POLL: New Contract VOTE!!!!

[gerl2]

What do you suggest for leave procedures?

How about a calendar at the beginning of the year like clerks and city carriers, I get it that we don't have RCA's like the old days and could take whenever we wanted, so if we are going to be limited at least give us an option to be able to choose and not have to hand in a life event or wait till 60 days only to be said NO, why would our union think that this would make anyone happy?

 

[too many yrs left]

How about a calendar at the beginning of the year like clerks and city carriers, I get it that we don't have RCA's like the old days and could take whenever we wanted, so if we are going to be limited at least give us an option to be able to choose and not have to hand in a life event or wait till 60 days only to be said NO, why would our union think that this would make anyone happy?

Disagree
When you pass the calendar it is for entire weeks. Yes, you can cancel days later but you can't put in for two days here, three days there, etc...
Again, I'm not sure this was an issue important enough for this contract when there are so many other things up in the air. USPS wanted to take something away from us and NRLCA just said ok.

 

[ATCBigE]

It’s a NO, until they take the wording out that RCAs can be “utilized in other offices” including Sundays; required to cover “other offices if given a full route”.

I am assigned to an office, I will show up for my office when ever needed! But I am tired of driving to other offices everyday after I finish my Aux.

When there is true wording that will actually improve the hiring issue

Or there needs to be more of a reward for going to other office.

 

[FrozenToes]

I see a couple of trends developing, and one way or another, they're likely to happen regardless.... control over leave is being tightened.... and it'll be even harder to get, especially in light of RCAs now also having leave... 2nd, they're seeking additional flexibility to send RCAs all the hail over the place.... now to include reducing DACA 5 & 3 payments... soon it may not only be RCAs, but Regs as well.... and these are not good things in many way.... as I head out the door, you all know, that I'll be bidding you a, SEE YA, SURE WOULDN'T WANNA BE YA!!!!

I try to look at both sides.
RCAs getting leave. Doesn't it state by seniority? Reg trumps RCA.
RDWL- There have been multiple carriers complaining about working their relief day. This helps them out. Some RCAS want hours, some don't. In reality, how many offices are staffed enough to send RCAs to another office for a relief day, especially Saturdays. ( not emergency)
( I think this was one of the 3 asks from the PO).

 

[neciat]

How about a calendar at the beginning of the year like clerks and city carriers, I get it that we don't have RCA's like the old days and could take whenever we wanted, so if we are going to be limited at least give us an option to be able to choose and not have to hand in a life event or wait till 60 days only to be said NO, why would our union think that this would make anyone happy?

Because THAT which you propose would be yet another loss for our craft. We would lose the "according to our personal wishes" .

 

[FrozenToes]

Disagree
When you pass the calendar it is for entire weeks. Yes, you can cancel days later but you can't put in for two days here, three days there, etc...
Again, I'm not sure this was an issue important enough for this contract when there are so many other things up in the air. USPS wanted to take something away from us and NRLCA just said ok.

They claim it was. That was my point in asking for ideas.
What's the best solution for all?
ps.- Maybe the board should have multiple threads with actual suggestions/ideas for these issues. Our contract committee.

 

[DB.Cooper]

In the Covid era... will the Ronmonster and crew do a traveling road show, snake oil sales pitch of this new fangled contract????

 

[too many yrs left]

the 60 day limitation and no mail count provision if RRECS fails

Agree with this totally. Would also add using outside RCA's prior to RDWL.

 

[Dumbassclerksyndrome]

Okay, I voted... I'm thinking of voting YES for the 1st time in over 20 years... I've always voted NO before.... but now, I'm eyeballing the exit door and would just like to see it get settled before I head out the door... not saying it's a great contract, or anything like that tho...

WOW!!! This reasoning is exactly why the union is in the position it is in. Carriers retired voting on something’s no clue about and those exiting the door saying well it’s not going to affect me. Just give me my money. Still shaking my head at this one.

 

[too many yrs left]

They claim it was. That was my point in asking for ideas.
What's the best solution for all?

Their so called "claim" is also my point. Where did this come from? I won't say there aren't some carriers who complain but what really are they complaining about?? That they aren't smart enough to put in leave slips early?

 

[DB.Cooper]

They claim it was. That was my point in asking for ideas.
What's the best solution for all?

The line about annual to be used according to carrier personal wishes must be maintained... jmho....

 

[DB.Cooper]

WOW!!! This reasoning is exactly why the union is in the position it is in. Carriers retired voting on something’s no clue about and those exiting the door saying well it’s not going to affect me. Just give me my money. Still shaking my head at this one.

Just wait until you see me posting from the next National convention, while you couldn't go because your leave was denied... what are you gonna say then????

 

[EthelAnne]

Not sure how long you've been around, but some of the past contracts were real stinkers.... so, the good news with this contract, is there's no real ugly issues, other than the BIG unknown of RRECS.... that obviously could turn out to be a real stinker tho...

I disagree with you that this is not a stinker contract. Those crappy contracts that we got in the 2000s during the Great Recession--I could understand that we did not have much bargaining leverage. During those dark days, it was not hard to imagine the USPS going out of existence and we had to do whatever we could to keep that from happening.

