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USPS Allows Districts to Disapprove Early Outs
Burrus Update # 20-03, Oct. 2, 2003
The Postal Service is imposing limits on the number of employees it will release for voluntary early retirement, in clear violation of its Collective Bargaining Agreement with the APWU. The agreement, ratified in December 2002, required management to seek authority from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to offer early retirement to "all eligible APWU-represented employees."
To make matters worse, the arbitrary numbers district offices are setting are ridiculously low. In Boston, for example, letters from management to employees who submitted Letters of Interest say that only two Distribution Window Clerks will be permitted to retire on Oct. 31. (According to the letter, some employees will be allowed to retire either on Jan. 31 or Feb. 29, 2004.) And the South Jersey Area Local reports that management notified the union that none of the 270 employees of the South Jersey Processing and Distribution Center who submitted Letters of Interest will be permitted to retire early. The plant employs approximately 1,200 people.
The union filed a petition in federal court on Sept. 11, seeking to compel the Postal Service to arbitrate the ongoing dispute over early retirements and to do so expeditiously. As explained in the News Service dated Sept. 12, 2003, the Postal Service has been attempting to renege on its agreement with the APWU since July, and it now appears that USPS management is acting in concert with OPM.
We have requested that a court hearing be held during the third week of October.
The national union will circulate a form to be completed by eligible APWU-represented employees who were denied the opportunity to retire early. The form will help the union identify those employees who would have retired early if they had been granted the opportunity to do so.
We are vigorously protesting in court and in the grievance procedure all of management's attempts to limit the number of eligible employees who may elect to retire early.
William Burrus
President
