Custodial Staffing

Custodial staffing is governed by the Postal Service’s MS-47 Handbook. A July 9, 2014, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) outlines how the handbook will be implemented. (It also resulted in the conversion of thousands of Maintenance Craft Postal Support Employees (PSEs) to career).

The Postal Service is required to staff, schedule and assure the performance of custodial duties. This is true whether the office is covered by Transmittal Letter 3 (T/L-3) or T/L-5 of the MS-47.

Item 6 of the MOU says that management must provide the local union with LDC 38 work hours that compare to the work hours shown under Line H of Form 4852.

“Line H represents the total number of hours of custodial work, factoring in training, breaks and wash-ups, to be performed in a year as determined using the criteria and standards in the MS-47. Line H is what is critical,” Arbitrator Shyam Das wrote in Case #194T-4I-C 98116745.

The same ruling also outlined certain narrow exceptions, such as the effect of holidays on the postmaster’s office (which the arbitrator assumed meant the postmaster would be absent). Das wrote, “This could provide management a legitimate basis on which to schedule and/or work fewer cleaning and policing hours than those shown on the PS 4852.” That is why Item 6 of the July 9, 2014, MOU allows for a 10 percent variance from the Line H total.

The provision also outlines a remedy for violations:

If custodial staffing falls short of 90 percent of the LDC 38 work hours shown on Line H, management is required to compensate custodial employees identified by the local union at the overtime rate. If management fails to meet the 90 percent mark again the following fiscal year, the violation must be compensated by the difference between the LDC 38 hours and 100 percent of the Line H amount.

A MS-47 Staffing Program developed by Maintenance Craft officers is designed to enable staffing advocates and/or local union officials to verify the custodian staffing packages given to them by local management in three simple steps. The program was created in July 2008 and was updated in July 2011. [MS47 Tutorial]

To utilize it, follow the instructions below:

1. After carefully reviewing all forms, create a ‘discrepancy list’ that includes omitted units, square feet, and frequencies.
2. Input agency Form 4852 date “as is” onto the Form 4852 comparison.
3. Use the data entry tab to correct discrepancies and add omitted items.

The Staffing Worksheet Program is designed to help the APWU recapture lost work-year hours. It enables locals to verify information provided by management and to input omitted cleaning items and cleaning frequencies.

USPS Cleaning Standards (Unit performance represents engineering standards that apply to each custodial task.)

We hope it also will reduce the number of hours locals must spend completing Forms 4839 and 4869. The program automatically calculates totals; it also gives locals line-by-line comparisons, showing both the USPS and APWU Staffing Report side-by-side on Form 4852. The worksheet will also stamp the date and time on the finished product when you are ready to print it.

For questions, concerns or suggestions, contact Idowu Balogun at 202-842-4213 or send an email to MaintStaffing@apwu.org.