I will blame carriers for being uninformed. Reams of information was provided by the union and shared here for non-members. Literally hundreds of questions were answered by the union and shared here for non-members. If a carrier couldn’t find info, it’s because they couldn’t be bothered, or they lack the skills to understand what was being answered/explained.
This failure to take responsibility for one’s own actions is a problem (and not just for he rural craft). It’s so much easier to point fingers at others than look in the mirror and say, “Hey, I screwed up. I’ll try to do better next time.”
And the 1000 different answers you get on the site is one of the problems with this site. And I love this site and think it’s valuable for sharing info, venting, and getting a quick answer to a not particularly important question, but no one should be relying on this site solely for information on their employment and livelihoods.