National Rural Letter Carriers' Association
National Rural Letter Carriers' Association | |
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| Founded | 1903 |
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| Website | www.nrlca.org |
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The National Rural Letter Carriers' Association (NRLCA) is a labor union in the United States that represents Rural Letter Carriers employed by the United States Postal Service. The purpose of this Association shall be to "improve the methods used by rural letter carriers, to benefit their conditions of labor with the United States Postal Service (USPS), and to promote a fraternal spirit among its members."
Membership[2]
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To be able to join the NRLCA, one must first be employed by the USPS and work in the rural carrier craft as a Rural Carrier Associate (RCA), Substitute Rural Carrier, Rural Carrier Relief (RCR), Part-time Flexible (PTF) or Regular Carrier (Designation Code 71). Though temporary relief carriers (TRCs) are excluded from membership, article 7 of the contract between the NRLCA and USPS provide guidelines for the implementation of TRCs. Upon completion and processing of NRLCA form 1187, an official membership card is mailed, and the benefits of membership begin. NRLCA provides information and fellowship for its members at County, District, State and National meetings where all members may participate in a democratic process of developing Association policy. The NRLCA provides a monthly publication, The National Rural Letter Carrier, to keep its members informed on postal and legislative matters of interest.
Early history
Free mail delivery began in American cities in 1863 with a limited scope. Shortly afterwards, rural citizens began petitioning for equal consideration. Rural free deliver (RFD) of mail began in the United States in 1896 with five routes. Seven years later, it had expanded to 15,119 routes covering 322,618 miles. The NRLCA was formed in 1903 at a cost of fifty cents per year in dues to its members.
The NRLCA held its first annual national convention in Template:City-state, September 11 - 12, 1903 (the only year since without an NRLCA national convention was 1918 due to World War I. During World War II, the convention was limited to a small conference in Template:City-state in 1942, and Template:City-state the following two years. In 1945, a National Board Session was held in lieu of a delegate gathering). In attendance were 52 delegates from 15 states. The host state was represented by the most delegates with 13, followed by Michigan with twelve. Indiana & Nebraska both had five, Missouri had four, Iowa had three, Minnesota, New York & Ohio each had two and Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts & Wisconsin all had one. While represented by the NRLCA, neither Kansas nor Oklahoma had a representative in attendance.
The first officers elected to serve the NRLCA on day two of the NRLCA's first national convention (September 12, 1903) were:
President: Frank H. Cunningham (Template:City-state)
Vice President: B. Pitts Woods (Template:City-state)
Secretary: W. F. Tumber (Template:City-state)
Treasurer: W. L. Fetters (Template:City-state)
Executive Committee: H. E. Niven (Template:City-state), F. A. Putnam (Template:City-state) & E. E. Dwyer (Template:City-state)
In 1906, rural carriers were granted six national holidays. Christmas was not one of them, and didn't become a holiday for rural carriers until 1923. In 1908, women attended the NRLCA national convention for the first time. In 1924, a special association committee traveled to Washington, D.C. to lobby for an equipment maintenance allowance (EMA). The following year, it became law. In 1928, the NRLCA implemented term limits for its officers. However, term limits were repealed in 1932. In 1941, tire and gasoline rationing from World War II affected rural carriers. NRLCA President Wallker gained some exemptions from rationing for rural carriers. In 1946, the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) expressed interest in incorporating RFD into their union. In 1947, the NRLCA declined.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed executive order 10988 establishing employee-management cooperation in the federal service. Rural carriers selected the NRLCA as their agent, and they've held exclusive recognition to represent the rural carrier craft within the Post Office since.
NRLCA Constitution[3]
The NRLCA ratified its first constitution on day two of its first national convention in Chicago, Illinois, September 12, 1903. H. H. Windsor, editor of Popular Mechanics magazine as well as the RFD News (now The National Rural Letter Carrier) and chair of the Constitution & Bylaws Committee, presented his committee's report, followed by discussion on each article. One of the many topics discussed was union dues. Originally, the NRLCA sought one dollar a year from its members, however, this was negotiated down to fifty cents a year by the time this constitution was ratified (In 1910, dues were raised to 75 cents per year. The following year, it was reduced back down to 50 cents a year. It took until 1919, for dues to reach the dollar originally sought). The articles were amended and approved in order, and after adoption of each separate article, the entire constitution was voted upon and adopted in its entirety.
In 2007, Bylaws were eliminated from the NRLCA Constitution, and each state was directed by the National office to do the same with their state RLCA constitutions. The NRLCA simply incorporated the existing bylaws within the constitution in their appropriate places. As a result, the existing NRLCA constitution underwent some renumbering.
Contract with the USPS[4]
The most recent contract between the NRLCA and USPS was entered into as of December 3, 2007, and runs through December 2010. The NRLCA negotiates all labor agreements for the rural carrier craft with the Postal Service, including salaries. Rural carriers are considered bargaining unit employees in the USPS. This means that there is a contract between the Postal Service and the NRLCA. Only NRLCA can represent members of the rural carrier craft in the grievance procedure, including providing protection in disciplinary actions.[5]
Following the establishment of executive order 10988 in 1962, the NRLCA and the USPS established their first national agreement on a contract for rural carriers. As a result of this contract, the Heavy Duty Agreement, or Evaluated Pay System was established (Rural Carriers are paid a salary based upon an evaluation of their particular route. Credit is given to all carriers' duties and compensated accordingly). On August 12, 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the Postal Reorganization Act (PRA). The Post Office Department became the United States Postal Service, and the NRLCA became a union, with collective bargaining rights for wages and fringe benefits.
