National Association of Letter Carriers

Three people associated with Branch 25 will be receiving $1,000 from the Branch! Do I have your attention? I hope so. At the December branch meeting, the attendance prize will be drawn until someone wins and the attendance prize is $1,000.00. If that isn't a good enough reason to come to the meeting, then the Italian food catered by the Burlington Cold Cut Center should persuade you to attend.

Also, December is the month for high school seniors to apply for the NALC Branch 25 Scholarships (2x$1000.00). The application is available for download at the Branch 25 website. The web address is printed in the Calendar of Events on the next page. The criteria is that the senior is continuing their education and is the son/daughter or grandson/granddaughter of an active or retired Branch 25 member. I strongly encourage all to apply for the scholarships and take the exam that is administered at the student's high school guidance office on Wednesday, February 7, 2018. By applying and taking the exam, the student becomes eligible for scholarships offered through the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, and some of those scholarships are pretty hefty!

Speaking of hefty, the workload at this time of year is definitely hefty. Some people are enjoying the added heft in their paychecks, but some people are overwhelmed by the day in and day out forced overtime in offices that aren't properly staffed or where the routes aren't properly adjusted. I have often used the term "blood money" in the past, and this year is no different.

Hopefully, what I'm about to say won't fall on deaf ears. Management is REQUIRED to maintain letter carrier routes as near to 8 hours as possible, and the work within in office is supposed to be distributed as evenly as possible amongst the routes in the office. If we don't force the issue, management surely will not.

I won't defend local management, but that being said they are pretty much powerless in this process. I don't know too many Postmasters that wouldn't take a properly adjusted office if given the opportunity. In most instances that means more routes, in some it means a realignment of existing routes, and in very rare instances it means fewer routes.

No, it isn't your Postmaster that is causing your woes, it is the Operations Programs Support (OPS) department. In the last several years, with the exception of one or two people not holding the top chair, the department has gone from bad to worse. We at the branch have come to expect their dishonesty, and they have not disappointed in the recent past.

One of the fundamental rights that a letter carrier has is to request a special mail count and inspection on his or her route. These are routinely denied by OPS. OPS will send a denial letter stating that the carrier didn't qualify for whatever reason, usually related to failure to meet the required overtime over the course of six consecutive weeks, and sometimes citing deficiencies the carrier allegedly has.

When called on the denial regarding overtime, OPS has responded "Oh, we misread the information, sorry" That's a load of BS. They tried to "slip one by" as they say. They assumed that the carrier wouldn't ask the Union to look into it. Well, the carrier did contact the Union and the Union got it resolved. The route is being adjusted very shortly.

Oh, and the perceived deficiencies, I was copied on a letter from OPS that had a Letter of Suspension attached to it. The only problem was, the letter had been resolved and the discipline had been expunged. The depths that OPS will drudge in an effort to abuse the letter carriers knows no limits.

I would ask that you do your best to survive the upcoming Holiday Season. Take all your breaks, take your lunch, follow all the safety rules, and do what you need to do to remain safe while providing great customer service. You are no good to yourself, your family, or the Postal Service if you cut any of these corners and end up injured or worse yet unemployed.

All things considered, 2017 has been a pretty good year. The branch has assigned just under 250 grievance numbers. Many of those grievances have been resolved without the need to appeal them to the B level. Some have gone to B and a few to arbitration. It has been a successful year.

It has also been a great year for CCA's. I am happy to report that the LMOU's for each office in the branch were opened and each now contains a provision for CCA's to take annual leave in both choice and non-choice vacation period. In the past, CCA leave has been entirely up to management's discretion in many offices throughout the entire country.

But, now is not the time to rest on our laurels. 2018 is just around the corner and with it I'm sure the challenges will be many. Try to enjoy the season, your friends and family!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and celebrate well whatever you choose to celebrate!!!

Stay informed!

Dave Barbuzzi

In the last month or so, things have been fairly hectic. We have had route inspections in two offices (Salem and Danvers), and the local implementation period commenced on October 16. During this time, I have read each and every LMOU.

It never ceases to amaze me how within the branch there are offices that have gone to great pains to spell out each and every possible scenario that can take place, and other offices that seem to leave a lot to the imagination. One can tell when reading these documents which stations had good or even great labor/management relationships and which ones were lacking.

The one thing that is evident throughout is that the people that crafted the language contained within the LMOU'S took their task seriously. It is clear that a great deal of effort was taken to ensure the rights of the letter carriers in the ao's.

In my opinion, the most important section of the LMOU is the section that deals with annual leave. Annual leave is cherished, hard-earned, and greatly deserved. Letter carriers don't have much to look forward to in today's postal service, but ask a letter carrier when they are planning leave and I'll bet you might get a slight smile out of them.

This year, the national parties negotiated language that REQUIRES the local parties to negotiate leave provisions for CCA'S. I was ecstatic when I learned of this. Fortunately, many of our locals already had provisions for CCA's during prime time. But with this pew language, we've taken one step closer to allowing CCA's to be human.

