IT/ASC Workers Ratify 4-Year Contract

APWU members have ratified a four-year contract covering more than 1,200 employees at Postal Service IT/ASC facilities.

The Information Technology/Accounting Service Centers facilities are in Eagan (MN), San Mateo (CA), St. Louis, and Wilkes-Barre (PA). The APWU and USPS in late March reached a tentative agreement, and voting was conducted at each site, with a final count showing 81 percent (508 to 119) in favor of ratification.

The IT/ASC employees will receive wage increases of 1.3 percent retroactive to Jan. 20, 2007, as well as on Jan. 29, 2008, and Jan. 17, 2009. They will receive a 1.2 percent raise in the last year of the contract, which expires Jan. 20, 2011. The union and management also agreed to continue the Cost-of-Living Adjustment salary increases in May and September of each year. The COLA formula will remain the same, with a new base index of September 2006.

The contract also provides for the consolidation and revision of several job descriptions and pay levels. In changes to take effect March 1, 2008, the entry-level Accounting and Payroll jobs will be upgraded from DCS-11 to DCS-13; the Accounting Help Desk position will be upgraded from DCS-17 to DCS-18; and the Computer Systems Analyst/Programmer assignment will be upgraded from DCS-20 to DCS-21.

In addition, the Computer Systems Analyst/Programmer, Senior — a DCS-22 position — will be gradually replaced with a DCS-23 position. This transition will take place over the life of the agreement. And effective May 23, 2009, a new Step O will be added to the pay chart for DCS-14, DCS-15, and DCS-16. At the same time, a new Step Q will be added for DCS-17.

Beginning next year, the Postal Service will pay 95 percent of healthcare premiums for employees enrolled in the APWU Consumer Driven Health Plan. The employees’ share of healthcare premium costs in other plans will increase 1 percent each year in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. This mirrors the provision in the main agreement covering Clerk, Maintenance, and Motor Vehicle craft employees, which was ratified in January.

In accordance with the union’s Constitution, Support Services National Business Agent Bill Manley went to each IT/ASC center to explain the tentative agreement and to conduct a ratification vote.

“Approximately 60 percent of the membership voted,” Manley said. “Negotiating Committee members Steve Brooks (Eagan), Shirley Harrison (St. Louis), Ed Cox (San Mateo), and Pat Garvey (Wilkes-Barre), submitted numerous proposals and although we didn’t achieve all of our demands, we negotiated significant improvements to wages and working conditions, while maintaining our grievance procedure and our unqualified No-Layoff clause.”