Transcript

Step 4s · United We Scan

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Hey, welcome to the United We Scan podcast.
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Just a quick disclaimer here that any of the views and
0:39
opinions expressed by the individuals are not that of the
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USPS or the NRLCA. This podcast is for
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entertainment purposes only and if you are in need of any
0:53
assistance, please contact your designated union representative.
0:58
Thank you. Welcome back, everybody.
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It's been a few weeks. Our episode 149 tonight, we're
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going to talk about, well, I guess those new step fours that
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just got put out there and you know, if we got some time, we
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had some really good listener questions come through.
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So we're hoping we can get to those before it gets too late
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this evening. But outside of that, how's the
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last couple weeks been for you, Josh?
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Living my best life at the SMDC. I put in the you can't make this
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shit up channel a little while back that we come in Saturday
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morning and our usual routine is you clock in, they do the
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service talk, they hand out the vehicle keys, you go check your
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vehicle and then either start chasing your mouth or get your
1:53
parcel Gurney and sort through them to make sure you don't miss
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those. The girl in the route next to me
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gets her key, goes out, truck's not there.
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Come to find out that the BMF took it because someone who had
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the vehicle last July, let me repeat that last July, wrote it
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up saying it needed a new engine.
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They did issue a vehicle to her route though, a promaster, which
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she is A, not certified to drive, and B, is 90% curbside,
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so it does her no good. Yeah, other than that,
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management's been typical management and I'm just glad the
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survey's over so I have a chance to breathe and relax and not
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worry about. Not that I was super worried
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about it anyway, but not worry about.
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Did I remember to count everything or get everything
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counted? How about you Meow?
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How have you been? I'm.
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OK, so couple weeks ago I actually had a trainee who was a
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holiday clerk that was fired and then they rehired her as ARCA,
3:04
which was a mistake. And then they let her go again.
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And so it was kind of AI don't know if I want to say waste of
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time. I tried to, I, I usually try not
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to, I, I try to pick up one thing you know, from, from those
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sorts of experiences. But it was just another reminder
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that management does not pay attention when they're hiring.
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And I don't know, it's not popping, Sir.
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OK, go back out there, please. OK, So then after that we had
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what the mini mail survey and the first day of the mini mail
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survey, the plant decided that they were going to not run a WSH
3:54
letter through the DPS machine that they always almost always
4:01
run through. Like we have not ever had this
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as just a tray of raw. And so the first day of the
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survey, I ended up having like 700 and something miscellaneous
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letters, random letters because of it.
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And we tracked the progress of it, making sure that that it
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wasn't on any of the end of run reports and the radar report and
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it wasn't. So management counted it
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thankfully and that we didn't have to put in a dispute for it.
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So, but the mini mail survey was OK.
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It's just like one of those things that you, I don't know,
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it's, it's a muscle memory of it.
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And I'm just always happy when it's done because I don't have
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to be as cautious, I guess, with making sure that I'm pulling
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out, you know, the, the miss sorts and, and making sure
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everything's counted correctly. But the weather here has been
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extremely windy. I didn't, I was not here last
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week, but while I was gone, there was a pretty severe
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windstorm that happened where we had like 90 mile an hour winds.
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And we played the is this your trampoline game?
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But there ended up being a fire, a wildfire broke out and a
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couple of the routes of our rule routes, they were evacuated.
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And so there was some issue with that.
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Normally I get a lot of those alerts on my phone and I
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immediately contact like who the person I know is like the
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closest like route to there to make sure that they're safe.
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But thankfully everybody was safe.
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But there's a lot of old trees that completely blew over from
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their roots, like from the base, like just smashing cars and
6:10
houses and mailboxes. And when I, I, I didn't deliver
6:17
until yesterday, there's branches still all over.
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So it's like kind of a, a cleanup of what happened.
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And there's like one part of my route today, I was talking to
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the customers and they they had like thrown sand out in the
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field to try and level it out and all of that sand blew over
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and it like sandblasted their fence.
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So like the, the finish of the fence is like white.
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So from how much wind there was, but and then like all my
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mailboxes are just covered in dirt and you could just see it
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like it's just in any of the nooks and crannies of a mailbox.
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There's just all kinds of dirt. So what's the RX scan to blow
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the dirt out of my mailboxes, right?
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Just get yourself a Clorox wipe. Just one, That's all you need.
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For the whole round, it's more than that.
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It needs more than just a Clorox wipe, it needs like a like.
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A. A power washer and a.
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A leaf blower. Leaf blower, leaf blower to each
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box, even my CB us, the outgoing slots are just covered.
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So I'm going to be taking like compressed air, I think to some
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of those. But how have you been, Kristen?
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Oh, I've been doing back and forth, back and forth, back and
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forth, but you know, it's I'm, I'm enjoying the time I get to
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spend my with my mom as nerve wracking as I can get at times.
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Now I'm thankful to be able to help her out when needed.
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So and I still went to my tattoo Expo that I always go to in
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March every year and got myself a new tattoo.
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It's actually a cover up of one that's like 28 years old.
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So and other than that, yeah, mini mail survey.
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I think I worked half of it. My numbers looked pretty average
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from the last previous one. So I wasn't good, you know, not
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upset about it at all. So I was there to do my, you
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know, my walk distances prior and yeah, I don't I don't stress
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over the mini mail surveys too much.
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But I do have a shadow day coming up next week though, so
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our new sub for my route. So that'll be nice.
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Yeah, to have my own sub again. Yeah, I trained today too, so my
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voice might go a little hoarse. I told somebody I was like, man,
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I'm tired of hearing my voice today.
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Yeah, yeah, I yeah. I've put 7000 miles on my car
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since the middle of January. That's a lot of driving.
