VOL. 39, NO. 6 CIRCULATION 6,000 Editor: VINCENT CALVANESE JUL / AUG 2011

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LONG ISLAND MERGED BRANCH 6000National Association of Letter Carriers

AFL-CIOLEADERLIMB

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BRANCH 6000BRANCH

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LONG ISLAND MERGED BRANCH 6000NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS

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From The PresidentWALTER BARTON

From the Executive Vice PresidentNICK D’AVANZO

Educate / Agitate / Organize Congressmen IssaAttacks Our Jobs

The above words are attributed to Samuel Gompers the founder of the AmericanLabor Movement. They are as true today as they were in 1886 when they were uttered. Inaddition, to these words, however, I believe the word "demonstrate" needs to be added.

All workers throughout the United States are being challenged by the dismal failure ofthe economic recovery. Union workers in particular have become the poster children for,and the purported reason for, this economic failure.

For over 3 years now the economy has moved along at a very slow pace. Was itworkers benefits and wages that threw the economy into a tailspin? The answer is un-equivocally “NO.” It was the greed of Corporate America and the Financial Industry thatput us on the brink of fiscal disaster.

Instead of having a second Great Depression similar to 1929 we were told we were goingthrough a "Great Recession." I am not an economist but I believe that it is high unemployment(9.2% or higher) that is preventing our country from exiting this Great Recession.

In the mid 1990s, we were told that if we allowed “free” trade, we would reap the

As the summer heats up, so does the attack on ourlivelihood by some members of Congress. Recently Con-gressmen Darrel Issa (R-CA), the new chairman of theGovernment Oversight and Reform Committee, introduceda comprehensive postal reform bill in the House of Rep-resentatives. This bill, H.R. 2309, fails to address the mainfinancial problem the USPS has, and that's the needlessmandatory pre-funding of future retiree health benefits tothe tune of 5.5 billion dollars annually. Without that pre-funding mandate the USPS would have actually turned asmall profit in the past 4 years. Instead Issa's misguidedbill attempts to do the following:

1) The core of the bill creates two unelected groups.The first group would take extreme steps to cut costs and

(Continued on Page 6) (Continued on Page 3)

Official Notice of Nomination and Election of Officers of Branch 6000 In accordance with Article 5 of the National Constitution and the Constitution for the Government of Subordinate and Federal Branches(CGSFB) this is anofficial election notice to all members of Long Island Merged, Branch 6000 that the nominations for the following officers will take place at the Branch meeting tobe held on September 15, 2011, at 7:30 PM at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bay Shore, NY 11706, 5th Avenue, (between Southern State Pkwy and Sunrise Hwy.)Officers to be nominated are: President, Executive Vice President, First Vice President, Recording Secretary, Financial Secretary, Treasurer, Area Representative,Area Representative/OWCP Re., Director of City Delivery, Health Benefit Representative/MBA/NSBA, Editor, Safety Officer, Five Trustees who shall beknown as Trustees #1/Sgt. at Arms, Trustees # 2, 3, 4 and 5. In accordance with Branch By-Laws, all officers shall be automatic paid delegates to New York Stateand National Conventions. The term of office will be for 3 years beginning on December 15, 2011. Each nominee must be present at nominations Sept. 15, 2011 and give assent to his/her nomination or must file a written acceptance of his/her nominationwith the Recording Secretary by Sept. 14, 2011. No person shall accept nomination for more than one office. The election will be conducted by secret ballot via mail. Ballots will be mailed to the members last known address beginning October 21, 2011 and must bereturned to the designated post office box in order to be counted by November 16, 2011 by 3PM. Write-in votes are not permitted.

Tom Siesto, Rec. Sec., Br. 6000

PAGE 2 LIMB LEADER AUGUST 2011

From the First Vice PresidentRICHARD McLEHOSE

We have just returnedback from the NYS conventionin Saratoga. Although a rela-tively quiet convention, therewas a video slide show by theNational Union giving an over-view of the political and PostalLandscape.

The title to the slide showwas "We Are One" challenge.The "We Are One" title refersto the fact that all unions arelocked in a pitched battleagainst forces not scene in de-cades. Forces that would liketo demolish the working classand the unions that provide forand sustain the middle classin this country.

The slide show started bystating that this is a year ofchanges. There are new play-ers on the field, from a newPMG, new Executive Council,new USPS Districts and a new

GOP Congress.Our set agenda is to assist

in getting the economic and po-litical issues calmed down, so thereal issues affect every day work-ing people. At the same time weare gearing up for a protractedbattle for our upcoming contractthat expires in November. Unlessthe U.S. economy is straightenedout, the U.S. labor market, includ-ing USPS finances, will take agreater hit. The fact that many saythe recession is over, record cor-porate profits and a jump in WallStreet stock indexes, the fact re-mains that it is an extremely weakrecovery. That includes over 14million people unemployed andreal wage stagnation (except forthe leaders in the corporateworld). Millions are working parttime unwillingly and even morehave just stopped looking forwork.

The Postal Service has hadthe worst 4-year period since the1930's. Mail volume is down 20%since 2006 which equates to aloss of 42 BILLION pieces of mail.Revenue per delivery is down25% in that same span. Volumeis still falling with a loss of 1.3% sofar in 2011. First class mail is down2.7% and standard mail is up4.3%. This only adds to the USPSfinancial woes. Figure it takes thesale of approximately 3 pieces ofstandard mail to equate to 1 pieceof first class mail and you can un-derstand the issue.

