September 2024 Consultative

NAPS President Ivan D. Butts, Executive Vice President Chuck Mulidore and Secretary/Treasurer Jimmy Warden attended the Sept. 17 Zoom consultative meeting. Representing the Postal Service were Bruce Nicholson, James Timmons and Paulita Wimbush, USPS Labor Relations Policies & Programs.

Agenda Item #1

NAPS asked what the longest time is a lunch can be assigned an EAS employee. NAPS has been made aware that field EAS employees are being told to take lunch breaks longer than one hour to avoid 035 time or to cover Sunday Amazon assignments. The Postal Service issued letters that discussed maintaining EAS schedules as posted, as well as accurately recording EAS hours. Any policy that lengthens an EAS employee’s lunch violates those USPS memos.

NAPS also has been made aware of field policies that EAS employees working Sunday Amazon are “on call” during their lunch hours and would be expected to “react” in case something would happen, i.e., vehicle or industrial accidents. NAPS requested that the USPS issue memoranda requiring all EAS lunch breaks be in accordance with the position posting and that time spent at lunch is essentially “off the clock.”

Individual scheduling is a matter that should be addressed locally through discussions about local operating requirements and available resources, the interests of supervisors/managers affected and other relevant local fact-circumstances. Local management should make every reasonable effort to prevent undue inconvenience and disruption to employees affected when efforts to schedule to meet local operating/business requirements are being made.

Regarding the example NAPS provided, if there is not a supervisor or manager in a building when an accident occurs, then the designated supervisor or manager should be contacted immediately. This could include matters of building security or other emergencies. If an employee needs to cancel or shorten their lunch, then lunch rings should reflect it. This issue can occur during the employee’s schedule or outside the employee’s schedule, depending on who is designated to address issues when they are away from the office.

Agenda Item #2

NAPS asked that USPS Headquarters reword Section 683 of the ELM; proposed changes are in italic: “Each district manager must have periodic group meetings with postmasters and others represented by NAPS and UPMA to discuss and coordinate operational matters and/or provide training on subjects not covered in standard training courses. The time, location, and duration of these meetings, as well as who must attend, are in the sound discretion of the district manager or his or her designee.”

These changes would require postal leadership to meet regularly with management association representatives to discuss matters of concern, as well as improve communication.

The intent of this language is to encourage district managers to meet directly with postmasters. If a local management association representative who has responsibility over a specific geographic area, such as a local branch president, is interested in meeting with a district manager, they are encouraged to contact the district manager directly to request a meeting.

Agenda Item #3

Currently, as part of Local Transportation Optimization (LTO), the USPS makes one dispatch of value
(DOV) trip in many rural areas. This essentially means that mail collected or deposited after a particular time is left in the associate office and transported back to the processing plant for the very next service day on the first trip.

If the carriers return after the DOV truck has left, are EAS employees in these optimized collection offices obligated to run the Chief Retail and Delivery Office (CRDO) play to return all the mail to the processing plant, regardless of the LTO process? The policy/process the CRDO team has implemented concerning DOV trips is for EAS employees to drive the mail to the processing plant if the carriers return after the DOV.

The concern is that the nearest mail plant could be over 50 miles or further. Does USPS Headquarters want an EAS employee to drive this mail potentially hours away? Is there a limit or distance when forcing the EAS employee to drive this mail to a processing plant that no longer is sensible?

Also, EAS employees could be taking mail to a distant plant when—potentially minutes away—there may be a RMPO under LTO, where all the mail taken that day after the morning dispatch sits until the next service day. How long can the last DOV trip be held? Is transporting mail missed from the last DOV trip contractually the work of letter carriers or EAS employees?

Every facility is not on LTO. If a facility manager has specific questions concerning their facility, it should be escalated to the district for discussion and actions to ensure all parties have an understanding of specific actions taken for a facility. Further, decisions should be communicated to Logistics and Mail Processing.

NAPS asked if carriers return after the DOV truck has left, are EAS employees in these optimized collection offices obligated to run the CRDO play to return all the mail to the processing plant, regardless of LTO?

A. Following is the process in offices that are not LTOs:

  • Mail received after DOV requires swift service recovery planning
  • Determine most expedient method to get mail to processing facility
    — Additional trip arranged with logistics
    — Transported to Delivery Unit with later DOV
    — Transport directly to the processing facility
  • Must notify processing facility of late arriving mail
  • Must complete Dispatch Deviation Form
  • District Manager will contact the VP, Area Retail & Post Office Operations, for final disposition
  • Mail returned from carriers collected during delivery in LTO sites should be staged and dispatched with Retail Mail.

NAPS asked if USPS Headquarters wants EAS employees to drive this mail, potentially hours away.

EAS employees are to follow the above instructions and pecking order.

NAPS asked if there is a limit or distance when forcing EAS employees to drive this mail to a processing plant that no longer is sensible.

EAS employees should plan to have all mail delivered and all carriers return prior to the DOV. In rare instances when volume returns after the DOV, the facility manager should contact their immediate manager.

NAPS asked how long the last DOV trip could be held.

DOV trips should leave at their scheduled time. If there is anticipation of late mail, they should contact their manager for further instructions.