Fwd: NJ Postal and Rural News, Issue 41-NJ, V. 1, Dec 20, 2007 (List 11)
mb
From: <hier...@comcast.net>
Date: Wed, Dec 19, 2007 at 10:50 PM
Subject: NJ Postal and Rural News, Issue 41-NJ, V. 1, Dec 20, 2007 (List 11)
To: Hier...@comcast.net
NEW JERSEY POSTAL AND RURAL NEWS
Issue 41-NJ Vol. 1 December 20, 2007 Thursday Hier...@comcast.net
Issues of the New Jersey Postal and NRLCA News are now posted and available on the following website: http://groups.google.com/group/rlc_onliners_pub?hl=en
I want to express my gratitude for all the comments, submissions and feedback and the tremendous interest in this newsletter. PLEASE SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER WITH ALL RURAL CARRIER CRAFT EMPLOYEES!
_________________________________________________________________________
New Jersey RLCA calls for work SLOW DOWN
New Jersey -- In the November issue of the New Jersey Union Newspaper, "Garden State Rural Letter Carrier" being delivered in homes of union members and non-members alike working in the ryural carrier craft, New Jersey Vice President Martin P. Carey called for rural carriers "I am asking you to take it easy, slow down-it will get done."
USPS postal officials have been visiting New Jersey post offices exhorting managers to eliminate overtime and basicallym manadating that no overtime is to be available for any rural craft employee.
The call for employees to "SLOW DOWN" published prominently on page three comes despite prohibitions against union officials directly and specifically detailed in Article 18 of the Collective bargaining agreement as well as Federal law which prohits stirkes, slowdowns and other job actions.
Artilce 18 of the USPS-NRLCA National Agreement reads as follows:
ARTICLE 18
NO STRIKE
Section 1. Statement of Principle
The Union in behalf of its members agrees that it will not call
or sanction a strike or slowdown.
Section 2. Union Actions
The Union or its local Unions will take reasonable action to
avoid such activity, and where such activity occurs, immediately
inform striking employees they are in violation of this
Agreement and order said employees back to work.
Section 3. Union Liability
It is agreed that the Union or its local Unions which comply
with the requirements of this Article shall not be liable for the
unauthorized action of their members or other postal employees.
Section 4. Legal Impact
The parties agree that the provisions of this Article shall not be
used in any way to defeat any current or future legal action
involving the constitutionality of existing or future legislation
prohibiting Federal employees from engaging in strike
actions. The parties further agree that the obligations undertaken
in this Article are in no way contingent upon the final
determination of such constitutional issues.
Since the call by Martin Cary, State Vice President of the NJ RLCA was madfe in the Union newspaper of the NJ RLCA, the presumption is that the call for a slowdown was authorized, approved and endorsed by the Officers of the NJ RLCA at least that will likely be the interpretation by "finders of fact" should this issue be contested.
This reported immediately notified the entire State Board and the Editor of the newspaper about the ramifications of calling for a "SLOW DOWN" even if it is innocent. During the heaviest mail volume period of the year and when rural carriers and managers are in dispute about possible overtime, even an innocent explanation may not suffice. The Officers, Trustees and the Editor are at great risk of liability.
I urgently recommended that Mr. Carey should issue a retraction and explain his intent. I recommended that the National office be notified immediately to intercede with USPS Headquarters. I also recommended that communications be made to each of the three district managers and/or staffs as well as the two affected area offices to try and intervene to explain, to notify each district/area office of the issue and to offer a retraction, aspology and assurance that this is not a sanctioned call for a work slowdown or job action (unless of course it is a call to slowdown in response to overtime, staffing issues and other complaints including auxuliary assistance) to avoid any misinterpretation in the local post offices. I also urged that since this issue was sent to all members of the union and non-members alike, that the Union should immediately distribute a retraction and apology to every rural craft employee in New Jersey.
As reported I asked for comment from all involved parties and as this is being published no comment has been forthcoming.
*************************************************************************
This newsletter is now being distributed to over 430 subscribers who are getting 10-20 pages of rural and postal related news and commentary daily across the entire country.
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
Issue Codes (Issues with the same issue # are designed as poirtions of each daily issue)
Issue A(A is not usually used and constitutes just the issue #) is the initial daily portion containing news and human interest stories
Issues B, C, D, E are additional news and human interest stories;
Issue NJ are New Jersey related issues, commentary and editorials;
Issue OP are general editorials or commentary;
Issue SE are special editions of investigatory reports or series:
Issues SP are special issues with important news;
Issues ST are steward/labor relations related articles or state officer articles
Issues-X are breaking news articles of importance and priority.
DISCLAIMER: I have no affiliation with USPS or the NRLCA and as such any information that I pass on is unofficial and constitutes advice and/or suggestions for your consideration. You may be advised to double-check with official sources before depending on its use and while you are doing that ask why is it that someone without official contacts has this information and is passing it on and its not coming from official sources. I do not speak for any Postal or Union entity and have no authority to serve as spokesman for, against or otherwise in Postal or Union matters.
Note: These email messages are being sent to the entire NJ State Board and almost all of the senior stewards in New Jersey. There should be no concerns about this being done secretly or behind anyone's backs without their knowledge. In addition, the newsletter is also being distributed to at least one board member for 45 of the 48 chartered state associations across the country and for many states several officers/stewards are regularly subscribed to the newsletter.
**If you know any rural craft employee who would like to receive this dissemination, please send email address, and office of employment to Hier...@comcast.net.
**If you do not wish to receive these disseminations, please notify Hier...@comcast.net and request removal from dissemination list.
**Please address all comments, feedback, submissions, stories to Hier...@comcast.net and be sure to mark it OK to share or if you want the submission to be confidential and anonymous, please indicate that it is CONFIDENTIAL and I will never disclose authorship, content or any other identifying detail. Absent express authority to share, I will strictly maintain confidentiality per my legal obligations and responsibilities.