By the time you read this, we will have signed off on many of the branch's more than 30 LMOU's, and I'm happy to say that there was not much resistance on the part of management to simply adding the CCA's into the mix and allowing them to choose leave like anyone else. I believe this was a long time corning and applaud the parties at the National Level for providing this mandate.

Regarding the inspections that took place in early October, preliminary results show gains in both Danvers and Salem. Danvers only had a handful of routes inspected as a result of special inspection requests. Preliminary is a key word, however, as Operations Programs Support (OPS) has not subjected the numbers to their magic math known as COR. We will monitor the results closely and remain vigilant.

Speaking of magic math, I have recently entered into an agreement with OPS to reinspect the Marblehead office. Some of you may know, Marblehead was inspected almost a year ago. Adjustments were put into place in June, and to describe them as a fiasco would be an understatement. During the middle of the summer, when mail volume is at its lightest, the office used on average over 20 hours more than their base adjusted hours to get the mail delivered. Actually, the DOIS projections for the office during July and August showed that the routes were out of adjustment by over 12 hours.

The time frame for the grievance procedure would have put the potential arbitration decision at such a time that a successful outcome would have produced spring inspections. Spring inspections are what messed things up to begin with. So, we agreed to do fall inspections and hopefully this time around the mail volume and parcel volume cooperates and the office gets the relief they have deserved for some time.

I feel it necessary to make a general comment for the benefit of all letter carriers who are going through or have gone through route inspections. If you believe that your route, and your office as a whole is overburdened, get off the overtime desired list. You see, an arbitrator really doesn't understand the nuances of why carriers are on the overtime list.

Some carriers may be on it because they believe they are the only ones that can give top notch service to their customers. Some may be on it because they don't want to go out to their route to find that a carrier unfamiliar with their (the Postal Service's) route may have misdelivered to an apartment complex or business. Some may be on the list because they think that if they don't do the overtime, they will come in to a mess in the morning from all the mail brought back by the pieces that they gave off for assistance. I'm sure there are more reasons why a carrier, who really doesn't want to work late, signs the overtime desired list.

To an arbitrator, it's not that confusing. You sign the list because you want overtime. Any overtime. To an arbitrator, you want to work all you can get. To an arbitrator it doesn't matter what time you go to work, or what time you get home, whether it's raining or snowing, whether your route is adjusted or not, if you sign that list you want overtime. Period. Think about that when it takes management forever to fix things. What is their motivation? Sure, they're paying you overtime, but you're on the list so there is no penalty to them.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!!

Stay informed!

Dave Barbuzzi

Fasten your seatbelts, it's almost that time of year again. We didn't have the extreme oppressive heat this summer that we often do, but, the summer is over. Holiday displays will be popping up in the stores any time now and the Christmas sales will be revving up. By the time you read this, Black Friday will only be 8 weeks away !!!

What does that have to do with anything? More and more holiday shopping is done online. More and more online retailers are realizing that we are economical and dependable. By sheer necessity, our parcel volume goes through the roof.

Are you doing everything that you can do to protect yourself, your job (route), and to enhance the Postal Service's standing with our customers'? If you read the WAKE-UP!, you have read this before. Proper parcel delivery is paramount to your success, the customers' happiness, and the success of the Postal Service.

Do you deliver parcels properly? Before you read on, stop for a moment and think about what you do when you pull up to a mailbox or walk to a delivery and that delivery has a parcel ...

OK, now that you've thought about it, read below to see if you are delivering properly (from the M-41):

"For any parcel that does not fit into the customer's mailbox or parcel locker (when available). an attempt to deliver must be made at the customer's door. If no one is available to receive the parcel. follow the procedures in 322.311 and 322.312."

I'd like everyone to pay particular attention to the word "must". It is not optional to go to the customer's door. There is no option to leave it at the foot of the stairs, in the carport, on the deck, or anywhere else. You "must" go to the customer's door. The next phrase I'd like you to understand is "If no one is available to receive the parcel ..." How does one find out if someone is available to receive a parcel? The answer is simple. You ring the doorbell or knock on the door. Again, this is not optional.

The mailer and the customer are each paying for' a service. We "must" provide that service. Service takes time. Unfortunately, in some instances, with the increased load of parcels that we have realized, some carriers are not going to the door and if they are going they are not ringing the bell. Why? Because your boss is telling you every morning that your route is only 8 hours or worse that you have down time. Although the office time may be greatly reduced as a result of declining mail volume, I can't imagine that anyone's road time hasn't increased.

The only way you're going to get the boss off your back is to consistently provide customer service. If you are doing so, and you can't finish your route in 8 or even 8 1/2 hours, then request a special route inspection, NOW !!! Management has 28 days to COMPLETE an inspection that is requested by a qualifying letter carrier. You have the opportunity to control your own destiny. Management seldom conducts inspections during this period. There's a reason. The mail is heavier now. Don't shy away from an inspection, embrace it. The branch will provide training for you and we will also have someone present in your office when the inspection takes place.

