ApwuFlorida.org

From the office of Joe Paul
American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO
APWU of Florida
PO Box 182
Lakeland, FL 33802-0182
Phone: 863-640-2865

Date: 8/11/2010

Odds and Ends

August 2010

Lots of changes are happening in Central Florida with excessing being the single hottest topic of concern to our members. As a Local President and Clerk Craft Director of Florida, my own local is just completing our third excessing event during the last 18 months! Many other Florida locals are experiencing the same fate. Be assured that your National Officers, Local Officers, and Stewards are diligently working to protect your rights per our Collective Bargaining Agreement, JCIM, and Handbooks and Manuals to minimize the effects on our members.

Below I have answered some of the questions I have been asked. You can find this information on the APWU website at www.apwu.org and in the 2007 JCIM.

Question: If I go to another Craft, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, do I bring my Clerk Craft seniority with me?

Answer: If you go to another Craft, whether it is inside or outside of your installation, you start a new period of seniority.

Question: If I get excessed to another installation involuntarily in the Clerk Craft, do I bring my Clerk Craft seniority with me?

Answer: If you go from the Clerk Craft of one installation to the Clerk Craft in another installation involuntarily, you bring your seniority with you and have retreat rights back to the prior installation. If you go from the Clerk Craft of one installation to the Clerk Craft in another in-lieu-of, you bring your Clerk seniority with you; however, you do not have retreat rights and you cannot bid on duty assignments for 180 days.

Question: If I volunteer to go in-lieu-of an impacted employee, can I come back later by exercising my retreat rights?

Answer: Employees who volunteer to be reassigned in-lieu-of junior employees subject to involuntary reassignment are not entitled to retreat rights.

Question: How do I know if I qualify for relocation expenses?

Answer: The F-12 handbook specifies that employees who are involuntarily excessed and required to report to another installation are entitled to relocation allowance, provided the new duty station is at least 50 miles greater in distance than the distance between their former duty station and their former residence. Use MapQuest to find the distance from your residence to your present installation (i.e. 10 miles); then find the distance from your residence to the new installation (i.e. 52 miles); subtract the two to find if the difference is greater than 50 miles. In the example, you would subtract 10 miles from 52 miles for a difference of 42 miles. The 42 miles is less than 50 miles and would not qualify for relocation expenses.

Question: If I volunteer to go in lieu of an impacted employee, do I also qualify for relocation expenses?

Answer: Yes, a senior employee who volunteers to be relocated in lieu of a junior employee is also entitled to relocation benefits.

Question: As an identified impacted employee, I opted to stay in my present installation and took the residual Custodial assignment. If I work up the ladder to ET (Electronic Technician, Level 10) do I ever have to come back to the Clerk Craft when a vacancy is created?

Answer: If the vacancy is created within the same installation, then the employee must be returned to the first available vacancy. If the employee is involuntarily reassigned outside the installation, including across craft lines, the employee can exercise his/her option to return to the vacancy. (JCIM, Article 12.5.C.5.a)

On August 20, 2010, I will be traveling to our APWU National Convention in Detroit. I'm sure this will be a very interesting convention and I will post an update when I return on the proposals and ideas to be explored and negotiated during our upcoming contract negotiations.

As always, I urge you to talk to non-members and convince them to join our great union!

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me.

In Solidarity,

Joe Paul