APWU: More Questions and Answers on the Tentative Agreement

Several questions have been posed on the APWU’s Facebook page regarding the Tentative Agreement for a new contract. Below, union officers address questions regarding Clerk Craft positions in small offices.

Question: Will part-time flexibles be converted to full-time regular? The Tentative Agreement talks about full-time flexible and non-traditional assignments (page 190).

Answer: All part-time flexibles in Level 21-and-above post offices will be converted to full-time. These full-time assignments may be traditional full-time regular assignments or non-traditional full-time assignments (NTFTs). A limited number (10 percent) of full-time assignments in retail (Function 4) could be posted as full-time flexible positions. The Tentative Agreement amends Article 37.3.A.1 to include the following: “Every effort will be made to create desirable duty assignments from all available work hours for career employees to bid.” [Emphasis added.]

While the schedules of FTFs can be changed via a posting on the preceding Wednesday, the daily and weekly work-hour guarantees would remain in place. In any case, each of the full-time assignments will have the benefit of the posted work-hour guarantee instead of two hours per pay period – the guarantee PTFs currently have.

Question: In Level 15 offices postmasters may perform only 25 hrs of bargaining unit work per week, and this will effectively settle national-level grievance. I had a grievance attached to the national grievance because a postmaster was performing bargaining unit work. Does this mean I will get my hours back? Management is attempting to change the level of the office due to Delivery Unit Optimization, but the contract stipulates that if level changes during contract, management must still abide by the standards of original level throughout contract.

Answer: The settlement (p. 186 of the Tentative Agreement) resolves the national grievance and sets the standard for Level 15 offices. Grievances that were held pending settlement of the national case should be resolved in accordance with the standard. If the postmaster in your office has been doing more than 25 hours of bargaining unit work per week your locally-filed grievance should be sustained. Any hours beyond 25 should be returned to the Clerk Craft and affected clerks should be made whole.

While management could downgrade an office now as the result of DUO or other changes, the reduction in level would not affect the permissible amount of bargaining unit work the postmaster may perform.

Question: If Post Office Assistant time is eliminated, will clerks get higher-level pay for Saturdays, or all the time – even when postmaster is on vacation?

Answer: Work on Saturdays or other days spent relieving the postmaster would be the responsibility of the Lead Clerk (PS-7).

Question: Can traditional full- time assignments (eight-hour days, five days per week) be converted to non-traditional assignments?

Answer: Management can repost occupied traditional full-time assignments as non-traditional assignments as service needs require; however, in doing so, management will have to make certain that the new assignments are attractive enough so that somebody bids them. No current full-time employee can be involuntarily assigned to an assignment of less than 40 hours or more than 44 hours in a service week.

Question: I was excessed in 2009 and moved 200 miles from home. Can I get back home with the new 30-hour job? I have been looking on eReasign for two years.

Answer: Any new or vacant full-time assignments (traditional or non-traditional) created in your home office will have to be posted for bid. Provided you exercised your retreat rights and continue to maintain them, you will be eligible to return to any posted vacancy based on your seniority.

Question: What will happen to part-time regulars who were excessed from Level 21 offices, where part-time flexibles will be converted to full time? Will I have retreat rights?

Answer: You will be converted to full-time. Provided you maintained your retreat rights, you will be able to exercise retreat rights to full-time vacancies in your home office, competing with the newly converted part-time flexibles using your seniority versus theirs.

sourxce: More Questions and Answers on the Tentative Agreement.

13 thoughts on “APWU: More Questions and Answers on the Tentative Agreement

  1. management can abolish your 40 hour job, they are not forceing you to take that 30 hour job , you take that 30 hour job or get excessed, and where will you get excessed to when they are closeing so many post offices, and if you get excessed, they dont care, they fill your job with a non traditional employee. And think about it if you manage to keep your 30 hour job , your retirement is now based on 30 hours not 40, they will save even more money, you have just spent all those years working hard, for them to screw you on your well deseved retirement.HOW WILL YOU PAY YOUR BILLS WHEN YOU RETIRE. VOTE NO

  2. HOW ABOUT THIS? MANAGEMENT ABOLISHES SOME FULL TIME JOBS, RE POSTS THEM AS 32 HOURS A WEEK JOBS. THESE JOBS ARE NOT FORCED ON FULL TIME REGULARS . THE FULL TIME REGULARS BECOME UNASSIGNED. THE ASSISTANTS GET THE JOBS. ISN’T THIS POSSIBLE?

  3. “Management can repost occupied traditional full-time assignments as non-traditional assignments as service needs require.” So if you are FTR your bid can be reposted as FT Non-traditional .If you do not bid for that job you will become unassiged FTR then they can rotate you work schedule anyway they want ! or assign you to an open bid on other tour ! But if you bid for that reposted job your job become Non-traditional assignment!
    No they will not force you to do anything but you have to make a choice.Either way you’ll loose if YES is your vote.

  4. There it is. They CAN repost traditional 8hr/5day jobs into non-traditional jobs. “Have to make the new posting attactive”. BEE ESS. They will intentionally make them unattractive so the regulars will NOT bid on them so then they can fill them with new hires at lower wages. The regular becomes “unassigned” and then they can put them whever they want with split days off if they wish. My mind is made up now. Im voting NO on this garbage.

  5. Reagan said no to air traffic controllers!!!! That mean no matter how you bargain, you are screwed forever!!!!!

  6. J Jameson, if you are correct why only blame Guffey? Bell, Strunk, Morris, Beard, Carney, Brooks, Weeks, they all said it is a good contract and morris even said if it was up to him the lower paid employees would be used for overtime before the senior (higher paid) employees.

    So don’t just blame Guffey because several of the aforementioned were UNOPPOSED and walked right in to (in your opinion) screw us over!

    I for one will never vote for any of them, especially Brooks and Morris whom I believed to be fighters and not knuck downers. This is even though the tentative agreement will get a yes from me.

  7. I disagree. I was under the impression as a full time regular they could force me into one of the non traditional jobs, it clearly says they can not do that.

  8. This contract is the biggest giveaway from any union I have ever heard of in the history of collective bargaining. All clerks should take the word of Bill Burress, who is one of the most dedicated Presidents in the historry of the APWU, AND VOTE THIS DOWN !!!!!
    Mr Burress volunteered to help the incoming President Cliff Guffey negotiate the approaching contract and was turned down. Now, we know the reason. Mr Burress would NEVER have agreed to this disgrace of a contract and would have immediately sent it to arbitration.

    Why, Mr Guffey, have you sold out the union and all it’s history ?????

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