The USPS and the NALChave taken unprecedented stepsin responding to the decline in vol-ume. USPS has cut jobs throughvoluntary early retirements. It hasboosted productivity (so they say)and cut costs wherever theycould. We have downsized to thetune of 135,000 jobs in the pastthree years.

The NALC has done itspart by agreeing to joint routeadjustments that are supposedto be quicker and more flexiblethan the old methods. We haveworked extensively on Cus-tomer Connect to bring in morerevenue. We have also agreedto a number of joint venturesto reduce costs.

The bottom line is that evenwith all of our work; it may stillnot be enough to hold off theright wing ideologues howling atour doorstep. Unless we can getCongress to agree to give realfinancial relief in regards to thepre-funding of our healthcare is-sue, we are in deep trouble. Didyou know that without the pre-funding mandate (Thank Presi-dent Bush), we would haveturned a profit over the past fouryears? The pre-funding of ourhealthcare cost us $20.9 Billiondollars in the past four yearswhile our net income was $20.3Billion dollars during that sametime frame. That would havebeen a profit of $600 million. Thisis the major issue at this timewith regards to the USPS as weknow it. Do you even understandwhat the pre-funding issue is?In a nut shell: in 2006 PresidentBush signed into law a bill thatforced the USPS to pre-fund 70years of future health care costsin only 10 years. That means thatwe are pre-funding health carecost for future hires, people whoare not even born yet. Roll thataround in your mind a little andsee how it equates with yourcommon sense.

Add to this the fact that 2independent audits have foundthat the USPS has been overbilled by OPM for CSRS pen-sions to the tune of $55 to $75Billion while at the same timealso over billing the USPS to thetune of $6.9 Billion for FERS,and you can see where we areheaded. We have also pre-funded, to date, 45% of all fu-ture retiree health care benefits,including those not hired yet. Noother company in the UnitedStates can make that claim. Weare basically being use to sup-port other parts of the govern-ment. We are the cash cowused to support many other pro-

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS

The LIMB LEADER is published monthly except forJuly/August and December/January, which are publishedbi-monthly by Branch 6000 NALC, AFL-CIO.

The opinions expressed in this publication are not nec-essarily those of the Staff or of the Officers of the Branch.

The President, as the highest elected Officer of theBranch, is the Chief Editor and the Editor retains the right toedit, delete, or reject an article for the good of the Branch.

In the hope that material contained herein may be of thebenefit to the goals of the National Association of Letter Car-riers, permission is hereby granted to copy or use materialin this publication, verbatim, with our best wishes.

STAFFEditor: Vincent Calvanese

PHOTOGRAPHER: James Jongebloed

BRANCH OFFICERSPresident ............................................. Walter BartonExecutive Vice President ................... Nick D’Avanzo1st Vice President........................Richard McLehoseRecording Secretary ................................ Tom SiestoFinancial Secretary .......................... Kathy FriedmanTreasurer ............................................ Robert CucciaArea Rep. .............................................. Carol BrownArea Rep./O.W.C.P. Rep. .......................... Tom KellyDirector of City Delivery .......................... Robert GrafHBR/MB/NSBA .......................................... Jim YatesEditor ...........................................Vincent CalvaneseSafety .................................................. Charlie SmithTrustee #1 ............................................James TuthillTrustee #2 ............................................. Ron RaynorTrustee #3 .................................. James JongebloedTrustee #4 ......................................... Joseph MorelliTrustee #5 .....................................Michael DonohueDir. of Retirees ................................... Dave Diamond

LONG ISLAND MERGEDBRANCH 6000630 BROADWAY (ROUTE 110)AMITYVILLE, NEW YORK 11701TELEPHONE (631) 789-1616www.NALCbr6000.com

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USPS - A PoliticalFootball

BOOKING

FOR 2011BOOKINGFOR 2011

grams in the U.S.Now people like Rep. Darrel

Issa (R-CA) are attempting toslaughter us. In 2009 Issa was"pro-USPS and in 2010 he wasanti-USPS. He is the new chair-man of the Government Over-sight and Reform Committee.He has a lifetime voting recordon labor issues of 14% (AFL-CIO) and a 95% voting recordon business issues. He is anti-union and obviously anti-labor.He is stated to be the richestman in Congress who could careless about the working class.Currently he is attempting to in-terfere with collective bargainingrights of all postal unions. He hascalled for the abolishment of200,000 postal jobs. He op-poses any language that wouldassist the USPS in getting reliefon the pre-funding issue statingthat it is a bailout. He has de-manded that labor give back tothe service and that we are over-paid. The man is given to put-ting out false and misleading sta-tistics to support his causes. Ifyou want to know what type ofperson he is, go to: http://dailykos.com/story/2005/1/14/145836/417

That will give you a smalllook into the type of some of thepeople that we are dealing with.

