Fayetteville, Arkansas
1999 - 2000
As amended & signed on September 3, 1999
Signed (unchanged) May 1, 2002.
UNION RECOGNITION
The employer recognizes the Union designated below as the exclusive bargaining
representative for all employees of the Fayetteville, Arkansas Main Post
Office and Sub-stations in the bargaining units listed thereunder:
Fayetteville, Arkansas Local, American Postal Workers Union, AFL- CIO (Clerks,
Motor Vehicle Employees, Maintenance Employees, Associate Office Personnel
while employed in the Fayetteville Postal System).
Unless otherwise specified, every unit of this LMOU applies to all bargaining
unit employees in all crafts under the jurisdiction of APWU Fayetteville Local
in all work locations, sub-stations, and buildings considered part of the
Fayetteville Postal System.
Item 1 --Additional or longer wash-up periods
Clerk Craft:
All employees covered by this Memorandum shall be granted a reasonable amount
of wash-up time.
Maintenance Craft:
Maintenance employees shall be provided a reasonable wash-up time prior to
breaks, lunch and end of tour. Additional wash-up time shall be provided
during excessively dirty or toxic work.
Item 2 --The establishment of a regular work week of five days with either
fixed or rotating days off
Clerk Craft:
All full-time APWU craft employees shall have a regular work week consisting
of five (5) days with fixed days off. As often as possible, the five (5) days
shall be consecutive. The option of a ten (10) hour, four (4) day work week
with fixed days off will remain open.
Maintenance Craft:
Management will make every effort to assign maintenance employees to a five
(5) contiguous day work week with fixed days off. The option of a ten (10)
hour, four (4) day work week with rotating days off will remain open to the
occupational groups.
Item 3 -- Guidelines for the curtailment or termination of postal operations
to conform to local authorities or as local conditions warrant because of
emergency conditions
A .When situations occur that potentially impair the health and safety of
postal employees (i.e., bomb threats, lack of heat or proper air conditioning
or other environmental factors), the installation head or designee will
consult with qualified local authorities, and if the decision is made to
curtail postal operations, will grant LWOP, AL, or Administrative Leave as
appropriate in accordance with the E & LR Manual.
B. When it becomes necessary to curtail or terminate operations, the
following guidelines shall prevail:
1 .Reduce hours of the work force in the following sequence:
a. Career FTR and PTF volunteers
b. Casual employees
c. Transitional employees
d. PTFs from associate offices
e. PTFs in reverse seniority
f. TRs in reverse seniority
2.Recall employees as required in the reverse order as shown above.
Item 4 --Formulation of Local Leave Program
A. A Labor-Management meeting shall be scheduled during the month of
November to review the local leave program for the coming year, taking into
consideration increases or decreases in the number of employees, changing work
loads or patterns and other matters that might influence the leave program.
B. Military Leave shall not be charged to an employee's choice period.
C. An employee called to jury duty during his/her choice period shall be
given another selection.
D. An employee becoming ill or injured shall, at his/her request, be granted
sick leave in lieu of annual leave and will be given another selection for
annual leave.
E. An employee making an additional request for annual leave during the
choice period under the conditions describe under paragraphs C and D above,
shall be granted such leave, providing it does not exceed the set number
scheduled for leave during that period.
F. Annual Leave for designated representatives to attend State and National
conventions shall be scheduled prior to scheduling of choice leave for all
employees. When this is not possible, the employer shall make every
reasonable effort to allow the representative to attend the convention.
G. Any leave period of one week or more which an employee elects to cancel
must be canceled entirely. Should an employee who has begun his/her leave
period wish to return to work prior to the end of his/her scheduled period,
the personal approval of the Postmaster will be required on PS Form 3971, with
a copy to the Union.
H. Full-time regular employees not on the overtime desired lists shall not
be scheduled for mandatory overtime on their scheduled days off preceding
their period of annual leave.
I. Additional leave applied for on Monday following the third Saturday of
January will be handled as follows:
1) All leave applications received on this one day will be considered as
having been received at the same time. Approval will be on seniority basis.
2) When leave is disapproved, the duplicate requests on Form 3971 will be
filed by the Manager, Mail Processing in a central file. Should any period
become open due to any reason, this file will be checked and the leave awarded
to the employee with the earliest disapproved request.
J. Written applications for annual leave shall be handed to the employee's
immediate supervisor, and shall be signed by the supervisor showing the time
and date of submission. Approval or disapproval of these requests shall be
made within seventy-two hours, excluding the employee's days off and shall be
in writing. The failure to respond by management within the seventy-two hour
period will be considered automatic leave approval. If the employee does not
follow these procedures, the leave shall be considered disapproved, annotated
on the 3971 and returned to the employee as soon as possible.
K. Any employee desiring proof of submission may submit application in
triplicate. Supervisor will sign line for "Signature of Supervisor and Date
Notified" on the triplicate and return it immediately to the employee.
L. When considering requests for additional leave (other than the months of
April to September), management may count the following absences against the
allowable number of vacancies left on the leave calendar:
1) Known or scheduled sick leave.
2) LWOP or COP covering the entire day or week requested.
3) Vacancies created by retirement or termination of employment (maximum
term of four [4] weeks).
4) Court leave
5) Suspensions
M. After the initial requests are processed, employees may select and hold a
guaranteed slot on the leave calendar with a minimum request of four (4) hours
of annual leave.
Maintenance:
Maintenance Craft employees shall have a leave section established by tour and
occupational group and level in each designated criteria throughout the leave
year. At least one employee shall be granted leave in each designated
criteria throughout the leave year.
Item 5 -- Duration of the Choice Vacation Period
The choice vacation period is designated as the first Saturday in January
through the last day of November. The week of Christmas will be handled on a
seniority basis. Management will allow as many as possible off during this
time.
