MVS Division Resolves National Dispute on Article 32.2 Vehicle Costs

On November 23, the National MVS Craft Division came to agreement with the USPS on a class action Step-4 dispute regarding PVS Costs, case no. Q10V-4Q-C 16534585/HQTV20160326.

The issue presented was whether or not the USPS violated Article 32.2 of the National Agreement when they assigned the full cost of a vehicle as a line item in their cost comparison. The MVS Craft officers complained that these were unreasonable costs added to PVS making it harder to compete with HCR costs in the comparisons. This issue had been occurring for several years and was first challenged by former MVS Director Bob Pritchard. The MVS Craft always felt that this was a violation of several provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement including the Contracting or Insourcing of Contracted Services MOU. 

The parties have agreed to the following:

"The purchase price of a vehicle is a line item on a cost comparison. The cost of the vehicle should depreciate over the anticipated service life of the vehicle, which is listed in Exhibit 221.211 of Handbook PO-701.
Exhibit 221.211 of Handbook PO-701 lists the service life of Tractors, Spotters, 5-ton, 7-ton, 9-ton and 11- ton as eight (8) years, and trailers as twelve (12) years.
The vehicle costs should be spread over the service life in the Article 32.2 cost comparisons as 1/8th the cost of the trucks and 1/12th the costs of the trailers until the vehicle has been depreciated. If the vehicles are still in service at the end of the service life, these costs will no longer be included in the Article 32.2 cost comparisons."

Click here to view the full agreement. 

MVS Director Michael O. Foster stated, “this is a step forward in our journey towards a fair cost comparison in the Article 32.2 process. We will continue to seek transparency in our fight against subcontracting. I want to thank Assistant Director Ken Prinz and former Assistant Director Javier Pineres for their contributions in these efforts."