Thank God that we havefriends in the House that have

In MemoriamRaymond Permiceo - Retired / Freeport

Michael Juran - Retired Life Member / Franklin SquareCarmelo Chifari - Retired Life Member / Massapequa

Chris Bertino - Retired / Roslyn HeightsPast Executive Board Member -

Editor Branch 6000 L.I.M.B. Leader

been able to combat the likesof Issa and his friends, but withelections just around the corner,it may not be enough. EveryCongressperson on Long Is-land has signed on to the LynchBill: H.R. 1351. This bill is a toppriority to us. It mandates recal-culation of the Postal Surplus inCSRS. It permits immediate useof $6.9 billion FERS surplus tocover pre-funding payment andOWCP payment in 2011. It hasbroad support in Congress andshould be moved through thehouse. Comprehensive postalreform will take time to buildconsensus, but we should not -cannot delay, on resolving fi-nance issues. I suggest thateach one of you write or callyour congress-person andthank them for their support onH.R.1351. I would also suggestthat you ask that they continueto support the NALC in theirfight to sustain the USPS andto ignore Rep. Issa's attemptsat dismantling the USPS. It isimportant that our representa-tives hear from you. The morecalls you make and the moreletters you write, the better theimpact for our cause. This isyour livelihood and it is time thatyou chipped in to keep the foodon your table. The time for blam-ing the union and everyone else

(Continued on Page 3)

AUGUST 2011 LIMB LEADER PAGE 3

From the Recording SecretaryTOM SIESTOInterviews andStatements

From the Financial SecretaryKATHLEEN FRIEDMANFSS, The 60 Day Review, andThe Frustrations Involved

As full time officer and shopsteward in some of the offices I rep-resent I would like to discuss theproper way for a grievant to con-duct themselves at a PDI and theproper way to write a statement ifthe union requests you to give one.

First of all if management re-quest you go into the office for ameeting the first thing you shouldsay to management is that if thisis going to lead to discipline youwant union representation? Ifmanagement states to you thatthey don't know if this is going tolead to discipline because it de-pends on what you say at thatmeeting then you request unionrepresentation and you don't saya word till you get that union rep-resentation.

When you go into the officefor a PDI management will be ask-ing you questions about a particu-lar issue. The first thing you shoulddo is make sure that your shopsteward is prepared to take notesdon't depend on management toprovide you or your shop stewardwith their notes. When manage-ment asks you a question abouta particular issue, take a deepbreath think of what you want tosay and then say it slowly andclearly. Don't scream back or saythings off the top of your head -that is just what managementwants you to do, so think beforeyou talk! Remember this is not agame show where the first per-son that answers the questionwins; there are no winners herejust losers if you speak before youthink. Don't jump downmanagement's throat if you feelthat management is not telling thetruth about the issue. Don't beconfrontational with managementabout the issue. At the PDI makesure that you do not get into apissing match with your shopsteward, again this is just whatmanagement wants. You andyour shop steward should be onthe same page. Remain calm andspeak clearly only about the issueon hand, and don't drag other is-sues or other carriers into yourPDI. Remember two wrongs don'tmake it right. If you got caughtdoing something wrong don'tmention about other carriers do-ing the same thing you are beinginterviewed for because manage-ment will have the other carrier(s)

in the office for a PDI right afteryou. This is not going to save youfrom being disciplined it is only go-ing to get others in trouble andmanagement will use your nameas the reason why the other carri-ers are in trouble now.

If management cuts you offfrom finishing what you want tosay because it is not what man-agement wants to hear tell themyou still have something you wantto say and say it.

Be polite, be professional becourtesy and the most important,be honest. Don't fabricate a storyto try and get out of a situation,This can sometimes have a re-verse effect on the issue at hand.

If you are ever asked by yourshop steward or full time officer towrite a statement about either acontractual issue or discipline is-sue write it! The more informationyour union has the better. Re-member you and your shop stew-ard might know about the issuebut if the grievance goes to yourfull time officer and than sent upto the DRT for resolution both thefull time officer and the DRT teamdon't know the issue and you willhave to explain it.

When writing a statementmake sure you have all the factsand that those facts are correct.What we don't need is a wrongdate, wrong time wrong addressor wrong person. Don't write thestatement in a rush sit down takeyour time and write down what youcan remember to the best of yourability. Don't hand in the statementright away. I know the union needsthe statement as soon as possiblebut you might have forgottensomething you might want to addto the statement or you might wantto delete something. Think aboutit during the course of the day oreven over night, there might besomething later on that you re-member that you want to add thatcould be crucial to the case. Whenyou are finished with the state-ment read it over a few times tomake sure that this is what youwant to say. Remember, you arenot going to be interviewed so thisis your only chance to get yourstory or issue across to the pow-ers that will decide your fate. Lastlyand most importantly, date andsign the statement and don't for-get to make a copy for yourself.

To those of you luckyenough not to be involved inthe mess know as FSS bethankful. For those of you whoare unfortunately involved thisarticle is aimed at you. In myarea some FSS offices are justhaving the new routes imple-mented and others are begin-ning to reach the 60 day pe-riod that follows the implemen-tation of the new routes. It isat the 60 day point that theUnion FINALLY can reviewthe mess that was made bythe district and attempt tostraighten things out.

For those of you who arejust starting to deal with thefrustration (for lack of betterwords) of the new routes,some suggestions and somewords of wisdom from thosewho have gone before you.

