‘Driver Safety Instructor’ Challenged

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

Bob Pritchard - Motor Vehicle Division Director

The Postal Service last year revised the driving instructor examiner (DIE) position, changing it to Driver Safety Instructor. The new position, DSI, is nothing more than a modified DIE.

After reviewing the changes, we met with the USPS and we were unable to resolve our differences: We do not believe that the modifications are fair or reasonable. We do believe that the USPS is in violation of the award by Abitrator Shyam Das (1994) that says DIEs must be qualified to drive all vehicles in the local post office or installation. Our main objection is that the new handbook has shifted work away from the Motor Vehicle craft.

We had no choice following the discussions with management but to challenge the USPS on this issue, which resulted in us filing three separate grievances:

• We grieved the standard position description, which we feel should be upgraded;
   
• We grieved the Qualification Standards because these changes contradict the intention of the Das award; and
   
• We grieved the new Safe Driver Program book, for several reasons.

We are encouraging everyone who is impacted to file a grievance. Each local should file a grievance to have the DSI paid at Level 8, and to protest the assignment of anyone in the new DSI position unless they are qualified to drive all the equipment in the local installation. If they are not qualified they were improperly awarded this position.

Of course, the Postal Service will deny the grievance, meaning you should appeal it to the next step. Your National Business Agent will attach it to the lead case on this subject. The adjudication of the lead case will determine the outcome of cases filed at the local level.

DSI: Simply DIE Cast Anew

It is the union’s contention that the DSI position is merely a modification of the DIE position, and that all past history of the DIE should go forward with this new job description.

The Postal Service did not reject this argument. The real test will occur in the field as the USPS assigns employees to the DSI jobs. Management claims this will create new full-time jobs because every district will have a least one full-time DSI. That is very important because that will give us a Motor Vehicle presence in every state of the union and, we hope, in Guam , too.

The job itself is very similar to the traditional DIE job. Unfortunately, the Postal Service has spent the last 12 years trying to shift DIE work to Letter Carriers and Mail Handlers, and this is merely an extension of that process. That is why we must try to rein in the Postal Service wherever possible – either through grievances or go through local negotiations.

Whether you call it DSI or DIE, this is Motor Vehicle Craft work: Locals should fight to limit the number of non-MVS ad hoc DIEs and “road-test examiners.” This so-called job description was resurrected as part of the new Safe Driving Program, which is, of course, part of our grievance.

Importance of Position Protection

Again, the most important thing is to retain as much work for the Motor Vehicle Craft as possible. As far as driver instruction goes, that would include all the carrier academies where we previously did the work; all the plants where we had a DIE and now there is a DSI; and all the plants where the power industrial equipment required a DIE and now has a DSI. This involves many hours of work and it is very important that we preserve these jobs within our craft and put pressure on the Postal Service to give this issue the proper attention. Instead of resolving issues, they have simply created more issues. But this just shows the temperament of the Postal Service and management’s desire to shift work away from the APWU, in this case to other bargaining units.

This is likely to be a sore spot for years to come and we are resigned to it. We feel that it already has taken up far too much of our time — 12 years at the headquarters level alone! We just do not understand why the Postal Service backed away from the agreement it was supposed to sign in the 2005 contract extension to upgrade the DIEs. (This would have resolved several outstanding issues instead of creating something like this.)

Sadly, this is the way the Postal Service operates and this is the world we live in. Management will decide to do something and rather than listen to logic and do what is prudent, they act in a manner that causes problems and leads to bitterness. The facts are plain: The DIE position was to be upgraded, which would have helped to resolve a number of outstanding issues. Instead, USPS officials decided to walk away from what we had discussed, and refused to sign the agreement, offering virtually no explanation.