VMF Issues

(12/02/11) Managers in Vehicle Maintenance Facilities are attempting to circumvent the contract by hiring 740 new VMF employees as Support Employees (PSEs) rather than career employees, as we agreed during negotiations for the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement. [PDF]

The agreement is unambiguous. The 740 new VMF positions must be career positions. The third line in a Aug. 1, 2011, notice from the USPS vice president of Delivery and Post Office Operations [PDF] to Area Vice Presidents confirms this fact. He wrote, “The new agreement provides the flexibility to hire Postal Support Employees (PSE) and contains a requirement to hire 740 career employees (Level 8, 9 and 10 Technicians).”

The APWU intends to strictly enforce the agreement. We will take all necessary steps to ensure that 740 career VMF employees are added to the rolls.

Tool List Dispute Settlement
(11/15/11) Motor Vehicle officers settled a dispute with management on Nov. 3, 2011 [PDF], concerning the new tool list. While the new list reduces the total number of tools, many of the eliminated tools were antiquated and rarely used. The settlement requires the Postal Service to provide employees all the tools that are required for a job — either in a tool kit or on a sign-out basis. The agreement also reaffirms that estimated repair times (ERTs) are not a gauge of work pace and cannot be the basis for issuing discipline.

VMF Jobs and Authorization to Hire

(09/09/11) Some USPS managers are reported to be claiming they are not authorized to hire or post the duty assignments. However, a Sept. 7 notice [PDF] to Area Operations Vice Presidents about posting vehicle maintenance positions states:

"In compliance with the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) collective bargaining agreement, the attached 740 vehicle maintenance positions have been authorized to post and fill in accordance with the Motor Vehicle Craft bid process. Duty assignments not filled through the bid process shall be filled through the normal hiring process. Deviations of the quantity and level of positions may not be made without approval by Headquarters."

Locations Announced
For 740 New Jobs
In Motor Vehicle Craft

(08/30/11) In accordance with the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the USPS has agreed to establish 740 new assignments in Vehicle Maintenance Facilities. A list provided to the union on Aug. 30 specifies the locations for the new positions and indicates whether they are Level 8, 9, or 10 Automotive Technician or Lead Technician positions. [read more]

Arbitrator Rules:
Repairs Times Not a Basis for Discipline

(06/29/09) Although Arbitrator Shyam Das officially denied an APWU grievance protesting the Postal Service’s Preventative Maintenance Inspection Program recently, his ruling was a victory for the APWU nonetheless. At the hearing, the APWU asserted that Estimated Repair Times (ERTs) included in the program constituted “work-and-time standards,” in violation of Article 34 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. [read more]

Estimated Repair Times

Section 344.5 of the Fleet Management 701 Handbool [PDF] specifies that “employees must use pertinent manufacturers’ flat rate time schedules as guides in developing and entering estimated repair times (ERT) in the absence of individual vehicle maintenance programs.” Managers or supervisors may not unilaterally develop ERTs.

Parts Consignment

A letter [PDF] from the Postal Service to MVS Craft Director Robert Pritchard dated July 13, 2001, acknowledges that MVS employees staff the stockroom and maintain the inventory, despite the Vehicle Repair Parts Inventory Consignment Program.

Also included is a letter from Director Pritchard to the USPS dated May 22, 2001, outlining the union’s concerns on this issue and USPS documents on the Vehicle Repair Parts Inventory Consignment program.

Schedule Changes Following Training

A memo [PDF] from the Postal Service to field managers dated Jan. 10, 1997, outlines the provisions for changing an employee’s schedule following off-site training.

Testing Issues Resolved
For Motor Vehicle Mechanics

A series of letters between the APWU and USPS in December 2005 and January 2006 settled several issues involving which exams MVS employees must take to qualify for positions that were upgraded in 2001. The disputes arose when the Postal Service issued new qualification standards for the upgraded positions. [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.

USPS Sets VMF Labor Costs

In a July 29, 2008, letter to the APWU [PDF] the USPS has established the Vehicle Maintenance Facility labor cost at $42.83 per hour. The figure is based on a national average, which represents the cost of a productive work-hour and includes benefits, service-wide costs, and applicable lump-sum payments.

The hourly rate per mechanic work-order hour of $63.68 that was established June 25, 1999, [PDF] includes salary, benefits, service-wide benefits, and facility-related costs for vehicle maintenance, as well as a factor for support employees, such as supervisors and clerks in the vehicle maintenance facility. Because it includes overhead, this rate more accurately reflects the Postal Service’s costs.

The labor rate is important because it is used for comparison by the Postal Service in determining the feasibility of subcontracting. The rate is also cited by the APWU when the union conducts cost comparisons with private firms that are seeking to perform vehicle maintenance work.

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