Episode 197: Tough Love. Getting Back Into 6-Day Counts

From A to Arbitration

This episode continues the 6-day count education series, focusing on specific procedures and strategies for challenging management's actions during route inspections. Corey begins with listener shout-outs, promoting the work of several union activists and highlighting the "Tallest Nail" podcast, which focuses on CCA issues. He then addresses a listener's comment about arbitrators lacking feelings, countering this with personal anecdotes about how arbitrators often show sympathy, particularly towards veterans, and emphasizes the importance of making arbitrators aware of such mitigating factors.

The main focus is on providing guidance for handling route count inspections. Corey emphasizes the importance of understanding the regulations, meticulous record-keeping, and assertive advocacy. He reviews several key provisions from the 2018 NALC Route Inspection Pocket Handbook, detailing requirements for unit reviews, dry run training, advance notice, and carrier consultations, stressing the need for accurate time recording and the importance of challenging management's attempts to manipulate data and impose arbitrary time limits. He highlights the significance of the "no street standard" provision in challenging time deductions and emphasizes the importance of carriers actively participating in consultations and documenting any instances of management misconduct. He explains how to effectively respond to management attempts to deduct time for minor activities, such as stopping to talk to a customer, and how to identify and counter potentially misleading statements made by management during the consultation process.

Corey then addresses the issue of management's attempts to impose unrealistic time limits, such as the one-hour office time limit and the 22-minute load time, and expresses frustration with the union's failure to provide adequate guidance and support to members in combating such tactics. He criticizes the lack of leadership from the national union, noting the continued lack of a national strategy for dealing with these issues and the silence from the leadership in the face of widespread reports of management misconduct. He discusses the ongoing issue of non-compliance with grievance settlements and emphasizes the importance of utilizing all available legal and procedural avenues to fight against management abuses. He specifically emphasizes the importance of seeking cease-and-desist orders and escalated monetary awards to incentivize compliance. He uses anecdotes from his arbitration cases to illustrate effective strategies for handling management's dishonesty and for challenging their narratives. He highlights the importance of focusing on the “just cause” requirements of Article 16 and of utilizing M-1458 to counter the use of GPS data as the sole determinant for disciplinary actions. He also stresses the need to challenge management's attempts to impose arbitrary time limits and to use the carrier consultation to effectively document and contest those adjustments.

The episode concludes with a passionate call for greater member engagement, education, and a renewed commitment to fighting for a stronger, more member-focused union. Corey urges members to reject the tentative agreement and to actively participate in the upcoming "Vote No" campaign, and he promotes several online resources for obtaining additional information. He emphasizes the importance of standing united to combat the current leadership's failures and to build a more militant and effective union that prioritizes the needs of its members.
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