Page 2 The Ohio Rural Letter Carrier December/January

Established in 1929 by H. I. Carpenter. Published in Salem, Ohio, six times a year. Entered as Non-Profit mail at the Post Office in Youngstown, Ohio. Non-Profit Postage is paid in Youngstown, Ohio. Subscription Price—$10.00 per year. Contributions are opinions expressed by the writers and do not reflect the opinions of the State Officers of the Ohio Rural Letter Carriers‘ Association or the Editor.

ASSOCIATION OFFICERS President Floyd Edler

1060 Schrake Rd., Chillicothe, OH 45601Ph 740-775-5679 Cell 740-703-7002 president@ohrlca.org

Vice President Barb Pitts Secretary/Treasurer Penny Koren 12914 Washingtonville Rd., Salem, OH 44460-9247 104 Clay Road SW, Dellroy, OH 44620-9757 Ph 330-533-6274 vicepresident@ohrlca.org Ph 330-735-2727 Fax 330-735-2535 secretary@ohrlca.org

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Joyce Bower Diane Cox 7456 County Road 107, Gibsonburg, OH 43431-9531 4780 Stony Creek, Urbana OH 43078 Ph 419-849-2613 committeemann@ohrlca.org Ph 937-869-4724 committeemanw@ohrlca.org *Provident Guild Mark Funderburgh Tim Barker 7450 North River Road, Springfield, OH 45502-9448 4395 Cook Rd., New London, OH 44851-9357 Ph 937-605-4067 committeemans@ohrlca.org Ph 419-901-0900 committeemane@ohrlca.org *PAC Co-Chairman *National General Insurance Rep *PAC Co-Chairman

Chaplin Rita Beedy5318 Springfield Urbana Pk., Urbana, OH 43078-9420

Ph 937-484-3671 happy.maillady.chaplin@gmail.com

ADRs, AREA STEWARDS AND LOCAL STEWARDS REPORT DIRECTLY TO THE DRArea Steward assignments are subject to change. Please check the most current published list for the Area Steward assigned to your office. Area Stewards are certified to offer assistance ONLY in the offices in which they are certified by the NRLCA. Please do not contact an Area Steward if your office is not listed as one of their assignments. If there is no Local or Area Steward assigned to your office, please contact your District Representative or an Assistant District Representatives.

Northern Ohio DistrictDELBERT HUTCHISSON, Northern Ohio District DRP.O. Box 326, Fostoria, OH 44830-2767Ph 419-435-3117 Fax 419-436-0376E-mail ; Delbert.Hutchisson@nrlca.org

SUSAN THAYER (419-906-2058 ) Northern Ohio District ADRPO Box 309, Liberty Center, OH 43532E-mail: Susan.Thayer@nrlca.org

CHRIS McCOY, Northern Ohio District ADRP.O. Box 232, Newton Falls, Ohio 44444Ph 330-469-7605Email: Christopher.Mccoy@nrlca.org

Northern Ohio District Area StewardsTana Humphrey (440-224-1276) 3434 Creek Road, Kingsville, Ohio 44048Email: humphrey44004@yahoo.comAndover, Austinburg, Bristolville, Brookfield, Burghill, Conneaut,Cortland, Dorset, Farmdale, Fowler, Hubbard, Kingsville, Kinsman,Pierpont, Rock Creek, Rome, Vienna, Williamsfield, Windsor, WilloughbyLori Todd (234-567-4222) 610 West State Street Salem, OH 44460. Email:Loritodd@yahoo.comOffices: Alliance, Atwater, Berlin Center, Columbiana, Deerfield, East Rochester, Hanoverton, Kensington, Leetonia, Lisbon, New Waterford, North Benton, WellsvilleJody Schuler (740-610-8221) 7951 Euga Rd. New Comerstown, OH 43832.Email: nwcschulersr@aol.comOffices: Cadiz, Dellroy, Dennison, Gnadenhutten, Leesville, Mineral City, Sherrodsville, Strasburg, Sugarcreek, Tuscarawas, Uhrichville, Walnutcreek, Jason M. Zedaker (419-367-2834) – Northern Ohio District Offices P.O. Box 324, Stoney Ridge, Ohio 43463Email: jasonzedaker@gmail.comOffices:Bellevue, Bowling Green, Clyde, Fremont, Huron, North Baltimore, ak Harbor, Perrysburg, Port Clinton, Rudolph, Sandusky, Sylvania,Walbridge, Waterville, Vickery

Ohio Valley DistrictCATHY FUNDERBURGH, Ohio Valley District DRP.O. Box 96, Clifton, OH 45316Ph 937-265-5477 Fax 937-528-2297 E-mail: Catherine.Funderburgh@nrlca.org

MIKE AITCHISON, Ohio Valley District ADRP.O. Box 340, Plain City, OH 43064-8873Ph 614-873-4114 Fax 614-873-6352 E-mail: Michael.Aitchison@nrlca.org

RANDY ANDERSON JR. Ohio Valley District ADRP.O. Box 795, Moundsville, WV 26041 Ph 304-810-4373E-mail: Randy.Anderson@nrlca.org

RANDY BURGER (317-892-3893) Ohio Valley District ADROhio Valley District ADRP.O. Box 184, Pittsboro, IN 46167-0184

Ohio Valley District Area StewardsPhilip Burnside (419-310-3817) 8051 Township Road 165, Kenton, Ohio 43326Email: benzesrule@yahoo.comBelle Center, Bellefontaine, De Graff, Delaware, Dublin, Jackson Center, Kenton, La Rue, Marion, Marysville, Milford Center, Mount Victory, North Lewisburg, Ostrander, Prospect, Richwood, Ridgeway, Rushsylvania, Russells Point, Upper SanduskyDominic Crooks (513-602-4418) P.O. Box 863, Mason, OH 45040Batavia, Bethel, Blanchester, Cleves, Franklin, Harrison, Lebanon, Mason, Mid-dletown, Milford, Monroe, Moscow, New Richmond, Okeana, Oxford, Waynes-ville, West Chester, WilmingtonMisty Gamerdinger (740-703-7199) – Ohio Valley District Offices133 West 5th St., Chillicothe, OH 45601Ashville, Athens, Canal Winchester, Chillicothe, Circleville, Greenfield. Hillsboro, Jackson, Kingston, Leesburg, Logan, Minford, Mount Sterling, Ports-mouth, Stoutsville, Washington Court House, Wellston, West Union

Page 3 The Ohio Rural Letter Carrier December/January

Page 1 Happy Holidays

Page 2 Officer Information /Steward Information

Page 3 President Report

Page 4 Vice President Report

Page 5 Worship Corner / Memoriam

Page 6-7 Committeeman Reports, PAC, Legislative

Pages 8-9 Secretary/Treasurer Report

Page 10 Minutes

Page11 Ohio Valley DR Steward Report

Page 12-13 Northern Ohio DR Steward Reports

Page 14 Retirements and District Meeting Information

Page 15 OHRLCA Auxiliary

Page 16 New Members and Upcoming Events

How to Privatize a Major Employer

A major employer would be one of the largest employers in the United States. It should serve as a model employer, pay great wages, provide great benefits and be a great place to work. This is the dream of

every American worker. But as the cry goes out to save money, corporate-funded, anti-government politicians, force efficiency in the number, pay and benefits of

employees, or just outsourcing their jobs. The outsourced are hired at near or minimum wage with few-or-no benefits. (The rich get richer the poor get poorer)When you combine the loss of good paying jobs and low wages it creates a strain on local communities that often have to provide assistance. Then, of course, those same anti-government politicians complain the government is providing handouts. If the USPS is partially or completely privatized, employees will be moved into low-wage positions with little or no benefits, working longer hours. Communities would suffer, there would be cut backs from spending and paying taxes, homes foreclosed, Public assistance would be needed and poverty would start to appear.

