What is a “Steward?” 10/11/2014 10:41:10 PM slide1.

What is a “Steward?”

04/11/23 01:33 AM slide1

What is a “Steward?”

• That’s easy to answer! An NALC Steward takes care of their fellow Carriers!

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Common perception

• We only do grievance handling

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Reality

• Encyclopedia Definition– “Stewardship is the personal responsibility for

taking care of another person’s property or other affairs.”

– Stems from the Old English “stiweard”• sti which means “hall or household”• Weard which means “keeper”

• Leader, baby sitter, educator, mediator, organizer, confidant, idealist, enforcer of the Contract

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Requirements for Success

• Honesty

• Understanding

• Self-starter

• Good reputation

• Integrity

• Inquisitive

• Trustworthy

• Empathetic

• Knowledgeable

• Follows through

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Requirements for Success

• We need to know how the organization came to be

• We need to recognize that we’re susceptible to political whims and how to protect ourselves against them

• We need to know the National Agreement

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Where we came from

• In the late 1700s we collected two cents for every letter we delivered. . .we received no wages or salary

• But. . . Under the “spoils system” . . .jobs came and went with administrations

• July 1, 1863 – Free city delivery of mail began

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Where we came from

• August 29, 1889 - The NALC was born

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• 1893 – The NALC sued the Post Office Department and collected $3.5 million

Where we came from

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Where we came from

• 1900 – Bricklayers were earning $4/day – Letter Carriers were earning $2.21/day

• September 20, 1917 – The NALC affiliated with the AFL

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Where we came from

• 1929 – Postal wages were a “good salary”

• 1950 – Twice a day delivery was discontinued

• 1953 – NALC became the first national MDA sponsor

• 1960 – NALC Health Benefit Plan opened its doors

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Where we came from

• 1962 – EX10988 – The NALC was elected to represent all City Letter Carriers

• 1967 – Letter Carrier turnover was 26%/year

• 1969 – Letter Carriers in New York qualified for more in welfare benefits than from 40 hour work weeks

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Where we came from

• 12:01, March 18, 1970 – We went out on STRIKE!!!

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Where we came from

• April 2, 1970 – We returned to work with a 14% pay raise, an agreement for collective bargaining over wages, hours and working conditions and binding arbitration

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Where we came from

• 1972 – National officers to be elected by referendum in the future

• 1975 – The “Kokomo Plan” was instituted

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Where we came from

• July 1, 1975 – COLCPE began

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Where we came from

• 1979 – The NALC wins the FLSA lawsuit – collected $400 million for Letter Carriers

• 1984 – National arbitration determined national agreement for the first time

• 1999 – All City Carriers were elevated above Clerks to Grade 6

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Where we came from

• 2003 – e-Activist began

• Learn more from Carriers in a Common Cause!

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Political whims

• 1872 – Congress decided that there would be a Post Office

• 1883 – Congress passed the Pendleton Act which created “Civil Service”

• 1888 – Congress passed a law giving us an 8-hour workday

• 1895 – Postmaster General Wilson prohibited postal employees from trying to influence legislation

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Political whims

• 1902 – President Roosevelt signed an Executive Order prohibiting us from trying to influence legislation

• 1907 – President Roosevelt signed an Executive Order prohibiting us from participating in political campaigns

• 1909 – President Taft signed an Executive Order prohibiting us from answering Congressional questions about our pay or working conditions

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Political whims

• 1912 - Congress passed the Lloyd-LaFollete Act giving us the right to petition Congress

• 1912 – Congress passed the Reilly Act giving us “eight within ten”

• 1932 – President Roosevelt signed an Executive Order cutting our pay by 15%

• 1955 – President Eisenhower vetoed a pay raise for us

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Political whims

• 1960 – President Eisenhower vetoed another pay raise intended for us, but Congress overrode that veto.

• 1962 – PresidentKennedy signed an Executive Order ordering a national election for union representation of postal employees

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Where we came from

• 1969 – President Nixon signed an Executive Order giving us a negotiated grievance and arbitration procedure

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Political whims

• 1970 – Congress passed the Postal Reorganization Act which created the Postal Service

• 1980 – President Carter signed an Executive Order bringing the Postal Service under the OSHA

• 1982 – President Regan pushed through the “Government Pension Offset Bill” taking away 2/3 of any Social Security benefit that a retired Carrier might otherwise receive

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Political whims

• 1983 – Congress passed the “Windfall Elimination Provision” which cuts deeper into our Social Security benefits

• 1983 – Congress passed a bill excluding future postal employees from a Civil Service pension

• 2003 – Congress passed the “Civil Service Retirement Reform Bill” which requires the Service to hold billions of dollars in escrow for future retirees’ health benefits

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Political whims

• 2009 – Congress passed HR 2918 deferring payment of $4 billion in prepayment of retirees health benefits

• 2009 – Congress passed bill allowing FERS retirees to apply unused sick leave towards retirement

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Political whims

• All-in-all, nearly 900 bills were submitted between 1973 and 2007 which had the capacity to materially affect our rights and benefits under the National Agreement.

