Springfield: The Maximum Hours Fight
by Alec Helwig
We have had a rash of questions about maximum hours, management being absolute bullies and intimidating our union brothers and sisters, and a blatant disregard for the National Agreement as of late with being short staffed.
The purpose of this article is to equip you with the knowledge to know what your maximum hours are, and your protections to clock out when you reach your maximum hours.
In Springfield you have the right to clock out at your maximum hours without threat of discipline.
We are going to go through this painstakingly slow to make sure you know exactly what the contract says, what our previous grievance resolutions say, management’s responsibility to uphold the contract, management’s tactics to bully you, and to help you feel confident making a decision that empowers you and strengthens your union activity. Additionally, we will be going section by section according to the list you have signed up for. This is a comprehensive deep dive, and when you come out of this you’ll be a pro, but you’re not going to be able to skip around. Just read the dang thing, all right?
All right, here we go.
Maximum Hours, Workhour Limit, these two things are synonymous. There are several places that refer to Work Hour limits, so let’s identify them so we can see how they apply.
First up we have in the 2023-2026 National Agreement we have Article 8.2.D which reads:
Screenshot of the 2023-2026 National Agreement, Article 8.2.D
Management is relying on this, completely out of context, to ignore all other provisions of our National Agreement. They are relying on this alone to mandate carriers to work 11.5 hours. I’m going to show you why management is wrong in this interpretation, and why the Union is correct.Article 8.2.D is a reference to the Employee Labor Relations Manual (ELM) 432.32, which states:
Screenshot from ELM 432.32
You’ll note that all Article 8.2.D did is prevent management from discipling carriers for leaving when they reach those hours. Problem for management is we already got that locally prior to the 2023-2026 National Agreement. More on that later.
Next up we have Article 8.5.F from the 2023-2026 National Agreement, which reads as follows:
Screenshot of 23-26 Article 8.5.F
Let’s compare that to the last contract in the 2022 Joint Contract Administration Manual from the previous contract:
2022 Joint Contract Administration Manual screenshot of Article 8.5.F.
Identical, right? Yes indeed, and their implementation is the same. You’ll notice that 8.5.F puts a smaller limit on hours than 8.2.D did; this is intentional and is not contradictory. Let’s move to the next relevant provision about Maximum Hours…
Next up is Article 8.5.G from the 2023-2026 National Agreement, which is specific to ODL carriers, which states:
Article 8.5.G from the 23-26 National Agreement
This is how it’s been for years with the exception of the MASSIVE concession from our Union to allow carriers to work beyond their maximums in 8.5.G.3. This kind of sliding from the top of our Union is what has created the perception of instability of the rest of our maximum hours from management.
All right, now that we’ve looked at ELM 432.32, 8.2.D, 8.5.F, and 8.5.G, let’s look at a grievance resolution.
This is for grievance SWA01032025AH1. Hey, I wrote this one and won it, check that out!
This grievance is for improper mandates, ODL maximum hours, noncompliance with grievance settlements, and 10 hour maximums in accordance with article 8.5.F. We won this one handily: carriers may end their tour at “any applicable work hour limit.” Additionally, management is not supposed to request anyone work over their maximums, and had to give stand-ups about this stuff. I’ve omitted some regurgitation of contract language, got rid of payment info, and left what’s necessary. Give it a look.
In accordance with this resolution, we got management’s signatures saying they are all in agreement with this. You’ll see Holly Culter, Jimmie Wilson, Jason Howell, John Case, David Blanton, and other signatures on here:
All of this shows that carriers are allowed to clock out at any applicable work hour limit, that they cannot be disciplined for clocking out at any applicable work hour limit, and that management must instruct carriers to clock out at their work hour limits.
Now, to look at the various sign-up lists and see what your maximum hours are.
Non-ODL/No-listers: Your maximum hours, January through November, are 10 hours in accordance with Article 8.5.F. During the penalty exclusion period, your maximum hours are 11.5 hours in accordance with ELM 432.32.
12 Hours ODL carriers: Your daily and weekly maximum hours, January through November, are 12/60 in accordance with Article 8.5.G.
NS-Day list carriers: Your daily maximum hours, January through November, are 8 hours in accordance with Article 8.5.F and Article 8.5.A.1. If you are also on the 12-hours ODL list then your maximum on this day is 12 hours.
Work Assignment: You have just a little more complexity. You are technically available 12 hours per day while on your own route, the parties agree that you should only work over 10 hours ON YOUR OWN ROUTE if there is no other way to get the mail delivered (i.e., all ODL and CCA are completely maxed out), or when you are MANDATED OFF YOUR ASSIGNMENT. Check out section G of this Work Assignment memo found in the 2022 Joint Contract Administration Manual first:
The full memo is available in the 2022 JCAM on the NALC website
Now check this out: if you are a Work Assignment/Route Only carrier, if you are mandated to work off-assignment you are treated as a Non-ODL carrier, a No-lister! If you are worked off of your assignment your work hour limit becomes 10 hours in accordance with Article 8.5.F, full stop. This is supported in the 2022 JCAM on page 8-21 here:
Page 8-21 from the 2022 JCAM
So for Work Assignment (Route Only), your work hour limits are 12 hours on your own route only if they’ve maxed out all ODL and CCA to their maximums (12 hours and 11.5 hours respectively). Otherwise, your max is 10 like the no-listers.
Recap:
You now know your work hour limits regardless of list you signed up for.
You now know we have grieved this and won it (several times, actually).
You now know management is not supposed to require you to work beyond any applicable work hour limit (it’s a grievance if they do).
You now know that you can clock out at your applicable work hour limit without threat of discipline (if they threaten you with discipline or an investigative interview, that’s a grievance).
Management tactics
Management will threaten you with discipline or investigative interviews if you don’t go over your limits. If they do, request a steward because that’s a grievance we’ll win.
Management says the old grievance resolutions don’t matter. That’s ridiculous because they rely on previous grievance resolutions to substantiate their cases. We know this because we’ve used old grievance resolutions from the 1970’s for current grievances. Besides, think management doesn’t want to use any discipline they’ve resolved for any amount of time? Come on, this is a joke.
Management says 8.2.D trumps all other provisions. Then why are there those other provisions? We have a long history of using those provisions and having them incorporated into the National Agreement for several cycles, so why would they be void suddenly?
Management says delivery of the mail is an emergency. No dice; only the Postmaster General or designee can declare an emergency that requires carriers to work over their work hour limits. Besides, management has sent out several messages recently illustrating that parcel delivery is more important than mail delivery, so they can’t say that the postal mission trumps anything.
What you do to use your rights:
Request a steward: every friggin’ time your rights are violated, regardless of the severity, request a steward and file a dang grievance.
Provide statements to your Union reps. This won’t go away unless we win cases, and we win cases based on the harm to employees. Tell us about how violations affect you personally and get it in the file.
Know your work hour limits and clock out at your work hour limits. Don’t let management intimidate you or bully you into giving up your rights. Think you’re helping them out? Think about the last I.I. you got for stationary events, using your earned sick leave, or something else illegitimate; they’re not there to help you, they are there to get mail delivered and protect the postal service’s money. Your hard-fought-for rights aren’t in their equation, very obviously.
Mail not getting delivered is not your fault, it’s management’s for chronically be understaffed and making this job undesirable. If they paid well and treated people with respect they’d stay, instead they pay a pittance, treat many people terribly, and have been caught lying more times than we can count. No one wants this job, and it’s not your fault. Protect your personal time and personal life.
Thanks for sticking with me for a long read. See you on the workroom floor.