New Contract. Regulars can’t transfer on Ereassign.

Posted on by 21cpw User Post

cba-2015-2018Our new APWU contract brings a new policy for transferring into residual vacancies on Ereassign . Now, only PTFs ( not FTRs ) can transfer into these positions. If no PTFs submit a request for a spot on Ereassign, then the office with the vacancy must convert a PSE to Full Time Regular. If no PSE currently works in the office, one must be hired to then fill the position. (Great news for friends and family of the management) FTRS are no longer even in the equation and their seniority means nothing. If a FTR now wants or needs to transfer to another office, her only option is to Quit and then apply (and hopefully) be hired as a PSE in the desired office. This sounds so insane as to not even be an option, yet there are FTRs that are considering it. If your spouse, children, or relatives need you to live somewhere else, you may not have any other choice if you want to be employed with the USPS.

This change seems to be such a radical departure from the strong history of our Union supporting it’s long term members, that you assume that it is simply an oversight and they would and will correct it. But that is not the way it appears. The responses I get from the APWU seem to be that it is what they want.

Increasing our Union ranks with PSEs converted to FTRs is an interesting strategy and one that might benefit our Union in some ways, but it should not be done at the expense of it’s longest and strongest members. The APWU needs to remember that we, as regulars, are the first line of information and Union strength for our new PSE sisters and brothers.

This unfair and radical change to the transfer procedure is definitely something our Union needs to change. Our Union has shown repeatly in the past that it cares for it’s members and has made adjustments to the contract when needed. But in order to convince our leaders of this change, we must Speak Out!

If you are a regular and want to move to another office, Speak Out!
If you have tried to transfer to another office and weren’t allowed to, Speak Out!
If you are a career employee that thinks the ability to move to other offices in the Postal system is one of the wonderful rights we have, Speak Out!

Contact your Union representatives and let them know this needs to be changed. If you don’t get an appropriate response, keep trying. Contact the next level up. We can fix this, but it has to be brought to the attention of our Union representatives all the way up to the national level.

Speak Out!

First Name: Dean
Last Name: Massey
Email: maloneymassey@gmail.com
Union/Local: Port Angeles WA / APWU

12 thoughts on “New Contract. Regulars can’t transfer on Ereassign.”

  1. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    APWU Phoenix
    Email Address
    gstroup@utexas.edu

    Pretty sure this is completely wrong….FTR can use ereassign. I do it all the time. As recently as March 2021…Knoxville, TN to Phoenix, AZ….. wish whoever posted this would actually know what they are talking about before misleading everyone. During the process I was under consideration for multiple areas.

    P.S. 2016 I transferred from Austin, TX to Knoxville, TN….(moral of the story…don’t go to Knoxville…)

  2. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    APWU - N Mississippi/W Alabama

    It just happened to me! I’m a NTFT clerk with 11 years in and I was on the excess list since last year. Ive also had a request in to this office for over 2 years and a position finally came open because the clerk became postmaster(8 miles from my house). 9 days before its posted on ereassign they recall the excessing which means I lose my priority status. Now a PTF with 2 years experience will be converted to regular. I spoke to 2 union presidents and they have no plans to change it. So when they decide to excess again I’ll be on the chopping block and will be forced to take a job 50 miles away. I filled out my papers to drop the union today. I pay them to look out for my best interest, but I will no longer do so.

  3. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    Frederick Ashley
    Office held, if any
    President Utica NY Local

    MOU on filling residual vacancies specifically the transfer MOU favored PSE’s. Newsflash: 90% of non members in our area are PSE’s. Good intentions yielded negative results and disappointment among career clerks.

  4. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    Dallas Area Local 732

    I need a Clerk position in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I have been on eReassign for about six months. One of my co-workers received a transfer to the Houston Area from Dallas last week. I know that eReassign works for FTR’s, first hand. when my transfer goes through I’ll post the news. Patience.

  5. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    APWU - Greenwich, CT

    I want a transfer… I know I might be ungrateful… But anyone in the Dallas, Fort worth and Houston or Texas area want to come to CT? My shift is 5:00am to 13:30pm and is a window clerk.

  6. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    APWU - Northern Virginia

    Last year I submitted for reassignment from Triboro district to Northern Virginia district (almost 20 different offices) due to family being moved to that area. I was a FTR and there were plenty of FTR positions available on the offices that I submitted the reassigment. However, I didn’t get called for any of the FTR positions available. I contacted the local HR and asked about my chance. HR told me that If they hire me as a FTR, they are obligated to convert 5 PSE to PTF. So they offered me a PTF position instead on less than 100 man hour office. By doing so I lost my FTR. It has been a year now I am serving as PTF and don’t know if I will be able to transfer to another office as FTR. Please advise.