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That is a lot of driving. Oil change.
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I have gotten an oil change. Yes.
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Yes. That's more than some people do
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in a year. I know.
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In an LOV even. Yeah, that's just primarily
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going to my mom's and back. I mean, I did go to Detroit for
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the one weekend and whatnot, but I went from Mom's and yeah,
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that's primarily because Mom's is 210 miles went away.
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So it's been interesting. And we had weather.
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We didn't we Well, we had winds, too.
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I mean, Mom's house even lost power one day.
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Was it Friday? And yeah, well, Friday or
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Saturday? Before we moved, my route for
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the year is only 6240 miles. After we moved, it's like 9300.
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Yeah. So, so, yeah, I've been, you
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know, still doing the back and forth.
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It's starting to lighten up a little bit.
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We don't have another appointment that I have to worry
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about until next month. So yeah, it's been it's been a
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process. I'm tired.
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That's just like my permanent state of mind anymore is just
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exhausted. And we got crazy weather here
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too. I know those watching we might
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where I live though didn't get hit nearly as hard as as others.
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Or even where my youngest daughter lives.
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You know, I know I've seen some pictures and stories from
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Wisconsin friends. And yeah, I've seen pictures
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from what the UP got. And even the ice storm part that
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came through my area was still north of us by about 10-15
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miles. And it's just been it.
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Yeah. You know, it's crazy.
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We've got several people in the area that won't be getting their
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power back on until Thursday night.
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I think they were saying now. So luckily we have power, but
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many, many do not. I know part of my route still
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doesn't have power. That was weird yesterday running
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it with I forgot oh the whole first hour North End of my route
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had no power. Yucky.
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Yeah, I know, my wife said. Told me yesterday there was a
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tornado touchdown just a couple miles from the house and its
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path was about a mile, mile and a half long I think.
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There was one that hit down in southwest Michigan that Friday.
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I went to the tattoo Expo. It was actually like 30 miles
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from my mom's house. I saw pictures.
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I missed it because I had already left mom's, but I saw
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pictures of what the storm looked like going through my
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mom's town. And I'm like damn, I was in
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Detroit so I missed it but. That's crazy.
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It is, it really is just I know parts of US 23 heading up
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between here and Alpena were closed yesterday because due to
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put down power lines in the trees across the across the road
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and well, I had to take Ruby up to Alpena today.
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She got her wisdom teeth out. So yeah, I completely
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understandable why the road was closed yesterday with the amount
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of trees that were off on the side of the road.
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Yeah, or yesterday there was on on my route, I had to skip a a
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whole, a whole section because there's a tree down across the
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the one main road. And then I came back it I came
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back going around the other coming from the other side of
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when I was done the route and they had the one that tree
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cleared out by then luckily so. Yeah, our POV route was telling
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me yesterday. I mean, he was having tree limbs
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drop, you know, next to the mailboxes he was putting mail in
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and he had a tree actually fall over in front of him on the road
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and he had to turn around and back track to go around it
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'cause he couldn't drive over it.
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Yeah, it was, it was crazy. And I thankfully am closer to
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town. So I mean, my furthest point
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away from the office is only 5 miles maybe.
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So, you know, I, I had no issues with any with my route at all
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yesterday other than somebody parking their car too close
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between the two mailboxes. But other than that, that's I
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got everything else delivered. Nice, yeah.
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Yeah, it was a little bit lighter yesterday than it was
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last Monday. So I was, I was happy.
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I wasn't too thrilled about the whole fully packed tray of non
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near mail that came my route though.
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But. Like thanks.
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Guys and my LLV not wanting to start what had already been in
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the shop twice for in the last few weeks because of the same
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problem. So yeah, that was it was it was
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a Monday yesterday at least I only had 174 scans as opposed to
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the 244 the previous Monday. Oh my goodness.
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Yeah, yeah, that was yesterday was just one of those days.
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It was like well happy flipping Monday birthday to me.
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Yeah. Oh yes.
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Happy belated birthday to you, Kristen.
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Also. Yes, my birthday was yesterday.
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Guys, happy birthday. Yeah, still got a couple more
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years before I reach that half century mark, so I'm good for
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now. Like you got this.
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Nah, you worried about it? All right, so we're going to
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dive into Step 4 talk. Yeah, so just a little bit
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briefly, I, I kind of wanted to touch on this a little bit too
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with step three. I know we've done a a episode
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about grievances and how to file a grievance.
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These two instances that I'm going to that we're going to be
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talking about are not the carrier themselves filing
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agreements, but the NRLCA filing agreements.
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So a grievance may be filed by the unions.
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Sorry, let me backtrack a second here.
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Article 15.3 dot K of the National Agreement states a
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grievance may be filed by the Union's executive committeemen
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directly at step three of the grievance procedures.
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Where a policy matter at a district or area level is
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involved, such policy must direct an action which violates
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the National Agreement and effects more than one office.
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The grievance may be filed prior to, but not later than 14 days
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after implementation of the change.
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So basically, let's say that you have a district manager in the
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area that you're at or a POOM who has decided that they feel
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like, you know, we're gonna make every single RCA deliver city
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routes or what's something else that we're going to make
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everybody POV routes, even though they have government
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vehicles assigned and there's multiple carriers who are
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affected by this. And the, your NRLCA district
17:00
representative and probably your NRO or, or also executive
17:06
committeemen over that area, their phones blowing up.
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They have the ability to file a grievance.
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If you know, let's say that like you have a district manager who
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decided that they wanted to send messages out on the scanner,
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which is a violation. It's, it should only ever be a
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safety related message. They don't, they can't just like
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send messages to everybody like that.
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The NRL can file a grievance on that.