I just talked about getting the boss off your back. Many of our "bosses" realize and even appreciate the hard work you do. Many of their "bosses" do not. I was shocked to hear what took place the day after the Labor Day Holiday.

Apparently (I wasn't in the room so I'm only reporting what was reported to me), Operations Programs Support is so convinced that letter carriers are screwing the system, that they ordered managers to walk with a carrier the day after the holiday. That's right, OPS thinks-that-letter carriers put in ridiculous 3996's on the days after holidays simply because it is the day after a holiday. They are so far removed from reality that they don't acknowledge that an additional day of mail, additional parcels, and in the case of business routes all the businesses that were closed on the holiday and are receiving extra mail the day after, require a letter carrier to spend more time delivering the mail. I couldn't make this up. If you were at the last branch meeting you would have heard Dan Wheeler report on it and you would have seen other carriers nodding their heads acknowledging that it happened in their office as well.

Elsewhere in the WAKE-UP! you'll read about Congress' attempts to attack our benefits and management's attempts to attack our rights. Please take the time to read these articles and more importantly please engage us should you have any questions.

Stay informed!

Dave Barbuzzi

I receive quite a bit of mail each day. Earlier this month I received two letters in particular that exemplify the ups and downs of the job, the ups and downs of life.

Neither letter was from a member. One was from the friend of a retired member, and one was from the children of a different retired member.

One letter was informing me, and the branch, of the passing of George Payzant. When I read that letter, my stomach dropped, my mouth went dry, and my eyes watered a little bit. You see, George served as Secretary of the Branch when I became Assistant Secretary. I got to see first hand George's meticulous attention to detail, along with his dedication and pride for Branch 25.

I wasn't the only one that recognized these things. Then National Business Agent John Marco selected George to represent New England letter carriers for an inter-active exhibit at the Postal Museum which is located at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. If you go to the exhibit today and press the button, up will pop George on the screen to give you a few tidbits about New England.

George was a proud Navy vet, and he made it a point to make his way to the mic and every convention that he attended. Often times he would speak on behalf of veterans. Every now and then, I would get a small handwritten note from George commenting on an article or a current event. Those are the kinds of things that keep your spirits up at times when all the BS that you deal with may start to get to you. George will be dearly missed by any that had the pleasure/honor to work with him at his station or to work beside him as Union officials.

The other letter was from one of Maurice Garand's children. The letter was seeking my assistance in obtaining Maurice's gold card for 50 years membership in the NALC. We had a conversation and as a result, I asked her if she could provide me with some background about her father's time delivering mail. If you read the Postal Record last month, you would have seen a summary in the "branch items" section. Elsewhere in this "WAKE-UP!" you can also read a little bit.

I plan to go to present Maurice with his gold card in person. It will be a much more welcome trip to do that than it is to deliver plaques to funeral homes when a letter carrier passes.

I'm sharing these things with you to show that our union touches more than just you, the member. It touches your family and your friends. Clearly, the two men that I write about this month maintained an allegiance to the NALC. If they didn't, the folks that wrote those letters wouldn't have known to do so.

I realize that the post office is very different today than when Maurice was carrying mail and when George was serving the Union. It is much more difficult in today's micro-managed Postal Service to get to learn anything about your co-worker. Also, today's postal workforce and even more diverse than it has ever been.

The demands that have caused this drifting away from camaraderie were never more evident to me than at the last branch meeting when Kathy Hall announced that she could no longer head up the scholarship committee. Kathy worked tirelessly for many years to put together events for MDA and for our Branch 25 scholarship. However, fewer and fewer people attended events and fewer and fewer people volunteered.

So, I would like to ask you, the membership, what you can do to help turn that around. Does anyone have a hobby that could be turned into an event and shared with the membership? Are there any retirees that could organize a Bowlathon or a golf tournament? As it stands, the only event that we can count on is the pancake breakfast. That is not a big money maker, it is a big get together with family and friends and even the community and be served by branch officers and other volunteers. I'm not complaining, I love it, but that is just one thing. I have to believe that there could be so much that we could do to raise money for MDA or our scholarship fund.

I'm not going to write about the new contract. I was confident that it would receive the members' approval and I am thrilled that it did. As I've talked and written about before, I am extremely pleased for the CCA's that have families as they will receive a very substantial increase to the amount that the Postal Service pays towards their health insurance.

The last thing that I would like to put out there is that along with the ratification of the contract, there will be a local implementation period in October. That doesn't give people a lot of time to put meetings together. I, along with Paul Desmond, have been reviewing the locals in the branch. Should there be something in your local that you think could/should be changed, get in touch with us sooner rather than later. I would be more than happy to meet with any office that would like to explore their local agreement, all you have to do is call.

