President's Message
Greetings Local 302 members and friends!
I would like to wish you and your families a happy, healthy and safe summer!
As we enter the 4 th year of Postmaster Louis DeJoy’s 10 year Delivering For America (DFA) plan, we are
beginning to feel the effects of facility consolidations and redesignations throughout our jurisdiction.
The plans for Sacramento to become a Regional Processing and Distribution Center (RPDC) continue,
and they are scheduled to start receiving outgoing mail from the Reno and Fresno P&DCs this summer.
Those facilities are being repurposed as Local Processing Centers (LPC) co-located with Sorting and
Delivery Centers (S&DC). Despite the recently announced pause in further consolidation of the USPS
processing network, these previously scheduled changes are still moving forward. The approved Mail
Processing Facility Reviews project the loss of 23 mail handler positions in Reno (17 career and 6 MHA)
and 11 mail handler positions in Fresno (10 career and 1 MHA). We have not received any official
notification of realignment or excessing, but we will ensure that they comply with all of their contractual
obligations. A grievance has already been initiated on the improper movement of outgoing mail from
Redding to Sacramento in April.
As part of the DFA plan to consolidate carrier routes, three facilities in our jurisdiction have been
reclassified as SDCs (Palo Alto, Stockton West Lane and Stockton Arch Road). We are currently working
on identifying and establishing mail handler work and positions in those facilities. With the help of State
Board Representative Fernando Matta and National Article 12 task force representative Tom Ruther, we
are optimistic that we can create additional mail handler staffing in all 3 of these facilities.
Local 302 recently conducted multiple shop steward trainings to ensure that our stewards are ready to
face these challenges now and in the future. National Trainer John Gibson and Western Regional Vice
President Don Sneesby conducted in depth training on defense vs. discipline and initiating cross craft
grievances this June for every Local 302 steward. Additionally, Local 302 trainer Juanita Contreras
conducted two separate New Steward training sessions for newly certified shop stewards. Sister
Contreras also conducted an OWCP training for representatives Jennifer Escobar, Gabe Bonayon,
Elizabeth Woldruff and Mark Greely (Reno), Sonja Miller (Oakland), Krista Cardenas, William Baker and
Jade Waldo Knight (Sacramento), James Williams (North Bay), Sarah Young and Kendra Sherer (Eureka),
and Wazeer Livingson (NDC). This training will allow us to assist our members who are injured on the job
in OWCP and ELM 546 issues. Further, a Chief Steward Meeting was held on March 13 th to discuss ways
to mentor newer stewards and improve representation for all of our members. Attending were Chief
Stewards Fernando Matta, Shawn Dalton and Krista Cardenas from Sacramento, James Moore and
Sharon Holmes from Oakland, Ruben Riguero from San Francisco, Gabe Bonayon from Reno and Wazeer
Livingston from NDC. Finally, most of our branches conducted in house shop steward training with their
Branch Presidents and I to address specific issues going on in each individual facility.
We are pleased to announce the Local 302 Judges of Election (Wazeer Livingston, Michael Paulo and
myself) certified the results for our Convention delegate election process for the August 2024 NPMHU
Convention to be held in Las Vegas. The official delegates will be Chrystal Wilson, Elizabeth Anderson,
Fernando Matta, Harpreet Singh, James Moore, James Williams, Jennifer Escobar, Krista Cardenas,
Ruben Martin Jr., Shawn Dalton, Steve Gutierrez, William Baker and automatic delegate Tony Coleman. I
will be serving on the Constitution Committee and Treasurer Shawn Dalton will be serving on the
Resolutions Committee. You can follow the plans and progress of the NPMHU Convention on
www.NPMHU.org
As a result of the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, the USPS will be migrating from the Federal
Employee Health Benefit plan (FEHB) to the Postal Service Health Benefit plan (PSHB) in 2025. The USPS
is conducting webinars and sending mailings with additional information. Local 302 has designated
Chrystal Wilson and Jennifer Escobar as specialists on this issue, and they will be receiving training in the
upcoming months to help assist with any issues that arise from this change. If you have any questions,
please direct them to npmhulocal302@gmail.com and we will do our best to get you the information
you need.
Local 302 continues to host extracurricular events for our members throughout the Local. We held a
picnic in Redding at Anderon park this June, and will be hosting our annual summer picnic at Elk Grove
park on September 7 (picnic flyer located in this newsletter). We will also sponsor a picnic for our Reno
members later this Summer, check the calendar on our website www.npmhulocal302.org for more
information. In March, Local 302 sponsored a group outing to the Sacramento Kings/Houston Rockets
game at Golden One Center in downtown Sacramento. Discounted tickets, cowbells and access to a
pregame “high five” experience were provided for our members and their families. We look forward to
being able to sponsor future outings of this nature throughout the Local.
Please join me in thanking the volunteers who serve as shop stewards representing the members of
Local 302. It is a huge challenge to stay well-versed on all of the rules and regulations necessary to police
the contract and properly represent the 2,000 mail handlers in our area. This job has become
progressively more difficult as management makes more and more changes to improve efficiency. In
addition to saving the jobs and protecting the benefits of our members, these stewards have won
hundreds of thousands of dollars in grievance money for our members this year at grievance steps 1, 2,
3, arbitration and pre-arbitration! Reno recently divvied up a $235,000 settlement won by Branch
President Jennifer Escobar for their approximately 80 members. These guys do an awesome job for you,
and we greatly appreciate their efforts and contributions! If you are interested in joining our team as a
shop steward, let me or your Branch President know. We frequently conduct new shop steward training
at the Local.
Local 302 continues to secure MHA conversions of our Mail Handler Assistants to Full Time Regular and
Full Time Flexible career positions. The FTF language in our most recent contract ensures that MHAs in
200 man hour offices (most offices) will be converted to FTF career positions 2 years after their MHA
appointment. This is especially critical right now at a time when management is citing low mail volume
as a reason to drastically reduce MHA hours. If you are an MHA and your hours are reduced, you may be
eligible for unemployment benefits. In California, you can apply through edd.ca.gov/unemployment and
in Nevada, that website is ui.nv.gov.
In this newsletter you will find a catalog from ADCO of free items you can order as a member of Local
302. In appreciation of your continued membership, Local 302 will purchase one free item from this
catalog for you. If you would like additional items, they can be purchased at the listed pricing. Ordered
items will be delivered sometime this fall. The ordering process is quick and easy, but don’t hesitate to
ask a steward for assistance if you need help ordering your free item.
Thanks again for your membership and support of NPMHU Local 302!
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