First understand that thenew route is based upon un-realistic times that have beenfor the most part fed into acomputer program. All iedtimes and other associatedstreet and office functions arenot correct. The times that youare looking at are a computer'sbest guess to what it shouldtake you. Your personal infor-mation, age, health demon-strated ability is not of concernto the computer. The only thingthat is a concern is the last3999 done on the streets thatyou are getting. This may beyour time, or it may be some-one else's time. You can betthat the line of travel is differ-ent and even if you maintainedpart of your old route the de-livery will be different. There

are numerous mistakes andsafety issues. The district willcorrect these quickly and willseek your assistance in theseissues.

Second understand thatyou have a reasonableamount of time to learn thenew route. You should be ableto get yourself acclimated inthe first 30 days. By the 31stday you should be starting toshow YOUR demonstratedability and time that it will takeyou to both rack and deliverthe new route. At this pointconsistency is the name of thegame. Take the time you needto deliver safely, and effi-ciently. Do not skip your lunchor your breaks. If you do, youwill live with the time. If youhave concerns at home whichrequire you to be off on time,please try to make other ar-rangements for now. You maybe required to work overtimeto finish your assignment,even if you are not on the list.I know that this is not an easything with those of you withchild and elder care issues. Iam not suggesting you putyour family in harms way but Iam suggesting that there maybe a safe person that you arecomfortable with that can helpyou during this time period.

The language involved inthe agreement states: Sixtydays after implementing routeadjustments for FSS, the localparties will review the adjust-ments to ensure that routesare as near 8 hours as pos-sible. This sixty day period willnot count toward the special

route inspection process (Sec-tion 271, Handbook M-39;Section 918, Handbook M-41).If either party determines thatthe route(s) is not properly ad-justed, then the route(s) will beadjusted in accordance withthe provisions of Handbook M-39 or, if applicable, a locallyagreed upon adjustment for-mula.

Sounds simple enoughbut what does it mean exactly?Once again we are left to ourown devices to figure out howto prove that the routes areoverburdened. I believe thiscan only be accomplished byutilizing an individual carrier'sdemonstrative off ice andstreet times in the 60 day pe-riod of the process, and look-ing at the office times as awhole unit to see if they areover what the computer pro-gram believes they should be.

Then the question be-comes, what happens now? Isthere a full blown count and in-spection? Do we utilize theJARAP agreement to adjustthe routes? Are the local par-ties (your Local Rep and Post-master) able to make thechanges on their own? I wishI could answer these ques-tions. Only time will tell as weare just getting to this point atthis time.

And for all of you askingme why do you have to wait?Why can't you help me outnow? Why did they screw uproyally the senior carrier'sroute? What are you waitingfor? I remind you of my last ar-ticle where I discussed the factthat the agreement signed al-lows the Postal Service theunilateral right to adjust theroutes in an FSS environment.This 60 day point is what wehave been waiting for and nowit is up to us to see what ac-t ions can be taken tostraighten this mess out.Hopefully, more road blockswill not be thrown in the way.

Executive VicePresident’s Article(Continued from Page 1)

reduce services including gen-erating a list of post offices tobe closed. The other groupwould serve as financial over-seers with the power to alter ordo away with collective bar-gaining agreements-in otherwords our contract.

2) The bill would allow theUSPS to eliminate Saturdaydelivery-effectively eliminatingthe loss of as many as 80,000jobs, hurt tens of millions ofcustomers that rely on this de-livery, and basically ignore thePostal Regulatory Commis-sions report that stated thateliminating Saturday deliverywould be a mistake causingdelays in First Class Mail andPriority mail by two or moredays and have a negative im-pact on elderly and ruralAmericans.

3) The bill does not evenbother to address the massive

surpluses in the two retirementaccounts, between 55 and 75billion overpaid into the CSRSby the Postal Service and 6.9Billion overpaid by the USPSinto the FERS.

Regarding this bill, NALCPresident Fred Rolando re-cently stated, "We are very dis-appointed. We had hoped fora more common sense ap-proach. Instead we got a dra-conian downsizing plan and amisguided and unjustifiable at-tack on hardworking postal em-ployees who provide the mostaffordable and highest qualitymail service in the world."

If this wasn't enough, as ofthis writing (7/14/11), Repre-sentative Issa is now trying topersuade the Rules Committeein the House of Representa-tives to delete the annual lan-guage to preserve six-day maildelivery contained in bill H.R.2434. This guy just won't stop.

Needless to say the NALCwill do everything in its powerto defeat the "Issa Agenda". AsI have written in past articles

the NALC fully supports acommon sense approach tothe USPS's financial prob-lems, and that would be in theform of Congressmen'sLynch's bill, H. R. 1351, whichcalls for the return of the over-payments to the CSRS andFERS, transferring parts ofthese monies to fully subsi-dize future retiree's healthbenefit costs, which would ef-fectively save the USPS 5.5billion dollars annually. I'mhappy to say that ALL FIVEOF OUR LONG ISLANDCONGRESSIOINAL REPRE-SENTATIVES HAVE SIGNEDON TO CO-SPONSOR ANDSUPPORT H.R. 1351.

