Mutual Understanding of MOU 7, when a Regular Carrier bids on a posting involving a route consolidation in accordance with Article 12.3.A.1.c.

National Rural Letter Carriers' Association

http://www.divshare.com/direct/9272609-70f.pdf

2009 Christmas Pay Procedures for Rural Carriers

Christmas Pay Procedures for Rural Carriers: "The 2009 Christmas period for rural carriers begins Saturday, December 5, 2009 (Week 1, Pay Period (PP) 26-09), and ends Friday, December 25, 2009, Week 1 of PP 01-10. During this period, certain timekeeping and pay rules apply. Time�keepers, including postmasters, supervisors, and other employees responsible for rural carrier time and attendance record�ing, should become familiar with Article 9.2.K., Christmas Allowances and Procedures, of the 2006 USPS/National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA) Agreement."

Rural Delivery Guarantee Period

Organization Information: "The 2008-2009 guarantee period for the past year was from Saturday, October 25, 2008, through Friday, October 23, 2009. This year’s 2009–2010 guarantee period will begin on Saturday, October 24, 2009, and continue through Friday, October 22, 2010."

National and State 2009 RLCA Labor Management Reports

Special Thanks to Hierofont for providing all of these LM reports to us..

21 states have failed to file timely reports and the last available report for each of those states is 2008. Those states are Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming. Hawaii and Alaska are unincorporated and do not file reports.

The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) grants certain rights to union members and protects their interests by promoting democratic procedures within labor organizations. The LMRDA establishes the following:

• Bill of Rights for union members
• Reporting requirements for labor organizations, union officers and employees, employers, labor-relations consultants, and surety companies
• Standards for the regular election of union officers
• Safeguards for protecting labor organization funds and assets

Reporting Requirements

• Unions must file information reports, constitutions and bylaws, and annual financial reports with OLMS.
• Officers and employees of labor unions must report any loans and benefits received from, or certain financial interests in, employers whose employees their unions represent and businesses that deal with their unions.
• Employers and labor-relations consultants who engage in certain activities to persuade employees about their union activities or to supply information to the employer must file reports.
• Surety companies that issue bonds required by the LMRDA or the Employee Retirement Income Security Act must report data such as premiums received, total claims paid, and amounts recovered.
• The Secretary of Labor has authority to enforce the reporting requirements of the LMRDA.
• The reports and documents filed with OLMS are public information and any person may examine them or obtain copies at OLMS offices or via the OLMS Internet Public Disclosure Room at www.union-reports.dol.gov.
• Filers must retain the records necessary to verify the reports for at least five years after the reports are filed.
• Unions must make reports available to members and permit members to examine records for just cause.

You can access these files at the link below:

http://www.divshare.com/download/8851352-d46

FERS Sick Leave and Retirement Provisions Poised to Pass Congress

Rural Mail Carrier Postal News: FERS Sick Leave and Retirement Provisions Poised to Pass Congress

NRLCA APPEALS POSTAL SERVICE’S PROPOSED DPS FLATS STANDARD DIRECTLY TO PRIORITY NATIONAL ARBITRATION

National Rural Letter Carriers' Association

On September 14, 2009, the NRLCA received the Postal Service’s official notification that it proposes to implement a new street standard for handling delivery point sequence (DPS) flats on rural routes with postal-owned vehicles. The Postal Service’s proposed standard is 69 pieces per minute or 39 pieces more per minute than the DPS letter mail standard. While the parties did conduct a joint study in an effort to reach agreement on a new DPS flats standard, the Postal Service determined that several of the timed elements captured during the study should not be factored into the new standard. We believe the Postal Service’s analysis of the joint study to be deeply flawed.

The NRLCA’s proposed DPS flats standard is 17 pieces per minute, which is supported by analysis from the Union’s industrial engineer.

Accordingly, on September 18, 2009, the NRLCA filed a direct appeal to priority National Arbitration. The parties have already reserved hearing dates in January 2010 with National Arbitrator Richard Bloch for this purpose. The issue before Arbitrator Bloch will be whether the national concepts involved in the Postal Service’s proposed time standard are fair, reasonable, and equitable.

Pursuant to Article 34 of the National Agreement, during the period prior to the issuance of the arbitrator’s award, the new time standard will not be implemented.

Of course, the National Board will keep you advised of any new developments in this critically important case.

AREA ARBITRATOR AWARDS NRLCA $1.4 MILLION FOR POSTAL SERVICE’S IMPROPER USE OF TRC’S

National Rural Letter Carriers' Association

Since the advent of the Temporary Relief Carrier (TRC) employee classification, there have always been special rules regarding the Postal Service’s hiring and use of TRC’s. For many years, there was no limit on the hiring of TRCs, provided the number of bargaining unit leave replacements in the district equaled or was more than 80% of the number of regular routes in the district. When the number of bargaining unit leave replacements in the district dropped below 80%, RCAs were the only leave replacement employees that could be hired. Currently, restrictions on the Postal Service’s hiring of TRCs are area-based. Article 7, Section 4 of the National Agreement states, “[t]he number of TRCs that may be hired within an area is limited to 15% of the total number of regular routes in that area.”

In 2003, Postal managers in the Long Island District were notified by the NYRLCA state steward that the number of bargaining unit leave replacements had dropped below the 80% threshold. Despite several notifications, the Long Island District continued to hire TRC’s effectively depriving the NRLCA of bargaining unit personnel. Accordingly, the NRLCA Executive Committeeman filed a class action grievance. At arbitration, the Postal Service conceded a violation of the National Agreement and, after a failed attempt at mediation, the parties presented their respective cases on the remedy.

In a landmark arbitration award from Arbitrator Jay D. Goldstein, the Postal Service was ordered to pay to the NRLCA the sum of $1,400,000 to be used as compensation for those affected current and former RCA employees who worked during the period March 17, 2003 to December 2007 in the Long Island District (based on TRC work hours during that same period). The arbitrator also provided that any balance remaining from the sum awarded shall be retained by the NRLCA as compensation for the loss of union dues during that same period. This award is similar in many respects to arbitration awards in the other Postal crafts in which arbitrators have awarded large sums for the clear loss of work opportunities, particularly where the violations are recurring over many months or years.

NRLCA officers will be closely monitoring the area TRC reports to insure that the number of TRCs hired within an area is limited to 15% of the total number of regular routes in that area.

Ema rises to 60.5 cents per mile..

National Rural Letter Carriers' Association: "The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has released the August 2009 CPI-W Private Transportation Index. Based on this release, the Equipment Maintenance Allowance (EMA), and a contractually mandated 2.5 cents increase to the base, EMA will increase by 6.5 cents to 60.5 cents per mile.

Therefore, in accordance with the provisions of Article 9, Section 2.J.3 of the USPS/NRLCA National Agreement, effective October 10, 2009 (Pay Period 22-09), the Equipment Maintenance Allowance (EMA) will increase from 54 cents per mile to 60.5 cents per mile, or a minimum of $24.20 per day, whichever is greater."

Auxiliary Rural Carriers, Rural Carrier Reliefs, Rural Carrier Associates, Rural Carrier Part-Time Flexibles, and Auxiliary Assistance

Employees providing auxiliary assistance or serving auxiliary routes under the provisions of Article 9, Section 2.J.5, will receive EMA of 60.5 cents per mile or $6.65 per hour, whichever is greater. The EMA will not exceed the amount provided in the special EMA chart for route stops and miles.

The EMA chart will be posted once we receive a copy.