Pascual was appointed Executive Vice President in October, 2017.
Pascual began his career with the Postal Service in the Summer of 1997 as a Part Time Flexible Carrier at Morrisania Station. He became a Full Time Regular in 1999. Pascual worked at Morrisania Station his entire career until he was appointed as a Full Time Officer. He became a foot carrier as soon as he became a Full Time Regular and remained until 2017. In 2017 he became a combination wagon carrier and was then appointed to the Branch full time.
Pascual was elected as a shop steward in Morrisania Station in 2003 and remained until he was appointed as a full-time officer in 2017. In 2004 he was appointed as a Formal A Designee, and Hearing Officer in the Bronx which expanded the amount of stations that Pascual was representing at the Formal Step A in the Bronx. He became shop steward of Morris Heights Station during this time as well. In 2006 Pascual was selected to attend the Leadership Academy in Washington D.C. He was then selected to attend arbitration advocacy training in 2008. Pascual began to represent carries at arbitration within Branch 36 and for other branches within the NALC, along with the Caribbean District. In 2007 he was appointed as Trustee for Branch 36 and held that position until he was appointed to Director of City Delivery in 2010. In 2015 he was appointed to Editor of the Outlook and became shop steward of Bronx GPO within that time as well. In 2017 our National Business Agent authorized Pascual to represent carriers in Puerto Rico as an NALC representative addition to his arbitration duties on the island. In the fall of 2018 he was appointed to Executive Vice President of Branch 36.

If You Know, You Know

Unfortunately, the New York District has decided to go alone in their pursuit of measuring routes and assignments. They caught amnesia. Amnesia implies lost or forgotten knowledge. If amnesia is not involved, then their choices are founded in a lack of knowledge, which is also known as ignorance. I choose to think the former of the two scenarios is the most accurate one.
History of the count and inspections in the New York District has involved the parties jointly adjusting routes for at least fifteen years. As a matter of fact, the nation-wide practice of joint route adjustments was taken from a model initially created by the work between Branch 36 and the New York District management. We helped create it, and of course the Service has decided to say thank you for all of your hard work and involvement by going alone and doing it completely wrong, while we were all at the same table just a few years ago.
Parcel Post and Combination Wagons are in management’s sight. The way they have decided to do things is confusing at best. It boggles the mind because you would think someone was paying attention in the last twenty years, but it seems they have fallen asleep at the wheel once again.
Grievances are being formulated, filed, and discussed with all shop stewards. There is no need to worry about that. What may be missing is some experience with this unfriendly situation, and that experience I am referring to is the newer/newest set of carriers that are not familiar at all with any of the history behind count and inspections in any way. Let us go over foot routes first, which are being handled by TIAREAP.
Lately, management teams made of people who do not work in your station are showing up on the work floor with PS Form 1838s and letting you know they are there to count your mail and walk in the street with you. If you are the successful bidder for a foot route then you have no worries regarding the people that show up with these forms to count your mail because TIAREAP is the only team that can adjust your route. That is coming soon, but it isn’t a major concern for purposes of this article.
You do need to know though that they will be observing you in the office and in the street. These observations can mean something within the scope of discipline, assuming you have done something wrong. They cannot do anything with the observations or the counts of mail with respect to adjustments. That belongs to TIAREAP as has been said more than once.
The major concern for the branch is when they show up on your work floor with intention to count and inspect combination and parcel post routes. There is no national or local joint agreement on those assignments (management’s choice). There is no concern regarding the process in and of itself, per say. Manuals allow them to do so. The concern is regarding them performing the process incorrectly, and that is happening a lot. For us to get over this hurdle, everyone should be in the know.
A back-to-basics approach is the one that is going to get all of us in front of a book or manual. I have been in a C&I situation. I know how to defend my assignment. Do you know how to defend yours?
The rest of us need to get in the know fast. How? Simply showing up is one way. We are conducting training seminars once every two weeks at the branch, led by our specialist Sonny Guadalupe. These trainings are streamed online also for anyone who cannot make it in person. We are also having trainings with our stewards on the topic. In addition, there are a couple of publications dealing with protection of assignments, specific to battling and addressing faulty or misconducted route inspections.
Once you read them, you will have a strong starting and ending point as to what you need to say and write in your grievance. Knowing these points makes your grievances more enriched with boots on the ground knowledge. That is the type of information that pushes these grievances above and beyond.
Now, before anyone says “They are going to do what they want to do anyway! Why should I participate?”, let me say something. If you participate and make your comments when applicable, then your involvement is on record and they can be referred to when needed. If you willfully disregard your participation in the process, then there is nothing to refer to and you give management a blank page to write as much as they want or need. There is nothing to fall back on if you remain silent.
Some helpful tips for this process are:

• Show up to as many seminars as possible. Too busy? Join the online stream and plug it into your ear. You cannot go wrong. It will be a minor version of a podcast. You do not need to see anything. Just listen.
• Get in the know and read a manual or two on how to protect your assignment.
• Keep your steward and the union informed on everything that happens and be ready to file a grievance immediately with your shop steward.
• Make copies of all PS Forms you fill out and submit during the process – a copy of your original, not a copy of their e-copy which is based on your original.
• Deliver your assignment the way the M-41 says it should be delivered.
• Use all the relay points that are listed on your case as directed by the M-41.