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So just keep that in mind. You also all obviously always
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have the ability to file a grievance over anything you want
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if it's successful or not. You know that the merits of the
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grievance may be challenged and those sorts of things and it may
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not be successful, but just keep in mind that the NRO has the
17:57
ability to file a grievance. So then there is also what is
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called a Step 4 grievance and there is two different kinds of
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Step 4 grievances. Now it could be a grievance that
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was filed at step one from a carrier and it has now worked
18:15
its way up through the process and has made its way to the
18:21
national office and the Director of Labor relations and the and
18:28
the NRLC. A president have the choice of
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whether or not they're going to present that and have it go to
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Step 4 or arbitration. But specifically what I wanted
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to talk about is Article 4 dot Article 15.4 dot D, which is
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national level grievance. It is agreed that in the event
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of a dispute between the Union and the Employer as the
18:56
interpretation of this agreement, such dispute may be
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initiated as a grievance at the step four level by the President
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of the Union. Such a grievance shall be
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initiated in writing and must specify in detail the facts
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giving rise to the dispute, the precise interpretive issue to be
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decided and the contention of the Union.
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Thereafter, the party shall meet at Step 4 within 30 days in an
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effort to define the precise issues involved, develop all
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necessary facts and reach agreement.
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Should they fail to agree, then within 15 days of such meeting,
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each party shall provide the other with a written statement
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with a statement in writing of its understanding of the issues
19:45
involved and the facts giving rise to such issues.
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In the event the parties have failed to reach an agreement
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within 60 days of the initiation of the grievance that set for,
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the Union may appeal it to arbitration within 30 days
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thereafter so. The reason why this is really
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important is typically, you know, the the NRLCA president
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has the ability to file these types of grievances or it is
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something that is infecting the entire craft.
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And I I'll say it like this, finally, after years, the NRLCA
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filed 3 national Step 4 grievances against the Postal
20:34
Service on February 17th and they are all regarding RX
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specific issues. So the first one that was filed
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was RXD PS: Less than 400 pieces per day.
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And when the engineering panel designed RX, it established a
20:56
clear rule on any day your route receives less fewer than 400
21:02
pieces of DPS, that mail should be credited as caseable.
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And it's it's considered as raw mail or random letters.
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And you should receive the corresponding casing standard
21:16
S009 applied to that day's actual volume.
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This daily credit, when properly applied, reflects the real work
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you perform when you case pull down and tray your DPS.
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And the issue is that the Postal Service isn't following the
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logic and the standard for those routes right now that were
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established by the engineering panel.
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And the Postal Service only looks at the final six weeks of
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the evaluation period and uses that window to determine the
21:52
bundle type of the route and whether the caseable DPS
21:56
standards apply. Not just for those six weeks,
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but for your entire annual evaluation.
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If the majority of days in that window had fewer than 400 DPS
22:06
pieces, your route would be classified as a bundle type one
22:12
for the whole year, which is also an issue under Bundle Type
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1. You receive DPS credit for all
22:21
your DPS mail across the full evaluation, but your service
22:24
time per box is reduced every day, which could affect your
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annual evaluation. What were you going to say,
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Josh? In regards to like this, the
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part of the problem is the Postal Service system will only
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give credit if you average less than 400 pieces a day for the
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week, which means you'd have to have less than 2400 pieces in
22:50
the whole week. Yes.
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So basically what the Union has found is that in the final six
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weeks of the evaluation, so like right now, you know, from like
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January into February and then like what was the last day of
23:09
the survey was the 6th, right? Whatever it was right now it the
23:14
Postal Service is only looking at that and not looking at the
23:18
other part of the year where it would show, oh, sometime in the
23:23
summer, I had a few days where I had less than 400 pieces, you
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know, and there are some routes, and I will say this in regards
23:34
to this, I know that there are routes that are like ox routes.
23:40
We have a little baby ox route and it always, almost always
23:43
gets less than 400 pieces of DPS.
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And so I've actually seen it's evaluation information and it is
23:52
classified in the under this. The biggest issue in this is
23:56
that there's normal routes that are like you could have one day
24:02
and however many minutes that time is credited could be the
24:08
difference in bumping you to the next base hour and it may not.
24:14
What's what's important about these sorts of things is that
24:19
even seconds matter, I should say.
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And if, if a route, you know, is that close and that would have
24:31
put them over like there's people who are owed money.
24:36
So I, I'm just, I'm, I'm thankful and happy that this one
24:42
was filed for those reasons. So the, and they, the union said
24:50
the approach was never agreed to by the union.
24:52
It was never established by the engineering panel, it was
24:56
implemented unilaterally and it's a violation of Article 5
25:00
and 34.2 of the national agreement, which require work
25:04
standards to be fair and equitable and mandate union
25:07
involvement before changes are involved.
25:10
The NRLCA urges the USPS to return to the panel's intended
25:14
daily logic. When the agency refused and
25:17
declared an impasse, the union escalated the issue to Step 4.
25:21
Thankfully, so grievance #2 it which is personally my favorite
25:27
of this one is this one's even just chef's kiss to me is this
25:35
grievance addresses a foundational transparency
25:39
problem at the heart of RX. And there's been people who have
25:43
been screaming us from the rooftops since the beginning of
25:47
RX. And I'll say, I don't want to.
25:53
There's people we want to be trusting of things.
25:58
And what's 1 of the terms trust but verify is like a big term
26:04
that us as role carriers should also implement, especially with
26:08
RX. But this one's regarding carrier
26:13
route flats, and they're a key factor in how your route is
26:18
evaluated and how you are paid. Carrier route flats included
26:22
include bundled flats, WSH flats, and then there is
26:28
supposed to be a 19% bonus credit applied to account for
26:35
flat mail delivered to post office loading docks.
