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1 NALC Shop Steward Delivery Unit Manager July 2021 RE: July 2021 Edition of the USPS-NALC Joint Contract Administration Manual Enclosed is the revised July 2021 edition of the Joint Contract Administration Manual (JCAM) for your use as a resource in your local administration of the national Agreement. Jointly prepared by the NALC and the postal Service, the narrative portions of the manual explain how the contract should be applied based on national level grievance settlements, arbitration awards, and agreements. One copy has been provided to your delivery unit for the use of both the NALC and management. It should be accessible to both at all times. When a dispute arises, you should go to the JCAM first to see if the issue in dispute is addressed. If the issue is addressed in the JCAM, any dispute should be resolved in accordance with that guidance.

2 Please replace prior editions of the JCAM with the enclosed 2021 edition. The JCAM will continue to be updated with additional material as we continue to narrow our differences and expand our joint understanding of the national Agreement at the national level. We encourage you to use the JCAM to insure local contract compliance and to foster more professional working relationships. ~~~t Labor Relations, postal Service Fredric V. Rolando, President national Association of Letter Carriers July 2021 Dear Branch Officer: NALC is proud to send you the enclosed July 2021 revised edition of the USPS-NALC Joint Contract Administration Manual (JCAM).The JCAM represents the definitive interpretation of the 2019-2023 national Agreement for both the national Association of Letter Carriers and the United States postal Service. Please understand that management has agreed not to dispute the interpretations on any of the topics covered in the JCAM.

3 This manual has helped to achieve a significant increase in the number of grievances resolved at the local union level. NALC split the cost with the postal Service to put a copy of the JCAM in every post office where city letter carriers are employed. In addition, NALC has provided each branch with a copy of the JCAM. When disputes arise in work locations, the local shop steward and the supervisor should jointly review the JCAM and determine if that area of the dispute is covered in the manual. If so, grievances should be resolved on the basis of the JCAM where the national parties have agreed upon a contract interpretation. It is our hope that NALC representatives will put this material to good use, employing it to provide all of the nation s letter carriers with the best possible representation. I know you will do just that.

4 Sincerely and Fraternally, Lew Drass Vice President JC A MUSPS-NALC2021 JointContract Administration ManualUnited States postal Service andNational Associationof Letter Carriers, AFL-CIOUSPS - NALCJ ointContractAdministrationManualJuly 2021 United StateS postal Service475 l enfant Plaza SWWaShington dc 20260-4101national aSSociation of letter carrierS, afl-cio100 indiana avenUe nWWaShington dc 20001-2144 Introduction This jointly prepared USPS/NALC Joint Contract Administration Manual (JCAM) supersedes all previous editions. Publication of the JCAM was undertaken in good faith in order to educate the local parties and facilitate the resolution of disputes concerning issues on which the national parties are in agreement. While the parties at the national level still dispute the proper applica-tion of some portions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, there are significant areas of agreement.

5 The JCAM represents the par-ties effort to inform labor and management in the field of these areas of agreement and encourage consistency and compliance with the issues treated. The narrative explanation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement contained in the JCAM should be considered dispositive of the joint understanding of the parties at the national level. Some sections of the contract do not have a narrative explanation. No inference should be drawn from the lack of explanatory language. The actual language contained in the Collective Bargaining Agreement appears in text boxes. Shaded contract language means the provision does not normally apply to the city letter carrier craft. The small text boxes found in the right-hand margin next to contract language identifies where the memos referenced in the contract lan-guage text boxes are located in the The JCAM is self-explanatory and speaks for itself.

6 It is not intended to, nor does it, increase or decrease the rights, responsibilities, or benefits of the parties under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. It neither adds to, nor modifies in any respect, the current Collective Bargaining Agreement. At each step of the grievance/arbitration procedure the parties are required to jointly review the JCAM in order to facilitate resolution of disputes. The JCAM may be introduced in arbitration as disposi-tive of those issues covered by the manual. If introduced as evidence in arbitration, the document shall speak for itself. Without exception, no testimony shall be permitted in support of the content, background, history or any other aspect of the JCAM s narrative. The parties at the national level will update the JCAM at least once during the term of the national agreement.

