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APWU, USPS Reach Agreement on Transfer Opportunities

APWU Web News Article #46-06, Aug. 12, 2006

APWU-represented employees at installations where excessing is occurring will have an opportunity to be placed on a preferred listing and will receive other accommodations to minimize the impact of reassignments under an agreement signed recently by the union and postal management.

The agreement [PDF] outlines provisions for the implementation of the Sept. 12, 2005, Memorandum of Understanding, “Transfer Opportunities to Minimize Excessing.”

Under the modified memo, in facilities where excessing is occurring, APWU-craft employees in impacted crafts may voluntarily submit a request for transfer through eReassign. The eReassign procedure places such employees on a preferred listing by date order and allows them to transfer out of their impacted installation as long as they meet the minimum qualifications for the position being considered.

To accommodate transfer opportunities to minimize excessing, the agreement also modifies the National Agreement’s “Transfer Memorandum of Understanding” (page 305). The modifications stipulate that as a result of impending excessing:

• Ratios contained in the Transfer MOU are not applicable to affected employees applying for transfer;
  
  
• Affected employees work, attendance, and safety records will not be considered during applications for transfers;
  
  
• Affected employees will not be required to have the applicable 18 – or 12 – months of service in their present installation prior to requesting a transfer; and
  
  
• Craft lock-in periods will not apply to affected employees who qualify for priority consideration.

In addition, a minimum of 30 days notice to the losing installation will be afforded and neither installation can place a hold on employees. Because of the new agreement, affected employees will be allowed to transfer prior to the excessing, and can choose their effective date of transfer to coincide with the start of a pay period at the gaining installation.

The Postal Service will not be providing affected employees with copies of vacancies in advance of transfer requests, but some installations with hard-to-fill vacancies do post such positions in eReassign as Reassignment Opportunities. It will be the responsibility of affected employees to check eReassign for specific opportunities.

Under the modified agreement, installations accepting transfer requests will do so on a seniority basis (craft seniority in the losing installation). In the event of a seniority tie between employees, the tie-breaker method will consider total career postal time and “entered-on-duty” date. An employee’s seniority in the gaining installation is established by the respective gaining craft article in the collective bargaining agreement – an employee is a voluntary transfer, not an “excessed” employee.

Other stipulations of the new agreement cover transfers across craft lines, duplicate requests for transfers, and other eReassign procedures. There are no Article 12 timeframe changes for notification to the union in the new MOU and impacted occupational groups in installations under Article 12 are not available for transfer requests.

Disputes arising from the application of Transfer Opportunities to Minimize Excessing MOU will be processed at the Area level. If they are not resolved at that level, they will be forwarded to the Headquarters level.

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