Article 5 Body CIM v5 2021

Article 5 prohibits management taking any unilateral action inconsistent with the terms of the existing agreement or with its obligations under law. Section 8(d) of the National Labor Relations Act prohibits an employer from making unilateral changes in wages, hours or working conditions during the term of a collective bargaining agreement. Examples of prohibited actions include:

• Giving employees cash awards that were not negotiated.
• Implementing “pro-active” discipline programs without negotiating them with the union.

Source: National Arbitration Award H1M-NA-C 99, Arbitrator N. Zumas, dated May 11, 1987. Management actions are not considered to be unilateral when they are covered by the National Agreement or when they are an exercise of rights that the parties have reserved to management as provided in Article 3. For example, management may decide to discontinue an installation and the agreement of the Union is not necessary because that right has been reserved to management in Articles 3 and 12. On the other hand, the reassignment of those employees affected by that decision must be made in accordance with Article 12 and any other applicable provisions of the Agreement. The manner in which such reassignments are made could be subject to a challenge through the grievance procedure as a violation of Article 12 but not necessarily as a violation of Article 5. Question: What is an example of actions not prohibited under Article 5? Answer: Changes in mail distribution systems that could potentially result in excessing. The arbitrator found that, under the provisions of Article 3 and Article 12, management could proceed without further collective bargaining. Source: National Arbitration Award AC-NAT-3052, Arbitrator S. Garrett, dated April 25, 1977. Question: Can management change breaks? Response: Issues involving breaks are determined by local policy. Whether management altered a past practice can only be determined by full development of the specific fact circumstances involved. Source: Step 4 Grievance H1M-5D-C 21062, dated October 15, 1984. In 2014, in his award concerning the Lead Clerk position, National Arbitrator Shyam Das wrote: In sum, the NPMHU has established that the Postal Service unilaterally changed the terms and conditions of employment for Mail Handlers when it assigned the Lead Clerk position which it had negotiated with the APWU to provide oversight, direction and support to Mail Handlers, work that in the absence of a supervisor previously had been performed by Mail Handler Group Leaders. The Postal Service is ordered to restore the status quo and to bargain with the NPMHU over these matters. Source: National Arbitration Award Q06M-6Q-C 12288977, Arbitrator S. Das, dated November 5, 2014. National Arbitrator Bernstein wrote concerning Article 5: The only purpose the Article can serve is to incorporate all the Service's "obligations under law" into the Agreement, so as to give the Service's legal obligations the additional status of contractual obligations as well. This incorporation has significance primarily in terms of enforcement mechanism-it enables the signatory unions to utilize the contractual vehicle of arbitration to enforce all of the Service's legal obligations. Moreover, the specific reference to the National Labor Relations Act is persuasive evidence that the parties were especially interested in utilizing the grievance and arbitration procedure spelled out in Article 15 to enforce the Service’s NLRB commitments. Source: National Arbitration Award H1N-5G-C 14964, Arbitrator N. Bernstein, dated March 11, 1987.