To All Branch Members

By the time you received your newsletter it would be near the end of the most excessive and unbearable summer heat on record. It is unfortunate for me to report that there were eleven (11) reported cases of carriers suffering heat related incidents. Four (4) of the eleven (11) cases were serious enough that they required emergency medical services. Management has an obligation to provide all City Carriers Heat Illness Prevention Program (HIPP) training to combat and prepare for the heat. If management failed to provide you the identified training, then you need to immediately initiate a grievance.

I would encourage you to check your training by logging in to your Liteblue account under the Human Resources section and logging in to your HERO link. Once in HERO you need to click the My Learning, My Active Training tab and under Filter by Training Status there is a tab where you can select Completed. Under this tab will be displayed all the training management has documented that you have received. If you click on the View Completion tab and click View Training Details, this will give you a description of the training. If you click on the Transcript History tab it will show who gave the training and when it was completed.

If you find you have any training listed that you did not receive, print your training transcript, and give it to your Steward in order to file a grievance. This is important with the heat-related training we were to receive each year.

Cn another note, management is attempting to impose a flat one hour for office time. This is of course an imaginary number or better yet a myth. Every route has a minimum of fixed office time of 33 minutes, or 43 minutes if your station has office breaks, which includes the following:

1. 6 minutes for accountable items

2. 5 minutes for withdraw of mail

3. 3 minutes for vehicle inspection

4. 5 minutes for personal needs

5. 9 minutes for recurring office functions

6. 5 minutes for mark-up time

The 33 or 43 minutes does not include your casing time. Casing time varies depending on the volume. Management may only check the proficiency of a carrier by completing an office count and completing an 1838-C. When an office count is performed on a carrier the M-39 provides that a carrier is allowed 1 minute for every 18 letters and 1 minute for every 8 flats when casing them depending on the volume each day plus the fixed office time. When a route has been adjusted to a carrier with a faster casing speed management will put it into DOIS and attempt to hold that carrier to DOIS estimates that are only estimates and not absolutes. City Carrier Assistants, Carrier Technicians, Part-Time Flexibles, and any carriers who bid on a route after it was evaluated/adjusted have not been officially evaluated on said route and cannot be held to those numbers. Also, SPRs or Small Packages and Rolls are considered flats and should be cased if able. If you cannot case a SPR then you should be lining it out in a tray in the line of delivery on office time. If you are working your SPRs on the street then you are shorting yourself legitimately eamed office time. Lastly, carriers get 1 minute to pull down/strap out our routes for every 70 pieces of cased mail with a minimum of 3 minutes. Read and understand the M-41 Manual (City Delivery Carriers Duties and Responsibilities) which can be found at every city carrier’s case.

Finally, I will touch on a subject that is currently a hot topic and that is “failure to submit a PS 3996” or better yet “failure to notify management of the need for overtime.”

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Handbook M-41 Section 131.41 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.

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Before the use of overtime, it is the carrier responsibility to request a PS Form 3996 and management is required to provide it. Itis important that you fill out the form completely. In the reason for the request box, write down why you believe you cannot complete your assignment in 8 hours. Explain in detail why your request for overtime is necessary to complete your assignment. Comments like “heavy volume”, “parcels”, “SPRs”, or “route overburdened” are not specific enough. You need to state, for example, how your volume is over your base, you need to physically count all your parcels and SPRs, and describe how your route is overburdened with an exact number of delivers, and any other issue that may affect you and cause overtime. Management is required to address your Form PS 3996 prior to you leaving for the street. If management denies your request for overtime or auxiliary assistance then you should ask the question “I need further instructions on what to do with the mail I cannot deliver within my 8 hours.” You have a right to request a copy of your completed Form PS 3996 for your records. If the situation exists where management refuses to answer your question ot approve overtime, but not the amount you requested, do not take it upon yourself to make a decision to work overtime. Before you take it upon yourself to work overtime that is not approved in advance you should do everything you can to put the onus on management to make a decision. The proper way of doing that is to call your immediate supervisor at least 2 hours prior to going into overtime to ask for further instructions. If management still refuses to instruct you on what to do with the mail or if you cannot complete your assigned duties in the amount of time specified by your supervisor, you should return to the office in the allotted time and ask for further instructions. Again, you should follow whatever instructions management gives you.

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Sincerely and Fraternally,

Michael Barrett