Use of Letter Carrier and Mail Handler
Casuals in APWU Assignments

Burrus Update #15-02, Aug. 30, 2002

The union and management have reached agreement on the implementation of the national arbitration award that limited the use of Mail Handler and Letter Carrier casuals in APWU designated assignments. Arbitrator Shyam Das ruled that management must give Mail Handler and Letter Carrier casuals a second APWU designation when they are hired if they are to be used in APWU crafts.

Postal management has forwarded instructions to all field offices requiring that,

Beginning with FY 2003 (Sept. 7, 2002,) mail handler or carrier casuals (designation 62-0 or 63-4) who will be utilized to perform duties in an APWU craft must be designated as specified in Arbitrator Das= award. Each area=s allocation of such casuals will be determined by Headquarters Operations Complement Management. Each area will be responsible for allocating that number among the districts in that area. Each district must develop a method for designating such casuals at the time they are hired and maintaining a list of the name of each casual and the office to which that casual is assigned. In addition, the District office will determine the means to communicate this list of casuals to the appropriate union official.

The daily application of Arbitrator Das' decision and the implementing instructions means that Mail Handler and Letter Carrier casuals are not permitted to perform APWU work unless they have been so designated when hired. The instructions prohibit designation after the date of hire and any casual not so designated is prohibited from performing APWU work. Upon request, the local or state union official is entitled to a copy of the list of designated casuals.

The use of Mail Handler casuals in APWU assignments normally occurs in mail processing plants within the processing or dock operations. Letter Carrier casuals are more often used in APWU assignments in delivery units. Stewards should be especially vigilant in policing this decision during this period when the hours of APWU part-time employees are being reduced. Prior arbitration decisions that permitted management to simultaneously schedule (non-designated) casuals and PTFs do not apply to this decision. Mail Handler and Letter Carrier casuals not so designated may not be used on APWU assignments.

The limits on the number of casuals with dual designations will be applied at the local level. Casuals hired under the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) or Mail Handlers Union contracts who are certified as being eligible to work in APWU crafts will be governed by APWU contractual limitations and obligations regarding the use of casuals when they work in APWU crafts.

Counting of Appointments

The union and management have also reached agreement regarding counting casuals who are designated to work in Letter Carrier/Mail Handler and APWU crafts toward the two 90-day appointments. The APWU contract limits the appointment of a casual to two 90-day periods during the course of a calendar year. The agreement provides that if a casual is hired to work two 90-day appointments under the NALC/Mail Handlers Union contracts and is certified as eligible to work in APWU crafts during such appointments, the casual would be ineligible for appointment under the APWU contract during the same calendar year.

During the second week of September, I will post on our web site a list of rural carriers who are eligible to perform APWU designated work and are listed as Adual casuals. Upon receipt of the list, local and state unions are requested to distribute the list to offices with rural carriers to ensure that rural carriers who are not listed do not perform APWU designated duties.

William Burrus
President

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