Article 1 Union Recognition CIM v5 2021

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Article 1 Union Recognition

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§ 1.1 Recognition

The Employer recognizes the Union designated below as the exclusive bargaining representative of all employees in the bargaining unit for which the Union has been recognized and certified at the national level: National Postal Mail Handlers Union, A Division of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, AFL-CIO.

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The NPMHU is the exclusive bargaining agent representing mail handlers and mail handler assistants employed by the U.S. Postal Service. It has been so recognized in accordance with the terms of the Postal Reorganization Act (PRA) of 1970, which transformed the federal government agency known as the “Post Office Department” into an independent establishment of the Government of the United States, the “United States Postal Service.” The PRA also granted bargaining-unit employees the right to bargain collectively with respect to “rates of pay, wages, hours of employment, or other conditions of employment.” As the exclusive bargaining representative for all mail handlers, the NPMHU is the only organization that is entitled to represent mail handlers in their collective bargaining relationship with the Postal Service.

The other unions exclusively representing large, national groups of USPS craft employees are:

APWU or American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO: clerks, maintenance, motor vehicle, mail equipment shops and material distribution center employees; NALC or National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO: city letter carriers; and NRLCA or National Rural Letter Carriers Association: rural letter carriers. The NPMHU and the unions representing other postal crafts all negotiated together and executed joint National Agreements with the U.S. Postal Service covering the periods 1971-73 and 1973-75. The NRLCA bargained separately for its 1975-78 Agreement and all agreements thereafter. The NPMHU remained in a jointly-bargained National Agreement with the APWU and NALC covering the periods 1975-78 and 1978-81. Beginning in 1981, and continuing to this day, the NPMHU has bargained separately for its own National Agreement. The APWU and NALC continued to bargain together as the Joint Bargaining Committee in 1981, 1984, 1987, and 1990, but have bargained separately since 1994. Presently, therefore, the four major postal unions have separate National Agreements with the Postal Service.

§ 1.2 Exclusions

The bargaining unit set forth in Section 1 above does not include, and this Agreement does not apply to:

  1. Managerial and supervisory personnel;
  2. Professional employees;
  3. Employees engaged in personnel work in other than a purely non-confidential clerical capacity;
  4. Security guards as defined in Public Law 91-375, 1201(2);
  5. All Postal Inspection Service employees;
  6. Employees in the supplemental work force, as previously defined in Article 7 of the 2016 National Agreement;
  7. Rural Letter Carriers;
  8. City Letter Carriers;
  9. Maintenance Employees;
  10. Special Delivery Messengers;
  11. Motor Vehicle Employees;
  12. Postal Clerks;
  13. Mail Equipment Shop employees; or
  14. Mail Transport Equipment Centers and Supply Center employees.

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This provision sets forth various postal employees who are excluded from or are not part of the bargaining unit represented by the NPMHU.

The supplemental work force, which was previously defined in Article 7 of the 2016 National Agreement as casual employees, are excluded from the bargaining unit. Additionally, managerial and supervisory personnel, employees exclusively represented by one of the other postal unions, and postal employees who work at the Mail Transport Equipment Centers are among those excluded from the bargaining unit.

Question: Are managers or supervisors members of the bargaining unit represented by the NPMHU?

Answer: No. However, mail handlers serving in a temporary supervisory position (204b) or in a supervisory training program are still considered to be craft employees and may continue to accrue seniority in the mail handler craft. The right of such employees and those detailed to EAS positions to bid on vacant duty assignments or to encumber their current duty assignment is governed by Article 12 (Section 12.3B12).

Question: Are postal employees still working at the Mail Transport Equipment Centers or Repair Centers (MTEC) represented by the NPMHU?

Answer: Yes. However, they are considered to be members of a separate bargaining unit, and therefore are not directly covered by the 2019 National Agreement between the NPMHU and the Postal Service. Rather, pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding Mail Transport Equipment Centers/Repair Centers (MOU) that is contained in the 1998 National Agreement, the terms and conditions of employment for employees at the MTECs are governed by the Supplemental Agreement covering the MTECs (as specifically modified by the MOU) until all such postal facilities are closed and all employees are reassigned in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding regarding reassignment from MTEC facilities.

§ 1.3 Facility Exclusions

This Agreement does not apply to employees who work in other employer facilities which are not engaged in customer services and mail processing, previously understood and expressed by the parties to mean mail processing and delivery, including but not limited to Headquarters, Area Offices, Postal Data Centers, Postal Service Training and Development Institute, Oklahoma Postal Training Operations, Postal Academies, Postal Academy Training Institute, Stamped Envelope Agency, Supply Centers, Mail Equipment Shops, or Mail Transport Equipment Centers and Repair Centers.

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§ 1.4 Definition

Subject to the foregoing sections, this Agreement shall be applicable to all employees in the regular work force of the U.S. Postal Service, as defined in Article 7, at all present and subsequently acquired installations, facilities, and operations of the Employer, wherever located.

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This section provides that, subject to the exclusions listed in Sections 1.2 and 1.3, all members of the regular workforce as defined in Article 7 (Section 7.1A), including all full-time regular employees, part-time regular employees, part-time flexible employees, and mail handler assistants (MHAs) are members of the bargaining unit represented by the NPMHU. This includes postal employees at all present and subsequently acquired installations, facilities and operations of the Postal Service, wherever located.