Stay informed!

Dave Barbuzzi

The future of the Postal Service, the future of our Union, is today's CCA's. Hopefully, everyone reading this article realizes that and contributes to the success of the CCA's in your offices.

CCA's aren't only the future though, they are increasingly becoming the present. That is why I for one am looking forward to vote to ratify the tentative agreement reached between the NALC and the Postal Service.

There are many improvements for CCA's, but there are two that really stick out to me. First and foremost is the provision that the Postal Service will pick up a much larger portion of CCA's health care premiums if they are self plus one or self plus family. Presently, the Postal Service contributes the same amount to a CCA's premiums ($125/bi-weekly) regardless of whether the CCA is self only, or self plus one or family.

With the ratification of the proposed agreement, the Postal Service will pick up 65% of the premium in the first year of employment and 75% in successive years. Now, I can't seem to locate the breakdown of the Postal Service cost for the non-career plans, but I do know that presently the employee (CCA) share is $40, $205, and $370 per pay period for self, self plus 1, and self plus family. An increase in the amount the Postal Service pays means that in effect CCA's with families will realize a substantial increase in their take home pay as a result of their decreased contributions to health benefit premiums. Hopefully, this measure will go a long way towards retaining CCA's that have families.

The second new benefit that struck me is that management will have to negotiate annual leave provisions in the LMOU's that will cover CCA's. Although some of Branch 25's local agreements contain provisions for CCA leave, most LMOU's here and elsewhere do not. Right now, CCA's have to beg to use their leave and frequently they are not allowed to use it. Even if there is a day or a week where no one is off on leave, management still denies their request for leave saying that they can't lose the flexibility in the operation.

This should be the last summer that happens!!! If the contract is ratified, there will be a local implementation period during which these leave provisions will be addressed.

Every letter carrier, CCA or veteran should understand the impact that these new benefits should produce. If CCA retention is improved, all letter carriers should realize benefits. Just this week alone I received several text messages and calls from letter carriers who were being mandated to work their Holiday or n/s day for the Memorial Day holiday schedule. Senior carriers with more than 29 years service being required to work their holiday in an office that should have well over 20 CCA's on staff. How many times have you read about letter carriers not on the overtime desired list earning $75, $85, and even $95,000 dollars? That's blood money! If we can address CCA retention by making the job and benefits more appealing, that should result in far less instances like the ones detailed above. If you want my opinion, vote to ratify the agreement.

As I said, there are many provisions of the tentative agreement to get excited about, but you can find those on the nalc.org Website, have a look. Elsewhere in this issue of the Wake UP!, you will find commentary on politics and legislation. Please read Executive Vice President Paul Desmond's article carefully as well as Treasurer Jim Nutter's article. To say that we're under attack is an understatement. We do NOT have a friend in the White House right now. As a matter of fact, no working family has a friend in the White House right now. As a matter of fact, the only ones that have a friend in the White House right now are the uber rich!

I'm not writing this to say I told you so, or to upset those of you that may have voted for him. I'm saying this because we have to forget about November and focus on today, next month, 2018, and 2020.

We have several e-activists in the branch. That's great, but we could always use more. Go to the nalc.org Website and sign up. Also, if you haven't installed the NALC mobile app yet, you definitely want to install that on your SmartPhone, whether you have an Android or iOS. The app will send you notifications when something of importance happens. In recent weeks those of us that have the app were notified that a tentative agreement was reached. Never before has information, once available, been disseminated to rank and file letter carriers so quickly.

I look forward to seeing you at the June branch meeting. Hopefully, the meeting will be well attended and there will be more CCA's than usual in attendance asking questions so that they can:

Stay informed!

Dave Barbuzzi

In 1982, Phil Collins released a song with the above title. It immediately came to mind recently when I was scanning various social media criticisms of the Union, most notably for the lack of a new National Agreement. The rest of the song has no bearing on this article, but the title does.

The National Union isn't the only entity that comes under fire. People are often unhappy with their shop stewards, their branch officers, and of course their branch president as well.

It is extremely frustrating to be an employee of the Postal Service today. The newer employees are unhappy with their pay and their endless number of consecutive work days without any time off. The more veteran employees are unhappy that they have attained a position of seniority in their career and it doesn't seem to count for anything. They can't make plans on their days off. They frequently aren't treated with dignity and respect. Simple things that would make their jobs easier are often not provided.

Some of these employees choose, to go onto what I have started to call "antisocial media" to complain. I say antisocial media because almost any group that you go to online, a fight breaks out. It's truly sad.

Some of these employees choose to be the ones that I mentioned earlier, the ones that chirp on the floor about the ineffective shop steward, or the corrupt branch president. It is far easier to bad mouth a shop steward than it is to stand up for one's own rights with management.

