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Maintenance Division Officers Steven G. Raymer, Director Gary Kloepfer, Asst. Director A Greg See, Asst. Director B Idowu Balogun, National    Representative-at-Large Telephone: 202-842-4213 Fax: 202-289-3746

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Union Appeals to Arbitration
USPS Decision to Subcontract
FSM 1000 Modifications

On Nov. 17, 2009, the APWU appealed to arbitration (Q06T-4Q-C-07147172 [PDF]) a national-level
dispute [PDF] protesting the Postal Service’s decision to subcontract the retrofitting of FSM 1000 machines, and challenging management’s failure to notify the union of the decision. The grievance alleges that management violated Article 32.1 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and Section 530 of the Administrative Support Manual on June 3, 2000, when it issued Management Maintenance Order (MMO) 059-00 [PDF], which awarded the work to Lockheed Martin Federal Service employees.

The Administrative Support Manual restricts management’s right to subcontract work unless:

• No qualified maintenance employees are available;
  
  
• No employees capable of being trained are available, or
  
  
• The equipment is a prototype.

The work in question did not meet this test, the union asserts. The union also contends that management failed to give proper consideration to factors outlined in Article 32 before making the decision to subcontract the work.

Although the MMO 059-00 notified sites with FSM 1000 machines of procedures for subcontracting the work, the Postal Service also failed to notify the union of these plans, in violation of Article 32.

Maintenance Division national officers first learned of the violation in 2007, when a grievance from the Hickory North Carolina Local was referred to the union’s national office.

APWU 15-Day Statement of Issues and Facts [PDF]

USPS 15-Day Statement of Issues and Facts [PDF]

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