Attached please find the award of Arbitrator Jaffe on whether the Service violated Article 19 when they issued a new maintenance staffing MMO (112-10) for NDCs to replace MMO 022-04, aka BMC-Gold.

The posting page included does not go into the Article 19 items in great detail as those are of primary interest mostly to us that deal with the subject at this level.

The burden or standard which the Service must meet to comply with Article 19 is spelled out and there is a great deal of good language in this award. Including:

“… the Postal Service failed to introduce significant and detailed, first hand information that made clear the projected impact of the proposed changes on wages, hours, and working conditions at the time that the changes were developed and proposed or the actual impact of the changes on wages, hours, and working conditions based upon subsequent events.”

Jaffe does direct a return to the status quo ante by rescinding MMO 112-10 and restoring MMO 022-04. In recognition that his award may cause the Service some consternation, the Arbitrator offers that;

“Any resulting disruption in the development of post-Award maintenance staffing for NDCs is unfortunate, but is the product of the Postal Service’s failures to have provided sufficient and accurate information to the Union at the time that the changes were first being considered for formal implementation.”

He did not make a monetary award directly. He determined that those kind of damages were beyond the scope of the issue in front of him. However, he did opine that the locally filed grievances should address those matters (OT assignments, staffing reductions, etc.). That means the local grievances go forward – Note too that Jaffe did not retain jurisdiction.

Jaffe references the Service’s violation as “significant failures to comply with Article 19 [that] cannot be dismissed as harmless error”.

Via Steven G. Raymer
Director, Maintenance Division
American Postal Workers Union

Also see: Arbitrator Hammers USPS in Maintenance Staffing Case – APWU.org