JULY 2008

            The 66^th Biennial Convention was a great success and the Delegates made it home safe and I am sure with a lighter wallet.  If you ever get the chance to be a Delegate to National, I highly recommend it.  The next National Convention is set in Anaheim California in 2010.  At this convention Fred Rolando, our Executive Vice President,  gave a report on the task force studying possible new methods to evaluate and adjust routes.  He made it clear that any new method must not only be jointly developed but also jointly implemented.  He described joint tests being conducted in 12 cities across the country.  The union and the USPS both have their own ideas to test, but they are all tested jointly.  They are trying to figure out how to fix DOIS and COR.  Rolando said that DOIS is still subject to manipulation and abuse by management, and COR automatically removes time from  your evaluation for things that it considers are not “normal” such as delivering parcels, driving and accountable mail.  It also sets “its own reasonable speed limits, like let’s say 115mph”.  The NALC’s best method involves using a carrier’s average route time over a 6 to 12 month time period.  We can all hope they can agree on a less intrusive, less confrontational method. 

            On a more personal note, how many of you want a cut in pay?  If you were able to make more money doing the same job, would you?  I expect that most of you answered yes, but many of your actions say something else.  There are several ways to get more money and make yours stretch a lot further that many carriers are not taking advantage of.  Like the TSP for instance.  If you are under the FERS retirement system, which means you were hired in 1985 or later, the USPS automatically puts 1% of your pay into your account for you, as long as you are putting something in.  If you just put 5% of you pay in the TSP, the USPS matches it with 4%, so you get 10% going into your account by only putting in 5%.  It does not take a genius to figure out that you just increased your pay by 5%, and it did not cost you a dime.  As a matter of fact, that money will grow and make you more money, compounding over and over.  Get it?  I have had many a young carrier tell me they could not afford to put any money into the TSP, but obviously you cannot afford not to. 

            Over the last few weeks I have experienced, like most of you, management asking for under time.  But this had a bit of a twist to it.  After several days of this, one day I had three twice my usual parcel count and a full set of letter sized circulars that had to be cased.  Even though I truly believe that it is my job to determine if I have under time, not theirs, I could not figure out how I showed under time.  I told the boss that maybe they needed to learn how to count mail better, and he said “I don’t show you to have any under time but I have to ask”.  Now this is a game we do not want to play.  It’s one thing to disagree about the time you need to carry your route, but to try to trick you into thinking you should have had some so you had better hurry up when you really don’t show any under time is just plain wrong.  This is the type of management we are dealing with.  They are instructed to do what ever necessary to capture time.  I know you have heard me say this before, but if you have under time you should help out on another route if that’s what is requested of you.  But, do not cut corners, skip breaks and lunches or not do all of the little things that are required of you because management makes you feel like you should have some extra time.  Management tells us all the time that we are the “professionals”, so act like it and do your job correctly, not just fast.

            The last I heard was that the MDA Bowl-a-thon scheduled for Sunday the 8^th of August has been cancelled due to lack of participation.  This may not be printed until after that date, I’m not sure.  But the point I would like to make is this.  We have 6 stations in Lubbock and 8 other cities, with around 340 members in our branch along with our friends, the clerks, managers, etc…  After planning this fundraiser for months, which could be a lot of fun for everyone, we had three people sign up to bring a team to the Bowl-a-thon.  I have people ask me all the time why we don’t do more things as a Branch.  Where were you? I know it sounds like I have a bad attitude, but that’s just because my attitude is so bad.  Oh well, I guess this too will pass.

MAY 2008

            I am going to take a wild guess and say that you have heard someone at work say our volume is down.  Have you noticed this on your route?  Most of us have noticed a decrease in volume, just not as much as management claims.  We all know in their number driven world that the “reports” are gospel.  Let’s investigate why these reports show such a decrease in volume and what the results will be.  First of all we must admit that our volume is down from last year.  Second, some of you may have noticed that the base volume for your route has been changed once or twice in the last 18 months or so.  Now lets do the math without any of management’s “fuzzy” techniques.  If your base volume was 950 pieces and today you get 900 pieces, then your volume is down 50 pieces.  Now if they change your base volume to 1025 pieces and today you still get 900 pieces of mail, your volume is now down by 125 pieces, without you getting any less mail to work.  Now management shows you with more under time without you having any less work to do.  Pretty sneaky, huh?  Thirdly, they now measure your volume by the inch instead of the foot.  What use to be just under a foot, therefore called a foot, is now measured as 10 inches.  That pile of mail did not get any smaller, but you now get less time to work it.  Again, your volume has decreased without you getting any less mail.  You got to love this place. 

            Because of all this, management has been instructed to capture under time at all costs.  Please make note of these upcoming actions.  Management has a “Know it all” report that will tell them where you should be at any given time on the street.  They will be showing up on your route with this report.  If you are where they think you should be, they are to commend you (yea right).  If you are not, they will ask you why you are behind.  They will document this a couple of times, and then try to take disciplinary action against you.  It is imperative that you give the correct answers to these questions. Here is my advise.  Most of the time, of course, you will have an obvious reason and will know why, so tell them.  On other occasions, it could be things such as blocked boxes on curbline, retracing for first class mail, necessary comfort stops, customer inquisitions, gassing your mail bucket (don’t let them tell you this is built into your route, it is not), poor mail conditions (DPS) or maybe you just do not feel very good today and are not able to work at your usual efficient pace. 

            The next thing they are going to try is to claim you have under time and give you the choice of taking a pivot from another route or taking annual leave.  I want to be very clear about this one.  Just because management says you have under time, that does not mean you do!!!  If you know you truly have under time, then take a pivot.  We did hire on to do 8 hours work for 8 hours pay.  It is management’s job to use their tools to “estimate” your workload.  It is the Carrier’s job to ultimately determine his work load for the day.   Only you can know if you have under time, and this is best determined at the end of the day.  Many things, such as those listed above, can legitimately eat up any under time you do have, and if you volunteered for an extra pivot that morning it could now cause you overtime.  If you are not on the 10 or 12 hour overtime list, this just became a contract violation and each and every one of them must be filed on to help control this situation.  Please ask to see your Union Steward when this happens.  You cannot be forced into taking annual leave!  Annual leave is for your request only.  Once you are at work as a full timer, you are guaranteed 8 hours pay.  Do not be mislead into believing that you must take annual leave.  Do not take short cuts or skip breaks or lunches to have under time.  Do not be intimidated by management and their “reports”. 

            Management will also be looking for carriers asking for aux assistance when they don’t need it.  They will help you the hour or so you asked for, then go with you on the street to see if you get done early.  Watch out for this one, it will end in discipline.  I know this sounds like a very negative article, but remember, you do work for the Un ited States Postal Service.