Episode 185: Continuing our 6-day counts. a few awards

From A to Arbitration

This episode continues the series on 6-day counts, providing detailed analysis of arbitration cases to help letter carriers prepare for upcoming inspections. Corey begins with listener shout-outs and an advertisement for Brookfield Uniforms, emphasizing the importance of supporting businesses that value letter carriers. He then recounts an incident where management attempted to impose a 5-minute PM office time limit during a 6-day count, highlighting the dishonesty of management and the need for strong, proactive union responses.

The core of the episode involves a thorough review of several arbitration awards related to route count inspections. Corey meticulously presents key excerpts, emphasizing recurring themes and providing valuable insights for stewards and advocates. He highlights management's frequent disregard for established procedures, the significance of carrier input in route adjustments, and the use of post-implementation workload data to demonstrate overburdened routes. Corey stresses the importance of strong language in grievance settlements, the need for thorough documentation, and the utilization of work hour workload reports to support claims of overburdened routes. He analyzes several cases, emphasizing how arbitrators addressed issues such as carrier input, management's misuse of signatures on forms, and the inclusion of CCAs in remedy calculations. Corey draws attention to how arbitrators ruled on management's attempts to deduct time for seemingly minor activities, such as picking up dropped mail or pausing to speak to a customer, emphasizing that these seemingly minor deductions add up significantly over time.

Corey then addresses several examples of management misconduct, including the imposition of unrealistic office and street time limits and the practice of taking unauthorized photographs of carriers' cases. He provides detailed grievance templates and sample contentions for addressing these issues. He stresses the importance of challenging management's use of technology for surveillance and disciplinary actions and urges members to document all instances of such actions and to use such documentation in grievances. Corey emphasizes the importance of carrier consultations and the need to actively participate and challenge management's attempts to manipulate data and impose arbitrary time standards. He stresses the importance of noting when management fails to provide necessary documentation and to challenge management's attempts to use signatures on forms as evidence of agreement. He further highlights how management often tries to justify time deductions based on perceived inefficiencies, emphasizing that this should be challenged based on the lack of a street standard.

Corey concludes by promoting resources for handling 6-day counts and encouraging members to proactively seek training and education. He reiterates the importance of using 6-day counts as an opportunity to challenge management's actions and secure significant monetary remedies for carriers. He ends by emphasizing the need for a more aggressive and unified union approach to combat management's ongoing abuses.

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