7 The parties at the local level should exercise caution to ensure that they are working from the most current issue of the JCAM and apply any revisions or modifica-tions prospectively from the date of revision. NALC-USPS Joint Contract Administration Manual - July 2021 Introduction NALC-USPS Joint Contract Administration Manual - July 2021 Table of Contents-1 NALC-USPS Joint Contract Administration Manual - July 2014 Table of Contents-1 Table ofConTenTsarticle 1 union 1-1article 2 non-Discrimination and Civil 2-1article 3 Management 3-1article 4 Technological and Mechanization 4-1article 5 Prohibition of Unilateral action ..Page 5-1article 6 no layoffs or Reduction in force ..Page 6-1article 7 employee 7-1article 8 Hours of 8-1article 9 salaries and 9-1article 10 10-1article 11 11-1article 12 Principles of seniority, Posting and 12-1article 13 assignment of Ill or Injured RegularWorkforce 13-1article 14 safety and 14-1article 15 Grievance-arbitration 15-1article 16 Discipline Procedure.

8 Page 16-1article 17 17-1article 18 no 18-1article 19 Handbooks and 19-1article 20 20-1article 21 benefit 21-1article 22 bulletin 22-1article 23 Rights of union officials to enter postal 23-1article 24 employees on leave with Regard to union business ..Page 24-1article 25 Higher level 25-1article 26 Uniforms and Work Clothes ..Page 26-1article 27 employee 27-1article 28 employer 28-1article 29 limitation on Revocation of Driving 29-1article 30 local 30-1article 31 union -Management 31-1article 32 32-1article 33 33-1article 34 Work and/or Time standards ..Page 34-1article 35 employee assistance 35-1article 36 Credit Unions and 36-1article 41 letter Carrier 41-1article 42 energy 42-1article 43 separability and 43-1acronym Page 1-1 NALC-USPS Joint Contract Administration Manual - June1998 Table of Contents-2 NALC-USPS Joint Contract Administration Manual - July 2021 NALC-USPS Joint Contract Administration Manual - July 2021 Page 1-1 Article 1 union recognition Preamble PREAMBLE This Agreement (referred to as the 2019 national Agreement) is entered into by and between the United States postal Service (hereinafter referred to as the Employer ) and the national Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO (hereinafter referred to as the union ).

9 The Agreement is effective as of September 21, 2019 unless otherwise provided. ARTICLE 1. union RECOGNITION Section 1. union The Employer recognizes the national Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO as the exclusive bargaining representative of all employees in the bargaining unit for which it has been recognized and certified at the national level City Letter Carriers. The postal Reorganization Act of 1970 (PRA) transformed the Post Office Department into an independent establishment of the govern-ment of the United States, The United States postal Service. The PRA also gave postal employees the right to bargain collectively over their wages, hours and working conditions. The law states that the postal Service shall accord exclusive recognition to a labor organization when the organization has been selected by a majority of the employees in an appropriate unit as their representative.

10 This PRA mandate followed the concept of exclusive recognition that had long served as the basis for collective bargaining in the private sector. The doctrine holds that only one labor organization can represent all employees in such unit for the purposes of collective bargaining in respect to rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, or other conditions of (Labor-Management Relations Act, Section 9(a).) NALC is the exclusive bargaining agent representing city delivery carriers. Although NALC membership is not limited to members of the city letter carrier craft, NALC is the exclusive representative of all city letter carriers the only organization entitled to represent letter carriers in their collective bargaining relationship with the postal Service. Despite the doctrine of exclusive representation, Article provides that a steward may be designated to represent a craft other than the steward s own if the unions involved approve and notify the postal Service in writing.