Illinois Rural Letter Carriers' Association

State convention has been cancelled

National Convention is cancelled

A COLA increase of 416.00 annually for eligible rural carriers, is becoming effective in PP6, February 27th which should be reflected on the paychecks dated March 19th. Leave replacement carriers will receive a 1% salary adjustment annually in lieu of a COLA adjustment.

Rural carriers who develop COVID-19 while in the performance of their duties are entitled to worker compensation coverage.

American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)—Emergency Federal Employee Leave (EFEL)

Need OWCP assistance click here

How Culture Can Affect Mental Health From EAP

Legislative Update

Mandatory Face Coverings

Rural Route Digitization Program

Grassroots Time to Go Back To Work

Louis Dejoy appointed Postmaster General by Board of Governors

Postal Testing - Expedited to Street Afternoon Sortation Esas

Time to review your Tax Withholding

Additional CDC guidance Cloth face coverings recommended in public settings

New Debt Collection Procedures

Postal Funding Bill

MDD Release 7.1 Service Talk

Letter from President Grubar about County Meetings Cancellation

SUT Customer Signature

EAP Information on Corona Virus How to Prepare Your House

EAP How To Prepare Without Panic

Survey : How Prepared Is Your Post Office

Domestic Mail Manual 508 2.2 Rural Delivery Service 2.2.4 Delivery to Recipient With Contagious Disease
Mail is delivered to a customer’s mailbox if a quarantined disease exists, provided
that delivery can be made without exposure to contagion. No mail is collected from
such box while the quarantine is in force.

The Lakeland District Manager is holding twice weekly teleconferences with the NRLCA District Representative to stay connected during this ever evolving situation we are in, together. Some of the discussion today pertained to supplies of hand sanitizer, gloves and wipes; management is authorized to make these purchases. There is discussion regarding staggering start times in order to enhance the social distancing that we should all be practicing. If there are any hot topics or issues, please let me know so I can share any concerns during these meetings. Please take to heart the service talking points recently disseminated; a fractured excerpt; the White House and CDC guidance states, if you work in a critical infrastructure industry, (which includes the United States Postal Service) you have a responsibility to maintain your normal work schedule. Our core mission is to bind the Nation together, and we continue to be a vital connection for millions of people throughout the Nation. Everyone of you should be proud of what you do and what you accomplish every single day as a Postal employee. Two MOUs have recently been signed between the NRLCA and USPS, I encourage you to check NRLCA.ORG frequently, liteblue, USPS.COM and the state web-sites often, to stay fully informed on the efforts of our employer and Union. Stay safe and well,

The USPS has released a 5 year plan. go to NRLCA website for details

House Bill 2382 has passed the House. A motion to suspend the rules on 2/5/20 at 5:30 PM and pass the bill agreed to by Yeas and Nays. (2/3 required to pass) Vote was 309 Yeas and 106 Nays. Vote total Democrats 222 and Republicans 87 and 1 independent. Nays were 105 Republican and 1 independent. This bill H2382 still has to be passed by Senate and signed by the President. Congratulations on the Grass Roots movement that made this possible!

The USPS and the NRLCA have agreed to move forward with the new mapping program that has been developed and tested. Pilot offices in eight districts are being mapped now and the process will expand shortly with a goal of getting all routes mapped in the next few months

Contract Question??? Find Your Steward

The Administration released its 2021 Budget Proposal. The proposal recommends many reforms included in the President's Task Force report on the US Postal Service from last year. The Budget proposes a combination of Operational reforms and retiree health and pension changes. Operational reforms include: changes to delivery processing mode and frequently; increased use of private sector partners; more closely aligning Postal Service employees wages with those of other Federal employees; licensing access to the mailbox ; and providing additional Government services at retail locations. Remember PAC is our way of protecting our jobs and benefits.

Attention Lakeland District Rural Carriers;

DPM (Delivery Point Manager) and LTM (Line of Travel Manager) is coming to your office and your route soon!

These programs are associated with RRECS; in the DPM program, carriers will be working with a facilitator to map points related to their route using a program specifically designed for the implementation of RRECS (rural route evaluated compensation system). LTM will follow shortly thereafter. Lakeland District has gathered about 50 facilitators, Rural Carriers and Managers, to work in offices around the district with the carrier assigned to a route, to enter data into these programs. We are expected to be completed by the end of June, so the better prepared, the smoother it will go!

There is much preparation for the first step, DPM; responsibilities that are assigned to Management as well as Carriers; edit books must be current and in delivery order. All addresses accounted for. PO Boxes or new pre-construction deliveries, if lumped at the end or beginning of the edit book must be moved to proper sequence within the edit book. PS4003s must be in delivery order, it must match the edit book. All the header data on the 4003 must be accurate. Carrier case labels must be in the same delivery order as the edit book, the PS4003 AND you have to be delivering the route in this exact same order. On another set of edit book pages, markings to group together cluster box units and NDCBUs, curb line deliveries that are within close proximity (less than 5’), traffic control points, location of RR crossings and school zones. You may need to acquire site maps for apartment complexes or trailer parks if you deliver to these types of structures, to assist with plotting (the 4) points. (MailBox, MailStop, ParkPoint, FrontDoor)

All the extra work (listed here and more) associated with getting ready for mapping is compensated for, as is the time spent with a facilitator doing the mapping. As the carrier assigned to the route, your input is vital; your input is what will be entered in to the program. Make sure you are well informed and well prepared, so you can create an accurate base-line of your route in the program for when implementation of RRECS arrives.