{"id":962,"date":"2017-02-01T01:41:42","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T08:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apwu73.com\/?p=962"},"modified":"2021-02-21T17:02:07","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T00:02:07","slug":"two-settlements-address-dbcs-staffing-and-employee-orientation-disputes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apwu73.com\/?p=962","title":{"rendered":"Two Settlements Address DBCS Staffing And Employee Orientation Disputes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"field-label\">Web News Article #:\u00a0196-2016<\/div>\n<div class=\"body field\">\n<p><span class=\"news-date-inline\"><span class=\"date-display-single\">09\/01\/2016<\/span> &#8211; <\/span>The APWU and USPS signed two important Step 4 settlements recently, Industrial Relations Director Tony D. McKinnon Sr. has announced.<\/p>\n<p>On Aug. 24, with the help of Assistant Clerk Craft Director Lynn Pallas-Barber, McKinnon reached agreement with the Postal Service on the issue of whether the \u201cnormal staffing\u201d of two clerks per machine on Delivery Bar Code Sorters (DBCS) should be a minimum requirement.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.apwu.org\/sites\/apwu\/files\/resource-files\/DBCS%20Staffing.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">The settlement<\/span><\/u><\/a>\u00a0is designed to address the union\u2019s concerns about safety when DBCS machines are staffed by just one person.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The agreement notes that pursuant to Article 14.1 of the contract, \u201cIt is the responsibility of management to provide safe working conditions in all present and future installations and to develop a safe working force.\u201d In addition, it notes that, \u201cIn accordance with the Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM), Section 891, \u2018The Postal Service complies with applicable federal laws, regulations, and OSHA guidance materials regarding ergonomics.\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The settlement addresses exceptions to the two-person staffing requirement outlined in the <a href=\"https:\/\/apwu73.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/JCIM-2012.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">2012 Joint Contract Interpretation Manual (JCIM)<\/span><\/u><\/a> [\u00a0on p. 274, Article 36, p. 76 Q&amp;A] It says, \u201c<em>The exceptions described in the JCIM Q&amp;As must not be considered an alternative to the scheduling of 2 Mail Processing Clerks on the DBCS.\u00a0 During the periods described in the JCIM Q&amp;As, the parties further agree the second Mail Processing Clerk may perform allied duties as assigned in the OCR-BCS-DBCS area\u201d<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li class=\"last\">The agreement stipulates that there will be a special meeting of the Safety &amp; Health Committee at the national level within 90 days (on or before Nov. 24, 2016) to discuss the establishment of a task force to investigate and address safety issues specific to the DBCS.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cThe agreement is bolstered by specific references to safety, as outlined in Article 14 and the Employee and Labor Relations Manual,\u201d McKinnon said. He requests that locals monitor management\u2019s compliance with the settlement and report instances of non-compliance to his office so that they may be communicated with the Postal Service at the national level for quick resolution.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Employee Orientations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>An Aug. 23 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.apwu.org\/sites\/apwu\/files\/resource-files\/Orientation%20Settlement.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">agreement<\/span><\/u><\/a> \u00a0stipulates that APWU representatives will be given ample opportunity to address new employees whenever:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>New career or non-career employees are hired;<\/li>\n<li>Postal employees from non-APWU crafts are reassigned to crafts represented by the APWU, and<\/li>\n<li class=\"last\">Non-career employees become eligible for the Postal Service Non-Career Health Care Plan (USPS Plan) or newly-converted\u00a0Postal Support Employees (PSEs) become eligible for the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Previously managers weren\u2019t living up to their obligation to provide orientation in these circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese Step 4 Settlement Agreements address two long-standing disputes that have resulted in numerous grievances,\u201d McKinnon said.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.apwu.org\/news\/web-news-article\/two-settlements-address-dbcs-staffing-and-employee-orientation-disputes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">Two Settlements Address DBCS Staffing And Employee Orientation Disputes | APWU<\/span><\/u><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Web News Article #:\u00a0196-2016 09\/01\/2016 &#8211; The APWU and USPS signed two important Step 4 settlements recently, Industrial Relations Director Tony D. McKinnon Sr. has announced. On Aug. 24, with the help of Assistant Clerk Craft Director Lynn Pallas-Barber, McKinnon reached agreement with the Postal Service on the issue of whether the \u201cnormal staffing\u201d of two clerks per machine on Delivery Bar Code Sorters (DBCS) should be a minimum requirement. The settlement\u00a0is designed to address [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clerks","category-contracts-handbooks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apwu73.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apwu73.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apwu73.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apwu73.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apwu73.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=962"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/apwu73.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8045,"href":"https:\/\/apwu73.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962\/revisions\/8045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apwu73.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apwu73.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apwu73.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}