PresidentFloyd Edler

How do the privatizer’s make it happen: Create a crisis and then offer “solutions” that fit their agenda? Make government not work and then say because government doesn’t work we should get rid of it. In the Postal Service’s case create a requirement that the USPS “make money” instead of receiving government appropriations. Then take away its ability to do that. When service is cut, complain that it isn’t doing a very good job and complain that it should be privatized because “it is going broke” When a full-on frontal assault fails, offer incremental steps that lead to eventual total privation or dismantlement, leaving guaranteed failure behind. Why doesn’t Congress just appropriate money as needed by the USPS, so it could take advantage of its impressive national infrastructure to expand into new areas that serve public needs?These simple solutions do not fit the privatization agenda. Instead, define the problem in other ways that lead to the desired solution (privatization). This is what privatizers do, and that’s what we are seeing today. If it weren’t for strong unions there is a very good chance the USPS would be well on its way to being privatized today. YOU, can help, support PAC , support H.R. 12, H.R. 54 and be prepared to contact your congressman or senator when legislative issues effecting your job comes to the floor for a vote.

In closing I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and a very Merry Christmas.

Remember :United We Bargain DIVIDED WE BEG!Floyd Edler, President

Mail Count Training DatesMail Count: March 12th – March 25th

Mail count training dates and locations are subject to change so please check the www.ohrlca.org website for the most current up to date information as more classes may be added or cancelled due to inclement weather. If weather is

bad please call the library to see if they are still open. Bring your mail count guide printed in the December edition of the National Rural Letter Carrier magazine.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016Bucyrus Public Library, 200 E. Mansfield St. Bucyrus, OH

from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Thursday, February 11, 2016Medina Public Library, 210 S. Broadway St. Medina, OH

from 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Friday, February 12, 2016Salem Public Library, 821 E. State St. Salem, OH from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Tuesday, February 16, 2016Putnam County Library, 136 Putnam Pkwy. Ottawa, OH

from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Page 4 The Ohio Rural Letter Carrier December/January

HERE WE ARE AGAINOnce again it is time for all rural carriers and retirees to be thinking of their benefit packages. Open season is November 9 through December 14, 2015. If you are thinking of switching your health plans, now is the time to do it. There has been an increase in all

plans, however,

you can now choose self-plus one. Be sure you look that over to see if that is the way to go for you. Often times we assume that it will be cheaper, but it may not be. Take some time and do a little research to determine which plan will best suit your needs. Let us, for a moment, discuss what a labor union is according to Wikipedia, an organization of workers who have come together to achieve common goals such as protecting the integrity of its trade, improving safety standards, achieving higher pay and benefits such as health care and retire-ment, increasing the number of employees an employer assigns to complete the work, and better working conditions. Along with that is unity, according to Webster, the quality or state of being one: Singleness, Oneness. What is our common goal? We need to strengthen this association by bringing new members into our fold, to achieve new members we participate in the RAFT program at orientations every other week (see explanation). This not only increases our membership, it adds to our financial stability. With financial stability it allows your association to put on retirement seminars and TSP seminars with free lunch, to give back to its’ members. Our financial position allows us also to put out a paper six times a year to notify the membership of what is going on in the state and in congress that concerns rural

Barb PittsVice President

carrier jobs. We are able to put on a state convention, which in 2016, we will offer a free reasonable lunch to our members, per a resolution that was passed at the 2015 convention. With the increase in membership, we are able to send more delegates to the National convention, which gives us more votes to change things at the national level. When we are united we can do so much more for our jobs and to educate those new members

joining the association. Do your part and become a member in unity, this associa-tion needs you to step up and become involved. The way to leadership is volunteering at your statewide functions. For all those that attended the booster meeting on November 15, in Worthington, I hope that you received some very helpful information on retirement and how to prepare for it. The TSP seminar with Lizetta Braxton should have opened your eyes as to how important it is to get your sav-ings going to supplement your retirement fund from the Postal

Service. You can change your allocations at anytime by logging onto their website, at www.tsp.gov and following the prompts.I know that this is the busy season for all rural carriers, the hustle and bustle of getting your mail in and separating those parcels is sometimes overwhelming. Take a breath and count to ten, do a few deep knee bends to loosen up your muscles, roll those shoul-ders and loosen your body up, then continue working a bit more refreshed. Please don’t forget to keep safety in mind as you go about your day. The weather is changing daily and it is getting wet and cold, dress appropriately with good foot wear and warm gloves. Check your vehicles to be sure that they have good tires, wipers, clean windows, a good battery and proper fluids. At this time of year, I know it is hard, but keep a big smile on your face. My wish for all of you is a safe and Happy Christmas with your families and the best of New Years. Hope to see you all in 2016.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Barb Pitts, Vice-President

Membership adds to Financial Stability.

Since November 2013, the beginning of the NRLCA’s RAFT program and the OHRLCA presenting the advantages of

membership during the New Hire Orentations, Ohio has recruited 1052 new members. Of the 1052 recruited new member 672

are still employed and remain active members. This is a retention rate of 68.87%.

If all the new members were working RCAs paying dues of $79/yr. that would equal $4421.76 per month ($79/yr. divided

by 12) or $53,061.12 addition income per year.

This is an estimate as all new members are not RCAs.

Correction: In the October/November issue it was reported:

”President Dwyer has assigned Director of Steward Operations Heather

to update and oversee the Rural Carrier Academy Training.”

Please note; Vice President Stutts has been assigned to update and oversee

the Rural Carrier Academy Trainings.Carriers Registrating at the Fall Booster Meeting

to receive the Retirement and TSP reference booklets.

Page 5 The Ohio Rural Letter Carrier December/January

Sharma Wilson, 46, of Beverly, died on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015 at the Marietta Memorial Hospital. She was born on December 29, 1968 in Marietta to David E. and Dovylene Dolores Sells Silvus. She was a member of the Fort Frye class of 1987. She worked as a rural carier for the U.S. Post Office in McConnelsville. She was a member of the Main Street Church of Christ and the Eagles Post #2187 Ladies Aux in McConnelsville. She is survived by her parents of Beverly, a son Levi Wilson of Malta, a brother, Michal (Sharon) Silvus of Philo and a sister, Renee Silvus of McCall, Idaho and her fiancée Dan Sheppard of Malta. .

Joyce Marie King, 63, of Creston, died peacefully on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015 at the Wayne County Care Center following a period of declining health. Joyce was born June 21, 1952 in Gainesville, TX to Odell and Ruth (Dugan) Williams and had been a Rural Mailcarrier in Creston. She had been a resident of Creston since 1977 and enjoyed writing, reading, horses and sports.Surviving are a daughter, Holly King of Creston; granddaughters, Jadyn and Mikalah Roper and brothers, Bill (Jackie) Ramsey of Tennessee, Tom Ramsey of Denton, TX and Jesse Ramsey of Sacramento, CA.Tributes may be shared at www.Murray-Funeral-Home.com

Mark Willis, 47, of South Point, died Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015.He is survived by his wife Paula Ramey Willis. Mark worked since 2007 in the Ironton Post Office as a Rural Mail Carrier.Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.timeformemory.com/hall.

between September and January 1. I like to give each one its own recognition, so I say “Happy Labor Day”, “Happy Halloween”, etc....

Christmas on the other hand, I start the day after Thanksgiving wishing any and all Merry Christmas!!

