Letter from the Editor - National Association of Letter ...

1 National Association OF Letter CARRIERSNOVEMBER 2012 IPOSTAL RECORD 3 The monthly journal ofthe National Association of Letter Carriers November 2012 Vol. 125, No. 11 PHILIP DINEEDITORIAL STAFF:Managing Editor Philip DineDesigner/Web Editor Mike SheaInternet Communications Coordinator Joe ConwayWriter/ Editor Rick HodgesEditorial Assistant Jenessa KildallThe Postal Record(ISSN 0032-5376) is published monthly by the NationalAssociation of Letter Carriers. Periodicalspostage paid at Washington, DC, and atadditional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Membership Department, NALC, 100 Indiana Ave. NW, Washington, DC included in membershipdues. First-class subscription available for $20 per year (contact MembershipDepartment). 2012 by the National Association ofLetter Carriers. Circulation: 287,000. Union-printedusing soy-based of ADDRESS? Contact theMembership us on the NALC Activist AlertBlog and on Facebook, Twitter andYouTube by going to from the EditorIn November of 2010, I mentioned in thefirst Letter from the Editor that for ourreorganized Communications and MediaRelations Department to succeed, we couldbenefit from more two-way communication.

2 What I hoped was that we would use ThePostal Record, the Bulletinand our othertools to keep NALC members informed aboutcongressional actions, about the financial sit-uation at the Postal Service and about howletters carriers contribute to the communitiesyou serve; while you would let us know ofimportant developments and trends at thelocal or state levels. This internal processwould then boost our external efforts wewould help as you took the initiative to get themessage out through letters to the Editor ,commentary pieces, radio appearances andTV news interviews; you would alert us toopportunities to inform the public, whether byresponding to erroneous news reports ormisleading editorials, or by encouraging sym-pathetic journalists to provide their audiencewith the real , I can report to you that the two-waycommunications so pivotal to our future and that of the USPS has never beenstronger.

3 And that s largely your doing, as youstep up your efforts on a daily No. 1 A Kansas Letter carrierhelped us reach thousands of business andpolitical leaders and ordinary folks in Texas. Abusiness columnist s piece had just beenposted on his newspaper s website when I gotan e-mail from Andy Tuttle, president ofBranch 104 in Lawrence, KS, stating: Justread this opinion piece from The Dallas Morn-ing Newsand thought it was one that warrantsa response, given the size of the metro areaserved by the paper. That prompted us toquickly speak with the columnist and editorialpage editors; within a few days, PresidentRolando reached the 400,000 readers of thelargest newspaper in the South and the South-west with an op-ed piece titled Congressionalpolitics to blame for Postal Service s red ink. (Not Andy s first heads-up to us.)Exhibit No. 2 I d barely begun reading theday s newspapers when a call from Tom Zyg-mund of Garden State Merged Branch 444alerted us that a Wall Street Journalsportscolumnist had erroneously written that tax-payers had partly funded the alleged dopingprogram of Lance Armstrong and others onthe United States Postal Service cyclingteam.

4 That led us to quickly call a sports edi-tor and the columnist and inform them thatthe Postal Service funds No. 3 Carriers in the LeadershipAcademy s October communications classstood out; particularly impressive was the let-ter to the Editor they wrote in five minutes(and it wasn t only because of the welcomepresence of Kansas State President RodHolub). I interpreted their work as anothersign of the NALC membership s growingengagement in perhaps the biggest taskbefore us getting our message a result of all this, more and moreAmericans (and their congressional represen-tatives) are hearing that message. Someexamples:Alton, IL Branch 309 President Joe Mercu-rio s Letter gave readers of The Telegraphthefacts about USPS financial problems. SaltLake City Branch 111 activist ChadMortensen was a guest on Family Radio s On The Record program.

5 Red Wing, MNBranch 401 President Dewey Christiansonand members Dennis Bluhm and BruceBrage had a Letter in The Republican , TN Branch 62 member RufusFaircloth was featured in a positive article inthe Chattanooga Times Free Press, as wereNaples, FL Branch 4716 Letter carriers in theFort Myers News-Press. Region 3 NBA NealTisdale discussed postal finances with Work-ing Family Radio Network host CharlesShowalter. Idaho State President John Paigehad a Letter in the Idaho Rolando continued his yeoman swork, with a Letter in The New York Timesexplaining that the Senate s postal reformmeasure is flawed and that Saturday deliveryis important. He had lengthy letters in the Kin-ston (NC) Free Pressand Register Citizen(CT). He also was quoted prominently in sto-ries about the postal default by the Associ-ated Press, Reuters, Huffington Post, Wash-ington Postand usual, our Heroes honored in Wash-ington in late September garnered publicity:nationally in USA Todayand the WashingtonPostand in numerous regional media , ABC World News Tonight named let-ter carriers Persons of the Week in a seg-ment that focused on the 2012 heroes to read, watch or listen tothese media reports on our website s PostalFacts and keep generating more items forus to post!

6