They say you have to buy a union membership..

[C$$]

I've seen a version of the "new" training.

It was, as far as I could tell, basically the same as the old training... Some small exceptions:

The dates were updated. (14 March is the survey 'finalized' date)
They expect us to update route mapping monthly (DPM & LTM are the program acronyms, right?)
There is a report that is supposed to show all collected mail (piece count, prebundle, etc) for the route. It isn't available yet... *insert shocked but not really shocked at all! emoji*

If you did your homework back in September you will be in good shape. Here are the resources:
Here's a link to the "old" training on youtube
And the RI repository


If people get a different version of the training, or the upgrade it as the date gets closer, please correct me.

Good Luck!
C$$

 

[Gotrope]

Now I have NO ISSUE with union doing things for union members only such as Retirement seminar, healthy living, whatever other classes they want to offer and so on. That is beyond fair and what people pay dues for.

You do know the sole function of the union is to bargain on behalf of the craft for wage and conditions? They are the sole recognized entity to represent rural craft. Sure, retirement info is nice but, that has never been the primary use of dues collected monies. Dues are to be utilized for representing membership before usps decisions.

There is information available through usps, manuals and such. You may always contact a union rep and say you don't believe mgmt has met their obligation to train you for new system. But, under the negotiated contract...mgmt trains employees for work duties. Union only is required to train for union representation duties of their own employees.
Saying you want to eat cake at a private event, payed for by attendees is not actually reasonable.

 

[RDruckus]

...... Glad the union is finally taking a stand Against non members.

That's got me thinking, you're right about that.
In my experience, National is normally taking a stand against members, and not even replying to direct correspondence from same.

Perhaps it would serve them better to hire some better lawyers and other professionals, so they could work to their mandate and take an effective stand against USPS abuses of our entire craft. (This includes lack of training for RRECS by USPS and little transparency in the entire process. We need to be able to address any inconsistencies between records and our performance. A scanner with improved software would be a plus.)

 

[RDruckus]

My main issue is that the UNION should say SOMEONE SHOULD TEACH OTHER PEOPLE THEN (management or whoever) OR TAKE IT UPON THEMSELVES TO TEACH EVERYONE.

They teach everyone and GUESS WHAT????? Maybe some people will join. That's my main thing. Only teaching some people isn't right.

The NRLCA has the ability to go after the USPS so the agency gives all of our craft the proper training.
I've encountered tremendous hubris from National officers when asking them to fulfill their mandated duties. (That is the most polite way I can express my disappointment with the National Board.)

 

[RDruckus]

You would think with all the free time we have taken to read the rrecs guides, educate ourselves online , research our pay that people who are not part of the union would have this right . I think if we are union or not we have given enough of our free time to this company to just be paid fair. If anything they owe every carrier money not we owe them to see how to be trained.

Funny, I feel Jeff Bezos and the USPS owe me money, but I had unpaid Amazon starting in 2015. That is the free time I'm NEVER going to recoup.
This RRECS evaluation will capture some of my work for the past year. Now we know December's parcels are an issue. I ask myself as I look at the mountains of unwieldy parcels I handled for free, can I trust the post office to play it straight with this new, opaque system of pay? Did it take this long to implement so they could game the system? Does the NRLCA have our backs?

 

[ctrural2]

I am in the union and I don't see any zoom meeting available on that list for anyone in the northeast. I am in New Hampshire and we don't exist on this list or am I missing something? Alot of union dues being paid up here and we hear and see nothing from our union.

Meetings are for what "district" you are in----probably MA(I think it was formerly called Northeast)

 

[RDruckus]

For many of us this started much earlier than 2015. 2015 the remedy was supposed to be in place. We are 10 years late on getting paid.

Not sure if it started for us before 2015 -- I was too lazy to look into my records.
I know I was doing it by 2015 because of other life events.

Its tough to have energy and multiple hours stolen from you each week, especially if you have serious life events that you need that time and energy to address.
Then the line boss wants to know why you can't make your leaving time from the 4240. Then, your union says to suck it up, only a small fraction of the craft is being stolen from this way.
You will never get what you are truly owed.

 

[TheDude]

Ya well your paycheck is what it is because of the union. I am sick of hitch hikers. Pay your dues.

The term is "free riders."


In the case of our "union" some would prefer to not be on the ride that's going directly off of the cliff.

 

[Unclewolverine]

The only red flag anyone needs to see to know our union is worthless is the policy of follow any direct order then grieve later. That gives management carte blanch to do whatever they want and know that there will be nothing more than MAYBE a slap on the wrist later. When I worked at a teamsters warehouse, if you were given an order that you knew wasn't EXPRESSLY in your job description you didn't do it. If the supervisor pushed, you got a union steward there and figured it out right THERE. Many times there wasn't someone on duty who's job it was to do that specific task. At that point not only did the supervisor do the task if it need done right then, the highest seniority person who had the task in their job description got paid for the work, despite not even being there.

Also, it was a right to work state, so not everyone had to be in the union, but not only did the union tell all employees everything, non union employees got to go to meetings, just not vote. With people seeing how well the union worked FOR us, not against like ours, we had about 90% involvement.

 

[TheDude]

The only red flag anyone needs to see to know our union is worthless is the policy of follow any direct order then grieve later. That gives management carte blanch to do whatever they want and know that there will be nothing more than MAYBE a slap on the wrist later. When I worked at a teamsters warehouse, if you were given an order that you knew wasn't EXPRESSLY in your job description you didn't do it. If the supervisor pushed, you got a union steward there and figured it out right THERE. Many times there wasn't someone on duty who's job it was to do that specific task. At that point not only did the supervisor do the task if it need done right then, the highest seniority person who had the task in their job description got paid for the work, despite not even being there.

