APWU, USPS Reach Agreement on NTFT Schedules

The APWU and the Postal Service have reached an agreement that clarifies management’s obligation to create desirable schedules and work hours for Non-Traditional Full-Time (NTFT) assignments and other positions in APWU-represented crafts, President Cliff Guffey has announced.

The Sept. 28 settlement was prompted by APWU protests that career employees occupying NTFT assignments of less than 40 hours frequently work fewer hours than non-career Postal Support Employees (PSEs) and often have less desirable schedules than PSEs.

A set of Questions and Answers signed by the APWU and USPS reaffirms management’s obligation to create more desirable duty assignments and provides examples of how this can be accomplished.

According to the Questions and Answers, “any regularly worked hours should be considered when modifying bid duty assignments for career employees” to create more desirable NTFT duty assignments.

The Questions and Answers provide examples of how to use PSE hours, as well as career overtime hours, to create more desirable NTFT assignments. However, the examples are not intended to be an exclusive list of possibilities.

In addition, the document says the principle of creating desirable duty assignments is not limited to NTFT assignments. For example, in an office where PSEs regularly have either a Saturday or Sunday off, a traditional full-time regular assignment with weekday drops could be reposted with Sat/Sun non-scheduled days, under the principles established in the memo.