What is the reasoning now for these concessions? What is the reason now for not addressing the RCA retention issue in a meaningful way? I remember the contract where RCAs first for health benefits and Susan Knapp saying what a "huge" win it was--how was it a huge win? The passage of the ACA would have required the USPS (like it did so many large employers) to provide benefits to RCAs anyway, but yet that was spun as a "win." I also remember her saying at that meeting--to people who were frustrated that it wasn't enough--that we all had to be patient and this was a first step and now that we had health benefits the next contract would be better, and the next one after that, etc. Now here we are twelve years later and some RCAs have earned AL, which they probably will never be able to use (I can hear the NRLCA already: "But then they'll get paid for the AL they can't use! Money, money!" It's like these people don't realize that there are points in our lives where our time is much more valuable than an extra $100). How long are people supposed to wait to get basic rights like paid time off and paid sick leave? Twenty years? Thirty years? The time for RCAs to receive the same benefits (holiday pay, penalty time) as PSEs and CCAs is now.

And the RCA thing is not even my big issue--I'm a Table One senior regular carrier in my office. The problem with this contract is that we get nothing, and we've made concessions at a point in history where workers should not be giving up anything.

 

[hojo]

I'm further behind you, next year, but what is it that makes you think this would be better settled before you leave?? I guess just the retroactive increases? I guess I would like to make sure I got those too.

I know someone who retired before the last contract was settled and he got back pay? So If you were working during this past few years you should still get the back pay for the time you were there.

 

[Dumbassclerksyndrome]

Just wait until you see me posting from the next National convention, while you couldn't go because your leave was denied... what are you gonna say then????

Well as many times I’ve seen you state “ see ya, wouldn’t want to be ya” I’m sure you’ll still be around. Even in 2025, who knows even 2030! The mind set to vote what’s best for you and not membership as a whole is one reason your state should not vote you in as a delegate! SEE YA!

 

[DB.Cooper]

I hear peeps talking all this smack about the new contract... but, I still have to wonder.... will MOST carriers main question be.... how soon will we get those THOUSANDS of $$$$ dollars in backpay and COLAs... you can betcha, NRLCA will focus on this...

 

[Dumbassclerksyndrome]

I disagree with you that this is not a stinker contract. Those crappy contracts that we got in the 2000s during the Great Recession--I could understand that we did not have much bargaining leverage. During those dark days, it was not hard to imagine the USPS going out of existence and we had to do whatever we could to keep that from happening.

What is the reasoning now for these concessions? What is the reason now for not addressing the RCA retention issue in a meaningful way? I remember the contract where RCAs first for health benefits and Susan Knapp saying what a "huge" win it was--how was it a huge win? The passage of the ACA would have required the USPS (like it did so many large employers) to provide benefits to RCAs anyway, but yet that was spun as a "win." I also remember her saying at that meeting--to people who were frustrated that it wasn't enough--that we all had to be patient and this was a first step and now that we had health benefits the next contract would be better, and the next one after that, etc. Now here we are twelve years later and some RCAs have earned AL, which they probably will never be able to use (I can hear the NRLCA already: "But then they'll get paid for the AL they can't use! Money, money!" It's like these people don't realize that there are points in our lives where our time is much more valuable than an extra $100). How long are people supposed to wait to get basic rights like paid time off and paid sick leave? Twenty years? Thirty years? The time for RCAs to receive the same benefits (holiday pay, penalty time) as PSEs and CCAs is now.

And the RCA thing is not even my big issue--I'm a Table One senior regular carrier in my office. The problem with this contract is that we get nothing, and we've made concessions at a point in history where workers should not be giving up anything.

The RCA thing is not even my big concern with this contract--it's the failure to

 

[Guin]

Ronnie stated that carriers were not happy with the current leave procedures. Who knows where he obtained this info.
Leave is already abused by management. File,file,file..
Leave is sometimes abused by carriers filling out leave slips way out in advance. Right now it's a race to whomever fills out the slip first.
What do you suggest for leave procedures?

Leave it the way it is or at minimum take out the seniority factor and leave it as first come first served, seniority shouldn't be a factor in who gets a day off. You snooze you lose if you didn't put in for it. This removes the favoritism factor by management and the ability for carriers with more seniority to consistently put in for leave and getting it off while a carrier with less seniority is scrambling for scraps. This craft is turning into more and more of a caste system and there is no need to pit people against each other like that.

In my office in particular I have a supervisor who believes leave should be issued based on seniority and a rash of seniority driven regular carriers who believe they are owed something. It was to the point where there was an office leave book passed around every year. I filed multiple grievances to absolve this mindset. Carriers with less seniority were finally able to get time off and moral overall improved in the office.

I would be ok with it if they were using it to pick a week of vacation that was important to them but instead they used it to put in ALL their time off for the year. Carriers with less seniority in my office couldn't put in for time off or get holidays they wanted because it was already taken. My office will go back to this where less seniority carriers were left bitter and frustrated.

I also would remove the requirement that "documentation may be required" it's MY leave I earned it in exchange for working for USPS, I alone will determine how and what it is used for. It's not up to management to determine if MY vacation is important enough to recieve an approval in advance or not because it is important to ME.

 

[DB.Cooper]

Well as many times I’ve seen you state “ see ya, wouldn’t want to be ya” I’m sure you’ll still be around. Even in 2025, who knows even 2030! The mind set to vote what’s best for you and not membership as a whole is one reason your state should not vote you in as a delegate! SEE YA!

You seem to be contradicting your previous post about these are exactly the types of peeps going to the conventions... puzzling...

 

[DB.Cooper]

WOW!!! This reasoning is exactly why the union is in the position it is in. Carriers retired voting on something’s no clue about and those exiting the door saying well it’s not going to affect me. Just give me my money. Still shaking my head at this one.

Time will tell... but my prediction is.... most voters will vote for what they think will benefit them personally, in the short term... and I think most will want the $$$$ payback and COLAs as quickly as they can get it.... but, maybe you're right and others will vote on what is best for others, rather than themselves... we'll see...