NRLCA-PAC
Since its inception, the NRLCA has had an effective legislative program in the Congress to promote and protect the interests of rural carriers. The Political Action Committee (NRLCA-PAC) was created in 1975 specifically to represent rural letter carrier interests on Capitol Hill by lobbying key government officials and staff on Contract Delivery Service (CDS), five day delivery, the FERS (Federal Employees Retirement System) Sick Leave Bill currently in the United States House of Representatives, and other issues affecting rural carriers. NRLCA-PAC supports members currently in Congress who are friendly to its positions; gains access to members who are on key congressional committees whose jurisdiction affects issues that are important to the rural carrier craft, and develops relationships with current & new congressional candidates. NRLCA-PAC also educates and alerts NRLCA membership on key issues & developments, and encourages rural carriers to become involved legislatively.
CDS
Contract Delivery Service is purchased on a contractual basis by the U.S. Postal Service whereby mail is carried from one USPS specified starting point to another, via highway, by private carriers; also called star route. CDS carriers are not USPS employees, but are independent contractors who provide mail service on these routes. The NRLCA believes that contract delivery inhibits the security, sanctity and service of the USPS, and believes that Congress should supporting H.Res. 282[6] and S. 1457[7].
6 day delivery
On January 28, 2009, Postmaster General John E. Potter testified before the Senate[8] that if the Postal Service is not able to readjust their payment toward the pre-funding of retiree health benefits, as mandated by the Postal Accountability & Enhancement Act of 2006,[9] the USPS would be forced to consider cutting delivery to five days per week during the summer months of June, July & August. However, the universal service obligation[10] and six day delivery are upheld by Congressional language within Appropriations legislation, so a reduction in service would require action from the House and Senate.
June 10, 2009, the NRLCA was contacted for its input on the USPS's current study of the impact of five-day delivery along with developing an implementation plan for a five-day service plan. A team of postal service headquarters executives and staff has been given a time frame of sixty days to complete the study. The current concept examines the impact of five-day delivery with no business or collections on Saturday, with Post Offices with current Saturday hours remaining open.
FERS Sick Leave Equity Act
On February 10, Congressman Jim Moran (D-Virginia) and Congressman Frank Wolf (R-Va.) introduced the "FERS Sick Leave Equity Act" (H.R. 958) legislation authored by Moran. This act provides federal employees under the FERS retirement system a sick leave benefit equal to that of employees under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), which adds any unused sick leave to the number of years an employee has worked for the purposes of determining their annuity during retirement.
On April 1, the House approved H.R. 1804, which gives federal employees incentive to preserve sick leave throughout active employment. The bill would give employees under the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) credit for unused sick leave when they retire, using the time as a factor when calculating annuities at retirement. Essentially, this is the same FERS Sick Leave legislation that the NRLCA had been advocating for the past three years, as introduced by Moran & Wolf.
The bill, sponsored by House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Edolphus Towns (D-NY), also removes penalties CSRS employees are subject to when they work part-time at the end of their careers and would allow FERS employees to claim credit for previous service when returning to the federal government after time in the private sector.
The bill also includes changes to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). It creates a Roth Individual Retirement Account option, within the 401(k) type program. New employees with the federal government will be automatically enrolled within TSP, while the bill also gives the TSP board the authority to add investment window options if it is to a benefit of participants in the program.[11]
Annual food drive
Mothers' Day weekend, every year, the NRLCA, the NALC, Campbell Soup, Valpak, United Way of America, Second Harvest, the AFL-CIO & cartoonist Bil Keane partner in the largest single day food collection in the nation. Rural and City Letter Carriers collect food from Americans as they deliver them their mail. Letter Carriers also promote this event heavily. On May 12, 2007 over 70 million pounds of non-perishable foods were collected.
QWL/EI termination
On November 14, 2008, the NRLCA withdrew its support from the Quality of Work Life/Employee Involvement (QWL/EI) program effective January 1, 2009. QWL was intended, as the title suggests, to work toward improving the “quality of work life” for rural carriers and their managers alike at all levels of the organization as a joint, cooperative venture between USPS managers and rural letter carriers.
The Postal Service funded all QWL-EI activities, and became more insistant upon QWL/EI working exclusively on issues that support its corporate goal. Thus, the NRLCA viewed the QWL/EI process headed in a different direction than its original intention, and concluded that the Postal Service’s commitment to improve the workplace environment has been pushed to the bottom of the list of concerns. On December 12, 2008, the Postal Service confirmed that QWL/EI will be closed entirely.[12] As NRLCA President Don Cantrell put it, "They were looking for an excuse to get rid of it; we gave it to them."
NRLCA forms
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- ^ "Testimony of Don Cantriel, President National Rural Letter Carriers' Association Before the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-03-25.
- ^ "USPS Authorization for Deduction of Dues" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-10-25.
- ^ "Constitution of the NRLCA" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-10-25.
- ^ "Agreement between the United States Postal Service & the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association (2006–2010)" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-10-25.
- ^ "Grievance PS Form 8191" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-10-25.
- ^ "Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Postal Service should discontinue the practice of contracting out mail delivery services". Retrieved 2009-02-11.
- ^ "A bill to provide for the protection of mail delivery on certain postal routes, and for other purposes". Retrieved 2009-02-11.
- ^ "Postmaster General/CEO John E. Potter Before the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-01-28.
- ^ "Postal Accountability & Enhancement Act of 2006" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-02-11.
- ^ "Report on Universal Postal Service and the Postal Monopoly". Retrieved 2009-02-11.
- ^ "House Passes FERS Sick Leave / TSP Legislation". Retrieved 2009-4-25.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "Quality of Work Life/Employee Involvement (QWL/EI) Termination" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-02-11.
See also