There are also currentlytwo postal reform bills in theSenate, but unfortunatelyboth contain some languagethat we cannot presently sup-port. (I have written about theSenate bills in this past May'sLIMB). The NALC hopesthese bil ls wil l eventuallymerge into one bill that wecan support. Stay tuned!

for our problems in the USPSis over. Make your calls, writeyour letters and donate toCOLCPE, all of which will helpin keeping our jobs relevant andsuccessful in the future.

Due to space constraints,I must end my article, but I im-

press you all to pay close at-tention to what is happeningin Washington. This budgetbattle and fallout from it willhave a direct impact on ourjobs and our lives. The time ishere for you to help in ourbattle to maintain our jobs andour benefits! Write - call - dosomething!!! Stop complainingand start taking an interest andan active role in shaping yourfuture. We can't do it alone!

First VicePresident’s Article(Continued from Page 2)

J U N E B R A N C H M E E T I N GJ U N E B R A N C H M E E T I N GJ U N E B R A N C H M E E T I N GJ U N E B R A N C H M E E T I N GJ U N E B R A N C H M E E T I N G

AROUND BRANCH 6000

PAGE 4 LIMB LEADER AUGUST 2011

President Barton addresses the membership.

Members attending Branch meeting.

Scholarship Winners(See Names and Stations in article on back page.)

Walter, Congressman Peter King and Nick

Members attending Branch meeting.

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AUGUST 2011 LIMB LEADER PAGE 5

AROUND BRANCH 6000NEWNEWNEWNEWNEW YORK ST YORK ST YORK ST YORK ST YORK STAAAAATE CONVENTIONTE CONVENTIONTE CONVENTIONTE CONVENTIONTE CONVENTION

Executive V.P. Tim O'Malley and NYState President George Mangold

demonstrate with delegates atCongressman Gibson's office.

President Barton (3rd -R) gets swornin at the New York State Convention.

Kathy Friedman as chairman for theBy-Law and Resolution Committee.

From the TreasurerROBERT CUCCIA

PTF Hold Downs

From the Area RepCAROL BROWN

PAGE 6 LIMB LEADER AUGUST 2011

Recently, Management hasbeen removing PTF's from HoldDown assignments at will, instruct-ing the PTF to come in at a latertime then the starting time of theroute that they bidded to. Their rea-soning (or as we call it "excuse") isthat they must provide work for theregular carriers in order to meet theeight hour guaranteed hours. Ar-ticle 41 of the J-Cam specificallystates, "Full time employees areguaranteed forty hours of workper service week. Thus theymay be assigned work onroutes held down by part-timeemployees if there is not suffi-cient work available for them ona particular day. In such situa-tions, the part-time flexibleemployee's opt is not termi-nated. Rather, the employee istemporarily "bumped" on aday-to-day basis. Bumping isstill a last resort, as reflected ina Step 4 settlement. (H1N-5D-C7441, October 25 1983, M-00293), which provides that: APTF, temporarily assigned to aroute under Article 41, Section2.B, shall work the duty assign-ment, unless there is no othereight-hour assignment avail-able to which a full-time carriercould be assigned…" What thatbasically means is that manage-ment must seek other vacant as-signments which are not beingheld down to pivot regular carri-ers who may not have sufficientwork before bumping PTF's onHold Down assignments.

A B-Team decision which wasrecently handed down favorable tothe Union, which involved the useof TE's working an assignment be-ing held down by a PTF. In this casemanagement was allowing a TEto work the PTF's Hold Down as-signment casing the route in themorning and bringing in the PTFat a later start time.

Section 7.1.B.3 states "overthe course of a pay period, theEmployer will make every effortto ensure that qualified andavailable part-time flexible em-ployees are utilized at thestraight-time rate prior to as-signing such work to transi-tional employees working in thesame work location and on thesame tour, provided that the re-

As you have been advisedover and over, FSS (Flat Sort-ing Sequence) has now beenimplemented in forty-sevenzones throughout the Long Is-land District. By the time thisarticle goes to print, many ofthese zones will have alsobeen implemented with theCOR changes. What a clus-ter…

The Letter Carriers workingin these FSS offices can cer-tainly attest to the abominationof their routes. COR has left itsmark! Crisscrossing along mainhighways, delivering one blockto come back two hours later todeliver the next street on thesame block, what a mess! As ifit wasn't bad enough, some ofthe last offices are being manu-ally adjusted to make a timedeadline and streets are beingthrown on that may be on theother side of the town.

Management is rushing tomake these changes in theheight of the summer months; inthe middle of prime-time vaca-tions; with limited workforce dueto no hiring. What can you say,

###?????###

"What a cluster…" Letter Carri-ers are now out to seven andeight o'clock delivering mail onroutes that they no longer arefamiliar with. In many offices dueto the excessive changes orabolishing of routes, an "ArticleO" was enforced and everythingwent up for bid. What can theseLetter Carriers do? Aside fromany safety issues, work theroutes the way they have beenpresented to them. The contractallows for reasonable time toadjust to the new route. This hasalways been at least thirty days.With the FSS, there will be a 60-day review.

This is the timeframe LetterCarriers need to show what isup with these routes. If they areoverburdened, and I am surethey are, show it. Work like onlya professional Letter Carrier canwork. Don't rush, and do the jobthe way they want you to worktheir routes. Safe and Profes-sionally! What you show now willbe what they will see when theydo the 60-day review. Theroutes they cut yesterday; mayhave to be put back tomorrow.

