APWU Web News Article 034-2012, April 13, 2012
The Postal Service recently identified the 1,500 new Maintenance Craft duty assignments that will be established under the terms of the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The new jobs will be created at independent post offices where all custodial work was contracted out, in accordance with Item 1.A of the Maintenance Jobs Memorandum of Understanding.
The list provided by the USPS shows the post offices where the new positions will be established. It is sorted by state, and includes the area, district, and finance number of the offices, as well as information about the exterior and interior square footage of the offices.
The list also shows the Postal Service’s computation of the amount of work associated with the offices, with ‘Line H’ purporting to show annual hours and ‘Line J’ purporting to show weekly hours.
“The APWU has not verified the information regarding the number of hours,” said Maintenance Craft Director Steve Raymer, “but it is clear that postal managers elected to identify offices with the smallest number of work-hours available.
“It is obvious that management’s intent is to create part-time positions that minimize work opportunities and maximize the adverse impact on APWU-represented employees,” he said.
“The Maintenance Division is confident that properly conducted MS-47 staffing reviews will result in additional work for these duty assignments.” In addition, in accordance with the Item 1.A of the Maintenance Craft Jobs Memo, custodial work from nearby post offices can be combined to make these duty assignments more attractive, Raymer noted.
“Our goal has always been to establish as many career, family-supporting jobs as possible,” said Maintenance Craft Director Steve Raymer. “We will need assistance from the field to help verify that we are getting the full benefit of this returned work.
“We will continue to press on and insist that the Postal Service abide by the agreement that was made during contract negotiations,” he said.
New custodial positions at stations, branches, annexes, and other facilities within an installation will be established under the terms of Item 1.B of the Memorandum by May 23. However, it seems that the Postal Service included some stations that are part of larger installations on the current list. These offices should not have been included.