The USPS achieved a slam dunk in this mail count. As a result, this will leave regular carriers
having to take the high option just to keep their salary. It will also leave many of our leave replacements losing work
hours.
This page is intended to show you some of the options you have and can take advantage
of after this massacre of a mail count. If you have any other suggestions on how rural carriers can maximize any benefit
that might be available to them after this count, please submit your suggestion in the comment form on the right side of this
page.
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The new evaluations will take effect on Saturday
April 26th, 2008
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First of all, lets cover what each route designation means:
K Route:
A regular route on which the salary is based on 5 days each week. One relief day is authorized each week.
J Route: A regular route on which the salary is based on 5 days one week and 6 days the other
week for a total of 11 days per pay period.
H Route: A regular route
on which the salary is based on 12 days per pay period.
L route:
Any route which has a box density of at least 12 per mile at the time of a count; also called high-density route.
Disagreements
First of all, here is the procedure on mail count disagreements
and what the USPS has to do when you disagree
NRLCA procedure on mail count disagreements
Formal DPS Review
If the USPS
maximized the mail run through DPS during the mail count, they are obligated to keep up the same percentage all through the
year.
Here are the steps to take to ask for a formal DPS review if your DPS percentages fall after
mail count.
Formal DPS Review
Article from GRLCA State Steward
DPS Review Tracking Form
DPS Rebuild
If you were counted under
DPS for the first time, you are entitled to a rebuild in certain circumstances to the
evaluation
before the mail count.
Click here for several documents
DPS Rebuild Form
High/Low Option
If you have been a regular
carrier for 3 years and you earn 20 days of annual leave per year, you are eligible to choose the high option provided your
route falls in the category for an option. When the route falls into two possible classifications, the carrier may choose
the classification with the higher-hour evaluation, provided the carrier meets certain criteria. (The higher-hour category
means more work hours per pay period, higher pay, fewer relief days)
High/Low Option explained
If you have already chosen the LOW option, you can change to the HIGH option if eligible (At the time
of a National Count, Special Count or Interim Adjustment – Most PS4003 change actions that effectively place an eligible
carrier in an option category. This will include Adjustments, Extensions, Remeasurements, addition or subtraction of a Locked
Pouch allowance, Consolidations, Detours, Seasonal, and Hardship deliveries. The EXCEPTIONS are - 4003’s to establish
New Routes, Changes in Collection Compartments, Parcel Lockers or Vehicle Data and Convert-to-Regular actions.
Free Saturdays
Also, if your came back as an H or J route, or you are
taking the high option, you can take advantage of the "Free Saturday" Provision. Here are a couple of links
to help with that.
http://www.mdrlca.org/J%20Routes.htm
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dzdzj27_13d8tw2c
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfb8g5q4_53fk28wxhz
LWOP
Article 10.4.B of the
national contract states:
B. 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.
So,
a carrier could take the HIGH option and then use LWOP
on the remaining Saturday. But, LWOP
does have an
effect on your saved leave and your FERS retirement.
Effect of LWOP
NRLCA Efforts to contest 2008 Mail Count Require Documentation
Re: National
Step 4 grievance on 2008 Mail Count. The language of the Step 4 appeal is artfully crafted but it is basically standard boiler
plate language designed to cover all possible situations. By including all of the possibilities in the language of the appeal,
it leaves the door open to negotiate the issues of the grievance without narrowing those issues at the start and also keeps
open potential remedies without precluding any of those resolutions which may become more important once the entire case is
assembled.
It is the opening point of negotiations. The National officers will now negotiate the issues of the
grievance with USPS Labor Relations including USPS labor lawyers who evaluate and must sign off on any potential resolution.
If as a result of the Step 4 discussions, USPS denies the grievance at step 4, the NRLCA can either appeal to National Arbitration
or not appeal and let the grievance lapse at which time, the issues would be moot.
