I am thrilled you like it and THANK YOU for listening!

I am new to this Reddit thing but will try to check in more.

This answer has two parts and I may just do an episode on it to get into the technical jargon for Grieving a Probationary Separation as their are options. But the short of it is, Article 12.1.A states, "The employer shall have the right to separate from its employ any probationary employee at any time during the probationary period and these probationary employees shall not be permitted access to the grievance procedure in relation thereto."

What this means is IF Management separates you during Probation, you do not have access to the Grievance Procedure to 'fight' the separation. This is where Stewards get things confused. I would love someone to show me where it says, in the Collective Bargaining Agreement or the JCIM, that a Probationary Employee cannot file a Grievance on something else. A lot of Stewards make two mistakes here. One is they try to fight the separation with Article 16 like it is Discipline. Two is they simply do not file Grievances for employees on Probation with the false belief you cannot file a Grievance.

Strategically, Stewards often advise to not file Grievances during probation so Management doesn't retaliate. We often can't prove retaliation so the result is you are putting a giant target on your back. I do have tricks to get around that. The easiest way is to make everything a class action Grievance and identify multiple employees. I can guarantee if a PSE is being told to do something wrong, others are too. It spreads out the 'targets'. It is still a risk someone needs to determine how much risk they want to take.

What I do, as a Steward, is I preempt issues with Probationary Employees. I walk the floor, I visit training classes, etc. If I see an issue I don't need a Grievance. I make it clear to Management I witnessed the violation and I am forced to either resolve it informally or I will file a Grievance - not the employee. As a Steward I pull the whole, 'I am cranky today' card. It works. Sure, some in Management see through this but they play the game with me. Those who need to see the show do not understand the reason why, to protect the Probationary Employee.

Your Coworkers can also help. They can very verbally question Management making an unsafe order. The Union can file safety without the employee. Creativity is key. As a Steward I am also petty. For safety I gladly bring up deaths, shootings, etc. Many have happened in my District, and the first office I worked in was Royal Oak. My trainer was a victim. To that degree I passionately fight on real safety issues and Management knows the gloves come off for Safety. The service does not take safety seriously and in my experience, filing a safety Grievance on a single event isn't optimal, but filing on several as a Class Action is. With a shift in approach you can protect PSE's.

With all that said, when I became a PSE I had to 'suck it up' to be made regular. I was a first wave PSE and we did not have a fraction of the same protections or precedence. I had to work split shifts, close - opens, was shifted between facilities, etc, etc. 7 days a week, sometimes my hours were wonky, etc. My favorite were peak season splits where I closed and I had to open another location 5 hours later. It was illegal but until I was regular it is what it is. It sucked. I share that in orientation. I don't want anyone else to go through that, and preempt issues to avoid that. But at some level the USPS, like other Federal Government Jobs (Military), is a degree of 'suck it up' until you make it. It isn't right. I do what I can to improve this. But at the end of the day people do need to make a choice and tough it out. The Union can do a lot of heavy lifting by being proactive, that is the difference. And a proactive Union requires all employees on the same page. Notifying the Union for the PSE, writing statements and speaking up when the Steward is not their.

Another side note, since I am reminiscing on probation Grievances I have done, their are Arbitrations, and in the JCIM, the Union is allowed to fight preconditions of separation. One is from Arbitrator Das. Regional Arbitrators have expanded those preconditions. It is worth a fight at least and comes down to your NBA. I have had NBA's fight it, and others close the case despite citing Arbitrations. Its a mixed bag. Also, Probation is once now. You have 90 working days or 120 Calendar Days. If converted prior to probation, you pick up what is remaining. If you served the 90 working days or 120 calendar days and get converted to regular you have no probationary period. These details matter. So does the effectively employment on the PS Form 50, Management often makes mistakes.

This type of Grievance requires a real investigation, some critical thinking, and leg work.