Mishandled Craft Conversions

First of all the mail-handlers union welcomes the former clerks into our craft. We are always happy to see our craft growing.

But because management mishandled the conversions, some issues need to be addressed.

The former clerks were converted into the mail-handler craft as part of the National Reassessment Program. That's the program the Postal Service is using to find necessary work for people on limited duty - those who have been injured on the job.

Management created two jobs in the Culling Area for the two former clerks. These jobs conform to the medical restrictions these workers have because of their injuries. The former clerks did not take any jobs that were ever posted on the bulletin board.

The new mail handlers come into our craft as full-time regulars, but they must begin a new period of seniority. They are now junior to the junior-most mail handler on our seniority roster. They are even junior to the PTF's.

The new mail handlers may sign up for the ODL, but they can only work overtime within their medical restrictions.

The mail-handlers union has filed a number of grievances as a result of the conversion:

• Union Not Notified in Advance
  Article 1.5 states that the employer shall consult with the union for the purpose of assigning a new position to the national craft unit most appropriate for such position. Further, Article 12.6.B4 states about reassignments that "The union shall be notified in advance (as much as six months whenever possible).

• Craft Conversions' Negative Impact on PTF's
  Article 7.3 states that "The employer shall staff all Postal installations which have 200 or more man years of employment in the regular work force as of the date of this Agreement with 90 percent full-time mail handlers." The mail-handler union uses the 90 percent rule to determine when PTF's should be converted to full-time regular positions. Since management just converted two clerks into the mail handler craft the complement of full-time regular mail handlers has increased, which further delays PTF conversions. The union maintains that management should have converted the PTF's to full-time regulars before it converted clerk-craft employees into mail handlers.

• Unfair Labor Practice
  The union has filed an unfair labor practice with the National Labor Relations Board. The union charges management with refusing to adhere to Article 12.3.B11 of the National Agreement which states that "If no qualified unassigned full-time regular employee is available to be assigned to a residual vacancy, the senior PTF will be converted to full-time regular and assigned to this residual vacant duty assignment." Since June 2007, management has reverted approximately 45 jobs instead of assigning them to PTF's.

• Additionally, a grievance was filed in July when Plant Manager Judy Herrick refused to convert all of the PTF's despite the fact that management reverted jobs that should have been given to the PTF's (Article 12.3.B11). Herrick, instead, converted just four PTF's, leaving the rest in perpetual limbo.