Clerk Craft Settlement Strengthens Seniority When Excessing Occurs

The APWU and USPS have reached an important agreement that will strengthen seniority for Clerk Craft employees when workers are excessed from an installation, Clerk Craft Director Rob Strunk has announced.

The Sept. 25 agreement stipulates that Clerk Craft employees will be excessed from losing installations by juniority, without regard to their pay level.

Until now, excessing has been done by level, which severely diminishes the value of seniority. For example, a senior Level 7 clerk could be excessed from an installation while junior Level 6 clerks remained, or a senior Level 6 clerk could be excessed from an installation while junior Level 7 clerks remained. The decision about which level employees to excess rested solely with management.

“Correcting this disparity has been a goal of the union since the first contract was negotiated more than 40 years ago,” Strunk said. “The Sept. 25 Memorandum of Understanding accomplishes this objective.”

At the same time, the agreement protects the rights of preference-eligible veterans by ensuring they will not be excessed to a lower level without their consent, he said.

The Memorandum of Understanding is an outgrowth of the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement, which established a task force to examine excessing by seniority in the Clerk Craft.