Memo from Greg Bell, APWU Director of Industrial Relations- click here for the full text of the award in .pdf format.

Re: Award on Subcontracting AOI Installation and Maintenance

Enclosed you will find a copy of a recent national award regarding the APWU’s challenge to management’s subcontracting of Associate Office Infrastructure (AOI) installation and maintenance work. (USPS #Q94T-4Q-C 97031616; 2/11/2010) Arbitrator Das sustained the APWU’s grievance and ruled that management violated Article 32.1.B by not giving the union an opportunity to meet with it regarding AOI installation and maintenance work involving cabling and AOI servers. Das ordered that the Postal Service assign maintenance of “AOI
servers – to the extent they remain in operation – and the LAN cabling within the AOs to the maintenance craft.” In addition he directed that the parties discuss “the possibility of additional LAN maintenance work in the AOs being assigned to the bargaining unit.” With regard to a retroactive remedy, Arbitrator Das ordered that the issue be returned to the parties for discussion of a remedy taking into account the remedy discussion in Das’s 2002 national arbitration award in USPS #Q94V-4Q-C 96044758. Read the rest of this entry »

From the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department:

The United States Postal Service is jumping on the outsourcing and privatizing bandwagon at the expense of good jobs, safety and security, and reliable delivery of basic services.

According to a new USPS program, all new mail delivery locations will be considered for outsourcing to companies that often provide low wages, no benefits, and have no equivalent background check requirements. This program and other attempts to outsource core mail handling functions violate the spirit of the policy established by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, which reinforced collective bargaining obligations. In its effort to employ fewer union workers, the USPS is opening its doors to a far less accountable workforce.

“In this post-Anthrax era, it is counterintuitive that the USPS would entrust any portion of its service with unscreened subcontractors,” Wytkind said. “Mail can be sensitive cargo, and Americans expect first-class service for their bills, ballots, and prescription drugs, not to mention their identity protection.”

Read the TTD’s Policy Statement on postal outsourcing here