As we read this it will be almost over, and we will be glad because we will be exhausted, since as I write it, it is already “Beginning to look a lot like Christmas” with the packages

picking up!! Praying we are all safe, and have a wonderful

Holiday Season.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!Rita Beedy

(Grandma, Night, Hippopotamus, Carol, World, Navidad, Blue, First, Rock, Wonderful, Deck, Twelve)

Anyone humming...?

Greetings!!!

How well do you know Christmas music, can you fill in the blanks?

_______Got Ran Over By A Reindeer...Silent _____

I Want A ____________For Christmas _____ Of The Bell

Joy To The ____Feliz _______

____ ChristmasThe _____ NoelJingle Bell ____

It’s The Most _________ Time of The Year ____The Halls

The ______ Days Of Christmas As for greetings, should we say Happy Holidays, or

Merry Christmas? Yes...

I figure if we start Labor Day we can say Happy Holidays until the New Year! If I counted right there are six holidays

Worship Corner

Rita Beedy

Page 6 The Ohio Rural Letter Carrier December/January

We currently need to decide which health insurance plan will suit our needs. We now have another option, plus one, which can be a spouse including a valid common law marriage, or a natural, legally adopted, or stepchild under 26 years of age, or a child over 26 who is incapable of

taking care of themselves because of mental or a physical disability that existed before the age of 26. Open season is Nov. 9 to December 14, 2015. Take a look at FSA and how it can help with your over the counter health needs and the deductibles and

family dependent care expenses. FSA uses pre-tax dollars and saves about 30% on family health and dependent care expenses.

We need to continue letting our Representative and Senators know about the impact the closing of the plants has slowed the delivery of mail and that lowering delivery time is unacceptable. I have seen mail from an address on my route to be delivered to another address only a mile away on my route. It took 9 days from the Postmark. I read that the pony express delivered mail from New York to San Francisco in 10 to 11 days. I didn’t realize that we are barely more efficient than the pony express.

I found another interesting fact about the Post Office. On June 8, 1959, under the direction of PMG Arthur Summerfield the Post Office explored a faster more efficient form of transporting the mail. The Naval submarine U.S.S. Barbero fired a guided missile carrying 3,000 letters at the Naval Air Station in Mayport, Fl. The letters traveled 600 miles per hour and made the trip in 22 minutes. They did make it, but I did not find another mission such as this one. The PMG announced that “Before man reaches the moon, the mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles.

Please be very careful on the route. We will be getting into the winter season. Make sure the tires are in excellent shape. We are also in the harvest season and the farm equipment is so large, give them the room they need to pass.

May you and your families have a Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas.

Best wishes for the New Year,Committeeperson Joyce Bower

Joyce BowerExecutive

Committeeman

Retirees New and Old

Hope everyone that attended the retirement seminar in November enjoyed and benefited from this free union function. Even though I am several years away from retirement it is a great feeling to know my TSP is working hard for me. It is a great piece of mind to have every night when I lay my head down to rest. On November 2nd President Obama signed a two-year budget, which also passed both the House and the Senate, setting federal spending levels until

March 2017. Okay, with a new postal reform bill in play we can relax – no way. This is not the best deal but we are moving in the right direction by preventing many federal retirees from a large in-crease in health insurance premium payments. One important bill currently is the Postal Reform Bill S. 2051: The Improving operation, service, and transparency (iPost) Act of 2015. While this bill is written much better than the last time it was introduced we are still concerned about two important issues. First, our retirees will have to enroll in Medicare Part B in order to keep their current health insurance coverage through the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and will have to pay both Medicare Part B and FEHBP premiums. Secondly, this bill will reduce the federal workers compensation benefits for any carrier who are injured on the job. While this bill has many things we support such as improving service standards, maintaining six-day delivery and to the door delivery it should not come at the expense of our retirees and/or carriers injured on the job. Our retirees have earned their benefits and we don’t want them to pay more. Some day that will be me and I won’t want to pay more money on a fixed income. We need to take care of our retirees as they have paved the trails for everything we have as rural carriers. It is our responsibility to protect and improve our pay benefits, TSP, and train the next up and coming rural carrier generation. Continue to support PAC, as Ohio always does, so we can keep the front doors to Washington D.C. open to rural carriers.

Happy Holidays, Timothy Barker.

Tim BarkerExecutive

CommitteemanPAC Co-Chairman

Legislative Co-Chairman

New Shirt designs are available to purchase for PAC.

Page 7 The Ohio Rural Letter Carrier December/January

‘Tis the Season!We all have plenty of the Season right about now. Staying warm, getting enough rest, and staying healthy are what I focus on these days. It’s also important to keep on top of vehicle needs. Whether you drive an LLV or you own personal

vehicle, keeping your vehicle in good working order is challenging especially now. Good tires, windshield wipers, and lights are essential for working safely in the win-ter months as well as through the year.

Make use of your vehicle repair tags to keep management aware of LLV needs. These are only a few of the concerns we all have to deal with in our careers. Seems like they compound this time of year.

It seems new vehicles are in the future for the USPS. I don’t know how soon we will see them in our offices, but they sound like they will be a welcome addition to the fleet. The LLV has served well but needed an upgrade for a while, in my opinion.

As an incentive for Provident Guild membership, I had a drawing for new member sign ups during the Fall District meetings. Congratulations to Stephanie Angus, the winner of a free $10 membership! Also, at the Fall Booster Meeting there was a drawing for Provident Guild members and Gary Clark was the winner! Everyone can be a winner with membership in the Provident Guild. Contact me to join!

I hope everyone has had a Happy Thanksgiving this year. A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year surrounded by family and friends. Be safe and God Bless you!

CommitteemanDiane Cox

As of November 1st Ohio was behind Florida for total money sent in, but as always this is a marathon and not a sprint. We will be back on top once again this year with your help and donations. Now that the meat raffle is complete, congratulations to the winners, we can begin to set our sights on the next fundraiser. State Convention Everyone will want to purchase a chance or two or more for this raffle, the grand prize is going to be worth about $5000.00 that’s right folks we have acquired a 4wd side-by-side

vehicle or UTV as they are called as well as most of the other great prizes as last year. Check your next paper for an updated list. You have all heard us talk about raising money for PAC and sending it to Washington to educate the congressman there, well I am here to tell you that some of that money was sent back to our state to allow our very own president sit down with Rep. Bill Johnson at one of his luncheons and our president got the job done. Rep. Johnson asked Floyd what he could do to help him and he said that he needed to get on board with the H.R.12 bill and he said he would. As of November 1st we have almost the 220 co-sponsors we need to get this bill passed. This is what it takes to get things done now days, sad but that is the way the world goes around.At the fall booster meeting we drew four winners for the meat raffle (the steer was larger than expected) the winners were Helen Cline, Terri Clemens, Dixie Anderson and Dawn Greene. Congratulations to all the winners and thank you for all of the people that bought tickets. I would like to wish everyone Merry Christmas and happy New Year and may everyone truly be thankful for the great career we have and remember the less fortunate.