26:38
Here is how the system is supposed to work.
26:40
Flat mails process at postal plants.
26:43
The volume data is transferred into the radar report and the
26:48
that data with an additional 19% flows to the daily radar report
26:55
that we get. The automatic 19% bump is to
26:58
provide appropriate credit for flats that are just delivered to
27:02
the back dock. If the underlying carrier route
27:05
flats number is wrong, the 19% credit is wrong too.
27:10
And and it's like creating you're never, we're going to
27:13
fully catch how many flats you had in a year or 52 weeks.
27:19
The Postal Service and I'm going to WSH stands for walking
27:27
sequence high density. And if you wanted to, you can go
27:32
into the domestic mail manual and you can read the WSH flats
27:39
and the WSS flats in the domestic mail manual are grouped
27:43
together and all of the RX data. In the very beginning, they were
27:50
letting us enter the WSH flats. And then they, they came back
27:54
and the Postal Service was like, no, they're on the radar report.
27:57
And that's been a huge issue. And so the Postal Service is
28:04
saying that the WSH flats are being captured in radar and the
28:10
NRLCA is finally challenging this position and believes that
28:15
the evidence supports the Union's concern.
28:18
The carrier routes, flag flats, figure in radar have been have
28:23
never been jointly validated by the Postal Service and the Union
28:28
or by the affected carriers. The Union has asked the Post
28:33
Office to provide evidence that WSH flats and bundle flats are
28:37
being accurately reported and hasn't received nothing
28:40
definitive in return. Meanwhile, hundreds of field
28:43
level disputes have been filed by role carriers across the
28:46
entire country, and that raised the same concern that credits
28:50
are missing, incomplete or simply wrong and the evidence is
28:54
difficult to dismiss. Statements from local management
28:58
during the first RX evaluation period include supervisors
29:03
acknowledging that bundle flat counts were never recorded and
29:06
that flat volumes were inaccurately reported and that
29:09
carriers kept counts did not match what the system showed.
29:14
And so the union is finally requesting that there be a joint
29:18
validation of all carrier routed flats and the methodology and
29:22
that there be a retroactive recalculation of every affected
29:26
route evaluation if the problems are found.
29:30
And transparency and how your pay is calculated should not be
29:33
optional. It should be.
29:33
It's all right that like we should be receiving the adequate
29:40
credit for route flats. Now side note here, I don't want
29:48
to say this. So there are some people across
29:53
the country that say that if you have a WSH that you are allowed
29:56
to enter it into the scanner and that according to the RX
30:02
paperwork is false that we cannot do that.
30:06
And I do realize that there's offices across the country where
30:10
there's managers who do not care.
30:13
I get that. I understand that.
30:14
But also like we need to be, we as rule carriers should be
30:18
making sure our routes are credited correctly for the
30:22
things that we do. Now there are some routes that
30:28
have apartments or they have businesses and now as a result
30:34
of that these routes are now getting WSH flats and and things
30:40
are slowly starting to change to WSH instead of WSS.
30:47
So there is things that I think from the beginning of RX to now
30:51
that have changed. Also a few about two years ago I
30:57
went on a rabbit hole mission and I was told that when the
31:06
shipper of the flats pays postage that that's when it was
31:12
supposed to be uploaded to radar.
31:15
Now, if so, I went in reverse and I ended up finding the IT
31:24
was like a permit number and we get this one mailing that's like
31:32
more localized to us. And I found like the permit
31:36
number and the specific one of the routes that has WSH instead
31:42
of WSS of that full coverage, well or semi coverage I should
31:46
say. And I hand counted them with the
31:51
me and this person and then we went and we went to the bulk
31:57
Mailer and figured out the permit number of when they paid
32:02
postage and then went to the radar report on the day that
32:07
they paid postage and the number on the radar report matched.
32:12
So in my eyes, some of the WSH stuff is credited correctly in
32:19
that way. Like I was able to like
32:21
physically verify it. Now what it's sounding like to
32:25
me is that the Postal Service isn't letting the union do that
32:30
and verifying it in reverse. And now that's pretty cool dude.
32:35
Now he is cute. He's a little pterodactyl.
32:39
The other thing that I'm seeing now though, that I'm glad that
32:44
the union finally filed this grievance is because now I'm
32:48
starting to see some of my carrier route bundles there.
32:53
There's multiple companies that are like combining them together
33:00
to be like this jumbo bundle of flats that are now WSH.
33:07
And if you look at the postage on them, there is no permit
33:11
number. It just has like the company and
33:14
it's like 30 different companies in this bundle.
33:18
So my question is if that is the same case as the other stuff now
33:28
as what I had seen prior. Now I also have gathered my
33:36
bundled flats radar report from the last year.
33:39
I think I disputed it a couple different Times Now.
33:45
And in the comprehensive guide for RX, it states that we are
33:51
supposed to have that 19% buffer and it's supposed to it's
33:57
supposed to like negate like those back dock like random semi
34:03
coverages that we get that you can't enter into the scanner.
34:06
Now the only time that some of those seems like they've been
34:10
counted are now during the mini mail survey.
34:14
So, but personally like from what I have seen, I have never
34:22
seen that 19% buffer in anything.
34:25
So I, I think that the union will be successful in the
34:29
grievance just on that part of it alone.
34:32
But the Postal Service just isn't transparent in the the way
34:38
that they're doing the flats. And I think that the Postal
34:43
Service it, you know, I think today, what is it today?
34:46
They had that congressional hearing, right?
34:50
Was it today? Yes, OK.
34:53
And did my headphones disconnect?
34:56
I'm just over here ranting and raving and.
34:58
Wait here. Yeah.
35:00
OK, where is my head? There it is.