What I haven't seen any of these people do is educate themselves. I haven't seen them attend branch meetings or talk about how they attended branch meetings to try to effect change. I haven't seen them become active by volunteering, or by helping out the steward. Perhaps most importantly, I haven't seen them writing statements in support of their brothers and sisters. Writing statements is probably the easiest thing that someone can do, and often times the most valuable. But no, they don't write statements, they write complaints or criticisms about their Union and its leaders.

Right now, I can't think of any problem in the Postal Service that is more immediate than the poor staffing in many locations. When you think about it, most of the ills that we suffer through each day are a direct result of staffing.

The overtime provisions of Article 8 are frequently violated. Even if they aren't violated due to the fact circumstances, people are still required to work more than they have signed up to work.

In some instances, we are our own worst enemies. For instance, I recently pursued overtime grievances in two of our associate offices. While investigating, I discovered that there were many carriers that failed to work their 8 hour guarantee on a n/s day. There's not too many things that you can do to tick off a carrier more than telling him or her that they have to work 8 hours on their n/s day. Plenty of carriers will curse the Union six ways to Sunday when they're told they can't "take a dive" on their day off.

Then, there's the individuals that demand that the Union fix the staffing in their office as they are racking their FSS and DPS. Look, just enforce the parts of the contract that will benefit me seems to be the attitude du jour. Some even go to the extent of working off the clock to make their time on the clock easier.

Working less than your guarantee, shortening lunches or breaks, casing FSS or DPS mail are not how to improve staffing in your office. They are only ways to prolong and exacerbate the problem.

The only way to attack staffing is to do your job as a professional letter carrier the same each and every day. Period.

The resources are available to everyone that cares to take advantage of them. Our national union's Website has a "resources" page under the "Workplace Issues" tab. One of the items in the resources page is a "White Paper" prepared by our Contract Administration Unit (CAU) on overtime, staffing, and simultaneous scheduling. It is a very informative read and I urge all letter carriers to read it, not just shop stewards or branch officers.

There are also archives of many of the "Contract Talk" sections from the Postal Record. Again, a great way to become more educated to your rights in the workplace.

My point is, even though one of the most important things one can do is to attend a branch meeting, we realize that life can get in the way. Just as the national union provides a great deal of information on its Website, so too does Branch 25 provide a great deal of information on ours.

So, you can spend a little time to get answers and educate yourself, or you can chirp and badmouth and complain. The choice is up to you. Back to the song title; now you know, do you care? I do.

Stay informed!

Dave Barbuzzi

As I write this article, the Beverly Post Office is in the midst of its second week of inspections. We started off the schedule with Tewksbury realizing a modest gain in work hours, followed by Marblehead. At the moment, Marblehead is slated to lose a route, but we really can't be sure what the numbers are because the 1840 reverses (the documentation that breaks down the adjustments), are literally FUBAR. The numbers don't match and operations programs support (OPS) has to reproduce all of them.

On a brighter note, the pancake breakfast was yesterday and the branch held an inspection training after hours in Newburyport last week that was well-attended. It was great to see CCA's attending, investing their time in their future to learn about the process.

It has always been a "rush" for me to present a route inspection training. Frankly, it's probably the best part of the job. Think about it. You folks are working your butts off, god knows how many hours a week, and I'm asking you to come back after a long day to get your prepared for the inspection process. Sounds like great fun, doesn't it?

That's what makes it so rewarding. You don't have to go. Aside from a few pizzas and soft drinks, you're not getting paid to go. So, those of you that do go WANT to be there. You want to learn so that you can protect your job and your future. Similar to those that go to branch meetings, you are the ones that want to "stay informed".

So what is it that is taught at a route inspection training put on by Branch 25? We kind of take the M-41, mix in some of the M-39, and explain what the words in those manuals actual mean in practice.

We explain procedures, proper procedures, procedures that we are supposed to be mandated to follow. We explain that given the choice between doing something, anything, either in the office or on the street it is ALWAYS in your best interest to do it on the street (some examples would be traying up circulars, culling mail, etc.).

We tell you NOT TO SLOW DOWN, but more importantly we tell you NOT TO SPEED UP !!! We don't tell you not to arm carry mail, but we tell you that you can't be required to arm carry mail.

What I'm trying to say is that we don't teach you to break any rules, we just teach you what the rules are and ask that you follow them each and every day. I would have no problem whatsoever allowing a local manager or a member of OPS to audit our training. I wonder how they would feel about allowing the Union to audit their courses or the instructions that they give to their examiners or local managers.

I'm pretty sure that the Union wouldn't be welcome. Although, the "Wake-Up!" is available online and I'm pretty sure that some of them read it. Maybe they'll extend an invitation to me to attend a training, I'm pretty sure they won't ever copy me on an email chain.

