August 5-9, 2024 Boston Convention and Exhibition Center
We have worked with the Postal Service to develop and implement new employee and mentoring pilot programs to improve onboarding and retention. Similarly, to address both the difficulty in hiring and the high levels of turnover in our craft, in the last two years we negotiated more than 10 MOUs with the Postal Service to eliminate the CCA posi- tion and hire directly at the career level in hundreds of installations around the country. The success of these two initiatives, combined with our efforts at the bargaining table to increase starting pay, give us a clear path to improvement. We will contin- ue working with USPS leadership to address the widespread staffing is- sues that continue to negatively af- fect letter carriers and our ability to serve our customers. Heat safety Working outside in all parts of the country, letter carriers are con- sistently exposed to the dangers of extreme weather. Climate change continues to intensify extreme weather, and every year we see tem- peratures and heat indexes climb to record highs, putting letter carriers at greater risk to the dangers of ex- treme heat. Unmitigated excessive heat can cause heat stress, often resulting in serious illness or death. Since the last convention, we have lost one brother to excessive heat. In June of 2023, Branch 132 member Eu- gene Gates Jr. collapsed and died in a customer’s yard in Dallas, TX. We mourn Brother Gates and our other brothers and sisters who we have lost to heat illness. NALC has engaged USPS and the Department of Labor for over a de- cade with one goal—to better pro- tect our members from the hazards of excessive heat. Some progress has been made over the years, but there are still steps needed to im- plement all the measures universal- ly recognized by experts as neces- sary to provide sufficient protection from heat illness. We continue to
put pressure on the government and postal management to provide letter carriers with a heat-illness prevention program that includes all these elements. A major part of the issue is that the United States does not yet have a heat safety standard for workers. NALC has continually pushed for a work rule standard, and finally we are seeing progress. In July, the Department of Labor released a proposed heat standard work rule. While it is still in the early stage and must move through the official rule-making process, this comprehensive rule is the ultimate solution to prevent heat-related injury and illness on the job. NALC fully supports implementation of this proposed rule and will continue pushing for its approval and use ev- ery possible avenue to protect letter carriers from excessive heat. Government affairs Building on passage of the Post- al Service Reform Act of 2022, we have continued to focus on some long-standing—and some new— legislative priorities. While we con- tinue navigating the difficult and ever-evolving political landscape in Washington, DC, we have contin- ued to work across the aisle to gain support for our priorities and their advancement. Stabilizing the Postal Service’s finances The long-term financial viability of our employer remains a top pri- ority. A sustainable USPS is key to our long-term job security and the service we provide. Postal reform was a major step toward making the USPS financial- ly solvent long-term. However, we knew this was only one piece of a larger solution. Two crucial poten- tial policy changes remain. First, NALC is advocating for the Postal Service to be allowed to re- invest its retirement funds. The Postal Service has three retire-
28 The Postal Record August 2024
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