Committeeman Mark Funderburgh

Mark FunderburghExecutive

CommitteemanPAC Co-Chairman

Legislative Co-Chairman

OHRLCA /PAC State Convention RaffleMonday, June 13th during the OHRLCA Convention Banquet

PRIZES Valued at $25 to $5,000. $25 PER TICKET or 5 for $100

How Many Tickets ________

Name ______________________________________Phone______________________

Address _______________________________________________________________

Make check payable to NRLCA PAC;Mail to: Mark Funderburgh, 7450 N River Rd, Springfield OH 44502-9448

Diane CoxExecutive

Committeeman

Page 8 The Ohio Rural Letter Carrier December/January

OHRLCA Brothers and Sisters,As of November 1, 2015 the Membership Analysis prepared by the National Office has Ohio’s total membership at 4349 that is an increase of 92 members within the past year. However Ohio still has 1055 carriers who are not members. We need to continue our efforts to recruit new members. If you recruit a

new member the NRLCA will pay the recruiter an incentive for each new member who remains on the rolls for at least 90 days. Help make our Association strong by recruiting a non-member today, the 1187, authorization for dues with-holding form, is available on ohrlca.org. Recent retirees you have 90 days of retirement to sign up as a member or you will become a non-member. The $7.33 dues maybe taken out of your annuity check each month or you may elect to pay cash dues yearly. You must remain a member to continue benefits of insurances and programs sponsored by the NRLCA. Even if you do not elect the Rural Carrier Health Benefit Insurance now, you may elect the Rural Carrier Benefit Plan in the future or add dental or vision programs. Do not let your membership lapse, sign and return the 1187-R form to my office, to keep your benefits.A big “Thank You” goes to all of the Districts’ Secretaries for completing and filing the LM-4, via the Internet, with the Department of Labor. As per the OHRLCA Constitution Article III, Section 5 B.2 upon completion of all District reports and elections of officers deposits were made into each District’s Share Account. The deposits were calculated on the formula of $5.00 per each active rural carrier member as of June 30, 2015.Please contact me of a Rural Carrier who passes way. I will send the family information of whom to contact within 30 days of the death of the carrier. So, please email or call if you know of any rural carrier who passes away.

Penny KorenSecretary/Treasurer

Ohio Rural Letter Carriers' Associaion Financial Position

Nov 1, 15ASSETS

Current AssetsChecking/Savings

APCU Checking 19,090.96APCU SAVINGS 494,840.44

Total Checking/Savings 513,931.40

Total Current Assets 513,931.40

Other AssetsAmerican National - Annuity 250,000.00Oxford Annuity 250,000.00Standard Insurance 250,000.00

Total Other Assets 750,000.00

TOTAL ASSETS 1,263,931.40

LIABILITIES & EQUITYLiabilities

CURRENTt PAYROLL LIABILITIES 20,276.03

Total Liabilities 20,276.03

EquityOPENING NET ASSETS 304,631.64RETAINED EARNINGS 872,940.54Net Income 66,083.19

Total Equity 1,243,655.37

TOTAL LIABILITIES & EQUITY 1,263,931.40

The New Year, 2016, is fast approaching and it is time to reassess your retirement investments. Contributing to the TSP is an absolute must for FERS employees who wish to retire and maintain their same standard of living. Many postal employees contribute 5% to their TSP because this allows them to get the full matching amount. This isn’t enough. The “old” rule of “save 10% and you’ll be able to retire comfortable” is only true if you plan on working for the full 30 years. If you didn’t become a regular carrier until age 40, you probably aren’t planning on working until you have 30 years of USPS service, you must boost your TSP contributions. In 2016 you can contribute up to $18,000 to the TSP program. If you are 50 or older you can add an additional $6,000. This is assuming that your postal job is your only source of income and that you have saved no money other than through the TSP program. I urge you to visit the www.liteblue.usps.gov where you can request an retirement annuity estimate for yourself.

I hope you are planning on spending Christmas with your loved ones. Remember our troops away from home and donate items to assist in their needs. May the warm glow of Christmas be with you and may you have a Happy and Prosperous New Year. Union Proud Secretary-Treasurer,

To the right is the Financial Position of the OHRLCA

as of November 1, 2015.

As of November 1, 2015 the Ohio Association has a$66,083.19 net income.

Page 9 The Ohio Rural Letter Carrier December/January

To the right is the Association’s

Financial Activities for the

past eight (8) years.

At the top of the report is income.

The next sec-tions shows the

expenses.

The second from the bottom line

is the total of the expenses.

The last line of the report shows income or loss.

Below is a graph showing

the past Eight (8) years of

Income vs Expenses

Income is the Green line

and the Expense is the Red line

-$20,000

$124,000

$268,000

$412,000

$556,000

$700,000

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Income vs. Expense

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015Total incomeTotal Expense

$637,435.61 $641,641.91 $594,877.66 $642,261.98 $682,773.79 $668,334.26 $616,340.44 $598,902.88$570,577.64 $610,327.66 $611,902.92 $657,419.61 $644,218.48 $428,970.67 $343,607.68 $444,581.44

Income

Expense

07/01 - 06/30 of each Year 6/30/08 6/30/09 6/30/10 6/30/11 6/30/12 6/30/13 6/30/14 6/30/15IncomeGMAC INSURANCE 12904.72 10056.73 7142.00 8212.55 7835.90 7453.89 8,967.21 14067.59INTEREST-DIVIDEND 9844.28 11204.62 9217.00 5936.94 4448.64 3016.43 4,348.58 13082.03MEMBERSHIP DUES 586148.05 588833.78 549790.04 600703.31 643056.12 633545.44 595,131.96 561932.45REIMBURSEMENTS 3894.56 6866.78 4929.96 3247.37 6619.74 5665.76 5,187.47 4647.81SALES 2564.00 2368.00 1492.66 1898.81 1522.39 3211.07 2,705.22 5173.00STEWARD TRAINING DUES 22080.00 22312.00 22306.00 22263.00 19291.00 15441.67 0.00 0.00

Total Income $637,435.61 $641,641.91 $594,877.66 $642,261.98 $682,773.79 $668,334.26 $616,340.44 $598,902.88Gross Profit $637,435.61 $641,641.91 $594,877.66 $642,261.98 $682,773.79 $668,334.26 $616,340.44 $598,902.88

ExpenseACCOUNTING FEES 1049.00 1069.20 1089.00 975.00 885.00 600.00 600.00 450.00AWARDS & RECONGNITIONS 6363.26 5563.23 5005.31 2185.49 5448.76 2347.04 3744.19 9210.28EDUCATION & TRAINING 750.00 3774.35 2975.86 3494.19 3205.44 3980.54 9466.93 7080.60EMPLOYEE BENEFITS 49478.20 40384.40 29341.71 55457.20 32416.42 10711.85 0.00 0.00EQUIPMENT RENTAL - ADM 1376.72 1633.03 1630.72 1219.22 2060.85 1623.08 629.59 611.85ST EQUIPMENT PURCHASES 0.00 2292.95 9350.60 1704.19 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00ADM EQUIPMENT PURCHASES 4240.89 1814.47 0.00 212.96 0.00 0.00 0.00 11085.99LODGING-ADMIN 3810.89 5930.65 5154.67 6207.92 3003.30 2613.59 2560.15 3870.81LODGING-STEWARD 3172.85 5309.39 8413.73 4960.16 2767.39 212.19 0.00 0.00MID-STATES CONFERENCE 243.00 240.65 233.65 450.60 938.88 2635.62 1906.40 1478.63NATIONAL CONVENTION-ADM 40247.43 36448.45 46099.80 55500.00 59757.33 42201.48 52802.57 77627.68NATIONAL CONVENTION-ST 2228.52 2033.52 3525.00 3000.00 900.00 1522.38 0.00 0.00OFFICE EXPENCSE - ADMIN 6013.24 5262.76 4368.89 5973.66 7085.06 6009.48 7014.46 10129.44OFFICE EXPENSE - STEWARD 3939.17 7072.20 6351.45 4904.32 4720.83 1892.26 0.00 0.00PAYROLL TAXES 23116.88 20167.21 23493.60 26843.18 27835.80 22355.51 12735.67 16886.72PER CAPITA DUES 43815.41 42971.61 22386.49 16244.92 16598.52 19682.76 20017.00 21985.00POSTAGE-ADMIN 7520.75 8156.23 5049.82 10735.36 4496.95 5854.73 7453.17 6282.69POSTAGE - STEWARD 6636.43 10093.06 11309.94 8607.10 3339.06 1370.70 0.00 0.00PRINTING - ADMIN 2004.92 2468.56 2439.52 2618.37 8458.85 8617.23 10641.30 3718.28PRINTING - STEWARD 1372.94 507.71 163.50 0.00 0.00 1633.28 0.00 0.00RECONCILIATION DISCREPANCIES 0.00 0.00 0.00 111.08 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00RENT - ADMIN 8383.81 9530.85 8483.35 7436.40 7337.25 8084.70 8340.47 7885.38RENT - STEWARD 2725.50 2929.09 5381.92 6006.55 6012.66 2115.34 0.00 0.00REPAIRS 48.15 1448.58 159.09 0.00 0.00 0.00 669.82 696.60SALARIES & WAGES - ST 151940.55 165856.04 182463.08 215192.34 203029.93 82199.11 19498.23 11793.44SALARIES \ EARNINGS - ADM 93447.51 94433.35 99739.70 100403.29 118136.37 109878.57 124816.42 175333.67STATE MEETINGS 1830.98 17247.44 17393.40 13092.50 17889.77 19957.40 16802.86 26402.24STATE PAPER 29762.32 21790.42 20052.13 15964.67 18421.73 19134.79 21231.19 23387.15STEWARD TRAINING 13366.48 18077.80 25175.58 19518.65 28231.68 12407.33 0.00 0.00TELEPHONE - ADMIN 780.72 1027.88 599.39 1442.06 988.94 1186.32 1158.27 1104.45TELEPHONE - STEWARD 7884.60 9331.18 6061.64 6178.04 8123.13 3498.57 0.00 0.00TRAVEL - ADMIN 14485.62 21261.64 16628.66 17714.21 19705.87 20315.64 21518.99 27560.54TRAVEL - STEWARD 21990.50 44199.76 41381.72 43065.98 32422.71 14329.18 0.00 0.00Total Expense $570,577.64 $610,327.66 $611,902.92 $657,419.61 $644,218.48 $428,970.67 $343,607.68 $444,581.44

