President's Report, May '26
Another Successful Stamp Out Hunger Event in The Books!
Hello Brothers and Sisters of Branch 524! I am back in town after my most recent stay. at the Maritime Institute in Linthicum Heights, Maryland. I just completed my third and final week of NALC Leadership Academy Class 32 and received my certificate and am anxious to bring forth what I learned to Branch 524.
But just the other day I was out collecting donations. Saturday was my Scheduled Day Off from carrying mail, but I won't take a vacation from the food drive! I accompanied retired member Max Standar as we drove around several neighborhoods across Roanoke, filling up the back of his pickup truck with blue bags of donated food. I also observed several carriers arriving back at the annex with trucks packed full of food which were carefully unloaded by the staff of Feeding Southwest Virginia.
For Roanoke and Vinton, we got the following preliminary numbers from Feeding Southwest Virginia on May 12, 2026:
Annex | 6,949lbs |
Cave Spring | 13,898lbs |
Grandin | 4,565lbs |
Hollins | 9,532lbs |
Melrose | 3,637lbs |
Vinton | 7,363lbs |
That is a preliminary total of 45,944lbs! Donations are still rolling in so we don’t have the final numbers from Roanoke just yet, but I saw more than enough donations roll in to keep the wonderful food bank employees busy. I heard that Cave Spring nearly filled up an 18-wheeler with donations by 5pm. I also heard from Sharon Sink over in Martinsville that the carriers there collected over 5,000lbs of food!
This Food Drive was also the last food drive to have Bedford’s John Orndorff as its coordinator. Thank you, John for working hard to get this event going year after year. The Branch has appointed Tyler Wiggins as its new coordinator soon to get going on Stamp Out Hunger 2027.
Thank you to everyone who participated! It means so much!
Cleaning House
Branch 524 has recently undergone some extreme housecleaning. In accordance with Labor Standards, the Union is obligated to retain grievance records for up to 5 years. However, between the NALC file cabinet at the Roanoke Carrier Annex, the President’s office and the supply closet at the union hall, we were overflowing. We found grievances that were 10, 15 and even more than 20 years old. We took the time to pull out a select few key cases and dispatched with the rest. A whopping 1200lbs of expired grievances cases were shredded thanks to help from Commonwealth Document Management. This freed up some much-needed space.
Collective Bargaining Conference
A collective Bargaining Conference is scheduled for June 1-3 at the Hilton Hotel in Washington DC. I have delegated Vice President Randy Fellers to attend this event. He plans to relay back pertinent information to the membership at the June meeting.
Working Off the Clock; It Does More Harm Than You May Think…
Some of you may have witnessed some contentious interactions between Union Leadership and Carriers regarding working off the clock. The bottom line is, Article 41.3.K clearly states that Management shall not require nor permit employees to work off the clock.
This is not just splitting hairs over some obscure contractual language either. Working off the clock does serious harm, and its not necessarily only harm to you and your assignment.
Say your route ends up getting added to as a result of this bad habit. Some carriers have actually expressed to me that they don’t care if their routes get added to, that it’s their business. The thing is, if your route gets added to, that territory had to come from somewhere. Say they take it from your colleague's route, they end up taking enough territory from your colleague’s route that his route becomes an auxiliary route and they effectively lose it? This isn’t some wild speculation either. The Roanoke Installation lost 9 routes in 6 months. Still think working off the clock only hurts you? Think again.
If you see a colleague working off the clock, notify your shop steward immediately!
Postmaster Dickerson to Leave Roanoke:
It has been brought to my attention that Roanoke Postmaster Larue Dickerson will be leaving Roanoke at the end of the month as he has accepted a position as an MPOO in Huntsville, Alabama.
Many of you have known PM Dickerson as he is a Roanoke native and has spent over a decade working in the Roanoke Installation in various capacities. During the first few months of my presidency, him and I haven’t always agreed on everything. However, we have been able to work together to quickly resolve several issues at the local level. I wish PM Dickerson the best of luck in his future endeavors and look forward to working with his successor.
I would like to wish all members of Branch 524 a very happy Memorial Day and a safe summer.
In Solidarity
Ross Murray
President
NALC Star City Branch 524
Comments