Only you can show them that.Don't take shortcuts in the officeto get out early. Do everythingas previously instructed. Writeup accountables as per the M-41, do vehicle inspections, takeyour office break and your wash-up. Listen when safety talks andservice talks are given. Don'twork through them. This is alltime that counts. Don't rush tocase mail, and make sure youdo your mark-ups.

Why am I going over this?These actions will now be whatmakes or breaks the route. It iscrucial that you comply. Don't letManagement tie you to timesthat are unrealistic. I understandthat many Letter Carriers mayhave second jobs or child careissues. During the next coupleof months, please try to makearrangements or get a good sup-port system at home. If this jobis your main source of income,these actions could make orbreak you for your career. If yourun these routes now, you maybe running them for the rest ofyour career. Let your floater orTE know what your route timesare. They should be workingthem the same way, and not run-ning and feeling pressured toreturn earlier.

Show Management whatthey did to these routes.Show them you are not likethe machine they used.Work professionally. Protectyour office and street time.Protect yourself.

porting guarantee for transi-tional employees is met."

Again in this instance the PTFcarrier should only be bumped toprovide sufficient work for full timeregular employees to meet theireight hour guarantee. The B-Teamconcluded that the "exception toArticle 41.2B.4 of the NationalAgreement doesn't apply toTE's." In other words the PTFshould have worked his T-6 assign-ment as bidded and the TE shouldnot have been assigned to theroute while the PTF was broughtin later. The same holds true thatmanagement needed to utilizethe PTF working later in the dayat the straight time pay prior toworking any of the TE's later inthe day at their straight time pay.The only exception to this scenariowould be if the TE needed to meethis four hour reporting guarantee.

Management tried to contendthat because some Carriers calledin for Sick Leave, it created staff-ing shortages which under Article3 of the J-CAM allowed them to"bump" the PTF and utilize the TE.However two regional arbitratorsHolly (C-03633) and Britton (C-08309) disputed those argumentsstating: "Unscheduled sick leavedoes not constitute an 'unantici-pated circumstance' within themeaning of Article 41 Section1.C4. Consequently the PostalService violated the contract byremoving a letter carrier from hisT-6 string after receiving a sickcall." Britton stated "Sicknessdoes not fall within the definitionof 'unanticipated circum-stances' the possibility that sick-ness will occur is an anticipa-tory event, and therefore onewhich supervision should beable to plan around."

In conclusion the B-Teamdecision issued management a"Cease & Desist" and paid thePTF carrier the amount of hoursthat he worked less than the fortyhours at the straight time pay. Ifyou are a PTF who is "bumped"from your Hold Down Assign-ment talk to your Shop Stewardor call your Full Time Officer andprovide them the information sur-rounding the circumstanceswhich led to the bumping to seeif a grievance could be filed.

President’sArticle(Continued from Page 1)

benefits which would allow forthe purchasing of "cheaper"goods. If you don't have a job,however, you have no pur-chasing power. How manyAmerican jobs were sent over-seas to workers who have nounions or representatives tobargain for them?

Free trade in the opinionof this writer has lead to thedestruction of the AmericanLabor Movement. The currentpolitical climate blames work-ers who have defined benefits(pensions) and paid healthbenefits as the cause for thecurrent problem. These samepolitical pundits also blame theimpending problems on SocialSecurity and Medicare. Theseprograms were enacted as asafety net for the poor and theelderly. Are they really toblame?

Is it not more likely thatthese problems are being gen-erated because of tax deduc-tions for the wealthy and sub-sidies for corporations whomake tremendous profits?Who can better afford to paya tax increase a wealthy per-son, a corporation, or some-one who is just barely makingends meet.

The Postal Service has be-come as much a victim with thisfinancial debacle as any otherorganization. If one were tosubscribe to conspiracy theo-

ries the requirement to pre-fund retiree health benefitswould appear to be orches-trated by some secret cabal.

It is more likely to be an ef-fort by "privatizers" and otherparties who believe that lowwages and no benefits (pen-sion or health) are the bestways to do business (or makeprofits at the expense of work-ers livelihoods). Letter Carriersand other Postal Workers andpublic employees are in for thefight of their lives. Will we riseto the challenge or will we fall?

I am of the opinion that wewill accept the challenge andprevail. I say this because we areright to defend our wages andbenefits. We serve the citizensof this country and we do it well.Our current political crisis hasnot been caused by our actions.We were content to earn a "fairdays wage for a fair days work."

Presently, however, we areunder attack by certain elementsof our Congress who would in-terfere in our collective bargain-ing rights. We have also notsought a "bailout" like the banksand financial corporations did in2008. These companies re-ceived over $700 billion to keepthem afloat. What could our gov-ernment have done with thosemonies had we not bailed outthese failed corporations whogambled with our country's fu-ture? We are in this mess be-cause of these corporations andnot because of the wages andbenefits that we have earnedand bargained for.

At the New York State con-vention on July 8, 2011, over 200

letter carriers "demonstrated" infront of New York CongressmanGibson's local office demandingthat he support HR 1351. It wasour right and duty to do this. Un-fortunately, neither the Con-gressman nor members of hisstaff responded to our demand.