Net Income or Loss $66,857.97 $31,314.25 -$17,025.26 -$15,157.63 $38,555.31 $239,363.59 $272,732.76 $154,321.44

Ohio Rural Letter Carriers’ Association 2008 - 2015 Activities

Page 10 The Ohio Rural Letter Carrier December/January

Minutes of the September 11, 2015OHRLCA State Board Meeting

Doubletree Worthington 175 Hutchisson Dr

Columbus OH

Present was President Edler, Vice President Pitts, Secretary-Treasurer Koren, Committeemen Bower, Funderburgh, Cox and Barker11:00 amVouchers: The entire Board reviewed and approved all the vouchers submitted by the State Board Members for payment.Executive session 12:15PM and at 1:10 PM the meeting resumed.Minutes: The minutes of August 29 – 30, 2015 were read. Committeeman Funderburgh made a motion to accept the minutes, the motion passed. Treasurer Report: The Association’s Detailed Financial Position was distributed and reviewed. Budget: Committeeman Bower presented the review of the budget and the board concluded that all activities are in line with the 2015-2016 budget.Editor’s Report: Editor Pitts showed the cover for the upcoming October/November State Paper. She spoke about the Fall Booster information would be printed in that issue. Editor Pitts will get an estimate to have the issue printed in full color to highlight the Fall Booster Meeting.Steward Report: The Ohio Valley District Representative sent her report to the board electronically for review. 2:00 PM Lunch and at 3:00 PM The Meeting ResumedLegislative: Committeeman Barker reported on the bills that are active at this time, PAC: Committeeman Funderburgh reported that a PAC representative attended two mailcount trainings. Ideas were discussed to raise funds for PAC and a raffle prizes to be awarded during the 2016 state convention. National General Insurance: Committeeman Barker reported that Ohio had 121.62% increases in members asking for quotes. Provident Guild: Committeeman Cox reported that Ohio had 5 new members. Safety: Board Member have visited post offices talking to Rural Carriers about Route safety and sharing pictures of recent rural carrier accidents and fatalities. 6:30 PM Vice President Pitts made a motion to adjourn.Resume 9:00 AM Monday September 13, 2015 9:00 AM Executive Session and at 9:25 AM Meeting Resumed.September 12, 2015 District Secretary, Treasurer and President Training: The training for the District Secretary, Treasurer and Presidents was very well received and the Districts who attended completed their LM-4s.Motion:Committeeman Funderburgh made a Motion to contact each district that did not submit a LM-4, with confirmation of filing with the DOL, to Secretary/Treasurer Koren by September 21 that the board will seize the records and put the district into trusteeship as per OHRLCA Constitution Article IV section 4, the motion passed. PAC Co-Chairs Funderburgh and Barker attended the Mailcount Trainings that were scheduled on September 12, 2015 and raised $740 dollars for PAC Contributions.

District Meetings: Secretary-Treasurer Koren distributed to each Board Member handouts for the District Meetings.Fall Booster: The agenda of the Fall Booster was reviewed. Motion: Secretary-Treasure Koren made a motion to provide free lunch to the members who registered for the Retirement Seminar, the motion passed. Motion: President Edler made a motion to pay sub hire rate plus mileage to retired members appointed to present safety to Rural Carriers at the post offices, the motion passed.2018 Mid-States: Ohio is to host the 2018 Mid-States Confer-ence. President Edler assigned Vice President Pitts the task of finding a venue to hold the event.Motion: Committeeman Funderburgh made a motion if Postal Reform is brought forth from Committee to the House of Repre-sentatives or the Senate that OHRLCA Board may send 2 board members to Washington to lobby, to include 3 days pay, lodging, per diem and mileage, the motion passed.Motion: Secretary /Treasurer Koren made a motion to adjourn, the motion passed.Adjourned 1:10pm

Next Board Meeting November 14, 2016 at 11:00 AM and November 16, 2015 at 9:00 AM

Doubletree Worthington, 175 Hutchisson Dr

Columbus OH

Submitted by Secretary-Treasurer Koren

Please notify Secretary Koren

of your new address.

The Fall Booster Meeting Retirement and TSP Seminar291 were in attendance.

Page 11 The Ohio Rural Letter Carrier December/January

are speeding, running stop signs, or stopped at a box for an excessive amount of time or stopped at another location. You can not make a move on your route without management’s knowledge. Carriers have been caught speeding, stopped at various locations including their house and not putting the time down as a lunch, or off of their line of travel. Don’t open yourself up for possible discipline. If you know you will be deviating off of your line of travel then let management know ahead of time. REQUESTING LEAVE: Some offices are denying LWOP on Saturdays. Article 10.4.B states “Upon request, a rural carrier shall be granted annual leave or leave without pay on Saturday, at the carrier’s option, provided a leave replacement is available.” After you fill out a 3971 in duplicate and management returns a copy to you with a denial for LWOP on Saturday and relief carriers are sitting at home then file a grievance. Management has violated your contractual right. (We are the only union that has this right). Although, management can grant LWOP at any time - they are under no obligation to allow you to have LWOP during the week. The proper procedure for requesting leave is filling out the 3971 in duplicate (triplicate if you want a copy of when you submitted the leave request), have management sign the form acknowledging that they have received the request, and then management has 3 to 5 days to return one of the copies to you with it either approved or denied. Hold management accountable for the 3971s. If they do not return it in 3 to 5 days then the grievance clock is ticking. You have 14 days to file a grievance on this issue. MAIL COUNT: Mail count is tentatively scheduled for March 12 - March 25, 2016. However, these dates may change. I am planning on doing a mail count seminar in each of my 7 districts in Ohio plus two in Kentucky and one in Indiana. You will receive a post card in the mail about dates and locations. Right now, I am conducting a survey as to what the membership wants - week day or Sunday? Please call 937-265-5477 and leave a message as to which day you would be more likely to attend: a week day or Sunday, and the office that you are assigned to. JOB BIDDING: Due to the cyber breech - it is taking about 10 days to reset your password on liteblue as your password is mailed to you instead of an email. In order to bid on a job posting you will need your employee ID number and password. If you have not reset your password then do so immediately. If for some reason you can not bid then notify management and HRSSC immediately. Unfortunately, carriers have waited until the last minute to bid and could not inform management until the posting had closed that they had a problem. At that time it is too late. Do not let management tell RCAs that they do not bid on this round but will bid on the next one. That is not true. The vacancy will be awarded and all residual vacancies will be awarded from the first posting. It is heart breaking to get a call from an RCA that has waited 15 years for a route and they listened to their postmaster and lost the route.

