FYI
 Grievances:
  • A winnable grievance starts with a good
    statement of facts from the grievant and or from witnesses.
  • There must be a violation of the Contract for the Steward or you to file a grievance.
  • There are 14 days from the date the violation occurred to investigate, file and set up a Step 1 meeting.
  •  Information has to be requested, such as (Clock Rings, OTDL, Holiday Schedules, etc.). Then this  information has to be review. It is then your Steward will know if a grievance exists or a violation actually occurred and can be proven, so do not wait until the last day to file a  grievance.
  So let me stress this point again every good winnable grievance starts  with a good statement of facts from the grievant and or from the  witnesses.
Clerk Craft Settlements Impact Jobs, 
Conversions
 The USPS acknowledged in a Feb. 25 settlement that its obligation to create desirable new duty assignments from “all available work hours” includes hours worked by Postal Support Employees, Clerk Craft officers report.
  The Postal Service asserted in an Oct. 24, 2013, Step 4 Dispute that it was not required to consider PSE hours. 
   “I am pleased to announce that this dispute has been resolved,” said Assistant Clerk Director Lamont Brooks. 
   Another Feb. 25 settlement stipulates that newly converted unencumbered regulars will be assigned to residual vacancies, in accordance with  Article 37.4 of the contract. The dispute arose with the first conversions
under  the 2010-2015 contract, when management converted part-time regulars and part-time flexibles to full time and placed them in Non-Traditional Full-Time work assignments of less than 40 hours per week.
  The APWU asserted that the employees should have been assigned to available residual vacancies, positions that remained open at the completion of the voluntary bidding process. The settlement endorsed the union’s position.
source APWU.org
June, 2023
Crossing Crafts Hurts Clerk Jobs
Crossing crafts is one of the most common violations that stewards grieve at the local level. Members should be aware when other crafts perform clerk work, it has a negative impact on the work hours that go toward making new job assignments for clerks. When other crafts perform our work, they do not make the right operational move that is needed for those hours to count toward clerks assignments. That leads to understaffing of clerks and less clerk jobs. Whether we as clerks are throwing parcels for distribution, performing retail window duties, or working automated machines in the larger facilities, if we are making the correct clock ring moves on those functions, the hours are recorded as clerk hours and validate the need for clerk positions.
 
Article 7.2 gives only limited cases where management can cross crafts. In those instances, management has to establish that the employee being assigned over craft lines has “insufficient” work in their respective craft. In each instance, the union has to be notified. So if management tells you that they have “talked” to the union regarding using other crafts, let them know that it is your right as a member to report each instance of crossing crafts to your local union.
 
The key to proving crossing craft grievances comes from members documenting violations on the crossing craft grievance form. Make sure to always notate the name of the employee who is crossing crafts. Your steward can’t use notations such as ‘the carrier that carries route 8’, or the ‘mail handler that works on dock 11’. At least get a first or last name so your steward will be able to request the right documentation from management. Notate the work that the employee crossing crafts is doing (throwing parcels, answering the dutch door). “Distribution” is almost always clerk craft work and cannot be performed by other crafts outside the language in Article 7.2. Most importantly, give the correct date and time that the employee was observed doing clerk work.
 
Article 1.6 applies to supervisors or managers performing clerk work. Again, there are only limited circumstances in which supervisors or managers may be able to perform clerk craft work. Most of the offices and facilities represented by the Dallas Local  would not fall under those circumstances and would most likely be a violation of article 1.6. Ask your steward for a bargaining unit violation form, or visit our local website at www.dallasapwu.org to download the form or use the online version to submit your statement.
 
Remember, it is up to the membership and the stewards to stop management from violating the contract. Working together as a union, we can protect our jobs! 
​
 THE NEW AGREEMENT AND DISPUTE Q & A
   Q. Will NTFT duty assignments have different hours in the first week of a pay period than in the second?
   ANSWER: No. However, NTFT Flexible Clerk Craft duty assignments may be changed from week to week without out-of-schedule obligations, subject to a Wednesday of the prior week notification. These duty assignments may be created and utilized in retail (Function 4) operations to cover vacancies and absences, and are limited to 10% of the full-time assignments. Additionally, MVS NTFT Flexible duty assignments may be created to replace PTF and PTR duty assignments.
   Q. How does a NTFT duty assignment employee's schedule affect court leave?
   ANSWER: An employee in a NTFT assignment will receive court leave up to his or her scheduled hours for the day. An employee in a NTFT assignment scheduled for more than 8 hours in a service day may have paid court leave and postal duty in excess of 8 hours up to the employee's regular schedule.

