What can we REALLY do??

neciat · Jun 11, 2023

Surprise! said:
What about minimizing damage to the people that can't get out?

That would be the job of the labor organization representing you whether you can get out or not.

Old Fart · Jun 11, 2023

neciat said:
....................and those former RCAs that are now CCAs will just end up doing the rural routes that they once worked.

The ones in our offices moved to other offices close to their homes, saving a 100 mile a day cost of commute.

Old Fart · Jun 11, 2023

neciat said:
That would be the job of the labor organization representing you whether you can get out or not.

Ours is compliant. Little chance of that.

Haygrrl · Jun 11, 2023

Old Fart said:
Most don't have the fortitude to stand firm against management. They're rightfully worried about retaliation (yeah, it's illegal, against contract, etc, but we KNOW it happens) and risking their source of rent, food, clothing.....

And management is being equally harassed by THEIR Districts, Areas, just as they are harassing us.

Cost reduction is paramount to the top echelon of USPS leadership. Sacrifices by employees, customer service, are collateral damage.

I envision route consolidation coming after the October evaluation period. A hope that enough retire to shift the excessed carriers in those regular route jobs.

I would've gone 2 years ago if we had a buy back option..but again our system sucks..i have 34 years in..bit now I have to work 2.4 more years until I'm 60..which will give me 16 fing years OVER their 60/20 requirement...how is that even fair

neciat · Jun 11, 2023

Old Fart said:
That would be altruistic but the post office management I believe sees only cost reductions. We as employees are a necessary evil, not an asset as most corporations would view their employees.

Yes, we are truly viewed as parasites on the system.

Old Fart · Jun 11, 2023

Haygrrl said:
I would've gone 2 years ago if we had a buy back option..but again our system sucks..i have 34 years in..bit now I have to work 2.4 more years until I'm 60..which will give me 16 fing years OVER their 60/20 requirement...how is that even fair

Federal requirements are age 57 with 30 years. Interesting the post office chooses to make retirement TOUGHER when so much of our jobs are more physically demanding.

OldHillbilly · Jun 11, 2023

Old Fart said:
Our PM's were told at District six months ago that the October period was to allow carriers who didn't follow all the scans to regain some of their lost evaluation time.

I tend to instead agree with you. They're honing the adjustment program. Delay is to get it up and working. We were told adjustments wouldn't be made until after October. That's their plan.

So then why are carriers now being harassed for making scans? I’m afraid they are counting on further cuts instead, so only want to lower the axe once.

Old Fart · Jun 11, 2023

OldHillbilly said:
So then why are carriers now being harassed for making scans? I’m afraid they are counting on further cuts instead, so only want to lower the axe once.

Honestly, from my view, they're harassing about scans because it's inbred into upper management to look for any deviation from norm and issue warning and discipline. AND they want city to be 100% scan also, so they've got the same mental attitude toward all of us.

gotstamps · Jun 11, 2023

Old Fart said:
Federal requirements are age 57 with 30 years. Interesting the post office chooses to make retirement TOUGHER when so much of our jobs are more physically demanding.

It’s not the PO not allowing the Buyback of sub years; that’s Congress.

Edited: The PO actually makes it easier to retire. 5 years gets you fully vested.
62 with 5 yrs
60 with 20 yrs
MRA with 30 yrs
AND MRA with 10 yrs but reduced benefits.

I could go in a few years with reduced benefits but I’ll wait until I’m 62 if possible. I’ll have 20 yrs at 60 but I‘d rather maximize it at 62.

OldHillbilly · Jun 11, 2023

neciat said:
Yes, we are truly viewed as parasites on the system.

When in reality we’ve been the goose pumping out those golden eggs. No other craft contributes all those free hours we do. Now RRECS is wringing the goose’s neck to try and squeeze out even more golden eggs.

OldHillbilly · Jun 11, 2023

Old Fart said:
Honestly, from my view, they're harassing about scans because it's inbred into upper management to look for any deviation from norm and issue warning and discipline. AND they want city to be 100% scan also, so they've got the same mental attitude toward all of us.

I’ve mentioned to a few managers to be careful since the scanner may just replace some of them. Who needs local management when someone 100s of miles away can Big Brother you?

OldHillbilly · Jun 11, 2023

gotstamps said:
It’s not the PO not allowing the Buyback of sub years; that’s Congress.

It would also probably be fairly expensive too.

Gotrope · Jun 11, 2023

Dumbassclerksyndrome said:
We put this forth every year and every year shot down. Wonder why? Oh I know the reason for my state

I believe your state has a special relationship. But, it doesn't hurt to push it forward. More voices eventually get heard.

Ineverslice · Jun 11, 2023

Old Fart said:
Sure looks like RRECS is here to stay. Sure, bumps in understanding and implementation, financial destruction to many carriers, but he bottom line to top management is huge labor savings. "DATA" is a new hammer to pound on carriers, even though they often have no idea what or why.

So, can we really effect any significant changes? Probably not. Why should management change anything?

Can we recall or vote in different Board members who will understand and be responsive to us? Probably not, less than 10% voted last time so that's unrealistic.

Grievances? Mostly peripheral, small items. The core problems are 1) the engineered standards themselves and 2) absolute lack of data access to back up any part of the evaluation at route level. Will this change via the grievance process? Nah.

