The Arbitrator’s decision contained some improvements to address the issue of overtime on letter carrier routes. She did not accept all of our proposals to allow letter carriers more options to reduce the overtime on their routes.
Compulsory Overtime
The parties had agreed to suspend clause 15.14 – Compulsory overtime on other routes. The issue that was in dispute was when the suspension of this clause would end. The Arbitrator accepted CPC’s position and this clause will be back in force on January 1, 2022, one month prior to the expiration of the collective agreement.
Work/Life Balance – Appendix “LL”
The Arbitrator accepted some of the changes to this Appendix that we proposed. Our proposals were designed to minimize unwanted overtime and make getting assistance more accessible and flexible.
The “Work and Life Balance” section of this appendix allows you to request to have the overtime on your route covered on an occasional basis if you have a family commitment, appointment and/or other legitimate personal needs. The Arbitrator accepted our proposal to include Relief Letter Carriers (RLC) in this section.
In the “Ongoing Overtime” section, the arbitrator accepted some of our proposals. First of all, it is important to remember that the trigger to qualify for this assistance has not changed. You still must work an average of one hour of overtime, three days a week for a period of twenty days. The changes are:
1. Allow employees to choose to only have assistance on certain days of the week.
2. The amount of assistance on each day would be equal to the average amount of overtime that you worked on that day of the week during the (20) twenty-day qualifying period above.
3. You can now opt in, with one week’s written notice, to receive this assistance. You must agree to get the assistance for at least 4 weeks and can extend the assistance with one week’s written notice.
4. The Corporation may canvass to see if additional employees would like to receive the assistance.
5. This assistance will also be available for the RLC covering a route that is receiving assistance.
6. For employees who are receiving this assistance on specific days of the week, they will be entitled to volunteer for 17.04 – overtime on other routes, on the days that they are not receiving this assistance. On the days that letter carriers and RLCs are receiving assistance, they are not eligible for overtime on other routes.
Other Changes
As mentioned in a previous bulletin, the Arbitrator awarded CPC its proposal for a Temporary Peak Period Workforce (bulletin #171). This will allow letter carriers who do not want to work overtime on their own route, during the peak period (November through January), to request assistance.
Overall, these changes should improve the work/life balance for letter carriers and relief letter carriers. We must continue to demand that CPC recognize the importance of work/life balance for the health and safety of its employees.
In Solidarity,
Carl Girouard
National Grievance Officer