Item 6 -- Determination of the beginning day of an employee's vacation
period
A. Full-time regular employee's leave starts on the first day of the
employee's basic workweek and continues through their scheduled work days for
each full work week. Scheduled days off and holidays during any leave week
will be listed on the leave calendar. An employee's scheduled annual leave
period shall remain the same even though he/she may change tours or scheduled
days off.
B. At the employee's request, full-time regular employees with split days
off shall be granted a change of schedule to allow for nine days off, by
agreement among the employee, the Union representative, and the employer.
C. Part-time flexible employee's leave starts on Monday and continues
through Friday, with the following weekend considered part of scheduled leave
and listed on the calendar.
Item 7 -- Whether an employee, at their option, may request two selections
during the choice vacation period, in units of either five or ten days
A. Employees earning thirteen days annual leave per year shall have one
selection of ten days or two selections of five days each.
B. Employees earning twenty or twenty-six days annual leave per year shall
have one selection of fifteen days, two selections of one ten day and one five
day period or two selections of five days in the choice time.
Item 8 -- Whether jury duty or attendance at national or state conventions
shall be charged to the choice vacation period
A. Annual leave to attend state or national conventions will not be charged
to the designated representative's choice period.
B. An employee called to jury duty during his/her choice vacation period
will be given another selection during the choice period.
Item 9 -- Determination of the maximum number of employees who shall receive
leave each week during the choice vacation period
A. At least 10% of employees shall be permitted leave during the choice
vacation period except during any full week in the months of April through
September, when 13% of employees will be permitted leave. When determining
percentages, fractions will be rounded off to the nearest whole number. Five-
tenths or more will be rounded up. Less than five-tenths will be dropped.
VOMA employees shall not be counted when computing percentages, or as part of
the maximum allowable on leave.
B. The minimum number of leave slots for each percentage will be determined
based on the total number of clerks authorized for the installation as of
December 1st of each year. Once the number of slots has been determined, they
shall be guaranteed, providing the slots not filled after the requirements of
Item 12 are applied for by Tuesday preceding the week in which the leave
period falls. Requests received after this time may be approved at the option
of management.
C. The following will not affect the number of employees that can be allowed
on annual leave:
1) Employees on union activities of two days or less
2) Employees on military leave
3 Employees on jury duty
4) Employees attending state or national conventions as actual delegates
Item 10 -- The issuance of official notice to each employee of their
approved vacation schedule
A. Starting on the first Monday of December, each employee, by seniority,
will be solicited for his/her initial selection(s) of annual leave. After
examination of the leave calendar, each employee shall submit a duplicate 3971
stating their initial selection(s) and receive approval for same. This
process shall be concluded by the 1st Monday of January.
B. Starting the second Monday of January, each employee may submit requests
for additional unused leave in increments of five days (5, 10, etc.).
Application for said leave (PS Form 3971) shall be submitted in triplicate to
the employee's immediate supervisor. The supervisor shall sign and date the
request and return one (1) copy to the employee at that time. These requests
shall begin on the first day of the employee's basic work week. These
applications shall be approved by seniority and processed by the third
Saturday of January.
C. The Local Union President or his designee shall assist the management
designee in the maintenance of the leave calendar.
Item 11 -- Determination of the date and means of notifying employees of the
beginning of the new leave year
A. A Labor-Management meeting shall be scheduled in October of each year to
determine the date of the beginning of the leave year for the following year.
A review shall be made of the unused leave of all employees to insure that no
leave will be lost.
B. No later than November 1st of each year, the employer shall post a notice
on all official bulletin boards, notifying the employees of the beginning of
the new leave year, including a listing of those employees and excess unused
leave, together with the invitation for those employees to schedule that
portion of their leave that may remain in excess.
Item 12 -- The procedures for submission of applications for annual leave
during other than the choice vacation period
(See Item 5 -- Duration of the Choice Vacation Period.)
Item 13 -- The method of selecting employees to work on a holiday
Clerk Craft:
A. Posting
1. After determination by the employer of the number of employees required,
a notice shall be posted, inviting FTR employees to voluntarily work their
normally scheduled days which falls on the day designated as a holiday, on
their normally scheduled tour; and FTR employees whose nonscheduled day falls
on the day designated as the holiday, on their normally scheduled tour.
2. On the Tuesday of the week preceding the holiday, the schedule shall be
posted.
B. Determination of employees scheduled to work
1. All FTR and PTF employees who have volunteered to work their holiday,
by seniority, even if the payment of overtime is necessary.
2. All casuals even if the payment of overtime is necessary.
3. All transitional employees even if the payment of overtime is necessary.
4. All PTF employees even if overtime is necessary.
5. FTR employees on the OTDL whose non scheduled day falls on the Holiday.
6. FTR non-volunteer employees whose non-scheduled day falls on the holiday,
in reverse seniority.
7. FTR non-volunteer employees for whom the day is a holiday, in reverse
seniority.
Maintenance Craft:
The method of selecting employees to work on a holiday or designated holiday
shall be by:
A. Volunteers by seniority
B. Non-volunteers by reverse seniority
Item 14 -- Whether the overtime desired list in Article 8 shall be by
section and/or tour
Clerk Craft:
A. Overtime desired lists shall be posted as described in Article 8 of the
National Agreement, and will contain the following categories:
1) Tour 1
a. Pre-tour
b. Post-tour
c. Days off
2) Tour 2
a. Pre-tour
b Post-tour
c. Days off
3) Tour 3
a. Pre-tour
b. Post-tour
c. Days off
The hours of the above tours shall be defined as follows:
1. Tour I:
There have been