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Computer Maintenance

Union Protests Assignment of ET Duties

(05/13/08) The union has initiated a dispute at the national level (Case # Q06T-4Q-C-07270988) protesting the Postal Service’s decision to use contractors and other non-Maintenance Craft employees to install upgraded computer software on PARS machines. The duties in question are the responsibility of Electronic Technicians, the union contends. The national office is asking locals to investigate conditions at their facilities and supply the national union with documentation it acquires to support the grievance.
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Software Installation on Carrier Sequence Bar Code Sorter
Union Appeals to Arbitration

(03/14/08) The union appealed a national-level dispute to arbitration March 11, protesting the assignment of non-Maintenance Craft employees to install software on the Carrier Sequence Bar Code Sorter. (Case # Q06T-4Q-C-08083300) The duties in question are properly the responsibility of Electronic Technicians, the union asserted. [read more]

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NDSS Updates on Bar Code Sorter

(08/04) For more than a decade, the Maintenance Division has pursued a grievance protesting the performance of NDSS updates on Bar Code Sorter (BCS) machines by non-Maintenance Craft employees - including supervisors - in violation of Article 1.6 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The Postal Service contends that the work falls within the job description of the Directory Analysis Specialist (DAS), an EAS-15 management position. Since the union and management could not reach an agreement on this issue, the APWU appealed the grievance to national arbitration in 1990.

An agreement [PDF] was reached on May 14, 2002, to apply the decision from a pending Clerk Craft case to the Maintenance Craft grievance. The grievances involved the same basic issue ¨ performance of bargaining unit work by supervisory employees.

On April 29, 2003, Arbitrator Snow sustained the union's Clerk Craft grievance, ruling [PDF]:

"Having carefully considered all evidence submitted by the parties concerning this matter, the arbitrator concludes that the 'Address Management System Specialist' position is a part of the APWU bargaining unit and that it is a violation of Article 1.2 of the National Agreement to exclude the position and the disputed work from the bargaining unit."

Upon receipt of the arbitration award, the APWU requested that the USPS apply the decision to the Maintenance Craft case. Instead, however, the Postal Service sought to vacate the Clerk Craft case, claiming the arbitrator exceeded his authority. The Postal Service also filed a "unit clarification" petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in an attempt to further frustrate the application of Arbitrator Snow's decision. Although the NLRB's Region 5 director dismissed [PDF] the USPS petition, the Postal Service appealed the decision to the full NLRB. The full board has not yet ruled, so the issue remains in limbo.

The Maintenance Division officers are continuing to pursue this issue, as well as others that involve the performance of Maintenance Craft work by non-Maintenance Craft personnel.

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