The No Lunch issue…..again!!
Every single year Management comes up with the “we can’t give out No-lunches anymore” crap. The Union grieves it, and we are able to successfully counter management on this issue. The first thing you need to determine is if your office has a current policy that grants carriers the option to waive their lunch. If so, you can file the grievance on the basis that management has violated a standing Past Practice of allowing a waiver of lunch in the office. This is the best and most successful way to grieve a denial of waiving your lunch. If you choose to grieve it this way, continue to fill out your no lunch waiver, and make sure you get copies of the denial. Then, we need to collect statements from carriers. The best ones are the statements from the carriers who have been there the longest. That’s the best way to prove the Past Practice. If a carrier has been waiving a lunch for 20 years, it’s very hard for management to prove why this policy hurts the service, and why it needs to be changed. These are reasons management must supply as to why the policy needs to be changed.
If you do not have a Past Practice Policy, we still can prevail in the grievance. We need to show that the denial of the No-lunch is arbitrary or capricious. Let management tell you what the reasons for the denial are. Just saying blanket statements like needs of service, or similar will not be sufficient. Remember there is a code in TACS that allows employees to waive lunch. (093) If it’s not allowed, why does the Postal service have a code to grant it. Management uses the No Lunch waiver as a bully tactic. If you run your route fast, they will give you one. If you don’t, they take it away. We as a Union should not allow this. If they are not allowing the waiver of lunches in your office, talk with your Steward, or call your Full-time officer. We will make sure we file the proper grievance to fight them back on the latest punishment to carriers. Remember, they have to offer us a lunch. There is no rule that says we must take it.
