National Association of Letter Carriers

Happy New Year to the members of Branch 25! We made it through 2024, and we are on to 2025. I will start this month by saying that I hope most active carriers have taken the time to fill out and mail in their ballots for the Tentative Agreement. The original due date to return ballots was January 13. However, they just announced that the date to get ballots returned has been extended by two weeks until January 27. So, if you have not mailed your ballot yet, there is still time. I encourage everyone to make their voice heard and cast their vote.

As we enter the new year, a couple of things are happening throughout the branch that are worth noting. The first is the new safety blitz the Postal Service implemented last month. James Metilinos has written about this in more detail on pages 4-5 of this month’s Wake Up! So, I won’t go into a lot of details here, but active carriers should be aware of this. After reading over the training material issued by management to their people, it is clear to me that this program is designed as more of a “gotcha” method to try to catch carriers doing something wrong rather than promoting safety.

Please take the time to read James’ article and be aware that management will focus on catching carriers with safety violations in the immediate future. It could be local management, people from the district, or other management making these observations, as has been the case so far. Please be safe and aware out there!

Another thing that I have noticed in our offices is the questioning in PDIs becoming increasingly predetermined and aggressive. For a while now, most, if not all, local management has been instructed that PDI questions are to come from the district level. The questions are designed more to get us to admit guilt and answer a different version of the same question multiple times rather than to actually get answers as to what happened so local management can then make their own conclusion. It seems like more and more the conclusion has been arrived at by labor, and they are looking for the PDI to confirm that for them.

Remember that a PDI is management’s obligation to complete a fair and thorough investigation, not just a formality, to get concurrence on a conclusion of guilt they have already pre-determined!

Last year, 525 total grievances were filed, an increase of almost 4% from the 508 total filed in the previous year. The breakdown by installation is listed below. Thanks to all the stewards in the branch who keep the grievance process moving promptly and properly!

In Solidarity,

Daniel P. Wheeler