APWU Web News Article #:  182

10/09/2014 - The APWU and USPS have settled a dispute over the proper remedy for violations of contractual limits on the number of PSEs that can be on the rolls at any given time.

Under the terms of the Oct. 3 agreement, any future violations in the Clerk and Motor Vehicle crafts will result in the conversion of PSEs to career in the district where the violations took place.

Prior to the agreement, the USPS took the position that management could simply terminate PSEs to stay under the cap. The APWU asserted that PSEs must be converted to career.

“It was outrageous that any PSE could face termination for management’s violations of the cap,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “This is a positive and productive resolution of the dispute that puts the rights and well-being of our PSE members first and foremost.”

To remedy past violations, the union and management agreed to convert 468 PSEs to career within 60 days. (These conversions must be in addition to conversions that result from the Memorandum of Understanding on filling residual vacancies.)

The parties will meet at the national level to determine where the 468 conversions will take place.

The remedy for violations of the cap in the Maintenance Craft was resolved in a separate Memorandum of Understanding dated July 9, 2014.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement allows for 20 percent PSEs in the Clerk Craft, 10 percent in the Maintenance Craft, and 10 percent in the Motor Vehicle Craft.