One reason for making
the appeal in the broadest possible language is to facilitate the gathering of evidence and/or documentation while the issue
is waiting to be discussed or is in progress of negotiation. Many will assume that since the NRLCA filed a step 4 grievance,
that everyone can relax and let National handle it. WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! Now is the time when everyone needs to dig deep and
support the handling of this grievance by getting copies of count disputes, locally filed grievances, statements, volume reports,
documentation of count disputes and irregularities through the steward system. ALL available evidence must be sent to state
stewards now or as soon as possible. Now that National is involved; it is important to be a team player to give them the best
possible chance of winning this grievance or the subsequent arbitration.
I regularly included language in grievance
appeals asking for interest paid at the Federal judgment rate and when the steward training courses were first created I wrote
that into the curriculum as standard procedure. Only one time did I ever get interest in all of the hundreds of cases I processed
and appealed. It could, however, be important if the NRLCA case is perfectly presented and an arbitrator decides that USPS
actions were in fact a gross violation of a fair mail count and deserving of extraordinary sanctions.
It is critically
important to the successful handling of this grievance and the issues of USPS “fraud” in conducting the 2008 National
Mail, that all parties affected cooperate in documenting the misconduct, the irregularities or even the dramatic changes in
work hours (delivery and processing), volumes of each category of mail (letter size, DPS, flats, parcels, boxholders, accountable,
etc.) and anything else that demonstrates a difference in the periods before and after the mail count from the period of the
actual mail count.
John Amtsfield, March 22, 2008
NRLCA Statement concerning the 2008 Mail Count
The twelve-day
National Mail Count concluded
on Friday, March 7, 2008. The National Board has
received numerous reports from the field concerning
problems with the count. Please
know that all such
reports are being reviewed and investigated. You
may
continue to supply your state steward with
additional reports or information. If contractual
violations have occurred, appropriate grievances
will be filed
Step 4 Grievance filed on the 2008 Rural Mail Count
The National Board has been receiving numerous
reports from the field concerning problems
with
the 2008 National Mail Count. In addition,
information has
been and continues to be provided
by rural carriers to the respective state steward,
the respective NRLCA Executive Committeeman,
or other National Officers regarding the
mail count.
All reports and informationare being reviewed and
investigated.
Because of the volume of information being collected
and the time required to
review and evaluate such
material, the National Board determined that it
was necessary to initiate a grievance at the Step 4
level in order to protect the interests of
all rural carriers.
Therefore, a Step 4 level grievance has been filed
by President Pitts. The National Board will keep the
membership apprised of any significant development
related to this grievance
Click here to read the grievance
Other useful tips
If you are a K route that lost a couple
of
hours, think about taking annual leave
before April 26th,
2008 to use your annual
leave at the higher rate of pay.
If you are going from say a 43K to a 45J,
WAIT until after Apr 26 to take vacation so
you use your annual leave at the higher
rate of pay.
Consider signing on to the Relief Day Work
List when it comes open as this
gives the
carrier the OPTION of taking the 150% rate
of pay rather
than being locked into half pay
and a "X" day later on. This may help some
offset the loss of pay from this mail count
and give the carrier more flexibility in
determining his or her paycheck.
Face it, management can make you work
your relief day whether or not you're on
the list, so this way YOU determine the
amount you make
Make sure your PM or supervisor updates
your
4003. When your route gets 60 min. in the bank,
your route
evaluation should increase an hour.
Turning in your edit
book does not automatically
update your 4003.
Your PM or supervisor has
to update it for you to get credit for those boxes.
Be vigilant on getting your updates.. You are
entitled to them..
If you are a J route, request that your day off,
or J day be assigned as the second Saturday or
Monday during the pay period. That way,
if you
have already worked the first Saturday or Monday,
and
they need you to work on your J day they have
to pay you extra ie: 1/2 day pay and X day or
1 1/2 days pay. Another way to put it is sometimes
if you are assigned the first
Saturday as your J day
and they need you to work they will try and make you
take the second Saturday as your J day and you don't
get the extra pay.
