Brothers and Sisters,

 

      The  2019-2023 National Agreement (NA) has been ratified by the members!  I wish to thank those that took the time and effort in casting your vote.  I do believe this agreement serves the membership well.  Now comes negotiations on your Local Memorandum of Understanding (LMOU).  LMOU negotiations open on April 29th, but now is the time to get ready. Typically, local branches form committees to go over their current LMOU and receive feedback from their membership to determine what, if anything, needs to be addressed, changed, or left alone.  Planning is the key for a successful “open” period.  Our office will be providing training virtually to help branches sharpen their negotiating skills.  We will go over the 22 items that can be negotiated and discuss tactics and challenges they may face with Postal management.  Virtual training dates and times are as follows:

 

           April 13 7 PM

           April 14 7 PM

          April 18 2 PM            (All times are Eastern Time)

          April 21 7 PM

          April 27 7 PM

 

      Prior to the trainings, we will discuss how to notify management of your intent to open your LMOU for negotiation on each of our Thursday evening Regional WebEx meetings.  Also, starting now, branch officers can access many negotiating documents from the “Members Only” portal on the NALC website at nalc.org.

 

      Soon, CCAs that have 24 or more months of relative standing will be converted to career status thanks to the ratification of the NA.  For many, this cannot come soon enough.  Since the inception of the CCA craft (thanks a lot, Arbitrator Das), the NALC has tried tirelessly to convince Postal management it is in their best interest to make our craft totally a career workforce.  Since 2013, the retention rate of CCAs has been horrendous.  It has cost the Postal Service millions of dollars in training expense due to the frequent turnover rate of CCAs, not to mention the instability of a workforce causing service issues throughout the country.  Will we be successful in obtaining an all-career workforce in 2023? It will not be for lack of trying.

 

      Due to this instability, many places across the region and the country are seeing overtime hours in excess, and violations of Article 8 (Hours of Work) continue to mount.  Not only are there violations of 12 hours a day or 60 hours a week limits, but CCAs and PTFs are being pushed past their maximum limit of 11 ½ hours a day (per ELM provision 432.32).  Even non-overtime desired people are being mandated to work overtime off their assignment and on their scheduled days off (Yes, even Sundays).  Unfortunately, management has the exclusive right to hire. That is why it is imperative we, the union, must grieve every Article 8 violation that happens.  Can we get them to hire and avoid paying remedies in the grievance process?  We will see.  One thing is certain – if we do not grieve any work schedule violations, they, management, will continue to abuse our contractual rights and continue this madness.

 

      NALC headquarters has tasked us with identifying Article 8 “hotspots”.  We have sent to each branch president a template to use in tracking the Article 8 violations.  Please use the template and send them back to our office – daily if necessary.  Otherwise, contact our office if you need help with processing your grievances.

 

      As always, practice social distancing, wear a face covering and get your COVID-19 vaccination if you can.  Stay safe!

 

In Solidarity,

 

Troy Clark

National Business Agent – Region 6

Kentucky – Indiana – Michigan (KIM)