Das Issues Remedy Award on PM End of Day Button Case

(This article first appeared in the November/December issue of the American Postal Worker magazine)

On December 8, 2017, Arbitrator Shyam Das found that the Postal Service was in violation of the parties’ Article 1.6.B Global Settlement Remedy Agreement (GSRA) in Level 18 offices when it created the Postmaster End of Day (PMEOD) button in the Retail System Software (RSS). The PMEOD button allowed postmasters to enter and exit RSS without completely closing out of the window. The button allowed postmasters to give false accounts of the amount of bargaining unit work they performed, which is limited to 15 hours each week in Level 18 offices.

In his December 8, 2017 award, Arbitrator Das remanded the remedy to the parties; however, after three years, the Postal Service had failed to provide the union with an acceptable analysis of the amount of back pay entitlement and the parties returned to the arbitrator for a decision on a proper remedy. After the initial hearing dates in August 2020 were postponed, the remedy hearings were held on December 3-4, 2020. Das issued his decision dated September 16, 2021, awarding $20.5 million to be distributed: “(1) to affected bargaining unit employees as determined by the union; or if that option is declined by the union, (2) to clerks who worked in offices where the PMEOD function was enabled based on the relative number of days they worked during the period that function was enabled” (page 2 of his award).

This is just one more step in the battle to return work rightfully belonging to the Clerk Craft. While the Postal Service continues to put up obstacles, your union will not be deterred. We will continue to fight. This award should bring about a little vindication for the clerks in Level 18 post offices.

The Clerk Division at the national level filed the dispute after the Postal Service unilaterally changed the RSS logon start time on the PS Form 1412, in an effort to reduce their financial liability. Rest assured, this battle is not over. Stay tuned.

We will not stop until all the work that is rightfully ours is given to us.

On behalf of the Clerk Division, which includes Director Lamont Brooks, and Assistant Directors Lynn Pallas-Barber and Sam Lisenbe, we would be remiss if we did not thank Memphis Region Clerk Division NBA Pamela Smith, who secured 1412 data during the Thanksgiving holiday for us to present as rebuttal evidence at the arbitration hearing, and Michael Barrett of the Buffalo Area Local, who compiled numerous excel spreadsheets in support of the data.

Clerk Craft officers will meet and discuss the two options offered by Arbitrator Das in his award regarding the remedy to determine the best possible manner in which to compensate those clerks affected by this violation.

Clerk Craft Planning Additional Training

During the last full week of January 2022, the Clerk Craft will conduct training via Zoom. The classes have not been finalized at the time of this writing; however, they will include training on Clerk Craft-related issues. We want to piggyback on the positive responses we received concerning the Clerk Craft Conference trainings.

Once exact dates and classes are confirmed, the Clerk Craft webpage on apwu.org will have the information, and local and state organizations will be notified.

* Editor's Note: Due to the tentative 2021-2024 Collective Bargaining Agreement mailing to all APWU members for a ratification vote, the training has been postponed. Once the ratification vote has been tallied and if the contract has been approved by the membership, the Clerk Craft will reschedule the training based on the new 2021 contract. (1/18/22) *

Clerk Mentoring Program

In early 2022, Clerk Craft is planning to launch a Clerk Mentoring Program.

We want to assist each of our officers at the local level in bringing along at least one younger member in a similar fashion as the ‘Big Brother’ Program. The mentoring program will hopefully be utilized to train and encourage younger clerk craft members to get involved and stay involved with the union. They are our union’s future, and we want them to have a strong foundation to keep the APWU secure.