I want to take the time to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! My 2016 wishes for you are: a wonderful, huge mail volume for mail count, an accident free year, very little snow (well, we can have a white Christmas then be gone), your smiling face at a union meeting, and a healthy, happy year!!!!

Your Union Sister, Cathy Funderburgh

I AM NOT SAYING I AM SANTA BUT I DELIVER MORE STUFF THAN HE

DOES

PHONE CALLS: Please make sure that you are calling the correct number and not my personal cell phone number. I have been using this number of 937-265-5477 for over three years. My number along with Mike Aitchison (614-873-4114) are land lines and will not accept text messaging. If you do not receive a call back within 24 hours then please call

again. A lot of times you may think you are leaving a message but the cell phones that you are calling from is breaking up on the message and we can’t determine the name or phone number to return your call. If you want a return phone call then you must leave a message. When we are in travel status your call may be delayed if your phone does not accept blocked calls. Also, area steward Misty Gamerdinger has changed her mailing address to 133 West Fifth Street, Chillicothe, OH 45601. COUNTING OF YOUR LETTER, FLATS AND PARCELS: If management mandates that you are to count your letters, flats and parcels then you will count your letters, flats and parcels. However, this does not mean that we do it for free. Document your time on the 4240 (trip sheet) and ask to be paid for it. Once you receive your paycheck look on the bottom of your check and it should say 8127 processed. If it does not say that then you were not paid for your time, bring it to your manager’s attention and if necessary file a grievance. It should be noted that if you have with draw time then you are required to count letters and flats. Document your time for counting parcels. The reason the postal service is doing this is to compare your times and volume with the Christmas over time period. I have yet to see anyone being disciplined over the mail volume numbers and their times from these two months of October and November when compared to December. CHRISTMAS OVER TIME PERIOD: I hope you get this information in a timely manner. The overtime period will begin on Saturday, December 5th and run thru Friday, December 25th. Yes, this is a very stressful time of the year. I believe I even saw a T-shirt that reads: I am not saying I am Santa but I deliver more stuff than he does. Everyone knows that parcels will be increasing by the day. This time frame (12/5-25) is the only time in the year that a regular carrier will be paid overtime for working over their weekly evaluation. However, this does not mean that we are entitled to this overtime. Management should not be changing your starting times or forcing you to take DPS to the street. If they do tell you to take DPS to the street, contact your steward and file a grievance. As a regular carrier, management can have you report to work even if it is only for 1 minute and then send you home for the day. You will still be paid for the full day. SCANNERS: There are two things that we need to remember about our scanners. First one is that they are used for a lot of functions but the main one is scanning delivery confirmation parcels. Delivery confirmation means that we scan the parcel at the time of the delivery. This includes when the parcel does not fit in the mail box and we take the scanner to the door and scan the parcels at the door. (Do NOT scan your parcels in the office as delivered as you may be disciplined for that.) The engineers that are determining our new time standards are collecting the parcel data thru the scanners. Yes, it does matter where your location is when scanning a parcel. Right now we are only credited with 30 seconds per parcel and 18 seconds for a scanned bar code which means most parcels are worth 48 seconds. I don’t know anyone that can run a parcel to the door, scan it, and be back in their vehicles under 48 seconds. Let’s help the engineers and do it the correct way by taking your scanner to the door and scan the parcels at the door. Secondly, a lot of carriers do not understand that every scanner has a GPS tracking device in it. Management knows when you deviate,

Cathy FunderburghOhio Valley District

Representative

Page 12 The Ohio Rural Letter Carrier December/January

Calling all good men/women to serve as a local steward. Steward recognition week has come to a close and I want you to know all the local stewards in Ohio are doing a great job. I would like to add another 50 stewards to the ranks. Please consider being a steward in your office. You can find an election form 10 on our state website ohrlca.org or the national site at nrlca.org. The following questions and answers pertain to local steward elections. The answers to these questions are in accordance with the NRLCA Constitution, handbook EL-902 (contract) and the NRLCA Board policy on local steward elections.Q. When are local steward elections held?A. A mandatory local steward elections will be conducted in the month of July of every fourth year. An election for a local steward may be held at any other time throughout the year.Q. We did not hold our election in July; does that mean that we have to wait four years?A. No. Election for local steward can be held at any time. The July election is the mandatory election called for by the Constitution for incumbent stewards.

Q. If an office only has an auxiliary route, can the RCA in that office elect him or herself to the steward’s position?A. Yes. Each delivery unit is entitled to elect a local steward.Q. If an office only has an intermediate route, can they hold an election for that office?A. No. There must be a rural route, regular or auxiliary, administratively assigned to an office in order to have a local steward.Q. In a post office with several stations/branches, can there be a local steward election for each station/branch?A. Yes, Each station or branch in any office that has rural delivery is entitled to elect a local steward.Q. What determines the number of local stewards in an office or a station or branch?A. Article 17, Section 2.A of the USPS/NRLCA National Agreement is very specific on what number of rural craft employees per post office, station or branch would entitle that office, station, or branch a second local steward.Q. There are fewer than 50 rural craft employees in all stations and branches, is an office entitled to more than one local steward?A. Yes. Each station/branch within an office is entitled to elect a local steward even if there are not 50 rural craft employees in that station/branch.Q. A main office has no local steward; however, the branch office does have a steward. The branch office has merged into the main office. What happens to the elected local steward from the branch office now that both offices are merged into one?A. The steward from the branch office can continue to serve as local steward. There is no requirement that a new steward be elected; however, the carriers may request a new election.Q. A main office with a local steward is split into another branch. If the local steward is assigned to the branch office as a result of the split, does he/she represent the carriers in the newly created branch?A. Yes. This person would continue to serve as local steward unless a petition requesting a new election of a local steward is signed by a majority of the NRLCA members of said office to the District Representative, and upon approval of the District Representative, pursuant to the National Constitution, Article IX, Section 7.B. The members in the main office could then have an election to elect a local steward if they so choose.Q. If a local steward is elected in a branch/station and then bids to a different branch/station, do they become the local steward for that location if that branch/station hasn’t previously elected a local steward?A. No. There would have to be an election conducted in the new branch/station in order to certify that person. If the branch/station already has a local steward, it would take a petition requesting a new election of a local steward signed by a majority of the NRLCA members of said office to the District Representative, and upon approval of the District Representative, pursuant to the National Constitution, Article IX, Section 7.B.Q. May a local steward elected in a branch/station represent carriers in other branches/stations even though he/she was not elected by those in the other branch/station?A. Yes. There can be an election of a chief steward to represent the entire office.Q. What happens when a local steward in one station is the successful bidder on a route in another station or branch that already has a steward?A. The local steward that is moving from one station or branch to another would not be the certified steward for the new station or branch. The local steward elected at that station/branch would remain the local steward. The person that has moved to the new station/branch would have the right to either present a petition asking for a new election and run for the position or wait until the mandatory four year election of local steward and run for the position at that time.Q. Where should the local steward elections be held?A. The election should be held at a location that is accessible to all members. The post office is not required to allow the union to have elections in their facility, but often times will allow the use of the break room for such purposes.Q. Should we have RCA’s sign the election form if they are not working on the day of the election?A. Only the members present at the election who voted should sign form 10.Q. If I am the only candidate for local steward does an election have to be held?A. No, if you are the only candidate for the steward position after the 15 day posting period, our Constitution states, “The selection of a local steward should be in accordance with democratic procedures.” The election of local steward shall be by ballot, except where there is only one candidate placed in nomination.Q. A few of the regular carriers wanted the polls to be open all day of the election and cast a paper ballot and let someone else count the ballots (postmaster had counted them in the past). A few carriers were concerned they would not be able to return from their routes by 4 p.m. (voting time).A. There are no provisions for an election to be conducted in this manner.Q. If I am out of town during the election can I still vote.A. No. Only members in good standing that are present to vote. The election should be held at a time, date and location that is convenient to the majority of the members. The time, date and location of the election should not be used to prevent anyone from participating.