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The National Agreement. . . Article1Union Recognition

– Says that the NALC is the sole bargaining agent for all City Letter Carriers (whether members or not)

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The National Agreement. . . Article 2 Non-discrimination and Civil Rights

• It says that there will be no discrimination tolerated because of because of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, age, physical handicap, or marital status.

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The National Agreement. . . Article 3Management Rights

• This is an important one. . .Management likes to use it in their behalf, but it works better for us. . .

• It says that management has the right to manage, as long as they manage in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, contract provisions, arbitration awards, letters of agreement, and memoranda.

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The National Agreement. . . Article 4Technological and Mechanization Changes

• It says that management will keep us informed ahead of time regarding changes in wages, hours, and working conditions

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The National Agreement. . . Article 5 Prohibition of Unilateral Changes

• This is an important one. . .• It incorporates the National Labor Relations Act into

the national agreement• It prohibits management from acting unilaterally in

areas of wages, hours, and working conditions

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The National Agreement. . . Article 6 No Layoffs or Reduction in Force

• You may not be laid off once you have six years of continuous service

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The National Agreement. . . Article 7 Employee Classifications

• This article defines the employee classifications within the Letter Carrier workforce– Career

• Full time• Part time

– Non-career• TEs . . .no more casuals

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The National Agreement. . . Article 8Hours of Work

• It lays out who should work and when• It’s the topic of more grievances than any other article

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The National Agreement. . . Article 9Salaries and Wages

• Sets out the amounts and timing of pay increases over the life of the Contract

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The National Agreement. . . Article 10 Leave

• Lays out the rules governing the various types of postal leave

• You start out with 104 hours of paid annual leave a year

• After 15 years, you earn 208 hours of paid annual leave a year

• You can even carry over 440 hours of annual leave• You also earn 104 hours of paid sick leave a year

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The National Agreement. . . Article 11 Holidays

• Regular Letter Carriers get 10 paid holidays a year

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The National Agreement. . . Article 12 Seniority, Posting and Reassignments

• Up until 2009, this wasn’t a particularly important article, but– Declining volumes made it so. . .– Loss of regular jobs and excessing

04/11/23 01:33 AM slide 39

The National Agreement. . . Article 13 Ill and Injured

• Deals with “light duty”– Caused by a non-work related injury or illness– An employee with five years or more service– Management owes “greatest consideration”

• Deals with “limited duty”– Caused by a work related injury or illness– Any career employee– Management owes 40 hours of work or pay

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The National Agreement. . . Article 14 Safety and Health

• It’s management’s responsibility to provide safe working conditions and to develop a safe work force

• It’s our responsibility to support them in that effort

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The National Agreement. . . Article 15 Grievance/Arbitration Procedure

• Defines the process through which disputes between management and the work force will be resolved

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The National Agreement. . . Article 16Discipline

• In the administration of this Article, a basic principle shall be that discipline should be corrective in nature, rather than punitive

• No employee may be disciplined or discharged except for just cause

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The National Agreement. . . Article 17 Representation

• Very important article• It defines Stewards rights and responsibilities

– The right to investigate and adjust grievances and problems that may become grievances;

– The right to paid time to conduct those activities;– The right to obtain management information;– Superseniority concerning being involuntarily transferred;– An employee’s right to steward representation during an

interrogation.

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The National Agreement. . . Article 18No Strike

• Pretty quiet. . .– Now. . .

