Editor’s Note: Below is an older article written by James Clagett, who was the Local Assistant Clerk Craft Director at the time. While older, I feel it’s still a helpful explanation of Clerk abolishments, repostings, and so on. Given the current situation we’re wrestling with at Citygate, I hope it helps.
Abolishment of your Duty Assignment
By: James Clagett
Assistant Clerk Craft Director
If it hasn’t happened to you, I’m sure you’ve heard the terminology. What does it mean?
Under Article 3 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, management has the right to establish and/or change duty assignments as needed to conduct operations.
There is a common myth that if your bid (days off/ and or starting time) is changed, that you have been abolished. That is not necessarily true.
Duty assignment; as defined in the collective bargaining agreement:
A set of duties and responsibilities within recognized positions, regularly scheduled during specific hours of duty.
Abolishment; as defined in the collective bargaining agreement:
A management decision to reduce the number of occupied duty assignment (s) in an established section and/or installation.
Sections for the Columbus installation are defined in the Local Memorandum of Understanding. Each associate office is a section unto itself.
Reposting; as defined in the collective bargaining agreement:
The posting of a duty assignment as required by Article 37, section 3.a.4.a, b, or c.
Article 37.3.4.a: when it is necessary that fixed schedule day (s) of work in the basic work week for a duty assignment be permanently changed, the affected assignment (s) shall be reposted.
This is self explanatory.
Article 37.3.4.b: the determination of what constitutes a sufficient change of duties, principal assignment area or scheme knowledge requirements to cause the duty assignment to be reposted shall be a subject of negotiation at the local level.
The Columbus Local Memorandum of Understanding states:
A 50% change in the duty assignment will cause the duty assignment to be reposted if requested by the incumbent. (examples of 50% change would be addition of a scheme, addition of window duties, additional skill requirements etc…) If the incumbent wishes to remain in the duty assignment; they would be required to learn the additional skill (s) and/or training. If the incumbent wishes the duty assignment to be reposted, they would become an unassigned regular upon the filling of the vacancy. If the vacancy remained unfilled the incumbent could possibly be involuntarily assigned to the vacancy under certain circumstances.
The language for associate offices may vary slightly from office to office if you have any questions pertaining to your particular office, contact your steward.
Article 37.3.4.c: the determination of what constitutes a sufficient change in starting time of a duty assignment to cause the duty assignment to be reposted is negotiable at the local level provided:
- No duty assignment will be reposted when the change in starting time is one hour or less.
- The above criteria will also apply to cumulative changes in starting time within the life of this agreement. Cumulative changes are changes that move the starting time outside a circle, which has the starting time as its center and the agreed upon time as its radius. For example: if you have a starting time of 0750 at the beginning of a new contract, that is your radius. Your starting time could be changed to any time from 0650 to 0850 without being reposted. Remember that if you have a different starting time at the beginning of the next bargaining agreement, you also have a new radius that you could be moved up to one hour around.
- The incumbent shall have the option of accepting the new reporting time, if negotiated at the local level. If the incumbent accepts the new reporting time, the assignment will not be reposted. The Columbus Local Memorandum of Understanding states: when a change is made in the starting time of a duty assignment of more than one (I) hour, the duty assignment will be reposted
The language for associate offices may vary slightly from office to office if you have any questions pertaining to your particular office, contact your APWU steward.
The reasoning for the reposting of changes of more than one hour is so that management can’t pick one of their pets, change their duty assignment by several hours so the duty assignment becomes a much better bid, and senior clerks never had the opportunity to bid on the assignment.
If management changes starting times or off days of occupied duty assignments, and replaces them with an equal number of duty assignments within the section, they are considered a reposting of the duty assignment (s), not an abolishment of the duty assignment (s). In that case, reposting of level 5,6,and7 assignments would be restricted to employees within the same and higher levels and status (status meaning full-time regular part-time regular etc…). Reposting of level 4 assignments would be restricted to employees in that salary level and status. If management does not repost an equal number of changed bids, then there has been an abolishment of one, or more, duty assignments. If there has been one, or more, duty assignments abolished within a section, there is an excessing situation. If there is excessing, any reposted bids would be closed to the section. With the junior clerk(s) being excessed from the section. The excessed clerk(s) would retain retreat rights to the section prior to any open bidding for assignments within the section.
I hope this Article will give you a little more insight into how the bidding system works. As always, if you have any questions regarding the Collective Bargaining Agreement, please contact your union official. Remember to sign up a scab today.
Yours in solidarity,
Jim Clagett