Why do you think that is? As I've alluded in a prior article, OPS generally doesn't show up in an office that they believe will gain time. Tewksbury must have been a mistake. Do you think that emails or texts go out to route examiners saying "great job allowing that carrier to stay out on the road for 7.5 hours"? I doubt, it. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if a group email or text goes out after a particularly light day where hours are save that might say something like "great job team, that was the best day of the current inspection season ... " A "best" day should refer to all carriers coming home safe, all clock rings being made, paperwork being completed accurately, and the customers receiving top notch service. Isn't that what it is all about?

The Union (branch officers, etc.) is indeed responsible for educating our members for things like route inspections. We are also responsible to provide training like that I mentioned earlier in this article. I would like to think, though, that the experienced letter carriers would consider themselves active participants in the branch's efforts to make sure that the newer letter carriers stay informed.

How can you do that? There are lots of ways. If you're not the type that is comfortable giving advice to anyone, you can at least make the new folks aware that there are resources for them. Whether it's the branch website, the national website, or the smartphone app, there is quite a bit of information available.

Sometimes, however, what you DON'T do or DON'T say is even more important in teaching the new carriers. For instant, DON'T give contract advice or interpretation if you don't know exactly what you're talking about. DON'T tell them any of your bad habits that might get them in trouble. DON'T go to lunch or break with them and extend said lunch or break. If they are with you, it means that they are looking to you for guidance and approval. Don't do anything that may put you, or them, in jeopardy.

Stay informed!

Dave Barbuzzi

Seniority is a cherished commodity. As our careers progress, we keep looking at the seniority roster to see where we stand, wondering if and when we'll be able to claim the coveted number 1 spot. When we do, we know that provided we submit a slip timely, we'll get whatever vacation time we want. If a route comes up for bid, we own it if we want. Of course, sometimes a career ends before the carrier ever reaches number one. People retire as soon as they can while others hang around as long as they can. But, even without ever making it to number one, we all gain benefit as a result of seniority.

The benefits, however, in most cases have been hard fought. Carriers all do their time. Whether we started as casuals, TE's, CCA's, PTF's, we all started at some point and many of us were overwhelmed during our early careers. Thirty years ago, it was the shear cased volume and relentless circulars that we had just about every day. Often, two or three sets a day.

Twenty plus years ago it was the rollout of DPS. How were we supposed to deal with this extra tray of mail? Where are we going to put it? Geesh, our backs sure hurt from all this twisting and reaching!

Six years ago FSS is rolled out. Are you kidding me? They still haven't fixed DPS and now they're going to automate the flats too? What do you mean collate? There's no way we can arm-carry two sets of flats! By the way, I still don't have to arm-carry even one set of flats so don't try to tell me anything different! FSS didn't change that no matter how much you want to tell me it did!

Right after the roll out of FSS, staffing started to really thin out. Forced overtime was the norm, and carriers went for years without being able to comfortably plan their days off, and these are the non-odl carriers.

Those are the lumps that senior carriers that have been around have experienced. Those lumps are what makes it so sweet to know that any day is available in non-choice period and any week is available in choice.

For the last couple years, there's another great big lump. Amazon. Now, don't get me wrong, I realize that in many ways Amazon is the salvation of the postal service. But, don't get me wrong, in many ways it could turn out to be its damnation.

When the senior carriers were putting in their time, the only thing that happened at the Post Office on Sunday was a collection or two and the delivery of Express Mail. If you were a PTF or TE, chances are you did not work each and every Sunday. Chances are, you looked forward to Sunday to relax, to see your family, to chill.

That's not the case anymore. We have become a seven day full time operation and the new employees, the CCA's, have become 7 day a week employees. Unfortunately, some of them are not warned of this during their job interviews, so they are slapped with the harsh reality when they've been around a month or so and still haven't had a day off.

I know that letter carriers are all over the place on how they feel about this. I've spoken to carriers that have said that they started as a casual or a TE and they had to work god-awful hours and do god-awful work so now it's time for the new hires to experience the same. I've talked to carriers that view the new hires as temporary, just warm bodies to hopefully lessen the load for awhile. Fortunately, I've also talked to carriers that have attempted to take the new hires under their wing, to mentor them if you will.

New hires (and established veterans) make mistakes. They misdeliver mail, they don't fill your gas tank, they may not "clean up" the route if they're filling in. Maybe, they even get assistance because they haven't become proficient yet.

Most of these things will work themselves out with experience. Some will not. The "deficiencies" that remain should be addressed. Hold on now, I know, I'm the Union guy so why am I talking about addressing "deficiencies"? They should be addressed by the mentors, by the veterans that have paid their dues. There's a right and several wrong ways to deal with a new employee that has potential but isn't quite cutting it.

Many will just ignore it, the "not my problem" crew. Some will sing to management, and what lovely canaries they are, could never understand those birds. Some, for no reason other than compassion and good will, will ask the new employee if they knew what they did was wrong and if they'd like to know the right way. We need more of these people.

We were all pushed to go faster. Some of us did and some of us didn't. Some of us cut corners and some of us didn't. What's the difference? I can't speak for everyone, but I smartened up when some of the "old-timers" took me under their wing and told me what they had to go through to get to where they were. Take 'em under your wing, don't kick 'em to the curb.