HR 1351 would grantneeded relief and return the overpayment of $75 billion dollars tothe Postal Service. This is ourmoney that rate payers contrib-uted to as well as ourselvesthrough the collective bargainingprocess. Just think, if this moneyhad not been overpaid, howmuch more would have beenavailable for wages and benefitswhen we negotiated in 2006.

In addition to this demon-stration, the delegates at theNew York State Conventionunanimously passed a resolu-tion urging our National officersorganize a National demonstra-tion in September 2011. This willbe a pivotal action due to the endof the fiscal year in September2011 and the beginning of con-tract negotiations.

We need solidarity amongour "rank and file" membersnow more than ever before.The Congress needs to take aproactive involvement in pass-ing legislation that will returnmonies that were "over paid" tothe Civil Service RetirementSystem. All letter carriers mustbe prepared to act when and ifa "demonstration" is scheduledin September. If you fail to par-ticipate when needed, then youwill have no one to blame butyourself. Remember, "your si-lence is your consent."

Last Punch Bunch

RAY JOSEPH, JR.BABYLON P.O.

RETIRED 38 YEARS

AUGUST 2011 LIMB LEADER PAGE 7

From the Area Rep / OWCP RepTHOMAS KELLYManagement’sViolations of FECA Part 2

This article is a continuationof the April 2011 Article on Man-agements Violations of FECArequirements. The April 2011Limb Article in this space dis-cussed 4 common mistakes andviolations that managers make inprocessing letter carrier's workerscompensation claims. Those er-rors in processing letter carrier'sworkers compensation claims al-ready discussed included the fol-lowing:

1. Failing to advise carrierof the right to choose a phy-sician.

2. Failing to provide a re-ceipt for a submitted CA-1 orCA-2

3. Failure to provide a CA-16:

4. Failing to provide com-pleted copy of CA-1 or CA-2

Please refer to the April2011edition of the LIMB Leader formore detailed information on theabove violations. This Article willcontinue with detailed informationon additionally Management's vio-lations of FECA and the applicablecitations from the FECA andmanagement's handbooks andmanuals that are pertinent to eachviolation.

5. Providing a CA-2a insteadof a CA-1 or CA-2

Management providing a CA-2a

instead of a CA-1 or CA-2 is one ofthe more often violations that occur.This may occur because the distinc-tion in defining how to report an injuryto the same part of the body that hasalready been accepted as an on thejob injury by OWCP is a little complex.

To understand when a CA-1 orCA-2 is to be used instead of a CA-2a, one should look at the followingreasons for filing the appropriateOWCP forms.

Form CA-1, FederalEmployee's Notice of Traumatic In-jury, is used to report injuries causedby work factors that occur during thecourse of one work shift or workday.

Form CA-2, Federal Employee'sNotice of Occupational Disease, isused to report injuries caused by workfactors that occur over the course ofmore than one work shift or workday.

Form CA-2a, Notice of Recur-rence, is used to report recurrencesof previously accepted injuries. How-ever, the OWCP definition of recur-rence is highly technical and com-monly misunderstood.

In the context of on-the-job inju-ries, recurrence is defined at 20 CFR10.5(x):

…an inability to work after anemployee has returned to work,caused by a spontaneous changein a medical condition which hadresulted from a previous injury or ill-ness without an intervening injury

or new exposure to the work envi-ronment that caused the illness.

20 CFR 10.104 adds:…a notice of recurrence should

not be filed when a new injury, newoccupational disease or new eventcontributing to an already-existing oc-cupational disease has occurred. Inthese instances, the employee shouldfile Form CA-1 or CA-2.

The key to understanding whento use a CA-2a as opposed to a CA-2 or a CA-1 is the phrase "sponta-neous change… without an inter-vening injury or new exposure to thework environment that caused theillness."

Some supervisors frequentlyprovide a Form CA-2a to injured let-ter carriers in circumstances that callfor a CA-1 or CA-2. Unsuspecting car-riers then complete and submit thewrong form. This results, at best, inlong delays in payment of compen-sation, medical benefits, and so on.

Very few supervisors are awareof the technical distinction betweena recurrence and a new injury. Manyassume that if a condition involvesthe same diagnosis and the samebody part as a previous injury, it is arecurrence.

The contractual citations can befound in management's Handbooksand Manuals and can be grievedunder Article 19 of The National Con-tract. The ELM and EL 505 requiresupervisors to discuss the situationwith an employee when he or shereports a recurrence, and determineif the situation involves a new injury.Those citations are as follows:

ELM 541.2p restates theOWCP definition of recurrence. EL505, page 124 also restates thatdefinition.

EL 505, Exhibit 5.1 providesa 40 page explanation of how todistinguish between new injury andrecurrence, and gives several ex-amples.

EL 505, page 118 requires thesupervisor to discuss the situationwith the employee when he or shereports a recurrence. It also requiresthe supervisor to review Exhibit 5.1and determine if a recurrence or newinjury exists.

The above citations requiremanagement to discuss the situationwith an injured letter carrier to deter-mine what form should be used. Ifthis discussion does not take placenotify you're Shop Steward so agrievance can be filed. If there is anydoubt to what form should be usedeven after discussing it with a super-visor, it is recommended that one callthe Branch office.