§ 1.5 New Positions

  1. Each newly created position shall be assigned by the Employer to the national craft unit most appropriate for such position within thirty (30) days after its creation. Before such assignment of each new position the Employer shall consult with the Union for the purpose of assigning the new position to the national craft unit most appropriate for such position. The following criteria shall be used in making this determination:
    1. existing work assignment practices;
    2. manpower costs;
    3. avoidance of duplication of effort and "make work" assignments;
    4. effective utilization of manpower, including the Postal Service's need to assign employees across craft lines on a temporary basis;
    5. the integral nature of all duties which comprise a normal duty assignment;
    6. the contractual and legal obligations and requirements of the parties.
  2. The Union shall be notified promptly by the Employer regarding assignments made under this provision. Should the Union dispute the assignment of the new position within thirty (30) days from the date the Union has received notification of the assignment of
  3. the position, the dispute shall be subject to the provisions of the grievance and arbitration procedure provided for herein.

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This section requires that before assigning a new position to the most appropriate national craft bargaining unit, the Postal Service shall consult with the NPMHU. Additionally, it contains standards that shall be used in assigning new positions to the appropriate unit and provides that the NPMHU will be promptly notified of the decision as to which bargaining unit a new position has been assigned. Any dispute regarding the assignment is grievable at the national level within 30 days from the date the union receives notification of the assignment.

In the Letter of Intent Re References to Union, Craft or Bargaining Unit, which is reprinted in the CIM after Article 39, the parties have agreed that the Postal Service will continue to inform the NPMHU of all new positions whether or not the positions are within the craft unit represented by the NPMHU. Section 1.6 CIM v5 2021

§ 1.6 Performance of Bargaining Unit Work

  1. Supervisors are prohibited from performing bargaining unit work at post offices with 100 or more bargaining unit employees, except:
    1. in an "emergency" which is defined to mean an unforeseen circumstance or a combination of circumstances which calls for immediate action in a situation which is not expected to be of a recurring nature;
    2. for the purpose of training or instruction of employees;
    3. to assure the proper operation of equipment;
    4. to protect the safety of employees; or
    5. to protect the property of the USPS.
  2. In offices with less than 100 bargaining unit employees, supervisors are prohibited from performing bargaining unit work except as enumerated in Section 1.6A1 through 1.6A5 above or when the duties are included in the supervisor's position description.

(The preceding Article, Article 1, shall apply to Mail Handler Assistant employees.)
Memo, page 129

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Section 1.6A prohibits supervisors in offices with 100 or more bargaining unit employees from performing mail handler bargaining unit work, except for the reasons specifically enumerated. Section 1.6B provides that in offices with fewer than 100 bargaining unit employees, supervisors are prohibited from performing bargaining unit work, except for the reasons specifically enumerated in Section 1.6A or when the duties are included in the supervisors’ position description.

Question: Can an employee on a 204-b assignment perform bargaining unit work?

Answer: No. An employee serving as a temporary supervisor (204-b) is prohibited from performing bargaining unit work except to the extent otherwise provided in Section 1.6 and in the Memorandum of Understanding Re: Overtime/Acting Supervisor (204B) Detailed EAS Position discussed under Article 8.

Question: What is the definition of “post office” for purposes of Article 1, Section 1.6?

Answer: The provisions of Section 1.6A as they relate to the proper definition of “post office” were arbitrated at the national level in case number AB-NAT-1009. In his award, Arbitrator Gamser rejected the Postal Service’s position that there are stations and branches which act or function just like post offices. Arbitrator Gamser’s award sustaining the grievance quoted a postal witness in a NLRB proceeding as follows: “Post Office or postal installation is a mail processing and delivery activity under the head of a single manager. That could range from a single small Post Office to a large Post Office with several associated stations and branches which are responsible to the single manager or could include a large Post Office with many stations and branches, even over 100 stations and branches including related activities such as vehicles and motor facility or an air mail facility, all of which are part of that single postal installation.” Further, Arbitrator Gamser accepted the definition of an installation as defined in Article 38 of the 1973 National Agreement. “...Installation. A main post office, airport mail facility, terminal or any similar organizational unit under the direction of one postal official, together with stations, branches and other subordinate units.” (Emphasis supplied) Source: National Arbitration Award AB-NAT-1009, Arbitrator H. Gamser, dated June 8, 1974.

Question: How is it determined whether an office has 100 or more bargaining unit employees?

Answer: At the beginning of each Agreement period, a count is made of all employees represented by the APWU, NALC and NPMHU to determine which offices have 100 or more employees. The resultant list – which adds together employees in all three of these bargaining units – is effective for the life of the Agreement and does not change during the Agreement.

Question: How is “emergency” defined for purposes of this Section?

Answer: The definition of emergency found in Article 3 (Section 3.6) is used in this Section: “an unforeseen circumstance of a combination of circumstances which calls for immediate action in a situation which is not expected to be of a recurring nature.” Normally, an increase in mail volume is not, in and of itself, an emergency situation.

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