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THE BULLETIN BOARD

October 2012

        pushpin[October 1st]

APWU, USPS Negotiate Retirement Incentive
excerpted APWU News Bulletin 20-2012

The APWU has negotiated a retirement incentive agreement that awards eligible full-time career employees a $15,000 payment in two installments. The first installment will be $10,000; the second will be $5,000.

The incentive will be offered to eligible full-time employees who terminate their service through retirement, early retirement, or voluntary separation. Eligible part-time employees will receive a prorated amount. The $10,000 payment will be made on May 24, 2013; the $5,000 payment will be made on May 23, 2014.

Employees who had a previously scheduled retirement date earlier than Jan. 31, 2013, may retire on their scheduled date and receive the incentive. Employees who had a previously scheduled retirement date after Jan. 31, 2013, must change their date to Jan. 31, 2013, and meet retirement eligibility on that date in order to receive the incentive.

To qualify for early retirement, employees must have at least 20 years of service and be 50 years of age or must have 25 years of service at any age. (For employees in the Civil Service Retirement System, the annuity is reduced 2 percent for each year workers are under age 55.) Eligibility will be based on a Jan. 31, 2013, effective date. Eligible employees who do not qualify for regular or early retirement but wish to receive the incentive may resign.

Full-time employees must indicate their intent to accept the incentive offer on or before Dec. 3, 2012. Employees taking voluntary early retirement who wish to revoke their decision by must do so by Dec. 3, 2012.

Please visit the APWU.com web page devoted to this issue at Retirement Incentive where you will find several further sources of information and more details.



        pushpin[September 28th]

APWU Wins Address Management Jobs
excerpted APWU Web News Article 117-2012

The APWU and the USPS signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Sept. 25 that outlines procedures for filling 318 newly-created Level 7 Address Management System Technicians positions. The new jobs replace the positions that are currently occupied by managerial personnel.

In accordance with the terms of the settlement, the 318 newly-created AMS Technician positions will be posted as soon as possible, but no later than Oct. 31, 2012. The selection process will be completed within 42 days of the initial posting.

The new positions will be staffed with best-qualified clerks where the work is currently performed by managerial employees. With a few exceptions, these positions will be posted and filled at the installations where the District offices are located.

Until successful applicants can be identified and trained, senior-qualified Clerk Craft volunteers within the installations will be assigned to temporarily fill vacant assignments, as necessary. Supervisory employees occupying Address Management System Specialist EAS-15 positions must vacate the jobs no later than March 9, 2013.

The agreement is an outgrowth of the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement, (Clerk Craft Jobs MOU) which requires management to return work performed by managerial personnel to the APWU bargaining unit following an audit of duties. Audits of other duties are ongoing.

Read the entire article on the APWU.com website.



        pushpin[September 28th]

APWU Clerk Craft Wins Jurisdiction On New AFCS 200 Operator Position
excerpted APWU Web News Article 116-2012

The Clerk Craft will be the primary craft for the operator position on the new Advanced Facer Canceller System (AFCS), the Postal Service has announced.

In a letter dated Sept. 28, 2012, the Postal Service wrote, "After reviewing the input from the APWU and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union... the Postal Service has determined that on the AFCS 200, the duties performed by the operator are similar to the duties performed by a Mail Processing Clerk. Accordingly, the primary craft for the operator position on the AFCS 200 is the Clerk Craft. The primary craft for the induction activities on the AFCS 200 will continue to be the Mail Handler Craft."

The existing AFCS is a high-speed machine that culls, faces, and cancels letter mail through a series of automated operations. The AFCS 200 will perform the same functions as the existing system while also providing "significant additional capabilities," such as processing thicker mail than the existing AFCS, increased depth-of-sort capabilities, and printing a POSTNET barcode that allows mail to be directly sorted on the Delivery Barcode Sorter (DBCS), the USPS wrote.

Read the entire article on the APWU.com website.



        pushpin[September 27th]

Union, USPS Sign Agreement to Protect APWU Work
excerpted APWU Web News Article 114-2012

The APWU and Postal Service have signed an agreement that will protect the seniority rights of APWU-represented employees. The Sept. 10 settlement limits temporary assignments, reassignments or re-employment of injured employees to "residual vacancies" or "uniquely created assignments consisting of duties that would have been properly performed by non-career employees."

Residual vacancies are jobs no regular employee selected when the jobs were posted for bid.

"Uniquely-created assignments" refers to assignments — non-scheduled days and hours of work — that could have been properly occupied by Postal Support Employees (PSEs).

From now on, uniquely created assignments must consist solely of duties that would otherwise be properly performed by non-career employees. For example, in the Clerk Craft, where most limited-duty employees are assigned, Article 37.3.A.1 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement states, "Every effort will be made to create desirable duty assignments from all available work hours for career employees to bid." This requires the Postal Service to use all hours (including hours worked by Postal Support Employees, overtime hours, hours that were previously worked by injured employees — including "uniquely created" assignments) to create desirable duty assignments for clerks.

Read the entire article on the APWU.com website.



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