Stay informed!

Dave Barbuzzi

Prior to the inspection schedule being released, I was approached by the Postmaster of Peabody regarding minor adjustments in the Peabody office. Minor adjustments are provided for in Section 141 of the M-39. After much deliberation with the local stewards and management, agreement was reached in principle over what would take place regarding adjustment. Subsequently, an inspection schedule was released and Peabody was on it. Management approached Operations Programs Support (OPS) notifying them that there was an agreement in principle to do minor adjustments and asked whether the inspection would still take place. OPS reviewed the data and agreed that they would remove Peabody from the inspection schedule provided there was a signed agreement detailing what was agreed to.

Somehow, this agreement has been turned into "Branch 25 made a 'deal' in Peabody to avoid being inspected." Nothing could be further from the truth.

In the past few weeks, as the dates approach for the offices that are on the inspection schedule, I have been receiving emails and phone calls asking that I "make a deal" like the one in Peabody to avoid a route inspection in office x, y, or z. It's not gonna happen. Why, you may ask? I'm happy to explain.

We have a job to do, each one of us. My job is to provide you with the means to "stay informed" of your rights and responsibilities, and to ensure that our stewards are prepared and supported in their efforts to preserve your rights. Your job is to be a professional letter carrier, and to follow the rules as contained in the National Agreement, your local agreements, and the M-41 (City Delivery Carriers Duties and Responsibilities).

That being said, OPS also has a job to do. Part of their job is to provide support to an office to make sure that the routes in that office are as near as possible to 8 hours. This support is in the form of conducting office wide inspections if an office needs them. In theory, an office that needs to gain routes due to growth should get just as much attention as an office that will most likely lose hours due to inefficiency or decline in volume. Theory is a wonderful thing, but practice is much different. In practice, it is the office that shows potential savings that is targeted by OPS. Savings means cutting routes.

One might ask: "With the dramatic increase in parcels, and all the overtime being worked, how could an office possibly LOSE hours?" Well, there could be many ways this could happen.

Let's look at the most innocent scenario. A bunch of veteran carriers that aren't quite as nimble and quick as they once were retire and a bunch of new carriers that are full of vim and vigor become regulars and get the routes done quicker. Provided that they are taking their lunches and breaks, and following all the safety rules, there's nothing nefarious about this scenario. Now before some of the veteran folks get upset and think that I'm insulting them, I'm not. I'm in my 30th year, only 53 years old, aches and pains and I know I'm not as quick as I was just 5 years ago.

There are other scenarios, however, that cause me dismay. Many offices are showing inflated office times. Usually, this is the case when carriers are casing FSS, DPS, or playing with the mail to make it easier/quicker to deliver on the street. It can also happen when the plant messes up and doesn't get the mail to the office in a timely manner. Carriers, through no fault of their own, are sitting around doing nothing and this is an unacceptable loss to the postal service.

There is also the scenario where the street times for an office begin to creep higher and higher. Often, when this happens, a manager will do a 3999 on a carrier and "bring the carrier back" much earlier than he or she would normally return when not accompanied by anyone. Don't point the finger at me, I'm just reporting the news, not making it.

So, let's take a look at these scenarios and determine why I would want to "make a deal" with OPS. Let's take the last case, the one where the street times fluctuate quite a bit. Why is that? Beats me. But, I want every carrier to have the opportunity to carry their route professionally and demonstrate to an examiner what the route is worth. With the number of parcels out there, street times should not be decreasing.

How about the office time? As long as I've been a letter carrier, the work room floor relationship/antagonism has been one of the biggest complaints that a letter carrier has. It's been my experience that much of this is actually created outside of the office, from the bean counters at the district and/or area level that make local managers answer to each minute ''wasted'' . Perhaps the start times are too early on a particular day of the week, or in a particular office and that makes it impossible for the carriers to be as efficient as they are capable of being. This is not a carrier problem, it is a management problem. So, why would I "make a deal" to prevent an inspection that may uncover management created inefficiencies that are causing stress to letter carriers.

What about the carriers that are casing FSS, DPS, and playing with the mail in the office and thus reducing street time at the expense of office time? Well, I'm definitely not going to "make a deal" to keep the spotlight off of these carriers and their duplicitous management teams. This is the most onerous of all scenarios. We were hired, and trained, to carry the mail. There are rules that we are required to follow. Some rules make more sense than others, but they are rules nonetheless. If I were to enter into an agreement that would serve to allow these practices to continue, then I would be no more compliant with the contract than those that are breaking it each and every day by committing these infractions in the office.

Make no mistake, either, any agreement to keep the inspection team out of the office is for this season, not for all eternity. So, if an office wants to give back 10 minutes per route now, or if another office wants to give 2 routes back now, what are they going to want next year?

