1. The Union (NALC) collectively bargains as a result of an agreement from the first National Agreement.

False - See JCAM page 1-1, National Labor Relations Act Section 8(d).

The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 establishes the framework for collective bargaining. NALC bargains over wages, hours and working conditions established under this law.

2. The NALC must equally represent all city letter carriers in contractual matters, even if they don't belong to the Union.

True - See JCAM page 1-1

Having been granted exclusive bargaining rights for city letter carriers, labor law requires us to equally represent all city letter carriers. Article 1, Section 1 of the National Agreement gives us both the right and obligation to equally represent all city letter carriers.

3. Managers and supervisors are excluded from the bargaining unit.

True - See JCAM page 1-3, Article 41.1.A.2., C#3288, C#4925 and C#0580.

While managers and supervisors are excluded from the bargaining unit, 204-Bs are considered to be craft employees and continue to accrue seniority.

4. Casuals are not part of the NALC bargaining unit.

True - See JCAM pages 1-3, Article 1.6.

Casuals are non-career, non-bargaining unit employees.

5. The use of the term "scab" by a Union is protected by the National Labor Relations Act.

True - See M-00684 U.S. Supreme Court decision dated June 25, 1974.

"Rather than being a reckless or knowing falsehood, naming the appellants as scabs was literally true. "

6. A 204-B who is disciplined for an act while actually serving as a supervisor is represented by NAPS.

False - See C#0580 and C#03227, National Arbitrator Mittenthal

Per Article 1 of the National Agreement, until the 204-B becomes a permanent supervisor they are represented by the appropriate craft union.

7. Management can assign duties to letter carriers outside the job description found in the EL-311 Handbook.

False - See M-00035 Step 4

8. Management may not convert from rural to city delivery nor vice versa.

False - See M-00636 and C#03974 Regional Arbitrator Holly. See also M-00320 Memorandum by David Charters dated June 9, 1975.

9. If a special delivery craft exists in an installation they have exclusive jurisdiction over delivery of Express Mail.

False - See C#13863, National Arbitrator Mittenthal

10. The delivery and transporting of Express Mail is exclusively letter carrier work.

False - See M-00136 Step 4

11. Supervisors may case mail into letter carrier cases.

False - See M-0832 Step 4 and JCAM page 1-5

If the phrase "distribution tasks" or "may personally perform nonsupervisory tasks" is found in the supervisor's position description, this does not mean casing of mail in letter carrier cases.

12. When supervisors perform craft work in violation of Article 1, there is no remedy if the amount of time is de minimis.

True - See JCAM page 1-5

If, however, the amount of time is not de minimis, the employee identified by the parties will be compensated the appropriate rate for an amount of time equal to the amount of time the supervisor spent performing bargaining unit work.

13. An emergency, as referred to in Article 1.6.A., is an unforeseen circumstance or a combination of circumstances which cans for immediate action in a situation which is not expected to be of a recurring nature.

True - JCAM page 1-5

14. If a carrier is discriminated against for reasons of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, sex, age or marital status, the employee can file a grievance.

True - Article 2, Section I

The carrier should also file an EEO Complaint.

15. There is no responsibility to reasonably accommodate a qualified handicapped person.

False - See EL-307 Guidelines on Reasonable Accommodation.

Article 2 creates a requirement that the Postal Service reasonably accommodate a "qualified handicapped person" as a result of incorporating the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended in 1975.

16. If a grievance is filed protesting discrimination on the basis of one of the categories listed in Article 2, such grievance must be initiated at Step 1 with the immediate supervisor.

False

Article 2, Section 3 states that a discrimination grievance may be filed at Step 2 within 14 days of the alleged discrimination.

17. A meeting with an EEO counselor can only be done off-the-clock and may not include the complainant's representative.

False - See M-00493 Step 4

Both the complainant and the representative will be allowed reasonable time to meet with an EEO counselor as long as the meeting is held within the employee's regular working hours.

18. An EEO settlement automatically voids a grievance if the issues or remedies are the same.

False - See M-00770 Step 4

Note: A Union representative cannot agree through the grievance procedure to nullify an EEO complaint without the EEO complainant's consent.

19. While Step 2 representatives are not entitled to travel time, EEO representatives are.

True - See M-01057, APWU Step 4

20. The Postal Service may assign an employee to a fixed schedule of Saturdays off for religious reasons even where the Local Memo provides for rotating days off.

False - See C#04085 National Arbitrator Aaron

21. The Postal Service has no requirement to attempt to provide accommodation of religious needs with respect to schedules.

False - See M-00588 Letter from Postmaster General, November 25, 1981

The letter states that any attempts must be consistent with applicable collective bargaining agreements.

ARTICLE 3

22. An emergency is contractually defined as any incident which could not be foreseen.

False - See Article 3.F

An emergency is defined as being an unforeseen circumstance or a combination of circumstances which calls for immediate action in a situation which is not expected to be of a recurring nature. See also M00105 and C#03633.

23. You cannot grieve a violation of Article 3.

False

The applicable laws and regulations referred to in Article 3 include the M41 and M-39 Handbooks, EL&R Manual, EL-313 Supervisor's Safety Handbook, and other handbooks and manuals of the US Postal Service as they relate to wages, hours and conditions of employment for postal employees.

Thus, any violation of the above manuals would be an automatic violation of Article 3 of the National Agreement in addition to Article 19 and the particular manual which was violated.

ARTICLE 5

24. Laws concerning wages, hours and working conditions are not applied to letter carriers.

False - See JCAM page 5-1

The National Labor Relations Act and other laws relative to the Postal Service are incorporated through Article 5 of the National Agreement into our contract.

25. Past practices should never be argued in the grievance procedure.

False - See Elkouri and Elkouri, Chapter 12

Arbitrators generally consider past practice where it exists in the interpretation of "rights" issues. For a past practice to exist it must be clear, consistently followed, followed over a reasonable length of time and shown by the record to have been accepted by the parties. A past practice which has developed in silence may be changed when (1) the practice is no longer economical or efficient; (2) the company changes owners or the bargaining unit changes; (3) the company changes operations or the nature of the business changes; or (4) one party informs the other during the negotiation of a new contract that it is not bringing forth into the new contract the specific past practice that had developed.

If the practice clarifies ambiguous language in an existing agreement, it may only be changed if the parties mutually agree to that change.

26. Management may preclude the use of portable radios by employees whether the past practice allows such or not.

False - See M-00786 and C#07964 Regional Arbitrator Snow

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