  7. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    NALC - South Florida Branch 1071

    I am waiting a year on ereassign and don’t understand. Why are there no openings being posted? This is insane if they think I should quit and go as a PTF, after all of my 20 years. THAT IS CRAZY. The union is not doing their job.

  8. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    APWU - Long Island Local

    I don’t believe this info is correct. I was offered a position in Georgia last month through ereassign and I am a FTR in NY.

  9. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    APWU - Atlanta Metro Area Local 32
    Office held, if any
    Workroom Floor Steward

    The word “Considered” is entirely too subjective and everywhere it appears in our CBA management is subject to abuse their discretionary authority. When management does so, our only option is to grieve it and wait for arbitration where it becomes the luck of the draw on what arbitrator you get. We have drawn some bad arbitrators and some bad APWU advocates here in Atlanta on Maintenance Craft cases related to management’s “right” to “Consider” downgrade requests and we have seen these cases lost and withdrawn by national APWU advocates.

    Better language is needed that at a minimum states something like, “Requests will be granted unless management has persuasive valid reasons for justifying a denial of the request.” In this way the burden is shifted to where it belongs, onto management to justify the reasons for the request denial. This would preserve management’s discretionary authority within reason, but would reduce the number of grievances filed on the word “Considered” which has numerous applied definitions depending on which arbitrator you happen to get.

    Now consider that say for instance there is a vacancy in Atlanta and a Clerk in Houston wants to transfer into that vacancy. Allowing the Clerk to transfer simply moves the vacant position from Atlanta to Houston. What difference does it make whether a vacant position is in Atlanta or Houston or any other city for that matter?

    Some might argue that Houston is overstaffed so the vacant position will be reverted and not filled. I would say that if that were the case, then we saved one Clerk in Houston from being Excessed or at least from having their job Abolished.

    So in this case of the word “Consider” we must look at the matter from the perspective of what harm is being done to our Members by the way it is now and contrast that to what harm will result from the changes being proposed.

    I would argue that our Members and the APWU as a whole would suffer far less harm if we made the necessary changes to how the word “Consider” is applied in the context of our CBA. Perhaps our Industrial Relations Director could address this issue and resolve it with a mutually agreed MOU.

    And I would advocate that it is more important to keep the Members we have than to swell our ranks with new Members that will later quit for the same reasons we are losing existing Members because of how our CBA is negatively affecting their working conditions and their careers.

  10. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    APWU - Roanoke Area Local 482

    Where did you find this information in the new contract?

    I’ve read the Memorandum on Transfers, page 197 of the new contract.
    It says: Installation heads will afford full consideration to all reassignment requests from employees in other geographical areas within the Postal Service. The requests will be considered in the order received consistent with the vacancies being filled and type of positions requested. Such requests from qualified employees, consistent with the provisions of this memorandum, will not be unreasonably denied. Local economic and unemployment conditions, as well as EEO factors, are valid concerns. When hiring from entrance registers is justified based on these local conditions, an attempt should be made to fill vacancies from both sources. Except in the most unusual of circumstances, if there are sufficient qualified applicants for reassignment at least one out of every four vacancies will be filled by granting requests for reassignment in all offices of 100 or more man-years if sufficient requests from qualified applicants have been received. In offices of less than 100 man-years a cumulative ratio of 1 out of 6 for the duration of the National Agreement will apply.

    Thanks!

  11. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    Puget Sound Area Local 298, APWU (Port Angeles)
    Office held, if any
    Past Steward

    I like having a union who works for me but I don’t see the APWU is stepping up to help their long time FTR’s in this situation. Is the APWU waiting to gain a certain number of PSE’s as members before addressing this issue?

    Every state level officer has a duty to get this corrected!! National officers should put this as a priority to getting corrected!!

    Having FTR’s quit and try to be rehired as a PSE in another office is insane, Where are our fellow members? Speak out and get this changed!!

  12. Union and NAME of Local/Branch
    APWU - Auburn WA Local
    Office held, if any
    Retired President

    Want a transfer? FTRs, including NTFTs, must resign and get rehired in the gaining office as a PSE. Under the new system that limits clerk craft transfers to 1 in 6 vacancies, friends and family of management are leapfrogging over career employees with years of clerk craft service.

Leave a Reply

Required fields are marked *