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Maintenance Division Officers |
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Finally!
Movement on
Maintenance Craft Jobs Memo
(02/01/12) Finally, we have some movement in the Maintenance Craft
on implementation of key provisions the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining
Agreement!
On Feb. 1, 2012, President Cliff Guffey and postal management signed a Questions-and-Answers document [PDF] regarding specific sections of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Maintenance Craft Jobs [PDF] . The document does not address all outstanding items, but resolves items 1a, 1b, 1c, 2 and 3 of the Jobs Memo.
Under the terms of the Q-and-A document, the Postal Service must return custodial duties to stations, branches and other facilities of an independent installation no later than May 23, 2012.
The changes in the 2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) regarding contracting custodial duties were significant. Now, in order to contract out our custodial work, the USPS must add together all interior square and exterior square footage of the separate facilities and then apply the 18,000 square-foot formula. Put another way, if your main office is not contracted out, then none of the other facilities within your installation can be contracted out. Unfortunately, there will be no liability for the Postal Service’s delay in returning our work.
Regarding the return of 1,500 jobs at post offices where custodial work is currently contracted out, the Q-and-A document stipulates that these “duty assignments will be identified by March 31, 2012.” This is separate and apart from the return of work to the stations.
Furthermore, the terms of the Jobs MOU regarding the use of PSEs will be followed. After posting for the craft, if the Postal Service gets to the point where it must hire from the street, a PSE can be employed. This is also where the Preference Eligible Veteran rules will kick in.
Note: The additional duty assignment(s) and/or (depending on the amount of work returned) the manner in which existing duty assignments will cover the required scheduling and performance of custodial work is to be addressed by locals. Locals should start by obtaining the separate custodial staffing packages for each facility in the installation. The MS-47 must be adhered to.
The Help Desk at the Maintenance Technical Support Center (MTSC) in Norman, OK (not the training center) is also addressed. A minimum of 10 new duty assignments will be posted for ET-11s and ET-10s will also have an opportunity to volunteer for these jobs.
The document also stipulates that an Integrated Voice Recognition (IVR) system will be designed and installed. Discussion of implementation of the IVR will continue. The additional work for the ET-11 occupational group is certainly welcome.
The document also defines the use of the 5 percent of PSEs in Maintenance-capable offices.
While frustrations continue, this represents some long-awaited progress. I extend sincere thanks to President Guffey on behalf of the Maintenance Craft members for his efforts in finalizing this step forward.
Staffing Revisited
Steve Raymer
Maintenance Division Director
(This article was first published in the January/February 2012 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)
Protecting jobs is the union’ s top priority. We recently updated the Maintenance Craft page on the APWU Web site to include more information to assist local union officers and stewards in their efforts to accomplish this task. Reviewing local staffing packages will facilitate this work, and the additions to the Web site are designed to help locals in the process.
The new material is based on the questions and suggestions we received during the classes we offered at the October All-Craft Conference. We sincerely appreciate the feedback.
In addition to the current version of our Custodial Staffing Program (now in version 3.8) and a tutorial about how to use the program, we have included fill-in questionnaires in PDF format — one for custodial staffing and one for mechanized staffing. Simply download the forms, and view them with the Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader. By clicking on the fields indicated by blue boxes, locals can complete the staffing survey questions on their own.
Locals should be sure to include the forms in the local files, whether or not a grievance is filed. They also should be included in the information you send to the APWU national office if you decide a staffing review at our level is necessary. (Click here for for details on how to request a national-level review).
Please continue the excellent work of identifying and enforcing the appropriate staffing levels for your local.
Filling Non-MSS Positions
We have received inquires about the change in Article 38.5 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement as it relates to filling duty assignments, particularly non-Maintenance Selection System (non-MSS) duty assignments.
Non-MSS assignments include Maintenance Support Clerk jobs and custodial jobs (but not Building Maintenance Custodian-5 jobs, which are MSS positions).
The establishment of non-MSS Promotion Eligibility Registers (PERs) is unaffected by the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement. The APWU and USPS concurred on this point in a series of Questions and Answers that we signed on June 28, 2011. The response to question #65 was unambiguous: “Establishment of non-MSS PERs is not impacted by the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.”
Current Level 6 Maintenance Support Clerks (MSCs) however, are still ranked in installation seniority order above those on the Level 7 MSC Promotion Eligibility Register. All others are banded and ranked beneath them. The MSC eligibility process is similar to the MSS eligibility process. It involves taking the 710 exam, the 714 typing exam, and using Form 1796-B for final rating and results.
For custodial promotion opportunities, such as from Level 3 Custodian to Level 4 Laborer-Custodian or Laborer-Custodian Level 4 to Level 5 Group Leader, employees are listed in installation seniority order. There are no additional requirements for qualification.
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He’s At It Again The USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) published a report on Nov. 2, 2011, that is an all-out assault on the successful efforts of the APWU to establish living wage jobs for our members. The audit, Contracting Opportunities and Impact of the Service Contract Act, Report #CA-AR-12-0001, recommends that the Postal Service “review the benefits of outsourcing cleaning/janitorial positions.” This is especially troubling, considering that less than a year ago, during negotiations for the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement, we negotiated the return of thousands of custodial jobs that had been subcontracted. The report also urges the USPS to seek an exemption from the Service Contract Act (SCA), which requires government contractors to pay Postal Service employees no less than the prevailing local wage rate as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) or the rates contained in a previous contractor’s collective bargaining agreement. The report also attempts to identify positions where Postal Service labor rates exceed the SCA rates, as well as “barriers to outsourcing those positions.” The report was prepared in response to a request from Rep. Darrell E. Issa (R-CA). As many postal workers know, Rep. Issa is the Republican Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who exhibits open loathing of workers, especially postal employees. He is the author of the H.R. 2309, better known as the Postal ‘Destruction’ Act, which would nullify contracts that contain restrictions on layoffs; empower a “solvency authority” to reject contracts if it considers them too costly, and require the USPS to institute $3 billion worth of cuts in post offices, stations, branches and mail processing facilities within a two-year period. The OIG report serves as fodder for the congressman to continue his assault on middle-class, living-wage workers. But the bias in the OIG report is obvious. The audit claims that $675 million could be saved if the Postal Service could persuade Congress to grant an exception from the SCA. The study completely ignores the efforts and agreement made between the parties as part of the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). The figures the OIG used to calculate the alleged savings are wrong and outdated. To its credit, the Postal Service provided a good response to the OIG recommendation to outsource our work. The USPS asserted that the OIG failed to discuss the significance of the new CBA. The Postal Service pointed out the error of the OIG audit, noting that the hourly rates for Postal Support Employees (PSEs), custodians and truck drivers do not exceed SCA requirements. The rates are actually at or below those required to be used under the SCA. It is difficult to comprehend any sound reason for attacking our custodial workforce. Interestingly, neither the OIG nor the Postal Service made any reference to the fact the custodial jobs are statutorily set aside for preference-eligible veterans. These positions are supposed to provide family-supporting wages and benefits. Apparently, that is contrary to Rep. Issa’s intentions. |
