Out of Line and Off Base
Recently I have been inundated by complaints from the members about being rushed out of the office within an hour as well as non-stop harassment for failing to meet “their base street times”. All of the changes to the GPS system for the MDD Scanner (RIMS) does not modify any contractual rights or handbook provisions for city letter carriers. Nor does it obligate City Letter Carriers to beholden to Street Projections.
Over the years, the Postal Service has developed various tools to estimate the daily workload of letter carriers. Misuse of these tools by Management has been the subject of many grievances. It is important for the membership to understand the settlements pertaining to time-projections and how they relate to the workroom floor. While the programs and the Mangers that love them have changed, what has not changed are the letter carrier’s responsibilities and reporting requirements outlined in Handbook M-39, Management of Delivery Services, and Handbook M-41, City Delivery Carriers Duties and Responsibilities.
In the past, NALC has challenged the use of any projections as the sole basis for disciplinary actions. These issues have been resolved in several national-level settlements regarding time-projection systems. In 1979, NALC and USPS came to an agreement Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) M-00394, concerning an early tool used to project office time for letter carriers. This settlement states that the projection tool “will not constitute the basis for disciplinary action for failure to meet minimum standards” and that the program “will not constitute the sole basis for a carrier’s leaving time.” In 2001, a national-level settlement, M-01444, was signed regarding three different projection systems. M-01444 makes clear that these three projection systems “will not constitute the sole basis for discipline” and that “no function performed by POST or DOIS, now or in the future, may violate the National Agreement.” Section 242.332 of Handbook M-39, which states:
No carrier shall be disciplined for failure to meet standards, except in cases of unsatisfactory effort which must be based on documented, unacceptable conduct that led to the carrier’s failure to meet office standards.
M-01444 also reinforced language agreed on in the 1985 national-level settlement M-00304, stating:
There is no set pace at which a carrier must walk and no street standard for walking.
M-01664, protected letter carriers from management’s use of DOIS time projections. The parties agreed that DOIS projections:
“Are not the sole determinant of a carrier’s leaving or return time, or daily workload. As such, the projections cannot be used as the sole basis for corrective action.”
The settlement also makes clear that the use of DOIS does not change the letter carrier’s or the supervisor’s responsibilities and requirements found in Handbook M-39 and Handbook M-41. M-01769 extends the same protections that any management office or street-time projection tool/system currently in use or similar tool/system developed in the future. It states:
The subject office efficiency tool is a management tool for estimating a carrier’s daily workload. The office efficiency tool used in the Greater Indiana District or any similar time projection system/tool(s) will not be used as the sole determinant for establishing office or street time projections. Accordingly, the resulting projections will not constitute the sole basis for corrective action.
This agreement does not change the principle that, pursuant to Section 242.332 of Handbook M-39, ‘No carrier shall be disciplined for failure to meet standards, except in cases of unsatisfactory effort. It is very important for the Membership to understand what they are and are not responsible for as City Letter Carries. The Idea that Carriers are responsible for meeting or satisfying any of Management metrics on street performance standards are a complete fallacy.
What Carriers are responsible for is to report to management the inability to complete their assignment in the time instructed by management. The provisions of such are outlined in section 131.4 of Handbook M-41 that states:
It is your responsibility to verbally inform management when you are of the opinion that you will be unable to case all mail distributed to the route, perform other required duties, and leave on schedule or when you will be unable to complete delivery of all mail.
131.42 Inform management of this well in advance of the scheduled leaving time and not later than immediately following the final receipt of mail. Management will instruct you what to do.
131.43 Complete applicable items on Form 3996, Carrier Auxiliary Control, if overtime or auxiliary assistance is authorized in the office or on the street.
131.44 Report on Form 1571 all mail undelivered, including all mail distributed to the route but not cased and taken out for delivery. Estimate the number of pieces of mail.
131.45 Do not curtail or eliminate any scheduled delivery or collection trip unless authorized by a manager, in which case you must record all facts on Form 1571.
131.46 Before you leave the office, enter on Form 1571 the mail curtailed; when you return, add any mail which was not delivered, and which was returned to the office. Follow any special local procedures set up to identify errors and corrective actions for mail returned because it was out of sequence.
Section 28 of Handbook M-41 outlines the procedures for letter carriers to fill out PS Form 3996, and to submit it to the supervisor when the letter carrier estimates that the daily workload cannot be completed in the allotted time. It also details the requirements of the supervisor in Item L of the form. A complete explanation of Section 28, PS Form 3996 and related USPS supervisor responsibilities can be found on the Branches Website: www.nalcbranch6000.com.
Remember; It is your responsibility to communicate to Management if you can’t make it back in time, PS 3996, a phone call from the street/and or a text message on the MDD Scanner. You should always adhere to the golden rule! “Obey Now, Grieve later”! Once the Carrier informs Management of their inability to complete their routes in the time allotted, it is then up to Management to instruct the Carrier what they should do; either receive assistance or perform the overtime. I present for your consideration Step 4 Decision July 26, 1972/ MOU M-00326 that states:
A review of the material submitted at the fourth step level indicates that the grievants did inform management of their inability to complete their routes in 8 hours. Further, it was demonstrated that they were ordered by management to complete the routes. (Although there was no expressed authorization to complete the delivery of the mail on an overtime basis, the permission would be inherent in the authorization to continue delivery after notification that the grievants were unable to complete the routes.) Therefore, the grievants shall be awarded overtime for the exact amount of time worked on April 7, 1972
There is also another Golden Rule that was that has seemed to have been lost over time;
You adjust the route around the Carrier, not the Carrier around the Route.