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The National Agreement. . . Article 19Handbooks and Manuals

• Those parts of all handbooks, manuals and published regulations of the Postal Service, that directly relate to wages, hours or working conditions, as they apply to employees covered by this Agreement, shall contain nothing that conflicts with this Agreement

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The National Agreement. . . Article 20 Parking

• Doesn’t have a lot of value to us

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The National Agreement. . . Article 21 Benefit Plans

• Says that the Service will continue to pay a share of our health benefits as well as how big that share will be– 85% for 2008– 83% for 2009– 82% for 2010– 81% for 2011– 80% for 2012

• Pray (and work) for the cost of health benefits to go down for everyone

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The National Agreement. . . Article 22 Bulletin Boards

• Give us the right to post NALC materials on bulletin boards in the workplace

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The National Agreement. . . Article 23 Right of Union Officials to Enter Premises

• Establishes the right of NALC officials to enter postal installations for any official purpose related to collective bargaining or labor relations– Simple notification is sufficient

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The National Agreement. . . Article 24 Leave for Union Business

• Gives us the right to take Leave Without Pay for union business– Long term – full-time officers

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The National Agreement. . . Article 25 Higher Level Assignments

• Simply says that if you’re doing higher level work, you’ll be paid at the appropriate rate

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The National Agreement. . . Article 26 Uniforms

• Effective November 21, 2009, you’ll receive $362/year clothing allowance

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The National Agreement. . . Article 27Employee Claims

• An employee may file a claim and be reimbursed for loss or damage to his/her personal property except for motor vehicles and the contents thereof taking into consideration depreciation where the loss or damage was suffered in connection with or incident to the employee’s employment while on duty or while on postal premises

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The National Agreement. . . Article 28 Employer Claims

• An employee is responsible for the protection of the mails entrusted to the employee. Such employee shall not be financially liable for any loss, rifling, damage, wrong delivery of, or depredation on, the mails or failure to collect or remit C.O.D. funds unless the employee failed to exercise reasonable care

• An employee shall be financially liable for any loss or damage to property. . .only when the loss or damage was the result of the willful or deliberate misconduct of such employee

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The National Agreement. . . Article 29Driving Privileges

• National Arbitrator Snow held in I94N-4I-D 96027608, April 8, 1998 (C-18159) that if it is not possible to accommodate temporary cross-craft assignments in a way that does not violate another craft’s agreement, a letter carrier who is deprived of the right to an otherwise available temporary cross-craft assignment to a position in another craft must be placed on leave with pay until such time as he may return to work without violating either unions’ agreement

04/11/23 01:33 AM slide 56

The National Agreement. . . Article 30 Local Negotiations

• We bargain locally over 22 specific items– Local leave program– Overtime list– Posting and bidding of duty assignments– Holiday pecking order– Light duty assignments– Rotating or fixed days off– Assignment of parking spaces

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The National Agreement. . . Article 31 Union/Management Cooperation

• Organizing• The Employer will make available for inspection by the

Union all relevant information necessary for collective bargaining or the enforcement, administration or interpretation of this Agreement, including information necessary to determine whether to file or to continue the processing of a grievance under this Agreement.

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The National Agreement. . . Article 32Subcontracting

• The Employer will give due consideration to public interest, cost, efficiency, availability of equipment, and qualification of employees when evaluating the need to subcontract– Having considered, they can just about do as they please– Except for the 2007 memo limiting subcontracting Letter

Carrier work

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The National Agreement. . . Article 33 Promotions

• Doesn’t buy us a lot

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The National Agreement. . . Article 34 Work/Time Standards

• The principle of a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay is recognized by all parties to this Agreement.

• The Employer agrees that any work measurement systems or time or work standards shall be fair, reasonable and equitable.

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The National Agreement. . . Article 35 EAP

• Affirms the parties’ continued joint support for a national program of employee counseling for alcohol or drug abuse as well as for other types of family or personal problems

• An employee’s voluntary participation in the EAP for assistance with alcohol and/or drug abuse will be considered favorably in disciplinary action proceedings.

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The National Agreement. . . Article 36 Credit Unions

• If the Union establishes a credit union, the Service will provide space (if available) and time from work to staff it

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The National Agreement. . . Article 41Letter Carrier Craft

• Negotiated specifically to cover City Letter Carriers– 37, 38, 39, and 40 all cover other crafts

• Generally covers posting and seniority• Miscellaneous provisions

– Forms, supply items, use of telephones, accident notification, count and inspections, work methods

– Drive-out agreements

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The National Agreement. . . Article 42Energy shortages

• Provides a vehicle through which the parties meet and discuss energy related problems and solutions

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The National Agreement. . . Article 43 Separability and duration

• Should any part of this Agreement or any provision contained herein be rendered or declared invalid by reason of any existing or subsequently enacted legislation or by a court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidation of such part or provision of this Agreement shall not invalidate the remaining portions of this agreement, and they shall remain in full force and effect.

04/11/23 01:33 AM slide 66

What is

a

“Ste

ward

?”