Maintenance Agreement Protects Staffing

The APWU and the USPS reached a settlement on May 25 that will protect staffing, Maintenance Craft Director Steve Raymer has announced. The agreement prohibits the Postal Service from deducting square footage of floor space, including under mail processing equipment, in developing a Building Inventory. The agreement resolves Case #Q06T-4Q-C 10269698, which was scheduled for arbitration next week.

Management began deducting the square footage as a ploy to reduce staffing.

The agreement requires the Postal Service to inform USPS representatives and to have restored the  deducted square feet of floor space within 30 days. The settlement does not permit “new” staffing packages to be created.

“Local management needs policing by local unions to ensure that the only adjustments made are in fact restoration of the square feet of deducted space,” Raymer said. The agreement stipulates that all other entries on the inventory and the frequencies of work remain the same.

Duty Assignments
The settlement also provides that local postal management take immediate action to restore any duty assignments established by the return of the deducted floor space. Such duty assignments must be posted and filled within 60 days of the settlement, which is in accordance with Article 38.4.A of the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The initial vacancies and all following vacancies are to be filled with career employees. The Postal Service may not fill any of these vacancies with PSEs.

All other issues and remedies regarding, for example, posting and filling of other duty assignments; other reasons for challenging the current staffing package; or anything outside of the returning of the deducted floor space; which may be in grievance cases that were held pending the outcome of this case, will be sent back to the field for resolution or arbitration.