6. Delaying forwarding ofCA_1 or CA-2 to OWCP

When OWCP does not timelyreceive a CA-1 or CA-2, acceptanceof the claim and payment of benefitsare delayed. Generally, if you are ainjured letter carrier and has not re-ceived a claim number from OWCPby the end of three weeks after sub-mitting a CA-1 or CA-2, ask the stew-ard to investigate. The investigationshould start with an interview of thesupervisor who received the form andthen proceed to an interview of ICCO

personnel. Often such interviews re-sult in quick transmittal of the delayedform to OWCP.

Provisions in both the law andthe contract are plentiful and requiremanagement to complete and trans-mit Form CA-1 and CA-2 to OWCPwithin 10 working days after receiptfrom the employee.

20 CFR 10.110(a) requires theemployer to complete and transmit theform to OWCP no more than 10 work-ing days after receipt from the em-ployee, in almost all cases. The lim-ited exceptions include situationswhere there is no medical chargeagainst OWCP, no disability beyondthe day of injury, no need for morethan two appointments for medical ex-amination and/or treatment, and soon.

20 CFR 10.110(c) specificallycautions the employer to not waitfor submittal of supporting evidencebefore sending the form to OWCP.

ELM 544.12 states: Control of-fice and control point supervisors areresponsible for reviewing all claims foraccuracy and completeness and forforwarding claims and related docu-ments to OWCP within prescribedFECA time frames.

ELM 544.212 states: The con-trol office or control point submits tothe appropriate OWCP district officewithin 10 working days after it is re-ceived from the employee: a. Com-pleted Form CA-1 or Form CA-2.

ELM 545.12 states: Controlpoint personnel must not, underany circumstances or for any rea-son, delay timely submission of re-ports or claim forms to the controloffice.

ELM 545.75d states: Submis-sion of Form CA-1 to OWCP mustnot be delayed, under any circum-stances…

EL 505, Section 4.4 states: Un-der no circumstances may ICCOpersonnel…delay submission of theCA-1 to the OWCP within 10 workingdays from the date received by thesupervisor.

EL 505, page 176 states: Do notdelay submitting the claim pendingcollection of data to support acontroversion or challenge.

EL 505, page 218 states: Do notdelay submitting the CA-1, CA-2, CA-5 or CA-5b pending receipt of thirdparty information.

Timely submissions by theUSPS of Forms CA-1 and CA-2 toOWCP are important to injured let-ter carriers. Shop Steward shouldenforce the applicable regulations byciting the above referenced citations.

7. Failing to provide notice ofcontroversion and challenge infor-mation.

When the USPS controverts aclaim, OWCP requires it to advisethe employee of the challenge andits basis. Postal regulations also re-quire written notification to the em-ployee in all controversions andchallenges.

Despite the regulations, super-visors and managers often fail tonotify employees of controversionsand challenges. When this occurslack of notice usually works to the

injured Letter Carriers disadvan-tage.

20 CFR 10.211(c) requires man-agement to: Inform the employee ofany decision to controvert COP and/or terminate pay, and the basis for do-ing so.

ELM 544.12 states: The con-trol office or control point must advisethe employee whether COP will becontroverted and whether pay will beinterrupted.

ELM 545.731 states:Controversion means to dispute, chal-lenge, or deny the validity of a claim.The Postal Service may controvert aclaim by completing the indicatedportion of Form CA-1 and submittingdetailed information in support of thecontroversion to OWCP (see 545.75).

ELM 545.75 states: Properidentification of controverted claims isessential to permit the OWCP to givethese claims priority in processing andto avoid the possibility of substantial,erroneous payments of regular pay. Ifa written explanation of thecontroversion is not submitted,OWCP may accept as factual theemployee's report of injury. When aclaim is controverted, the control of-fice or control point must ensure thatthe following actions are taken:

* * *e. The employee, employee

beneficiary, or representative mustbe furnished with a written explana-tion for the basis of thecontroversion.

EL-505 Section 8.15 states:Notify the employee, in writing, thathis or her claim is being controvertedor challenged (See Exhibit 8.5, ex-ample Letter: Employee's Notice ofControverted or Challenged Claim).

EL-505 Appendix C defineschallenge and controversion: chal-lenge: The formal administrative pro-cedure through which USPS man-agement presents evidence toOWCP to dispute any element of anemployee's claim for benefits thatappears questionable.

Controversion: The formal ad-ministrative procedure through whichUSPS management presents evi-dence to OWCP to dispute anemployee's claim for COP.

As with the other violations al-ready discussed Shop Steward'sshould enforce the applicable regu-lations concerning notification ofcontroversion and challenge infor-mation by citing the above refer-enced citations in grievances whenviolations occur.

Controversion has already beenwritten about in the March 2011 edi-tion of the Limb Leader. For additionalinformation on Controversion pleaserefer back to the March 2011 LimbLeader.

Because space is limited in theedition of this months LIMB leader,more examples of violations alongwith relevant information will continuein next months LIMB Leader in Part 3of Management's Violations of FECA.There should be zero tolerance forany mistakes by postal managerswhen it comes to processing an in-jured letter carrier's claim for an onthe job injury.

If you are hurt or sick OFF the job andcan’t work, your paycheck will STOP afteryour sick/annual leave are used up. And re-ceiving approval for a workers compensation(ON the job) claim could be much more diffi-cult than you ever imagined.

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