MS-47 Award Is A Big Step Forward

(This article first appeared in the January/February 2007 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

The APWU achieved a major victory in November when Arbitrator Shyam Das sustained a grievance that protested USPS Maintenance Craft staffing policies. This landmark award will help us to better protect the custodial workforce.

The long-awaited decision in the case known as the “new MS-47 dispute” came in an award dated Nov. 16, 2006. (Case Q98C-4Q-C 02013900) [PDF]

The award required postal management to rescind the Handbook MS-47, Housekeeping Postal Facilities, issued in 2001, which outlined new policies and procedures for establishing a building services maintenance program. The arbitrator directed the USPS to reinstate the 1983 version of the MS-47, to be used in determining the realistic custodial staffing level for a facility. It also required the Postal Service to “reinstitute or prepare staffing packages as soon as practicable.” Arbitrator Das remanded discussion of a remedy for the intervening period to the parties, but retained jurisdiction in the event the parties were unable to agree on that portion of the remedy.

The union’s grievance protested the revised MS-47, which eliminated the use of staffing standards based on cleaning frequencies and implemented a staffing policy based upon budget considerations. In the 2001 version, performance standards were not changed, but previously-used staffing documents were replaced with budget worksheets.

The union asserted that the revised handbook negated a previous agreement regarding the 1983 handbook and otherwise violated Article 19 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, because the changes were not fair, reasonable or equitable.

The APWU filed a national-level grievance in October 2001, and in January 2002 advised locals to file grievances challenging changes to custodial staffing and scheduling that were based on the 2001 policy. These local grievances were held in abeyance, pending the outcome of the national-level ruling.

The Journey Isn’t Over

As is frequently the case when the union is successful in arbitration, the ruling serves not as the end of the struggle, but as a significant step toward resolution of the problem. While the arbitrator directed the Postal Service to reinstate the 1983 MS-47 staffing requirements “as soon as practicable,” he remanded to the parties the issue of appropriate remedy for the time period in which the USPS employed and utilized the 2001 MS-47.

Updates on these remanded discussions have been provided to the local unions. Return to staffing levels, work scheduling and performance, including the required use of route sheets (Form 4776), already should have been accomplished in your facility.

National awards such as this are also important for what they say about the parties’ positions regarding the interpretation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The APWU position is that not only was Article 19 violated — the changes to the handbook were not fair, reasonable, nor equitable — but also that a 1983 settlement agreement regarding the MS-47 Handbook had been gutted by the Postal Service’s 2001 revision. Arbitrator Das acknowledged that management may change its own handbook through Article 19, but noted that the parties’ bargained agreement must be considered in applying such changes.

Handbook History

The arbitrator observed that the first MS-47 Handbook, issued in 1974, and the 1983 version, outlined a three-step procedure for establishing custodial staffing: A building inventory is taken; frequency of performance is determined; and staffing requirements are developed. He also noted that in a 1981 ruling, Arbitrator Gamser rejected the USPS contention that the handbook was merely a guide and that management had the right to “change forms, formulae, frequencies of cleaning as set forth in the Handbook,” provided it maintained a satisfactory level of cleanliness.

Arbitrator Das noted: “Not too long after issuance of the 1981 Gamser Award, the Postal Service tried a different tack to obtain greater flexibility.” In 1982, the Postal Service proposed revisions to the handbook which would have eliminated all frequencies of performance, leaving that to be determined by local management. “The union vigorously opposed this attempt to promote flexibility by eliminating frequencies, fearing that local management would seek to cut costs, thereby reducing jobs and the level of cleanliness.”

The parties ultimately reached a compromise, the arbitrator pointed out, agreeing on a range of frequencies that is commensurate with the Postal Service’s responsibility to maintain a clean, healthy, and safe work environment for workers and customers.

The 2001 revisions to the handbook “removed critical components of the previously agreed to structure for ensuring a satisfactory level of cleanliness is maintained within set parameters and that custodial jobs are not unduly eliminated,” Arbitrator Das wrote.

“I am not able to conclude that the 2001 MS-47 is fair, reasonable, and equitable, for the purposes of Article 19. This is not a matter of a few portions of the revised MS-47 not meeting the standard, but is based on the major changes made to key parts of the basic structure of the Handbook.”

Third Time Around

This is the third award issued in the last four years that favors the union’s efforts to protect our custodial workforce. The first was the “Cleaning Frequency” case (H0CNA- C 16). Filed on Aug. 25, 1992, the grievance was settled with an arbitrator’s award on Aug. 19, 2002, which concluded, “Higher levels of management may not, however, displace local management in developing staffing packages within the ranges set out in the MS-47 Handbook or dictate specific frequencies to be plugged into those packages.”

This was followed by the “Line J” case (I94T-4I-C 98116745), filed July 28, 1998, appealed to national arbitration Sept. 13, 2000, and awarded July 12, 2004. That case determined the application of Line J of PS Form 4852, which is the workload analysis form used for the final custodial staffing determination. In that case, Arbitrator Das concluded:

“In sum, the Postal Service’s obligation in a properly staffed facility is to abide by the criteria or standards established in the MS-47 for both unit performance as well as frequencies. The specific frequencies to be followed at a particular location are those specified on the PS 4852. The average weekly hours total shown on Line J of PS 4852 is an approximate yardstick against which to measure management’s compliance, but does not constitute a rigid obligation which cannot be deviated from. As noted above there are a variety of circumstances in which management may schedule and/or work fewer hours than the Line J average in a particular week without violating its obligation to conform to MS-47 standards consistent with the Gamser Award.”

With the 1983 MS-47 Handbook restored through the latest award, the Line J and Cleaning Frequency awards will continue to have full force and effect.

These custodial staffing victories have required a team effort, from Maintenance stewards investigating and compiling the background on local issues, to national headquarters officers steering the case. We also extend our thanks to Director of Industrial Relations Greg Bell, whose office has been instrumental in working with your Maintenance Craft officers to push our cases forward to decision.