35:02
I can hear it now. OK, the the Postal Service likes
35:07
to cry wolf and say that we're like running out of money, which
35:10
I understand. But then, OK, we're running out
35:13
of money. But then like there is like,
35:16
like fraud and parcels that are coming through the system that
35:21
we should be collecting postage due on.
35:24
And, you know, there's different avenues in that regard.
35:28
And it takes every single person to essentially catch those
35:34
things and report them. But then you have managers who
35:39
just like, for lack of a better term, do not give a shit.
35:43
And it's it's just frustrating because we all want the Postal
35:48
Service to succeed. We don't want the fraud to
35:51
happen. But you see it and you're
35:53
reporting it. And then you have the higher ups
35:57
going, OK, we don't have any money.
36:01
So I'm hoping that there's not people who are mailing flats and
36:07
committing fraud with the flats, you know, and so you would hope
36:12
that that 90% buffer would protect rule carriers from those
36:16
sorts of things. But I just, I hope that the
36:20
union will be able to get to the bottom of it because I'm just
36:25
glad that they were able to file that.
36:28
The third grievance that the union filed was about emergency
36:33
CDs routes, and those are contract delivery routes.
36:38
Hold on one second, baby. I'm taking too long, he says.
36:42
So what is happening basically is that the Postal Service has
36:47
decided in some areas where they cannot hire rule carriers,
36:52
they're making some of our rule routes into contract delivery
36:58
routes or contract delivery service and they are saying that
37:05
they have an emergency, but they there is no true emergency being
37:09
present. Under postal regulations,
37:11
emergency contracts are only permissible under during genuine
37:17
emergencies such as floods or natural disasters.
37:20
The NRLCA contends the USPS has been stretching this limited
37:25
authority far beyond its intended purpose.
37:28
The impact on carriers is serious and direct Royal Mail
37:31
delivery belongs to the rule carrier craft and there is a
37:34
clear order of priority. When a route goes vacant, Rule
37:40
carriers must first be offered the route.
37:42
If no regular carrier is available, PTFS and then Rcas
37:47
have the right to become regular carriers and serve the route.
37:50
If all internal options are exhausted, management is
37:54
required to attempt to hire a regular carrier from the street.
37:57
In addition, Rcas may choose to hold down a route during the
38:01
extended absence of a regular carrier and earn additional
38:05
leave benefits in that process. In some locations, they are
38:09
removing RCA's from their primary routes in order to
38:12
provide work for these emergency contractors, and they're
38:16
bypassing the process entirely and handing rule work to outside
38:21
contractors. And the USPS is cutting RCA's
38:25
off from work opportunities and the path to career advancement.
38:30
They also have the ability to file like or to bid on a
38:35
district wide posting, which in my area has happened and I can
38:44
speak to there's some. There's one of those the offices
38:50
near here that has been affected by this and the routes aren't
38:55
receiving any RX data. So if they take the contract off
39:01
of the route, you have now hindered the route from having
39:04
52 weeks of accurate data. So the NRLCA ended up filing
39:11
that and then to stop all improper emergency CDs
39:16
assignments. The other thing too is that the
39:20
Postal Service is paying some of these contractors like Buku
39:25
Bucks. Now granted, I know that they're
39:29
not paying for their benefits and those sorts of things, but
39:33
if the Postal Service has the ability to fork up all this
39:36
money for these contractors, I mean, they should be paying the
39:44
RCA's and the regular carriers more money to.
39:47
They should be fighting harder to retain the people that they
39:51
have instead of paying a contractor to trash her out, you
39:56
know. So in conclusion of it, so the
40:01
three grievances share a common thread.
40:03
The Postal Service making unilateral decisions that
40:06
affects rule carriers, pay rule carrier work opportunities and
40:11
rights without the union input and without accountability.
40:14
And the NRLC is challenging each of those issues at the highest
40:17
level of the grievance process because every rule carrier
40:20
deserves a system that is fair, transparent and applied as
40:23
intended. And if some if people have
40:27
questions on them, they can call their union representative if
40:31
they want more clarification. Like this podcast is for
40:36
entertainment purposes. And I know I kind of gave my
40:38
opinion a little bit on some of these, but if you wanted to view
40:42
the filing and the more specific details of each of those
40:46
grievances that the NRLCA filed, they're on nrlca.org under the
40:50
news section. I'm just so happy that they, it
40:56
was, it's about damn time. I'll just say that like it's
41:00
been years coming. And I, I'm hoping that the union
41:06
finally like built up enough data and things against the
41:12
Postal Service in these instances.
41:17
And I, I, I'm pretty caught. I'm, I'm confident in the
41:21
union's ability to fight with these grievances.
41:26
You know, I just, I think that there's more that could be filed
41:30
still. And I just think that over the
41:34
course of like, I don't know, I'll say like the last five
41:37
years, there's not been very many Step 3 or Step 4 grievances
41:42
filed that I have heard of. And it's encouraging to hear
41:47
that they're, they're happening, they're starting to happen more.
41:53
I, I know like back in, you know, when, when I was a
41:59
steward, like, and like, what was it like 2017?
42:02
And there was all kinds of step fours that were cited like that
42:06
I used to use from like Joey Johnson.
42:08
And there's interpretive issues that the Postal Service tries to
42:14
finagle. And I know RX is kind of one of
42:18
those quasi issues because of the fact that there was an
42:23
arbitrator decision and you want to have all your facts straight
42:30
before you start just Willy nilly filing grievances.
42:35
But it's it's time, you know, that the post office needs to
42:40
show us what's what's going on. Like we all need to work
42:44
together in good faith. I don't think that it's
42:48
nefarious by any means. I just think that there's rule
42:53
carriers are not engineers. We're not like we didn't come do
42:58
this job because I wanted to know what how much footage I got
43:05
for an authorized dismount and you know, know that I had 700
43:10
and something letters in one day.
