding to print the Constitution in the paper.
I hope a lot of you will take the time to read through your constitution. This document is supposed to be what governs your union at the state level and we need a lot more members to become familar with it so that they know when something is being considered whether or not it is in violation of your constitution.
I think the board should be commended for giving all members their own copy.

Recent correspondence Between Myself and a Board Member

2009-09-14T18:54:00.001-04:00

I am posting this correspondence for a couple of reasons. One reason is I want to get people thinking about how vital communication is with the membership and why I will be supporting a constitutional change that will insure that there is timely communication with membership on a regular basis and not left up to the board to determine when we need to be informed.
Again I welcome all comments.
RLB

RLB Poll

Maybe they can limit your number of issues of your paper because most people don’t even read it.
This poll seems to indicate not much interest in the paper.
How about you?
How informative can a state paper be when it doesn’t even publish who the national delegates are until after the national convention?
VOTE OR SEE RESULTS OF THIS POLL
BM

Interesting question you pose on publishing the national delegates prior to the convention. Well, let me say this. If we published the list say, within a week of the end of the state convention, that list would be inaccurate within a week. The list of delegates changes weekly as those who were elected call, email, or write in and now decline to go. Hence alternates are moved up. As recently as yesterday, I received a alternate who is moving up to delegate, their commitment to attend. I still have a regular delegate who says he won't know for sure if he can go until this coming Friday because his wife might have a doctors appointment during the convention week.
Why would we want to publish a list of delegates when it would not reflect accurate information on who is attending and who is not.
The reason we wait until after the convention is to give the membership accurate information on who attended and who did not attend. Would that not be better than giving them inaccurate information.
Give me your thoughts if you have a better idea as I am always open to suggestions.

RLB
My thoughts on this are all the delegates names that were voted on should have been published in the paper as that is the only way the general membership has of knowing who got voted in and even though most won't contact delegates to let them know of issues they deem important they at least have that opportunity.
I have never been aware that we did not publish a paper before that listed the delegates prior to the convention.
Maybe just oversite on my part.

BM
Actually, to my knowledge, we have never published a newsletter prior to the national convention, at least not in recent years. But remember, I am getting old and they say memory goes first.

RLB
Apparently yours and mine both, but I thought I remembered a time when we had 6 issues a year, ( Wasn't there a time we had 12 issues?)and so I would have thought we had an issue come out after state convention that informed people what we did there including the list of the selected national delegates.
If that isn't the way it happened I still think it's a good idea. But then who listens to me?

BM
What we have done over the past few years in reducing the number of issues is considering cost vs benefit. Folks just were not reading the paper and costs were escalating upward.
The average cost per issue currently stands at:
Printing costs last issue: $2,603.00
Mailing cost last issue: $1,000.00 (non-profit rate - cheapest rate available)
Labeling cost last issue: $253.57
Editor's Salary last issue: $1,726.62
Total Cost last issue: $5,583.19
Multiply this by 12 issues would = $66,998.28
Pretty expensive when you consider only a hand full of people read it and you mail nearly 4,000 copies.

RLB
I think there are some things we can't afford to weigh benefits vs cost and the paper is one of them. You assumption that only a handful read it is taking a lot of liberty with the facts I think. I'll make an assumption too and that is the less you print the less that read it because what you put in it either isn't timely or they have just gotten used to not getting any news anymore. But then that is only my assumption and I can't prove that any more than you can prove yours.
Why are there other states that put out 12 issues a year and we can't afford 6? And 3 issues a year is just pathetic.

BM
Why your looking for the reasons for more issues, go ask the national board why they went from a weekly magazine to a monthly magazine. COST! Vs Benefit.

RLB
I found the only reason I need. 3 issues a year just plainly does not inform the membership in a timely manner. It's that simple. Your sampling of the few carriers that do come to meetings proves very little. We both know the vast majority do not attend meetings but they do pay dues and that entitles them to be informed in a timely manner at the very least.
Why does the union like our employer keep looking for ways to cut service? Why can't our state paper be sponsored with ads to help offset the costs rather than just cutting back?

BM
Exactly what is it that you feel you are uninformed about?
Please explain.

RLB
It's not me. It's the general membership.

BM
Please explain what the general membership feels uninformed about then? What is it the general membership would like to know and I will see that they get than information as quickly as possible.

RLB
One piece of information that we have been discussing all along here is notification of who the national delegates are.
Another thing is everything else we did at state convention. Who the new board members are and what position they hold.
Who the new stewards are and what areas they are assigned to.
How else do you let the whole membership know what is going on other than publish a paper?

New Ideas

2009-09-14T18:11:00.000-04:00

I don't want to just keep beating on issues that have happened already here.
Something I would like to get out there is some new ideas so we can get people to thinking about them and kick the ideas around and refine them to get them to the point that they are as acceptable as possible.

And so with that said I would like to propose an amendment to the constitution that would add 2 at large one year term state board positions. One position to be filled by a retiree member and one position to be filled by a leave replacement member.
My thinking behind this proposal is the addition of the retiree member would add some needed wisdom and experience to the board and the leave replacement member would gain some valuable experience in the issues that come before the board.
I welcome all comments and suggestions on this and I look forward to seeing what other ideas will come out of this.
RLB

Some discussion with the SS.

2009-09-14T17:58:00.000-04:00

SS in paper.
"Other issues came into our reasoning for the full time positions.

I had two assistant stewards that were going to be in
jeopardy of exceeding 130 days of LWOP for the year. For every
day over 130 days of LWOP taken they would lose one day of
credit toward their retirement eligibly. This is time toward retirement.
We can pay for the lost wages and benefits but cannot
buy back the time that is lost. It would also free up my use of
the stewards so I would not have to worry about them working
on their route on a particular day or trying to work around the
holidays so they would not lose their holiday pay."