The APWU initiated four Step 4 disputes on Aug. 17, 2011, protesting violations of the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement.
  Denial of Retreat Rights (APWU #HQTG20110464) [PDF]: This grievance protests the denial of retreat rights to excessed employees for posted Non-Traditional Full-Time (NTFT) assignments, in violation of the contract. Article 37.3.B.1 [PDF] says, “Employees shall have the right to bid for vacancies within the former installation and the written request for retreat rights shall serve as a bid for vacancies in the level from which the employee was reassigned and for all residual vacancies in other levels for which the employee has expressed a desire to retreat.”
  Nothing in the recently-negotiated Collective Bargaining Agreement abridges this right for excessed employees who have submitted a written notice of their desire to exercise their retreat rights, yet the Postal Service issued instructions to the field advising local managers to deny excessed employees the right to retreat to posted NTFT positions in their former installations.
 
Unencumbered/Unassigned Regulars (APWU#HQTC20110463) [PDF]: This Step 4 dispute protests management plans to designate Part-Time Flexibles and Part-Time Regulars as unencumbered or unassigned with non-traditional schedules when they are converted to regular on Aug. 27. A provision of the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement [PDF] requires the Postal Service to convert to full time all PTFs in Level 21-and-above offices and PTRs in the Clerk Craft and MVS Craft on Aug. 27.
 The Memorandum of Understanding on Non-Traditional Full-Time Assignments [PDF] contained in 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement outlines the rules for the creation and posting NTFT duty assignments when operationally necessary. It does not provide for unencumbered or unassigned NTFT schedules.
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Dallas Area Local Elected Officers
Dallas Area Local welcomes Margarite Jinadu. Margarite was appointed to the vacant position of Clerk Craft Business Agent #4. We would like to also thank former Clerk Craft Business Agent #4 Denise Williams for all of her years of service to the Dallas Area Local, we appreciated you dedication, positive attitude and services to the Clerk Craft and we thank you.  Pictured below is V.P.: Charles Tillman, B.A.: Margarite Jinadu and President: Yared Wonde
          What is your Principle Assignment Area 
            SAM LISENBE - CLERK CRAFT -  NBA 
  Since the contract arbitration award that upgraded all Level 4 Mail  Processors to Level 5, we have experienced problems in many post offices regarding the utilization of employees in work areas to which they normally are not assigned. The subsequent national-level memorandum of understanding (May 9,  2002)  that combined Level 5 Mail Processors, Distribution Clerks and OCR Operators  into one standard position description-of "Level 5 Mail Processing Clerk" was an  attempt to clarify this issue by stressing the definition of "principal assignment area". When full-time and part-time regular duty assignments are posted for bid, there are certain requirements that the Postal Service must  meet. For instance, Article 37, Section 3.E., Information on Notices, of the Collective Bargaining Agreement states:  "Information shall be as shown below and shall be specifically stated" (emphasis added). Furthermore, Article37.3 .E.5 emphasizes:  "The principal assignment area (e.g., parcel post, incoming or outgoing in the main office, or specified station, branch, or other locations) where the greater portion of the assignment will be per-formed" 
  The Mail Processing Clerk MOU emphasized and strengthened the requirement that  every duty assignment must contain a principal  assignment area.  Nevertheless, we are, finding that numerous duty assignments  continue to be void of a specific principal assignment area. Why is it important  to have a principal assign-ment area in every duty assignment? 
  First, an employee who is contemplating bidding to a particular duty assignment has the right to know what that job entails. The hours of work, off-days, level of pay, and qualification requirements (scheme, window, machine, typing, etc.) are routinely included, as they must be, on bid postings. However, a potential bidder is also entitled to know where the "greater portion of the assignment will be performed". Will it be on mail processing machines, at the window, performing manual scheme duties? These questions must be answered when the duty assignment is posted for bid in the form of identifying the principal assignment. 
  Secondly, many Local Memoranda of Understanding (LMOU) identify sections (for example: automation, window unit, manual distribution, flat-sorter) for the  purpose of signing overtime desired lists, volunteering for holidays, vacation and incidental leave sign-up, and excising within the installation. The  principal assignment areas will many times be a strong indication when arranging  sections for these important LMOU items. 
  Additionally, when management  signs an employee to a different work area, it is necessary to identify the principal assignment area in order to determine  if the employee is working the greater portion within his/her principal  assignment area and, consequently, if the assignment to another task is proper. 
  In the case of Mail Processing Clerks, the MQU, and its accompanying questions and answers, grants "day-to-day seniority". Simply put, during the course of the  day, work assignments outside the principal assignment area must be by juniority.  Finally, there is the considerable threat of excessing throughout the country. As a result, when management decides to abolish duty assignments or repost them because of changes within that specific job, it will be important to know the principal assignment area of each and every duty assignment in order to determine if management's calculations (workload, hours needed in each work area and number of employees needed) are correct. There have been many instances in which the Service attempted to combine two or more principal assignment areas into one duty assignment. Again referring to the Mail Processing Clerk MOU, the parties at the national level have .agreed that each duty assignment  must contain only one principal assignment area. 
  If you do not have a copy of the Mail Processing Clerk MOU, or/if you have  any questions concerning principal assignment areas, please contact  Sam  Lisenbe  in Irving, Texas