Delbert HutchissonNorthern Ohio

DistrictRepresentative

Local Steward Call

Page 13 The Ohio Rural Letter Carrier December/January

Q. Can carriers vote absentee?A. No. Only members in good standing that are present can vote. The same provision as above applies.Q. When two form 10’s (Local Steward Election Call) are posted by two different carriers on the same day, which are we supposed to use?A. It really doesn’t matter which one of the two forms is used as long as all of the candidates who wish to be considered for the local steward position are allowed to be considered. When the election has been held, the members that took part in the election will sign only one of the forms and the infor-mation on the form 10 that is required for the new local steward would be forwarded to the District Representative so the elected local steward could be scheduled for training and certification.Q. What if someone doesn’t agree with the time posted on the form 10?A. If there is a disagreement about the time posted on the form 10, the members should discuss changing the time to allow the opportunity for as many members to be present as possible. Remember, the election should be held using democratic principles, which would mandate making the election time accessible to all the members. Sometimes affording every single member the opportunity to be present might be impossible, but an effort should be made. It goes without saying that setting of the time to vote should never purposely exclude any members from voting.Q. My postmaster won’t allow us to have the election on the clock; what do we do?A. The election should be conducted at another time. The Postal Service is not obligated to allow us to conduct the election from steward on the clock.Q. My postmaster won’t let us have the election on the premises; what should we do?A. You should find another location to conduct the steward election. The Postal Service is not obligated to provide a space to conduct union elections. The location selected should be a place that is convenient to the membership. The location should not pose a hardship on any member having access to the election site. Q. Can the postmaster prevent me from coming into the post office on my day off to vote?A. Yes. If you are not scheduled to work, you are not allowed on the workroom floor; therefore, the postmaster would have the right to prevent you from coming into the post office workroom floor. If there is a problem with having access to the post office for the purpose of voting in the election, the election location should be moved to a location where everyone would have access.Q. Who conducts the election and counts the ballots?A. Any member(s) in good standing of the NRLCA may conduct the election and count the ballots. The person(s) conducting the election should not be one of the candidates for the position.Q. Where do we send the election form and the ballots?A. The completed election form must be sent to the District Representative and he/she will schedule the certification training. The ballots should be retained until the next election.Q. Do we have to use a ballot box?A. It is not necessary to have an actual box for the ballots. All election procedures should conform to democratic election procedures ensuring that it is a secret ballot.Q. We have elected (and are entitled to) two stewards; who is the chief steward?A. When there is more than one local steward at an installation, one shall be elected by a majority vote by the NRLCA members of said office as chief steward.Q. Can the steward elected in one of the stations of a multiple-station office be required to be the chief steward if the steward does not want to represent the other stations or branches?A. Although the provision exists to allow this, the union’s position has always been we will not force anyone to represent the other stations or branch-es.Q. Is the election of steward nullified if it is discovered that a non-member has been allowed to vote?A. Yes. Any irregularities in the voting process would make the results void and another election should be conducted.Q. How long is a steward-elect given to attend training, pass the test and be certified, before the election is nullified?A. There is no specific time designated that a newly-elected steward must attend training and be certified. We certainly would expect it to be a reasonable time frame.Q. Does the union have any recourse if someone of dubious character or a propensity to lie is elected to a steward’s position?A. Yes. The NRLCA Constitution provides the mechanism for removing any steward who has not or is not performing to the standards that are set by the Constitution.Q. Is the union obligated to train and certify a former local steward, who resigned and was decertified under threat of DFR charges who is subse-quently re-elected?A. No. The right to certify a steward is the sole and exclusive function of the union.Q. When a new steward is elected, when is the current steward de-certified?A. The current steward would remain certified until such time that the new steward is trained and certified with the post office to which elected.

Thank you for considering being a local steward. If you have any further questions please call your District Representative.

Steward’s Presentation

during the Fall

Booster Meeting.

Page 14 The Ohio Rural Letter Carrier December/January

Congratulations Recent Retirees

Patsy Anderson FreeportDwight Baise ProctorvilleJulie Balbaugh DefianceRaymond Balbaugh DefianceSheila Belcher MasonBonnie Bell Russells PointArlene Burkhart Quaker CityDebra Burrill Tipp CityIva Davis WestonRobert Davis WestonKathleen Drobney MassillonRobert Fackler Garrettsville

Elizabeth Fannin WheelersburgMichael Green WheelersburgCharles Grimes XeniaSusan Hall PortsmouthCheryl Harding New LondonAmy Harian PowellRosemary Hidasey Newton FallsDale Kidney LodiTerry Poppe SidneyJohn Schafer CaldwellDouglas Snider RosevilleDenise Stammen ColdwaterWillard Stapleton Jr LucasvilleRandy Travis BelmontHoward Vadasz UniontownSharon Ward SycamoreWilliam Wenzlick DeshlerTeresa Willman South ViennaVirginia Yost Aurora

2016 Spring District Meetings

District 1 Saturday, March 5, 2016. Dinner at 5:30 PM – Meeting at 6:30 PM. Best Friends Restaurant, Interstate 90 and State Route 534, Geneva OH. Questions contact Dawn Greene 440-759-2777, Matt Burke 216-382-3031 or Roger Herbster 440-437-8259.

District 2 Wednesday, April 13, 2016. Dellroy Community Hall, East Main St, Dellroy OH. Details will be forthcoming on the notification postcard. Questions contact Barbara Pitts 330-533-6274.

District 3 Thursday, April 7, 2016. 6:30 p.m. Freeport Fire House Social Hall, 119 E Main St, Freeport OH 43973. Buffet meal with 2 meats and all the fixings. Price $10.00 per plate. RSVP by April 6th and and receive $5.00 off the price of your meal to Jody Schuler, 7951 Euga St, Newcomerstown OH 43832 (740-610-8221) jodyschuler@yahoo.com or Patsy Anderson, 74765 Dry Ridge Rd, Freeport Oh 43973 (740-630-7306) pontexpress52@yahoo.com.

District 4 Saturday, April 2, 2016. The meal is at 6:00PM Meeting to follow at Lori’s Restaurant, 17020 McConnelsville Rd., Cald-well, OH 43724. We will order from the menu but in order to plan how many to expect please RSVP by March 28, 2016 to Eileen Piatt 740-934-2849.

