At a stand up, management made an announcement that Hughes is a Top 10 station in the district. 🙂 Management gave credit to the carriers for this, but I can guarantee you that this Top 10 designation is 100% to the credit of management. Management should embrace this achievement that they accomplished. We carriers aren’t worthy of the credit that was placed upon us.
Management is on a kick of trying to say Auxiliary Assistance is “earned”. No where in either the M-41, or M-39 does it say a carrier using PS Form 3996 to request OT that management can hold the carrier accountable to the made up numbers of DOIS. Anytime a carrier feels that they will not be able to complete a route in 8 hours the reporting requirements are clear. This subject has been covered in 3-4 NALC Branch 231 newsletters in 2024, if you have any questions read anyone or all the articles. Management has 2 options when a carrier submits a PS Form 3996. They can either approve it, or disapprove it. If PS Form 3996 is disapproved, management is required to provide instructions to the carrier on what to do with any mail over 8 hours. In the winter common reasons for taking longer on routes are: darkness, wet and slippery ground, ice, fog, leaves on the roadways and on sidewalks make for extremely unsafe conditions for both mounted and walking routes alike.
Remember to always be safe, drive with your door closed, your seatbelt on, secure the mail in the back of the vehicle anytime it is out of sight. From what we were told at the Hughes stand up is safety will be sweeping the area for safety violations. Avoid being 16.7, that is never a fun experience. In fact, add “being safe” on your PS Form 3996. I guess some customer or someone sent management a picture of some rural carrier driving around with their door open. Always remember, your life is more important than saving time delivering the mail. Also, remember safety includes not double parking on the street like UPS, FedEx, Amazon, and all the other delivery services do. This will defiantly get you a 16.7. Also, remember we are required to follow all traffic laws, that includes not parking in the red fire zones, or blocking a fire hydrant. If management instructs you to deliver in an unsafe manner Article 14 is there to protect you. Ask for steward time, and your steward should file a grievance immediately, but you also need to fill out PS Form 1767, and make sure that form gets to the branch, so it can be addressed at the safety meetings between NALC Branch 231 and management. Remember you can report unsafe conditions or actions by management to osha.gov
Know your rights:
https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/your-rights/weingarten-rights
http://mseries.nalc.org/M01242.pdf
http://mseries.nalc.org/M00341.pdf
http://mseries.nalc.org/M00972.pdf
http://mseries.nalc.org/M00994.pdf
http://mseries.nalc.org/M00458.pdf
http://mseries.nalc.org/M00111.pdf
http://mseries.nalc.org/M00833.pdf
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/29/158
NLRB link to file
https://www.nalc.org/workplace-issues/resources/body/MI-EL-670-2021-4.pdf
https://www.nalc.org/workplace-issues/contract-administration-unit/fmla
https://www.osha.com/blog/general-duty-clause
https://fromatoarbitration.com/episodes/
Here in Fresno, management types seem to like to complain that some stewards are being “difficult”. To this I say we are the least “difficult” bunch around, if you treat the City Letter Carrier humanely.
Remember that nlrb.gov, osha.gov, dol.gov are some of the many agencies that are there to help you with the abuse you receive from management type and management type witnesses.
Go Go Chiefs the Super Bowl Champions, isn’t Chiefs red so beautiful. Winning the Super Bowl 3 times in a row will be a great achievement.