Raises to be Applied to PSE Exception Pay in Motor Vehicle Craft

Employees in the same category who are performing the same work should get the same rate of pay. That’s the premise of an agreement between the APWU and USPS, says Motor Vehicle Service Craft Director Michael O. Foster.

The May 12 agreement between the APWU and USPS stipulates that contractual salary increases will be applied to the “exception pay rates” of Postal Support Employees (PSE) hired after the raises take effect. A salary exception is an agreement between the union and management resulting from the 2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement that permits the Postal Service to offer PSEs higher salary rates with the concurrence of the national union when the USPS is unable to hire PSEs at the agreed upon contractual rate.

Under the May 12 settlement, if an MVS PSE salary exception rate is $21 per hour, and a subsequent contractual salary increase raised the pay to $21.40 per hour, the new PSE salary exception rate would be $21.40.

“This settlement reaffirms the parties' agreement that all MVS PSEs in an occupational group within an installation with a PSE salary exception should be compensated at the same rate of pay,” the agreement says.

The salary rate of current MVS PSEs in installations where exceptions have been granted will be adjusted to comply with the settlement within two pay periods, it says.

If this settlement applies to PSEs who were converted to career status and a grievance has been filed on their behalf, those grievances will be resolved according to the settlement, Foster said. If grievances have been filed locally for PSEs who remains PSEs, those grievances will also be resolved according to this settlement.