District 5 To Be Announced

District 6 Saturday April 2, 2016. Dinner at 5:30 PM the Meeting will be at 6:30 PM. Hebron United Methodist Church, 925 W Main St, Hebron OH 43025. Cost of the meal is $5.00 per person. First time attendees will eat free. RSVP by March 26, 2016 to Sandy Laramee 614-580-6394 or picktown@aol.com.

District 7 Tuesday, March 15, 2016 in Morrow County. Specific location to be determined. Members to the Spring Meeting will pay $5 for their meal. Contact Autumn Cramer, 419-562-1184 or autumnbcramer62@yahoo.com.District 8 Thursday, March 10, 2016, 6:oo – 9:00 PM, Details will be forthcoming. Contact - Chrissy Putz 330-606-7448.

District 9 Wednesday, March 9, 2016, 6-9 PM. Frickers1720 E Wooster St, Bowling Green Ohio 43402. RSVP to Tim Barker 419-901-0900 or tbark9@gmail.com

District 10 Wednesday, March 30, 2016. Plaza Inn, 491 S Main St, Mt Victory OH. Buffet Dinner $12.50 per person. - 6:00PM Meeting at 7:00PM Order from the menu. Any District 10 member who brings a new attendee to the meeting will receive $5.00. RSVP by March 25, 2016 to Diane Cox 4780 Stony Creek Rd, Urbana OH 43078-9454 or call 937-869-4724 or diane_rlc@yahoo.com. District 11 Tuesday, March 29, 2016. Dinner @6pm. Meeting @7pm. Goodwin’s Family Restaurant,214 Lancaster Pike (Rt. 22),Circleville, OH 43113. RSVP Emilee Arthur 937-206-8642. or emileedarthur@yahoo.com.

District 12 Tuesday, March 8, 2016. 6:00 – 9:00 PM, Golden Coral, 3350 Village Drive, Franklin OH (513-705-6564). Dinner at 6:00 and the Meeting at 7:00PM Contact person, Carla Dedden 513-683-4664 or Carla.dedden@aol.com

District 13 March 29, 2016 at the Ministry Center at First Church of New Knoxville, 105 N. St. Marys St, New Knoxville,OH 45871. There will be a catered meal at 6:30 pm and the meeting at 7:15 pm. RSVP to Janna Hirschfeld @ 419-629-3830 by March 22, 2016.

District 14 Thursday, March 3, 2016, Meal at 5:30 Meeting to begin at 6:30 PM. Kissners, 524 Clinton Rd, Defiance OH. The meal is banquet style a cost of $5 per person. First time attendees eat free. RSVP by February 25, 2016 to Susan Thayer 419-906-2058 or Debra Towers 419-237-3071.

Page 15 The Ohio Rural Letter Carrier December/January

Auxiliary OfficersPRESIDENTED COX4780 Stony CreekUrbana, OH 43078Phone 937-206-5819diane_rlc@yahoo.com

VICE PRESIDENTJODI BURKE4822 Delevan Dr.Lyndhurst, Ohio 44124Phone 216-382-3031goofy16jlb@yahoo.com

SECRETARY/TREASURERDIANA HAUSFELDP. O. Box 105Minster, OH 45865-0105Phone 419-628-2433diana@hktelco.net

EXECUTIVE BOARDSandy Schwartz, Chairman of the Board10 Eastmoor CourtNew Bremen, OH 45869-1101Phone 419-305-3800skschwartz@nktelco.net

Paul Ortz, Secretary / Provident Guild Rep.11696 Youngstown Pitts Rd.New Middletown, OH 44442Phone 330-542-9496orlcasjo2001@comcast.net

Cindy Gamble, Junior Advisor4123 Southern Blvd.Youngstown, Ohio 44512-1242Phone 330-207-8561cag3850@sbcglobal.net

Pat Singelyn, Junior Sponsor18991 Munn Rd.Chagrin Falls, OH 44023Phone 330-562-8886plsteacher207@yahoo.com

2015-2016 JUNIOR OFFICERSPresident, Samantha Fernandez1997 Riverview DrDefiance OH 43512

Vice President , Riley Hausfeld4860 Ft Loramie Swanders RdMinster OH 45865

Secretary, Morgan Todd610 West State StreetSalem, OH 44460

Treasurer, Nate Hausfeld4860 Ft Loramie Swanders RdMinster OH 45865

It was really nice to see everyone at the district meetings and the Fall Booster. It’s great to meet and make new friends and seeing good friends again from the past years, always warms my heart.

Many of you purchased the project items at the meetings, and I would like to thank you all for your generous contributions. The mailbox notecards and coin purses seem to be the most popular. In addition, we have water bottles, rear view computer mirrors, a SafeKeyPUR*, as well as our project pin of the Penguin Family. The sale of these items allows the NRLCA Auxilliary to help with research with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

There are also scholarships available through the Auxiliary and of course the Junior Contests. Contact any Auxiliary officer for more information on these.

Merry Christmas! And Happy New Year!Ed Cox

Ed CoxPresident

Auxiliary Scholarships Scholarship applications are now available on line at: nrlca.org

click on National & State Officers, click on NRLCA National Auxiliary,

view,select and print the appropriate scholarship applications.

Remember these must be postmarked by March 1, 2016.

Page 16 The Ohio Rural Letter Carrier December/January

If a hearing impaired member needs a sign language interpreter for a state wide meeting, please advise our State Secretary Koren two weeks prior to meeting date.

Upcoming Events

Board MeetingFebruary 1, 2016 NoonFebruary 2, 2016 9AM

Renaissance Cleveland Hotel24 Public Square

Cleveland OH 441143

May 3, 2016 Last Day for Nominations for Delegate to

National Convention

OHRLCA State ConventionJune 12 - 14, 2016

Doubletree Worthington175 Hutchison Avenue

Columbus, Ohio

Non-ProfitU. S. Postage

PAIDPermit #225

Youngstown, OH

MembersSend Address Changes to:Ohio Rural Letter Carriers Association104 Clay Road SWDellroy, OH 44620-9757

DEADLINE for the February/March issue is Janurary 2, 2016. Please have all articles to Editor Barbara Pitts by that date. editor@ohrlca.org

Please note:If you have been

relocated to another post office your assigned

District may have changed.

Please be sure and read your District Meeting

Postcard for your assigned District.

Elizabeth AdamsMercedes ApplingDominique BatesPeggy BeahmJeffrey BeamDavid Biggers IIIBrian BlizzardDanielle BudkeMary CalderonSamatha CarliniTara CarrolRichard ClelandAmanda ConzenSherri CraftDelicia DavisRebecca DrennenDanielle DunnKenneth EddyMiranda EggletonTamara Eriksen

Nada FergusonEmily FogleLinda FrisbyShayree GadsonBabette GarciaJustin GarrettAmanda GoehrigDominic GoinsSalondria GolsonTerri GustafsonBrittny HanenkrathKaitlin HarrisDennis HeichelShaun HensonSarah HilerBobbie Hillard IIIJudith HopkinsCory HornerFelicia IrvinTiffany Jackson

Charly JacksonAllen JonesRanaldo JonesBeni KouaKip LandenbergerBrittany LevenskySandra LiquoriSteve LiterNancy LookerJohn Major IWilliam MaynardDarlonda McCrayRuth MorrisAmanda MorrisMaureen MullinsAlesha NesselrodeMichael NichollMorgan OttoSamantha PettryRyan Popa

Brain ProbstRegina RadiganLatica RakesMargaret RandlesRegina RemingtonSybil RidgewayMisty RobinsonMegan ShenefieldLorra SiebeneckRenee StevensTodd StofferBrenda TaggartWilliam TheodorHeather TrimbleAlisha TrotterJessica VinsonMegan VogtHayden WallaceKeisha WilliamsLauren WilliamsDebra Yager