It has recently come to my attention that I have been negligent in providing information to my brothers and sisters.  Here is the content of a letter I mailed to the Locals and States in my territory last Autumn:

Brothers and Sisters,

As with all our earthly endeavors, to every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose. I worked a Postal Service career (albeit some of the time as a full-time Union officer) for 33 years; by November 2010 I will have worked as a Union officer 33 years. I served the St. Louis BMC Local as President for 15 years; and, by November 2010, I will have served the Maintenance Craft as National Business Agent for 15 years. For the purpose of representing the members of this fine Union, it is time to turn the page.

It has not been an easy decision by any means; however, it is the right decision I'm certain. Those of us who serve our fellow members in Union office know very well the toll it takes on family life and the sacrifices it demands of our spouses. My wife, Dotty, has been the kindest and most tolerant supporter; she has often said to me, "Whatever it takes, we will do what we need to do" - acceding to the demands of my service to the Union. But one cannot take advantage of that support and sacrifice forever. Besides, there remain many things for me to do that only some additional "time on my hands" will permit. So, at the end of this term of office, I will retire from the APWU.

As much as I love the battle of advocating - for the Union or for a single member - at the arbitration table, I know I will miss that. There are many things I will miss - not the least of which is the genuine camaraderie among us unionists as we have met to learn, to discuss, to work and to celebrate. But the nature of change includes giving up things we love and to do so hopefully and without regrets.

It appears in many variations, but there is an old saw about leaving things better than you found them. I hope that I have made some incremental improvement in the areas in which I worked over these years, because that is what unionists must hope. We cannot afford to expect major accomplishments because the struggle is so vast in scope. And I remain hopeful of making some contribution to advance progressive principles for years to come.

Looking forward to seeing many of you in the coming year, I remain as always

Sincerely and fraternally,

Donald L. Foley
National Business Agent
Maintenance Craft

Win by persuasion when possible

 Beat them at the table when necessary

 And give 'em hell generally

The Maintenance Craft of the American Postal Workers Union is represented by Local, State and National Officers and Stewards.  Our goal is to provide the best possible representation and contract enforcement for the members of the Craft.  The national officers of the Craft make up the Maintenance Council of the APWU.

Steve Raymer -- National Maintenance Craft Director
Gary Kloepfer -- Assistant Director
Greg See -- Assistant Director
Idowu Balogun -- National Representative at Large

Rick Logan -- NBA, Northeastern Region
Bill LaSalle -- NBA, Eastern Region
Jimmie Waldon & Chuck Sundgaard -- NBAs, Western Region
Terry Martinez & Charlie Robbins -- NBAs, Southern Region
Troy Rorman, Vance Zimmerman & Don Foley -- NBAs, Central Region

This website was created to serve APWU members of the Clerk Craft (Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas) and of the Maintenance Craft (Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska).  It is a joint venture of the Clerk Craft NBAs and the Maintenance Craft NBA of the Kansas City Office, made possible by the dedication and hard work of our secretarial staff.

You have entered the Maintenance Craft page of our website.  Welcome!

Herein I will attempt to provide information -- some archival, as well as currently important -- to assist the State and Local Officers and Stewards and the members.  You will also find my personal observations -- about the Postal Service and about the APWU.  Please do not confuse my personal views with official views of the American Postal Workers Union.

Also, please feel free to offer comments or suggestions for improvement to this website and, as always, feel free to ask questions.

Sin/frat,
Don Foley

With the shift of personnel work out of local and district offices into the centralized Human Resources Shared Services center, more and more matters for Postal Service employees must be handled electronically, over the internet (or intranet from inside the Postal Service computing environment).  Employees interested in reviewing their own Official Personnel Folder (OPF) are now required to view it in electronic format, not in hardcopy.

Everyone should be aware that there are times when material in the OPF is incorrect, outdated or incomplete and that the individual employee has certain rights to assure that the OPF information is correct and up to date.  The Postal Service recently issued a form for the purpose of assisting employees in obtaining corrections to the OPF -- or eOPF in the new terminology.  This is the PS Form 8043.  It allows the individual employee to request amendments, for specific reasons, to be made to his or her eOPF.  Please see the attached file for a copy of this form.