General Meeting called to order at 7:00 PM by President Edward Fletcher
Pledge of Allegiance: Led by Trustee Jeff Valentine
Moment of Silence: Maywe please havea moment ofsilence for our departed brothers and sisters and family members who have passed since our last branch meeting.
Announcements: We have the 50/50 drawing and 3 sets of A's tickets to raffle offtonight. I will announce the committee to research venues/possibilities for this year's Steward Recognition. The Contra Costa food bank is not participating in this year's food drive.
Minutes of the previous Branch Meeting 2127/24 read by A.SJ. John Ferreira with a motion to accept the minutes made by Jose Corral/2nd by Terrence Super/Motion passed.
New Hires: sinceour last branch meeting (50)
New Members - None
A motion was made to welcome the new members madeby Jeff Valentine/2nd Rickie Cox/Motion passed.
Financial Report from February 2024 readby A.S.T. John Ferreira.
Roll Call: All present and accountedfor except for those excused as noted within. Lumus Russell, Ariel Uribe, PaulPetersen, Francis Swint & Chris Calica. A Motion to accept the requests for excused absencesmade by Michael Chavez/2nd by Marisela Fletcher/Motion passed.
Executive Council Minutes from March 19, 2024, read by TrusteeJeff Valentine. A motion made by Mary Phelps to approve the March 19, 2024, minutes/2"d by Jose Corral/Motion passed.
Special Guest(s)- None
Reports of Officers:
o 4th VP -April Patrick thankedthecommitteefor recommending her to fill theposition of 4th V.P. and thanked President Edward Fletcher foraccepting the recommendation. Acknowledged all her stewards and thanked them for being patient with her and doing some things in a different manner. She also thanked all the FTO's for their guidance & assistance working here at the branch as the new 4th V.P. on the team.
o Jrd VP- Eddie Murphy shared he filed a grievance in Pinole fora14-day suspension. It was appealed to Step B and was thrown out. In Pleasanton, a grievance was filed for a 204B dealing with out-of-schedule pay, whichwas resolved at StepB paying the grievant all the way back to 2022. In Pinole, a suspension was issued for a slip, trip, and fall, sent it up and it came back rescinded in full. I am still lookingfor stewards and as April already mentioned all the FTO's bounce ideas off each other in efforts to better represent the membership. Eddie thanked everyone for their help.
o 2nd VP-Terrence Super -Currently I was handed a file dealing with dignity & respect. I received a simple statement within the casefile saying management yelled at me, that simply will not work. Statements need to be muchmore detailed than that. Especiallyin dignity and respectcases. In several of myoffices they are discipliningcarriersforone click over the authorized overtime and we are dealing with that. Che' gets management to throw outdiscipline andat the same time gets the carrier paid. That is the type of negoUating skills I want. We have another huge compliance grievance in Fairfield, and I will keep you posted on that one. Thank you, Che,' for all your hard work.
1st VP -Mary Abante - Rodeo management told carriersto swipe to function 733 and that is not acarrierfunction. If carriers are working off their assignment, do a proper investigation and iffound appropriate get them paid. In Alameda management issued discipline to a carrier for starting 5minutes early andleaving 5 minutes earlier than the normal clock out time. Please put in a change of schedule prior to doing anything like this and get prior authorization ahead of time. In Alameda, a carrier was given a LOW for bringing back mail and we got it reduced to a discussion. My steward inBenicia Ka Moon Yi continues to do an excellentjob. Che' Perez of the Fairfield office cameup and worked withme for 4 days, which I thoroughly enjoyed. She negotiates hercases at thelowest possible level and sometimes that can be a double-edged sword. Youdo not get a lot of practice at writing Step B appeals when management resolves everything, but on the other hand grievances get resolved at the lowest possible level as they shouldbe. Martinez now 1 of 3
has over 15 extra carriers, and they still violate article 8 - go figure. Michael SawayainPittsburg continues toexplain and educate carriers about the route inspection process.
o EVP -Narcisco Paderanga- Goodnews I'm in receipt of several pre-arb decisions filed for noncompliance resulting in North Oakland carriers getting paidapproximately $53,500. Still in Oakland a carrier received $1,000.00when management failed toassist him in submitting a manual bid on an open assignment. Other pre arbsnowpayan additional 100% instead 50% for 12/60 violations. Again, in Oakland aprearbitration decision received where management violated the contract whennot paying COP accordingly which resulted in the carrier getting $1,000.00 and the union a citable cease & desist. In Fremont, a carriergot robbed while delivering mail and they took hispersonal vehicle keys. When he got back to the post office, hefound his personal vehicle had been stolen. Soplease be aware and please try not to leave personal items in your LLV and/or personal vehicle. Items that you do not need keep in your lockers.
