The Agony of Victory

(This article appeared in the September/October 2025 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine)

The Motor Vehicle Service (MVS) Division prevailed in two national-level arbitrations that have not been fully complied with and implemented by the Postal Service.

Das 110 Award

The MVS craft received the Das 110 award in July 2016. Earlier this year, the Postal Service notified the APWU that it had finally fully insourced all the Highway Contract Routes (HCRs) required in the award. This notification had been long-awaited, as that decision was made nine years ago. The excessive delay in insourcing the HCRs was also arbitrated in front of Arbitrator Das. Due to that delay, Das levied a monetary work award against the Postal Service for failure to insource work in a timely manner.

All union representatives at every level must “trust but verify.” We must investigate and verify the claims of fully insourcing this work; verification is necessary by both parties at every level to maintain the integrity and accuracy of the process, and to ensure that the parties are providing accurate and factual information. During the investigations of the Das work insourcing, we found several sites that were not insourced, as management had previously claimed.

The Postal Service claimed one location was insourced in 2021, but it was not insourced until February 2025. The work, as awarded, was to be insourced for four years, the length of a regular HCR contract. It has been reported that in some locations, after the four years, the Postal Service determined to subcontract or make modifications to that work again. The decision to subcontract those Postal Vehicle Service (PVS) routes is a violation of the Highway Contracting Limitation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), and these actions also would require the USPS to notify the National Union.

Flaws in Collective Bargaining

One of the imperfections in collective bargaining with the USPS is that when the union is unsuccessful in arbitration, Department of Labor appeals, or Federal Court filings, the issue is considered settled. When the Postal Service is unsuccessful, far too often – and at all levels – the USPS goes to many lengths to refuse to comply with the awards or decisions. Now, each party has the right to contest awards or decisions that they do not agree with, but they do not have the right to refuse to comply; neither of these awards were challenged.

The MVS Division is determined to make the Postal Service comply with the MOUs, contractual language, and arbitration decisions regarding this work, the same as the union, and that it must be fully insourced. We continue to ensure this work is insourced, and that the monetary award remedy will be accurate and distributed to the appropriately identified PVS employees.

Brent 600 Award

The craft has requested updated, accurate information from the newly appointed vice-president of Labor Relations, that verifies the USPS has complied with the Brent 600 award. The APWU was forced to arbitrate language gained during negotiations for the 2010 National Agreement. The MVS Jobs MOU required the insourcing of 600 HCRs to PVS. After the USPS began to insource the HCRs to PVS, they disagreed with the MVS Jobs MOU, and their interpretation of the intent of the MOU changed by creating 600 duty assignments in PVS, not insourcing 600 HCRs. Arbitrator Brent ruled in favor of the APWU and agreed that the language was intended to insource 600 HCRs. The Postal Service alleges that they began insourcing this additional work; however, when the APWU inquired about the various routes claimed to have been insourced, many were not. Management claimed some HCRs had been insourced in areas where no PVS operation existed and still does not exist.

We must continue to fight to ensure that management complies with all agreements and settlements. It is important to report on the status of these significant MVS Awards to the craft.

“The Struggle Continues” ■