43:11
You know what I mean? Like I didn't I didn't sign up
43:14
for a real care for those sorts of things.
43:16
And I think that the union and the Postal Service didn't
43:21
realize that either. There is other things that I
43:25
think can be affected once they come to a conclusion with these
43:31
grievance settlements and I'm hoping that they don't take a
43:35
million years because I've also seen that in the past.
43:39
I'm hoping that they stay to the timelines of what I've read to
43:42
you guys from the contract. So I lose everybody.
43:46
Everybody's real quiet. I'm ranting.
43:49
No, we're we're here. No, we're good.
43:52
We're good. With my soapbox over here.
43:54
We were letting you have your. Moment.
43:57
My moment. We're up on your part of school
43:59
and. Yeah, about Step 4.
44:04
I'm just happy they filed them so not.
44:07
The. Only one.
44:10
Like something how to give? Actually.
44:14
I, I feel pretty confident too and, and thankful like in John
44:19
Adams ability as the director of Labor relations, I know that
44:24
there's disputes that were worked through and that that
44:28
dispute process was supposed to negate some of this, but it
44:33
seems like they're still going to be issues like have worked
44:35
their way up and it's like, look like a lot of people are having
44:40
the same issue. Yeah.
44:42
So. All right.
44:44
Do we want to cover some of the questions in this e-mail?
44:48
I, I was just going to ask that looking at the time, do we want
44:51
to get into that or do we want to try and schedule another day,
44:56
hopefully sooner than later and we'll just go through this
44:59
e-mail well. I mean, there's some that can be
45:02
quickly answered so. This is true.
45:05
I mean, like right off the bat, can any carrier get trained to
45:08
do mapping for the office? So explain the process.
45:11
All right, you can if you and management agree that they're
45:16
going to allow you to be a mapping facilitator.
45:19
Absolutely. It's basically it's just online
45:24
recorded Zoom training that you sit and watch for two to four
45:31
hours are updating you through everything about four hours and
45:36
that's about it for the training portion of it.
45:40
If I know when I first started as a facilitator, I was the
45:46
local steward in my office and so that was kind of help me do
45:49
that, but I was still in RCA, so therefore I did not have an ACE
45:53
ID. The thing is, is with having an
45:56
ACE ID and getting your mapping permissions or the line of
46:02
travel manager because that is the part that management's
46:06
supposed to sign off saying that they mapped it with with the
46:10
carrier blah blah blah. Which is also still good for for
46:13
facilitators. Don't get me wrong, if you have
46:16
that access, they do have to put a 1723 on file as a mapping
46:21
facilitator to allow you as that portion of the program.
46:26
The LTM is under a higher level for access so that's what you
46:30
would have to do for that. If you are a dues paying union
46:34
member and you are actively involved, even in agreeance with
46:37
the National board, having that 1723 on file as a mapping
46:43
facilitator only does not affect your stance in doing union
46:48
related activities. And the follow up on that was do
46:51
you get paid? The answer would be yes.
46:54
You would get AP code, a deck of code P for the day that you are
46:59
facilitating and mapping with the carriers.
47:02
So you would get your evaluation pay for that day under the deck
47:06
of P code, which is doing duties other than the rural route.
47:11
You do it. If you're an OJI, you do it
47:13
under a deck of P code. If you're an Academy trainer,
47:16
you're under a deck of P code. Mapping facilitator you're under
47:19
a deck of P code. When I was in RCA doing it, it
47:22
was green card time. If I do it in my office now if I
47:27
am needed to cover for mapping then it is a deck of P code.
47:31
And the only time it would not be AP code is if they request
47:36
you to come in on your relief day.
47:40
And that would be a daco Y to. Do it OK, I didn't remember what
47:44
the code was, but yes. That's a.
47:46
Daco Y and and that gives you an X day if I remember correctly.
47:51
Yes, that is correct, because I have actually had to use that
47:55
one or two different occasions doing OJT.
47:59
So yes, deck of white gives you an X day, OK, which would be the
48:02
same thing if you're an Academy trainer and you are teaching
48:06
Academy during, if your relief day is in the during the week or
48:12
on a Saturday and it's one of those weird weeks with a holiday
48:15
and they run it on a Saturday, it happens.
48:18
I mean, not very often, but it does.
48:20
It would be a deck of white, same thing.
48:22
So yeah, you can be mapping facilitator in your office.
48:26
You can talk to management about it.
48:28
If they push you around and you know they're not mapping,
48:31
contact your Dr. Block pouch I can interoffice intermediate
48:38
office stops when you're doing your mapping.
48:42
The difference between the high and low is if you have to
48:47
retrieve a conveyance to unload the mail out of your vehicle and
48:51
take it into the office. That is what they consider a
48:55
high option. And the other is if you just
48:58
take a, you know, you're carrying a tub one trip into the
49:02
office, then that would be a low option.
49:05
It basically just has to do with the volume of the mail.
49:08
If, and I do believe it does say if you're having to retrieve a
49:11
convenience, it would be high option.
49:13
And the difference between the two is only just a few minutes.
49:17
And you would enter that into the the DPM portion on on the
49:21
mapping, yes, it'll last like high or low on there.
49:24
Yep, it'll be one of the little things on the left hand side.
49:27
It'll ask you where to put it. Yeah, you mark it in there and
49:30
then it'll ask you to choose the high or low option.
49:32
If things change and you have to go from low to high or high to
49:36
low, it can be changed in as well.
49:38
What was another really good quick one?
