Excessing, Job Withholding Due to Consolidations on ‘Indefinite Hold’

Union members are sure to breathe a sigh of relief following a recent notice from the Postal Service to the APWU.

Excessing related to Area Mail Processing events has been placed on “indefinite hold,” according to a Feb. 14 letter from Postal Service to the APWU. As a result, the Postal Service is now releasing “residual vacancies” that were being withheld.  Residual vacancies are duty assignments that remain vacant after completion of a bidding cycle. Rather than filling the residual vacancies, the Postal Service has been keeping them open to serve as landing spots for employees impacted by plant consolidations.

The Feb. 14 letter follows a Jan. 24 USPS announcement that management is postponing implementation of Phase 2 of its latest mail processing consolidation plan, which was slated to begin on Feb. 1. The USPS also delayed implementation of changes to service standards that would have slowed mail delivery.

Each Area will review the withheld vacancies, the USPS letter notes. If the jobs are operationally justified, “the appropriate contractual process will be used to fill them,” it says.

“The end of job withholding is good news,” said Director of Industrial Relations Tony D. McKinnon Sr.

"It is important to note that in the Clerk Craft any management proposal to revert residual vacancies must be carried out in accordance with the APWU-USPS Memorandum of Understanding - Reversion of Withheld/Residual Vacancies. The Memorandum requires advance notice to the APWU Regional Coordinator and does not allow agreement to revert a residual vacancy by agreement at the local level."

In the Maintenance Craft, Article 38.4 applies and in the Motor Vehicle Craft, Article 39.2 applies.