Also, it was a right to work state, so not everyone had to be in the union, but not only did the union tell all employees everything, non union employees got to go to meetings, just not vote. With people seeing how well the union worked FOR us, not against like ours, we had about 90% involvement.

I firmly believe that one purpose of this particular union is to make busy work for its Stewards, ADRs, and DRs. It would help explain such things as "follow orders and grieve later" as well as what always appears to be extremely vague language in our contracts and MOUs.

Intentionally make things confusing or murky, have to call on union to clarify, union either fails to remedy the situation and simply blames the weak contract language OR succeeds and congratulates themselves for wordings that should have already been clear and concise. All the while, DRs get handsome 6 figure salaries, ADRs never have to carry their routes because they are on "union business" and Stewards can do the work and get UNION time as well. And perhaps if they kiss enough butts they can be an ADR or DR one day.

 

[ATCBigE]

You do know the sole function of the union is to bargain on behalf of the craft for wage and conditions? They are the sole recognized entity to represent rural craft. Sure, retirement info is nice but, that has never been the primary use of dues collected monies. Dues are to be utilized for representing membership before usps decisions.

There is information available through usps, manuals and such. You may always contact a union rep and say you don't believe mgmt has met their obligation to train you for new system. But, under the negotiated contract...mgmt trains employees for work duties. Union only is required to train for union representation duties of their own employees.
Saying you want to eat cake at a private event, payed for by attendees is not actually reasonable.

I know what unions are for. The point of the retirement thing was to say those are things that should be limited to members only. Stuff like this BRAND NEW PAY SYSTEM that is 360 degree flip from old one, everyone should know.

The bold, are they really representing the craft well? That's a big fat no.

 

[ATCBigE]

We had a woman that never paid dues in our office. Every time mailcount rolled around she would ask one of us for a copy of the mailcount guide. I was an RCA and she was the regular. I used to deliver her route. I wanted her to have as much knowledge as she could so the route was properly evaluated.. I gave her my mailcount guide happily,

I can't wrap my head around the need for a private event set up to enrich the craft and you are happy to exclude the craft.

Why are there only materials available through the union? This new pay system is a joint effort, material should be available with the seal of approval from both entities.

This is my point. It is going to affect everyone in a way. If this was the old mail count, I would have ZERO issue saying UNION MEMBERS ONLY. But this is a brand new totally different way of paying us compared to the old system, and no one knows everything about it. Things have changed constantly to the point it was impossible to keep up. It should be open to everyone. Then if they decide they want to hold more seminar later on in 6 months or whatever, then it can be UNION MEMBERS ONLY. I would have no issues there.

Perfect example: A route in your area goes up for district bid. Now instead of just bidding, you have a MILLION THINGS to factor in. Is person doing the RRECS scans like they should or just doing the 6 sacred scans? Because if he or she isn't doing extra scans and you know that there are quite a few on this route, you could bid wanting to increase. But say person is doing scans and route is barely hanging on to J, then you have to decide is it worth it or not?

 

[ATCBigE]

Again… it is not the Union’s responsibility to train carriers. The zoom survey meetings are not training sessions but just more in-depth information.
Any carrier can request or look up the manuals that govern our Craft without joining the Union. If you want access to more then you have to pay dues. Just my opinion.

I still disagree with this.

If the craft is making a complete flip on the pay system, everyone should get to know the info at the beginning. Now if they want to hold more seminars later on it, then it can be UNION ONLY. I have no issue there. But everyone should get the basic info and low down before it starts.

 

[hunchback]

Again… it is not the Union’s responsibility to train carriers. The zoom survey meetings are not training sessions but just more in-depth information.
Any carrier can request or look up the manuals that govern our Craft without joining the Union. If you want access to more then you have to pay dues. Just my opinion.

It is the onions responsibility to understand the system the Rural Craft is working under and paid by.
IS ANYONE CONFIDENT AFTER ALL THESE YEARS THEY HAD TO LEARN, THAT THEY DO?
The contradictory answers to questions, repeated missed deadlines, and promises of transparency that seem to be akin to a Time Share sales pitch.
NOT EXACTLY CONFIDENCE INSPIRING

 

[Gotrope]

That's got me thinking, you're right about that.
In my experience, National is normally taking a stand against members, and not even replying to direct correspondence from same.

Perhaps it would serve them better to hire some better lawyers and other professionals, so they could work to their mandate and take an effective stand against USPS abuses of our entire craft. (This includes lack of training for RRECS by USPS and little transparency in the entire process. We need to be able to address any inconsistencies between records and our performance. A scanner with improved software would be a plus.)

I have wanted new legal team for ten long, painful, loss after loss, years.

 

[gotstamps]

I still disagree with this.

If the craft is making a complete flip on the pay system, everyone should get to know the info at the beginning. Now if they want to hold more seminars later on it, then it can be UNION ONLY. I have no issue there. But everyone should get the basic info and low down before it starts.

From the Post Office who is the employer.

 

[ATCBigE]

From the Post Office who is the employer.

But if they aren't willing, which they aren't IMO, who should be fighting?

 

[gotstamps]

But if they aren't willing, which they aren't IMO, who should be fighting?

A lot of Carriers aren’t willing to file grievances for better training if it is needed. IMHO, most of the scans are fairly easy to understand especially with the Cheat Sheet that was handed out.
The only questions that would likely come up that aren’t obviously covered by a scan, footage, or counted is a few various tasks “timings”. Mgmt is required to have a SUT by Feb. 24 where those questions can be addressed along with questioning the tasks during the Survey… just like before.

 

[Surprise!]

I am under the impression that the union chose to train the carriers.

 

[ATCBigE]

I am under the impression that the union chose to train the "certain few" carriers.

Fixed