o President - Ed Fletcher - In an effort to help facilitate this year's steward recognition I hereby appoint the following individuals toserve on the Shop Steward Recognition Committee: Mary Abante, John Ferreira & Che' Perez. The Branch hashistorically awarded four (4) $1,000.00 Kathrine Ellis Scholarships to members in good standings yearly. This year's winners are Elyanna Fabia, daughter of Benjamin Fabia (Crocket); Beverly Dong, daughter of Raymond Dong (Moraga); Ricky Young son of Jia Yang (Eastmont); Britty Wu daughter of Mingzhu Zhao. Congratulations to all involved. In the Oakland Eastmont Emeryville, Piedmont and WGCA we filedgrievances formanagement arbitrarily changing carriers starting times back in April of 2022.Management was found in violation and directed to Cease & Desist. The carriers were returned to their regulars startingtimes and paid $500 each. Once the payouts arefinalized, they will reach around 100kin total. WGCA (39.k) and Eastmont (16.Sk), which is 56K. Piedmont & Emeryville payouts are still pending. A Bipartisan legislation is currently outlined@NALC.org dubbed "Take Action" Thisbipartisan legislation wouldprovide $7 billion in funding for the Postal Service to secure its infrastructure, includingthe installation of high security collection boxes and the replacement of items carried by letter carriers with more secure electronic versions. The funding would be appropriated over five years, $1.4 billion annually in fiscal years 2025-2029. When key infrastructure is devalued and more secure, letter carriers will be safer on their routes. Additionally, the legislation would increase prosecution rates forthese type of crimes by requiring the Attorney General toappoint an assistant U.S. attorney in eachjudicial district to prioritize any case involving an assault or crime against a letter carrier. Their principal responsibility in the district would be to coordinate and supervise the investigation and prosecution of these crimes. The bill would also strengthen sentencing guidelines for these crimes, ensuring that they are treated in the same manner as assaults on federal law enforcementofficers.
Other Reports:
o Insurance Officer's Report -Jacob Morgan -No report
o Editor's Report: Joshua Pearl - we willbe workingonthe next issue May 8 & 9 of thisyear keep sendingpictures members like them and we do too.
o California State Vice President Ron Jones- Protect our LetterCarriers Act H.R. 7629 wasjust introducedon March 13, 2024. No congressional members from California are on ityet. Please go on the NALC website, click on "News and Research" scroll down to the bill and click on it. You will be directedfrom there to send a message to your congressional member. You can call or email your congressionalmembers as well. The Federal Retirement Fairness Act H.R. 5995 isforcarriers who were (TEs) or (CCAs) to receive credit for all time worked towards retirement if and when passed. Mike Thompson, John Garamendi, Mark DeSaulnier, and Roe Khanna areon the bill. Barbara Lee isin the processof signing on. Improving Access to Worker' Compensation for Injury FederalWorkers Act H.R. 618 / s. 131 will allow "Nursepractitioners" and "Physician assistants" totreat federal workers who are injured on thejob.
o AlamedaCounty CLC & Legislative rep- Ron Jones-No Report
o Contra Costa CLC & Legislative rep-Vacant
o Napa-Solano CLC & Legislative Rep -Sam Green-The Executive Board Election Nominations areMarch &April of this year with the election to be in May.
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o MDA Coordinator: Marisela Fletcher -We are currentlygetting things together for this year's MDA raffle. We will be orderingtickets andfinalizing the prizesto beraffled. Wehave an 18-person suite for the July21stgame with the Oakland A'shostingthe Houston Astros.
o Food Drive Coordinators: Che' Perez & Irene Liljedahl-We are meeting at the Alameda food bank in April and if anyonewants to order T-shirts, they cango to stamp out hunger store.com on the nalc website.
o EAP Committee rep Liz Corriea - No Report
o LCPF Committee reps - Mary Phelps, Narcisco Paderanga, Ron Jones. - No Report
o Old Business: - None New Business:
A Motion to pay the bills for April 2024 by Daisyann Larkins/ 2nd Michal Sawaya/Motion passed. Good of the Association: Branch 213 is havingtheir annual MDA fund raiser/all you caneat rib dinnersApril 27, 2024 @ 6 p.m.-12. Ticketsare $35.00 eachor $40.00 atthe door. Atable for 8 $250.00. BYOS.
1. Ticket 1570/winner Ron Jones salad bowl donated to Leticia Sanchez.
2. Ticket # 1542/winnerJose Solis Red Sox 04/02/2024
3. Ticket #1509/winner Michael Chavez Nationals 04/13/2024
4. Ticket # 1553/Gary GomezCardinals 04/16/2024
5. 50/50 $68.00Ticket#1529/winner Ezekiel Bradley Ill
Motion to Adjourn by Mary E. Phelps 2nd Sam Green/ Motion passed. Meeting adjourned 8:07 PM.
Respectfully submitted.
Mary E. Phelps Secretary Treasurer