No Such Thing As A Requirement to Report Undertime
by Steward Alec Helwig
I’ve gotten some word that carriers are being required to “report their undertime” very recently and I want to equip our people with our rights in this aspect of our job. Thank you very much for reaching out and letting me know, you know who you are.
Apparently, management has come out saying they’re going to follow the contract, and that they’re expecting carriers to properly report their undertime.
Hang on there, partner. Seems like we’ve already derailed from following the contract right there.
Reporting Requirements
Handbook M-41 outlines city carrier duties and responsibilities, and in Section 131.4 you will find our Reporting Requirements. It goes a little something like this:
“131.41 It is your responsibility to verbally inform management when you are of the opinion that you will be unable to case all mail distributed to the route, perform other required duties, and leave on schedule or when you will be unable to complete delivery of all mail.
131.42 Inform management of this well in advance of the scheduled leaving time and not later than immediately following the final receipt of mail. Management will instruct you what to do.
131.43 Complete applicable items on Form 3996, Carrier-Auxiliary Control, if overtime or auxiliary assistance is authorized in the office or on the street.
131.44 Report on Form 1571 all mail undelivered — including all mail distributed to the route but not cased and taken out for delivery. Estimate the number of pieces of mail.
131.45 Do not curtail or eliminate any scheduled delivery or collection trip unless authorized by a manager, in which case you must record all facts on Form 1571.
131.46 Before you leave the office, enter on Form 1571 the mail curtailed; when you return, add any mail which was not delivered and which was returned to the office. Follow any special local procedures set up to identify errors and corrective actions for mail returned because it was out of sequence.
131.47 Complete portions of the Edit Book, as required by management, or Form 1621, Delivery Management Report, according to instructions on reverse of form.”
That is the entirety of the Reporting Requirements section in 131.4 of the M-41 Handbook. Read that again carefully and familiarize yourself with it, because those are your protections against this insidious request from management. Again, this process protects you, do not be afraid of it.
You will find there is no requirement for you to report undertime there, and that is copy-and-pasted from a digital version of the M-41 Handbook.
Undertime is at the END of the day, not to report in the beginning.
Everyone here knows that conditions on the street aren’t consistent, and that it doesn’t take much to alter your schedule a little bit. Construction on the road or sidewalk, having a stomach bug, coverages, vehicle breakdown, heat breaks, all kinds of stuff can change your experience on the street and get you behind. That’s EXACTLY why there is no requirement to report projected undertime in the morning.
We have a ton of work to do every day out there on the street to take care of our customers, ensuring that our accuracy and service are top notch, and we need time to do the job were are hired to do. Management wants to say all we do is drop mail in a box, but will turn around and issue you discipline if you don’t comply with some esoteric part of our job that few people even know about.
Moreover, in accordance with a “Fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work,” there are no standards for delivery for any function on the street, meaning there are no times established for relays, walking between houses, comfort stops, scootering packages, and more! This has been grieved nationally several times and been upheld in several national resolutions.
Guaranteed Hours
Management must pay you 8 hours each day as part of your guaranteed hours, so they want to fill up any undertime you might have. It’s no big if you wrap up on your route a little early when the volume can’t keep you busy, but it is a BIG DEAL if management is telling you you have undertime and that you’re expected to report it before you even leave for the route.
How To Refute Undertime Claims by Management
Be kind, polite, and professional; you only hurt yourself by going beast mode. You can say something like:
“I don’t know if I have any undertime right now because I haven’t gotten to the route, but I’ll call in after I wrap up with any undertime I may have.”
Blam. No argument, no heated debate. Give them that because that’s the truth: you don’t know how if you’ve got undertime or how much, and you can call as soon as you finish your route.
If you are told you have undertime and are given off assignment work based on undertime projections, immediately request a steward, then notify a steward you have requested them.
Do not argue, comply and carry the assignment. Fill out your 3996 for the day if you’ll be over and write that you have been given off assignment work based on undertime projections as the reason for the overtime. This is a grievance we have won repetitively and have gotten escalated awards on.
Request a disposition of the overtime from management (approval or disapproval). If they will not give you a disposition of overtime request a steward: that is a grievance we have won handily.
Request a copy of your 3996 even if they do not provide a disposition; that is your “get out of jail free” card and that form protects you. 3996 is YOUR form, not management’s, and they will squirm when you request a proper disposition and a copy of it. If a copy is not immediately provided request a steward: that is a grievance we have won repetitively.
If your Overtime request is disapproved in whole or in part; bring back whatever mail you have before going into disapproved overtime. Seek instruction at the office if the time needed to carry the rest will be approved or disapproved, then get it in writing on your PS Form 3996.
See, through this process YOU have the power, YOU have the expertise, and YOU make management manage. The onus is not on you to run to meet management’s arbitrary metric; it’s on management to adjust their expectations to what is within your professional, safe, and accurate ability.
If you deviate from this process or don’t document things in writing you are leaving it up to management to be truthful about the records. Let me tell you I have caught management falsifying discipline, falsifying clock rings, falsifying route data for TIAREAP, falsifying training, falsifying 1017B for “unauthorized overtime,” falsifying statements, and more. Don’t trust them to have your best interest in mind because they answer to bosses who don’t care about you at all and only care about performance metrics so they can get raises and bonuses. That’s a stone cold fact documented in our grievance resolutions and management’s contentions.
Your local Union stewards have been all over this and grieve it at every opportunity, so let us know when violations occur so we can hold management accountable for them. Management’s hostility through this process has resulted in a stack of mutual respect grievances that protect city carriers.
Wrapping It Up
There is no requirement for you to report undertime in the morning; that is an intimidation tactic for management to get their bonus pay off of grinding you into the ground. If you have undertime you can report it at the end of the day after you’re done carrying your route.
Exercise your rights. Request steward time when your rights are violated. If you have questions, reach out and we’ll get you answers.