Branch 203
Southwest Missouri National Association of Letter Carriers
Read articles written by branch members focusing on local branch matters and how they may effect you.
If you would like to write an article, please reach out to Alec by email: alechnalc@gmail.com
Read articles written by branch stewards about important grievances, protections, and resolutions in your area. Become educated about the workings of your local representatives and the process of grievance handling here.
Union Meeting
April 3rd @ 6:30 pm
3050 S National
Suite #100
Springfield, Mo, 65804
Thank you to Better Homes and Gardens for hosting our Union meetings!
Retirees Meeting
Mr. John Fuge, our retirees’ director, has stepped down from his position to focus on his health and family. Thank you so much for your work over the years, Mr. Fuge, you are greatly appreciated by everyone in Branch 203.
“The labor movement is people. Our unions have brought millions of men and women together, made them members one of another, and given them common tools for common goals. Their goals are goals for all America – and their enemies are the enemies for progress. The two cannot be separated.”
-John F. Kennedy
Sign Issued Discipline!
Please sign and date any discipline you receive. Signing does not mean that you agree to the discipline, the bottom of your discipline will state that you have the right to grieve the discipline if you’d like. If you don’t sign and date your discipline you may have discipline fraudulently entered into your file! Also, it establishes a timeline for the Union to work with because sometimes management will create discipline, then sit on it a while before issuing it, meaning that you could lose several days for a grievance to be filed!
NALC Contract Talk
“Contract Talk” is an educational series by the NALC for carriers on the workroom floor about their rights, protections, and applicability of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Our National Agreement is made to be easy to read for the everyday worker, and the articles in Contract Talk can help our Union brothers and sisters to not be afraid of the document, processes, and use of the contract in our daily lives. Every carrier should take efforts to learn their rights and current events in the workplace as it is an ever-changing, political juggernaut, regardless of whether we want it to be or not. Don’t trust some hearsay on the workroom floor as gospel because misinformation gets spread quickly that way: the more educated the workforce the less that kind of misinformation can take hold.
Check out NALC Contract Talk articles here, as well as the incredible NALC Activist articles to learn your rights and applications at your own speed.
Empower yourself through education; an educated Union is a strong Union.
Seasonal Safety
Hazards
COLD: We’re out on the route and exposed to the cold for hours on end. Make sure you have the gear that’s going to keep you warm and dry through the winter. Nothing sucks worse than being cold and wet on the job, unless you have a dog biting you in a winter downpour while an unsympathetic customer shouts about how informed delivery says their check should have been in the box today… then that’s a whole other level.
SLIPPERY SURFACES: Don’t try to “make a go of it” if you see a set of stairs that are covered in ice, or other hazardous approaches. Everyone has at least one story of porches covered in ice or falling down stairs. Accidents are going to happen, but we can help mitigate them by getting eyes on hazards first and making the assessment of whether it’s safe to deliver or not. If you make the assessment that it is not safe; that is the authority on your ability and safety. Stand by it.
DARKNESS: Darkness is a contentious bit when it comes to management. While darkness itself isn’t hazardous, compounded with other elements darkness certainly presents a hazard. Consider if you’re standing still in a dark room; no danger there. But what if you’re walking across dozens of lawns in unfamiliar territory covered in leaves a night with only a narrow beam of light to guide you? You bet than can be a hazard, so make efforts when you can, but if it gets too dangerous let someone know!
HEAVY PARCELS: Watch out when you’re lifting parcels! Sometimes heavy ones aren’t labelled properly and you go to lift it only to find out some jerk is trying to mail condensed metal from a collapsed star (sometimes it feels like that at least). Even flat trays can get super heavy! Use proper lifting techniques, get a team lift going, and use available equipment to get the job done safely.
THIEVES: Carriers are being assaulted with an increasing frequency since COVID times due to our increased parcel volumes and arrow keys. Keep your head on a swivel, and report suspicious activity. Knock on doors and make the attempt to get it into a customer’s hands before you drop the parcel at the door; that’s right out of our M-41 handbook, so you can help reduce the ability of thieves to ruin people’s holidays.