MVS Completes Two Key Arbitrations

National arbitration case number Q10V-4Q-C 1425680 was heard on May 23 -24, 2022 before Arbitrator Brent. This dispute goes back to the Nov. 21, 2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The issue before the arbitrator was whether the Postal Service violated the first sentence of Section 2 of the Motor Vehicle Craft Jobs Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by failing to convert 600 Highway Contract Routes (HCRs) to Postal Vehicle Service (PVS).

Our position is "yes", Section 2 of the MVS Craft Jobs MOU required the Postal Service to convert a minimum of 600 HCR routes to PVS and then create the duty assignments in the MVS craft to work those routes, a position we have maintained since the 2010 negotiations.

One HCR route is usually not the equivalent of one driving job or duty assignment. Depending on the length of the route, it often requires more than one driver to perform. The same is true once it’s converted to PVS. The converted work dictates the number of hours and drivers that are needed to perform the work.

The Postal Service argued that the Motor Vehicle Craft Jobs MOU is only required to create 600 duty assignments in the craft, as opposed to 600 HCRs to be converted to PVS.

The APWU and the Postal Service agreed upon financial provisions, and the union made concessions that made the 2010 APWU CBA as significant as any contract negotiated since the first agreement in 1971.

The effect of the 2010 CBA was a huge change in the postal work force and huge financial savings for the Postal Service. It created a non-career APWU workforce with greater flexibility that was larger than past versions of a supplemental workforce. These new Postal Support Employees (PSEs) had lower hourly wages and fewer benefits than career employees. The actual benefit of PVS PSEs is still being evaluated.

The parties finished the third day of hearings on Oct. 12, 2022, with rebuttal testimony.

This MOU was agreed 12 years ago, and the lead negotiators have since passed. There were several crucial events in the last 12 years where the MVS Craft had to defend the rights of PVS operators. These actions included USPS attempts to contact the state of California, to consider contracting out the entire PVS operations in 162 sites throughout the country, and the Das 110 Award where they failed to give proper Article 32.2 advance notification.

Both parties will submit briefs and we will notify you of both awards.

Das Award Aug. 18, 2016

On Sept. 13-14, 2022, the parties held a hearing before Arbitrator Das. The issue in this case was whether the remedy awarded in Case No. Q06C-4Q-C 11182451 Aug. 18, 2016, applied only to the 212 specified violations of the notice requirements of Article 32.2.B in a dispute filed in 2011, or whether the remedy also applied to all of the other grievances alleging violations of Article 32.2.B that were pending at the time of the 2016 award.

We believe these HCR cases that were held in abeyance, pending the outcome of the Das award, should be released and that each case should be judged on the merits, or that the remedy from the Das award should be applied.

The Postal Service takes the position that the Das award resolves all prior grievances pertaining to Article 32.2.B violations that that were filed before the Aug. 2016 award. Therefore, these cases will not be held and should be remanded back to the district and be administratively closed. We strongly disagreed that the USPS has the right or authority to administratively close out a grievance or dispute initiated by the union.

Have a happy & healthy holiday season from the Motor Vehicle Service Division, and keep on trucking!