Sick out, strike, work slowdown? Only works for the plant personnel, where they have far better representation in bargaining agreement. Plant workers have jobs similar to other industries, which have much better contracts, giving them an advantage.

Congress? Legislation? A real long shot. Typical of DC, they write a letter and done. With so many accusations of corruption and illegalities on both sides of the aisle, our chances of anything are as slim as slim can be.

Merge with city? Likely not at this stage, as our Rural Union leaders generate their only source of power through a separate bargaining agreement.

SOMEBODY provide some optimism, some small grain of positive solutions. This system theoretically was supposed to address the movements of average carriers, and instead, it put standards out there impossible for even the best to attain. The less than 10% who gained under RRECS are happy, but hey, if our old system had addressed your overburdens AS IT SHOULD HAVE you'd have been compensated long ago for what you do.

Open dialog. Let it rip. What's the solution?

I have good news but no solution. The good news, I turn 62 in a little over a year and then I’m out of here!

forrest · Jun 11, 2023

Old Fart said:
Sure looks like RRECS is here to stay. Sure, bumps in understanding and implementation, financial destruction to many carriers, but he bottom line to top management is huge labor savings. "DATA" is a new hammer to pound on carriers, even though they often have no idea what or why.

So, can we really effect any significant changes? Probably not. Why should management change anything?

Can we recall or vote in different Board members who will understand and be responsive to us? Probably not, less than 10% voted last time so that's unrealistic.

Grievances? Mostly peripheral, small items. The core problems are 1) the engineered standards themselves and 2) absolute lack of data access to back up any part of the evaluation at route level. Will this change via the grievance process? Nah.

Sick out, strike, work slowdown? Only works for the plant personnel, where they have far better representation in bargaining agreement. Plant workers have jobs similar to other industries, which have much better contracts, giving them an advantage.

Congress? Legislation? A real long shot. Typical of DC, they write a letter and done. With so many accusations of corruption and illegalities on both sides of the aisle, our chances of anything are as slim as slim can be.

Merge with city? Likely not at this stage, as our Rural Union leaders generate their only source of power through a separate bargaining agreement.

SOMEBODY provide some optimism, some small grain of positive solutions. This system theoretically was supposed to address the movements of average carriers, and instead, it put standards out there impossible for even the best to attain. The less than 10% who gained under RRECS are happy, but hey, if our old system had addressed your overburdens AS IT SHOULD HAVE you'd have been compensated long ago for what you do.

Open dialog. Let it rip. What's the solution?

The 1st step right now is to get actual standards and requirements for them from the PO it's clear to me now that what the union thought were comprehensive guidelines were merely suggestions. The standards were not to be changed so it looks like they decided to change definitions of what qualifies as the standard.

Then in my opinion

Get rid of De'jerk

Get rid of the entire board and traders running for office.

Get rid of table 2

Push hard to go back to being a government entity and civil service. Our quasi governmental status is terminal condition. The government will be unlikely to remove the mandate any time soon so as much as they want it private is not feasible.

vmlb · Jun 11, 2023

Old Fart said:
Our PM's were told at District six months ago that the October period was to allow carriers who didn't follow all the scans to regain some of their lost evaluation time.

I tend to instead agree with you. They're honing the adjustment program. Delay is to get it up and working. We were told adjustments wouldn't be made until after October. That's their plan.

This is one dumb a$$ who didn't follow all the scans, so I learned my lesson. I went from a 44k to 42 j. Last week I worked 48+ hours. I'm hoping mine will go back next count. 4 routes under our PM. 3 went down, 1 increased. The 3 that lost time have fast efficient RCAs, the one who gained has a slow RCA.
This last message from the PMG, we were able to listen to after being clocked in. The unions won something for us.

Dominator · Jun 11, 2023

Gotrope said:
I believe your state has a special relationship. But, it doesn't hurt to push it forward. More voices eventually get heard.

Cue the biennial amendment and escape those voices. As more people leave the union, cue the quadrennial convention "or we'll just have to raise dues".

DB.Cooper · Jun 11, 2023

Morty said:
As long people who haven't carried since 19XX are on the board, you won't see change.

Resolution; 4 year terms for any elected or appointed position with a mandatory 2080 hour working break. AL, SL, LWOP, FMLA do not count towards 2080 actual hours worked.

Reason? To prevent lifelong career beauracrats from representing the working carrier. Those that represent us, must have worked the job they represent within a 5 year period.

LOL.... resolutions.... what was the last carrier initiated, carrier beneficial resolution that made it thru the NRLCA status quo maintaining red tape.... js.... totally dysfunctional system.... lol.... resolutions.... js.... resolution = pi$$ing up a rope....

forrest · Jun 11, 2023

Organizational wide EEO complaint.

SilverHair · Jun 11, 2023

gotstamps said:
I could go in a few years with reduced benefits but I’ll wait until I’m 62 if possible. I’ll have 20 yrs at 60 but I‘d rather maximize it at 62.

Smart move if you can hang on that long. Before age 62 gets no COLAs (though you would get the FERS Supplement to bridge you to age 62 if you retired at age 60 since you have 20 years of service at age 60).

You will also get the extra one-tenth percent boost to 1.1% instead of 1% per year of service since you will be age 62 and have at least 20 years of service.

Age 62 would be 22 years of service, so 24.2% instead of 22% of High 3 for annuity.