Let's play this out. You give back 10 minutes, then what? On some days are you going to have to skip or cut short a break or lunch to keep the boss off your back? Do you think that when you call in from the street because you're running late that the boss will say: "Oh yeah, you gave back 10 minutes, take your time, of course I'm not going to yell at you for running late, you're a great carrier! You took one for the team!"

And how about that office that gives a couple routes back. How do I look at the junior regulars and tell them their lives may be upended because they are now excess to the needs of the service and could be excessed across the state? How do I look at the CCA's in the office and tell them that the carriers senior to them didn't want to carry their routes professionally so now you're not going to be converted to regular for quite some time?

I'm not going to do that. If your office is over, you should gain time, possibly a route. If your office is under, you should lose time, possibly a route or routes. If you gain time, you've earned it. If you're going to lose time, make them earn it!

Stay informed!

Dave Barbuzzi

As I write this article, 2016 is just about in the books. For the year, 110 pieces of discipline were issued to 80 letter carriers in 23 stations in Branch 25. I'm certainly not going to mention any names, but I'm going to list the offices and the number of pieces of discipline. Ever?1hing isn't always as it appears. Here goes nothing:

Acton 1, Andover 11, Bedford 2, Beverly 11, Billerica 11, Burlington 6, Chelmsford 2, Danvers 7, Dracut 4, Gloucester 1, Haverhill 3, Lowell 6, Lynnfield 2, Marblehead 6, Newburyport 1, Peabody 19, Reading 6, Salem 1, Sudbury 1, Tewksbury 2, Wayland 1, Wilmington 1, Winchester 5.

The above list is based on the local stewards contacting the Union office and requesting a grievance number in order to initiate a grievance. If (and I cringe at the thought), discipline is issued and resolved without our knowledge, it won't appear on this list.

It is worth noting that the following offices reported NO DISCIPLINE to the Branch: Amesbury, Concord, Holliston, Ipswich, Manchester, Merrimac, North Chelmsford, North Reading, Rockport, South Hamilton, Topsfield, and Wakefield.

The list also demonstrates that you can make numbers appear however you want them to appear, but they don't tell the whole story. For instance, I would be doing a disservice if I didn't explore a little deeper into the numbers in Peabody. Of those 19 pieces of discipline, not one grievance had to leave the office. That indicates that the local stewards and managers seem to "have things under control" and can work together to resolve issues.

It is no secret that I don't like grievances. If I had my way, issues would be nipped in the bud with phone calls to either local management, the POOMs, or labor. However, notwithstanding that mentality, we had to file some 200 contract grievances this year as well. I won't go into a breakdown of each office and each type of grievance, but I will just say this: we prevailed in more than we lost, significantly.

I would like to see all those numbers decrease in 2017. I will admit, though, given the ambitious inspection schedule that management has announced in the branch, we could start the year off with a flurry of grievance activity. That is entirely up to operations support and the local offices. If the rules are followed, and carriers are not given any instructions other than to "do the route the way you do it each and every day", grievances should be minimal. One can only hope.

On the contract front, in my opinion a hurdle has been cleared towards a contract for us. The Postal Service and the Mail Handlers union have reached a tentative agreement that will soon be sent to their members for ratification. The pay package is retroactive to November of 2016, and mirrors the pay package of the rurals and the clerks. That is, there are raises of 1.2, 1.3, and 1.3 percent in the three years of the contract. The raises for the mail handler assistants (MHA's) are the same as those for the PSE's and they are 2.2, 2.3, and 2.3 percent in the three years of the contract. PSE's and MHA's each will now receive six paid holidays, as opposed to none up to this point. Clothing allowances are up, and the employee's health care contribution is also up, negating part of the pay increases.

I put this information out there and invite you to research further terms so that you can be prepared for what our national president may send us for ratification. As you should be aware, our national officers are still negotiating with the postal service over the terms of a new national agreement. As the December issue of the Postal Record indicated, the discussions are continuing because "the path to a new agreement remains open." I would imagine that the path will either open wider or abruptly close sometime in February when the results of the Mail Handlers' ratification vote are available.

I choose to remain optimistic. I can't imagine that the parties would have continued to discuss the terms of the national agreement for this long after its expiration if there were not a legitimate chance to resolve many issues, both wages and other provisions being discussed. Let's hope the New Year brings a new contract with favorable wages and benefits.

Finally, I don't know about anyone else but I for one truly enjoyed Christmas falling on a Sunday this year! Couple that fact with the fact that there was no Amazon delivery and the legal holiday was observed on Monday and letter carriers almost enjoyed a "normal" weekend that has now become foreign to the Postal Service. Each and everyone of you should give yourselves a well-deserved pat on the back for ensuring the Postal Service thrived during this arduous holiday season. You did a phenomenal job !!!

I would like to wish all the members, their families, and anyone else reading this a very HAPPY & HEALTHY NEW YEAR !!!

Stay informed!

Dave Barbuzzi