49:41
I have been trying to map for 2 1/2 years and a couple times I
49:45
got to the office my supervisor had everything already done and
49:49
wouldn't let me look at it. Anything.
49:51
Contact your local Rep because when management submits it, it
49:59
specifically says I reviewed this with the carrier.
50:03
Yep, it does. It's the last page before you
50:06
finalize it that you reviewed it and you did it with the regular
50:10
carrier. Right now too, if when you
50:14
receive your, your new evaluation on March 28th, I
50:19
think is the day that they're going to have the ability to
50:22
print the new 4241 A's and M's. Unless you're locked from
50:28
because you went through an interim adjustment for you
50:34
received territory from another route or they adjusted your
50:37
route and cut stuff off of it. The rest will be receiving that.
50:41
And if there's issues that are going to arise on there, like
50:46
your traffic control points are wrong, your footage is wrong,
50:50
your and because management had been doing that, you're also
50:54
probably going to have to do a dispute.
50:57
They haven't released. If we're doing the dispute
51:00
process again, I'm assuming that we are.
51:04
So it would probably end up becoming a grievable issue and a
51:09
dispute. But that's why you're going to
51:11
want to talk with your union Rep to figure out which path that
51:16
you're going to need to go. But moving forward, you should
51:20
be sitting there with management and seeing everything they're
51:24
doing. Like some managers aren't going
51:27
to know. Like your front door could be
51:29
under an awning of the house. They're not going to know.
51:33
Oh, there's, there's a abandoned vehicle here.
51:37
And management had measured me all the way over here to get to
51:40
the CVU, you know, or like, I can't park on the busy street
51:46
right there because there's no median there.
51:48
I have to park over here. You know, they're not going to
51:51
know the nuances of the route. Like you will know, despite what
51:55
they may fake. For example, like my apartment
51:57
complex, the doors are in a hallway down the center of the
52:02
building, not on the outside. Yeah, they're not going to know
52:06
where they're at underneath the awning of a building, right?
52:09
Or like that you have like I actually, so I have a Hut for
52:14
this one stop on my route and I have 5 CBU's on one side of the
52:19
Hut and then I have 5 more on an opposite side of it.
52:22
They're not going to know the location of those CBU's.
52:25
They're not going to know where, where to plot things correctly.
52:29
I, I've gone in there before after management went in there
52:33
and I was like, oh, you, I looked at them.
52:37
I was like, oh, you went in here without me?
52:39
And she was like, well, how do you know that?
52:41
And I was like, because I can tell because you plotted A
52:44
stoplight here, and that's a bridge.
52:49
Like, it looks like it's a road. And I was like, that's an
52:51
overhead bridge. There is no stoplight there.
52:57
And she's like, oh, well, it was in your favor.
52:58
And I'm like, yeah, but I want my route to be correct.
53:01
Like don't go in here without me like and here messing my stuff
53:06
up. Even if you have no changes that
53:10
month, still go in with management for your mapping
53:13
because that is a good chance to make sure that everything is
53:17
plotted correctly and your traffic control points are all
53:20
correct. And so yes, it is important,
53:23
even if you have no changes in your edit book for a month, to
53:25
still go through that mapping with management.
53:28
Yeah, and I've started noticing like some people's front doors
53:32
have changed or traffic control points aren't plotted correctly
53:39
or a sub one another way. So when they downloaded it, it's
53:44
thinking that there's an alternate path.
53:45
There's different things that could happen even though you
53:48
didn't activate addresses or deactivate, you know, Yes.
53:53
Yeah, I'll tell you, I'm talking with a friend, but when he goes
53:57
in every month, first thing he does is make sure everything
54:00
that's active or inactive is correct.
54:03
And then he randomly 10 to 15 addresses to make sure that
54:08
those plot points are still correct.
54:12
Yep, I do that. You have the yeah, you have the
54:15
right to go through line by line, every single address if
54:21
you wanted to, if you felt the need to, to check them,
54:24
everything, all the plot points and everything are correct.
54:27
Yeah. And you might not.
54:28
You might have had a customer who moved and sold their house
54:33
and now there's a new customer and they want their parcels and
54:37
they access everything from the side door and they answer
54:41
everything over there versus the main front door.
54:44
You know, it's, there's customer service aspects to it that can
54:49
change or their garage, like you can't access their front door
54:54
anymore or you know, there, there's a lot of varying things
54:57
that can happen. The other part of it too, is
55:01
that if you are activating or deactivating things, management
55:05
also is supposed to download the most recent edit book.
55:11
So when they go in to the DPM, you can actually go in there.
55:16
And I would download your dismount worksheet first and
55:20
then just have it printed just in case you have to unanchor
55:23
things and you lose the footage. But then go in there and hit
55:28
download so that it's the most recent.
55:32
And so underneath like where it says the route, it'll say the
55:36
date of the most of the download of the edit book.
55:40
And if if management isn't hitting that download, it could
55:44
be showing things as inactive that are truly active now.
55:48
Yes. My baby kit.
55:50
I would say, well we're on that same thought process.
55:53
My edit book never matches up with my mapping addresses that
55:57
should be active or being inactive.
55:59
How can this happen? That's just what we're talking
56:02
about. They may not have downloaded it
56:04
the updated or you know. That's where I try and get new
56:10
edit sheets like every other month.
56:13
That way that also shows me what has actually been corrected in
56:18
there and what hasn't. Yeah.
56:20
And if you activate things inside of DPM, it does not
56:24
communicate with AMS and Webbie's.
56:27
So you have to go through AMS and Webbie's and those
56:32
applications and then it gets downloaded into DPM.
56:36
Yeah. And so you could change it in
56:38
the in the DPM, but if it doesn't match what you have in
56:42
the edit book, it's not going to stay that way.