In regards to some of the comments in our paper by the SS I asked him why there was no efforts made at making area stewards to handle step ones rather than over extend the duties of a few asst. state stewards.
Most local stewards don't want the extra responsibility he said. He said we had about 50 local stewards and most of them were in small 2 route offices and so they don't have the experience needed.
I asked how they are supposed to get the experience if nobody ever offers them a chance to see what they are capable of. He didn't seem interested in exploring this option at this time.
I asked where are the future stewards going to come from? He said big offices.

Followup To Article for paper

2009-09-12T20:21:00.000-04:00

I wrote an article that I submitted to the state editor in regards to the action the state board took in putting on full-time asst. state stewards.
You won’t see that article in the state paper because the state board decided they did not want it included even though some issues I raised in that article were responded to by some members of the board in the articles they submitted. So you think you are getting the whole story?
In response to the cost savings the state steward says they expect from this program all I can say is it is just voodoo economics. If they can show a savings and I am still in doubt that they can, but if they can remember they have one person holding down an elected position plus a full-time appointed position. In other words they have not fully staffed the required positions and they say they will show a savings. Well why wouldn’t they when they are not fully staffed? That brings up the question of do we have the same coverage that we had before? Tell me how this works that we have a secretary treasurer who for 4 years running tried every year to show that what he was doing took a full-time position to do it and now he can do that job plus another full-time job? If you believe all that they have you hook line and sinker in my opinion.
Now onto the one that there never was any intention to violate the constitution.
Give me a break, if there was never any intention to violate the constitution all they had to do was present this plan to the delegates at the convention. And it probably would have been accepted. This plan very clearly was set up because there was discussion among some board members previous to the convention but not all of them. Not even the president. A back room deal if I ever heard of one.
And so on to the national convention we all went thinking we would get a chance to meet with the board to discuss the situation and possibly find a resolution to it.
Several of us were present at the board meeting as they ran through their agenda of approving all the minutes of the pre and post convention board meetings and the convention minutes and then they called executive session and threw us all out of the meeting. Clearly the board was not interested in discussing anything with us.
I had some hopes that some of the people on our board would get some backbone and vote their own mind. Well I was wrong and I don’t know what else to say at this point.
My article I submitted follows:

Robert Blankenship
Shipshewana, IN.

Article For Paper

2009-09-12T20:17:00.000-04:00

I have been a member of this association since 1991.
Like many carriers I didn’t pay much attention to what went on the first few years.
Then when the contract extension of 1995 came up I got involved and went to my first contract ratification meeting. It was announced that the state membership actually had a tie vote , but I was dismayed that the board at the time went ahead and voted for that extension.
I was told if you don’t like the way it is, get involved.
I went home and watched vote totals come in from across the country online where actual member votes were turning down that extension by nearly a 70% majority.
And I was dismayed that when all was said and done our union accepted that agreement by a more than 90% majority because membership votes did not count. They were only taken under advisement.
I said then I want to be involved in this thing because this is not right.
And so in 2000 as a first time national delegate and still an RCA at Madison WI I was 1 of 710 of the needed 700 votes to give the membership the vote on contracts. We know the totals because even though it was clearly a majority it was challenged to make sure we had the needed 2/3 majority.
And although the contracts since have left something to be desired we have at least on one occasion told our negotiators no that’s not good enough, go back and bring us something better and never again will an arbitrator say see how happy those rural carriers are? They voted in a contract by a 90% majority. (It happened, read the Wells decision.)
And so here we are now in our state where all these years later I thought we were a pretty independent minded bunch but I thought we strived to do things the way they should be done even though mistakes are made only to find out that following our rather calm 2009 state convention that our state board in their first board action decide to not uphold the constitution that they had just taken the oath to do and make changes to our steward system that only should have been presented as constitutional changes before the delegates. Supposedly this is a trial basis thing and had it been presented to the delegates as such they may have voted to allow such a thing to occur. But as noted earlier it was not presented to the delegates and the delegate body is the only way our constitution is supposed to be changed. Our constitution is quite clear how many full time employees are allowed ever since the delegates voted in the full-time state steward.
Failure to seek area stewards to handle grievances at step 1 and overextend the duties of certain asst state stewards is no excuse for the board to violate the constitution in my opinion.
To this kind of action I ask our state board what kind of message does this send out to the carriers that we claim we want to get involved and learn the process of how to make change the right way? Do you really think this sends a message of come and be a part of this. Give us your input and participation so that we can effect representational change the right way?
At first I was equally angry at each member of this board for blatantly and purposefully violating our constitution and deceiving the delegates, but the more I think about this the more I think the experienced board members are more at fault than the newer ones.
Why do I feel that way? Because I feel the whole thing was nothing more than a power play on the part of a few simply for the benefit of a few. It certainly is not a benefit to the membership because it puts a further strain on an already strained steward system.
And for the less experienced board members do I think you are guiltless? No.
I am embarrassed for you that you could be led to believe this if not illegal at worst, unethical at best action was a feasible solution to anything.
I expected better than that from all of you because I trusted you to look out for the interests of the dues paying membership first. Even if they aren’t participating they are footing the bill.
Those of us who have taken on steward duties in our offices have always been told that our ethics had to be something that was beyond question. Why should we not expect the same from our elected state leadership?
I really hope this serves as a wakeup call to our membership.
If this article is allowed to be printed, show these board members you do read the paper when you get one and ask them how they are spending your money.
Robert Blankenship
Shipshewana, Indiana.