October 31, 2013
By Neal Tepel
Washington, DC – An arbitrator has decided postal workers represented by the American Postal Workers Union are entitled to back pay for time postmasters or supervisors performed craft duties beyond what's outlined in the union's collective bargaining agreement with USPS.
"This decision will result in back pay for union members who were denied work opportunities as a result of contract violations," said APWU director of industrial relations Mike Morris. "I hope postal managers take note of the cost of their failure to honor the contract."
According to APWU, last March the arbitrator ruled in favor of the union's claim that "postmasters or supervisors spend staffing the window must be counted towards the limit and, in the absence of a clerk, all time a window is open must be counted, regardless of what other duties the postmaster or supervisor may perform during that period."
USPS and the union couldn't agree on a monetary settlement, so they went back to the arbitrator, who has instructed USPS to provide records within 90 days to help establish that violations of the limits occurred in order to inform a monetary settlement.