56:45
It's going to default back to what's the in the edit book.
56:48
I'm hoping one day that the the technology gods will update
56:58
that, but we'll see. It would be nice.
57:02
Yeah, but. All right.
57:05
Is there anything else we wanted to?
57:07
I think that's good for tonight. I don't see why we need to.
57:11
I mean, there's a lot more in that e-mail with.
57:13
Questions. Oh yeah, you can come, Yeah.
57:15
Yes. Some of those are fairly.
57:17
In yeah, let's say it and I think we will.
57:19
Yeah, we'll schedule a time and go through this and we'll
57:24
probably re answer some of the questions that we answered just
57:26
to make sure we get everything. Yeah, I just wanted to finish it
57:32
off with where they said thank you for taking the time to read
57:35
this e-mail. We all love the podcast and all
57:39
the great information you guys put out, and I just want to say
57:43
thank you. We appreciate it.
57:46
I have another one that popped up on the YouTube after the most
57:51
recent episode that was really good and let me read this.
57:54
Real says hey guys, six year RCA here.
57:57
I'm finally getting converted and going full time.
58:00
Regular rule carrier. Not saying where they're from
58:03
but yes, good. Congratulations.
58:06
Yeah say I love what you guys are doing with these videos and
58:10
wish a lot more role carriers and Subs knew about your
58:13
channel. I found this channel a few weeks
58:14
back and already have listened to most of your guys's videos,
58:18
have so much information. I just wanted to say thank you
58:21
for your time and putting these out.
58:22
Very much appreciated. Thank you.
58:25
Absolutely, and Congrats on going regular.
58:28
Yay. Yay.
58:30
Yeah, six years. I know I wasn't just hair shy of
58:35
nine years. Yes, Congrats from.
58:37
Hanging on, man. Nine years almost to the day,
58:41
like I think 2 weeks. Yeah, I was eight years, 11
58:45
months in five days. Yeah, I was right there too.
58:52
So. Yeah, I, I, it was mid-october
58:54
when I started and it was October 31st like in Burbage,
58:57
so. All right, your final words for
59:01
tonight, Josh. Oh.
59:04
The hard part is over of having to remember to count all those
59:08
upside downs. I wish everyone the best of luck
59:13
with their new evaluations. The weather is definitely
59:19
weathering out there. Can't make up its mind on if it
59:23
wants to be hot, cold, wet, dry, windy.
59:26
So be safe and careful out there.
59:29
I know it's you still can get overwhelmed even though all
59:34
that's passed us. Try not to.
59:37
But if you do, please take a step back, take a deep breath
59:41
and step back in meow. Well, thank you guys.
59:46
It's been nice to talk to you guys.
59:47
I know it's been a couple weeks, so thanks for letting me rant
59:51
about them step fours there. I just I'm real happy about
59:55
them. So I think that's a pretty good
59:58
thing that happened. All right, you had your minute.
1:00:02
Yep, that's it. No more, right?
1:00:06
The other thing I wanted to briefly just say really, really
1:00:09
quick is if you go on to the NRLCA website and you go to the
1:00:15
legislative tab, there's like a whole new updated thing on
1:00:18
there. And I think you should go and
1:00:22
check it out and see where your congressional people stand on
1:00:26
issues that are facing rule carriers and call them and let
1:00:33
them know that they need to support those bills.
1:00:38
I did. Oh yeah, it's right here, baby.
1:00:40
I thought I saw it just briefly if you guys need help.
1:00:44
Also the the phone number again for EAP is 1-800-327-4968 and
1:00:52
it's 1800 EAP, the number four and YOU and call them if anybody
1:01:01
in your house can call them. I like to remind you guys that
1:01:04
that is a benefit that rule carriers have, all postal
1:01:08
employees have so. But.
1:01:11
Kristen. Thank you guys and you know,
1:01:14
thank you for our listeners who are being patient with us as I'm
1:01:19
trying to navigate when I'm available to actually record
1:01:23
right now. It's this is going to be a long
1:01:26
haul for me so but you know, all those that wish me a happy
1:01:32
birthday yesterday, Thank you. I appreciate that too, because
1:01:35
there was many of you out there and yeah, I mean, honestly, this
1:01:40
Mother Nature being and use my language, a fickle bitch lately.
1:01:45
Just stay safe out there, guys. That's that's the biggest thing
1:01:50
is staying safe, staying hydrated, staying alert, and you
1:01:55
know, you know your limits when it comes to safety and you make
1:01:59
that call once you're out on the street.
1:02:01
But on that note, we'll be back. Oh, you guys realize our next
1:02:05
episode's 150th. Oh wow, yeah.
1:02:09
I guess. A special.
1:02:11
Yeah, I. Think.
1:02:13
I think we should probably start putting together our history.
1:02:17
Yep. Yep, Yep, the.
1:02:18
Podcast, we're in our LCA. In our LCA, both, yeah.
1:02:24
Both, yes, Yeah. I think we just do a timeline of
1:02:28
where we came from and transition that into the NRLCA,
1:02:33
which you guys wanted to do as a multi part series so.
1:02:36
Yeah, it will definitely have to be multi part because otherwise
1:02:40
that's going to be 1 very, very long episode.
1:02:44
Yeah, we'll make it multi part because then we can, Yeah, other
1:02:50
stuff in between. All right, But on that note,
1:02:53
guys, when we can get another episode out, we will.
1:02:57
And again, thank you guys for your patience.
1:02:59
I know they're coming kind of sporadically, but it's going to
1:03:02
be that way for a little while. I do apologize, but touches life
1:03:06
and, well, my Mama comes first. Yeah.
1:03:09
Oh yes, y'all take care and well, see you around next time.
1:03:17
Bye.