Driver Issues

(08/30/12) The APWU has secured confirmation from the USPS that PVS managers must continue to use PS Form 4533, MVS Schedule. In a letter dated Aug. 23, 2012, a USPS Labor Relations Specialist confirmed the ongoing use of the form, in accordance with the PO 701 Handbook. The manager also wrote that USPS headquarters had sent correspondence to managers in the field reminding them of their obligation to use the form. [read more]

PVS Amended Work Rules
Pilot MOU Discontinued

(08/22/11) All current pilot site locations will be terminated on September 10, 2011 [PDF]. Locals should contact their National MVS Officers to discuss their options.

Q&A on PVS Drivers Program MOU

(02/04/09) The APWU and USPS agreed on Feb. 4, 2010, to a series of Questions and Answers [PDF] regarding the Jan. 15, 2009, Memorandum of Understanding establishing a pilot program that experiments with alternative scheduling for Postal Vehicle Service drivers.

PVS Pilot Program to Amend
Work Rules at Selected Sites

(01/29/09) The USPS and the APWU signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Jan. 15, 2009, creating a pilot program that will amend work rules governing Postal Vehicle Service drivers. The pilot program will experiment with alternative scheduling at a limited number of installations, and will continue at each location for a period of six months, unless the union and management at the national level agree to extend the timeframe. [read more]

Pilot Program Spurs Debate At All-Craft Conference

(01/01/10) One of the main topics among Motor Vehicle Service Directors during the APWU All-Craft Conference in Las Vegas in early October was the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by President William Burrus on Jan. 15, 2009, regarding the Postal Vehicle Service. There is a small but active group of individuals who are loudly protesting the MOU and saying that it is the worst thing that has ever happened in the history of the Motor Vehicle Craft and that the world is coming to an end because of it. [read more]

Union Wins Settlement
Automatic Disqualification of Diabetics Lifted

(02/13/08) Motor Vehicle Services employees won an important pre-arbitration settlement Jan. 31, when the Postal Service agreed to rescind a policy that prevented insulin-dependent diabetics with valid Commercial Driver’s Licenses from operating postal vehicles that weigh 26,001 pounds or more. [read more]

USPS Must Maintain All Factory Equipment,
Including Air Conditioning

An e-mail [PDF] from USPS headquarters dated Oct. 3, 2001, instructs managers in the field that former Emery vehicles incorporated into the postal fleet are now considered postal vehicles and must be maintained in a manner consistent with all postal vehicles. “All vehicle component systems, including air conditioning, are to be kept operational and functional,” it notes.

Included is a letter from MVS Craft Director Robert Pritchard to USPS headquarters dated Sept. 18, 2001, outlining management’s failure to repair air conditioning in trucks.

Idling

A letter [PDF] from the USPS to MVS Craft Director Bob Pritchard Nov. 15, 2000, explains management’s refusal to allow drivers of Mack trucks to idle the vehicles for longer than five minutes.

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