Article 14 – Influenza Cleaning Contingency

The Postal Service issued the attached MMO, MMO-109-09, titled “Influenza Cleaning Contingency” for facilities to impose ADDITIONAL cleaning methods to reduce the spread of infection during the current 2009 to 2010 Influenza (Flu) season which includes H1N1 influenza. The contingency reflects the latest guidance issued from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The additional cleaning methods are not intended to decrease the cleaning frequencies currently used in your facility (the current cleaning frequency for your facility can be found in the current authorized and approved custodial staffing package).

The additional cleaning requirements must be performed until the flu season (Fall of 2009 to April 2010) has ended, unless otherwise notified.

Recognizing that there are facilities that may not have career maintenance employees or those career maintenance employees may be incapacitated due to flue, the MMO provides for cleaning tasks to be performed by nonmaintenance employees. In this regard the language states:

If custodial resources are not available for these tasks in facilities in which the cleaning services are performed by career maintenance bargaining unit employees, including those facilities covered by relief from another office, the Senior Postal Official (SPO) may require non-custodial personnel to perform them. However, before non-custodial postal employees can perform these cleaning requirements, they must be trained on the proper use of the cleaning chemicals and provided with any necessary Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

There is much that is still unknown on how the H1N1 influenza pandemic will develop. At this point the CDC does not expect the H1N1 's severity to increase this flu season and therefore the cleaning tasks and infection control strategies contained in this MMO should suffice. However, this can change. Should CDC's guidance change, additional information will be issued.

Gary Kloepfer
Assistant Director
Maintenance Division
American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO

APWU, USPS Agree To Revamped Maintenance Selection System

APWU Web News Article #068-09, June 12, 2009

After intensive discussions, the APWU and the USPS have agreed to modify the Maintenance Selection System (MSS), the process by which many Maintenance Craft duty assignments are filled.

“The Revamped Maintenance Selection System maintains employee protections that are important to the craft, and establishes a selection process that is far more objective than the old system,” Maintenance Craft Director Steve Raymer said. “The RMSS also should result in a more timely return of results, and the elimination of several troublesome issues.” The June 3, 2009, agreement necessitated changes to Article 38 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and the development of a new Maintenance Selection System Handbook (EL-304), Raymer said.

The USPS began reviewing the MSS in 2006, citing changes in technology and equipment, as well as difficulty maintaining selection registers and recruiting new hires. The MSS had not undergone a complete review since 1984. As part of the review process, the Postal Service surveyed hundreds of current craft employees and supervisors, and evaluated the work associated with Maintenance Craft occupational groups.

In early 2009, when the Postal Service notified the APWU of proposed changes to the EL-304 Handbook, the APWU initiated serious discussions with management on the subject.
The USPS was reluctant to expand previously negotiated initiatives that provided developmental training to employees to help meet the qualifications for the selection registers, such as the Maintenance Skills Development Program and the ET Trainee Program, saying it would be too expensive.

A partial list of changes includes:

• Candidate Supplemental Application books have been eliminated;
• Supervisor Evaluations have been eliminated;
• A change has been made to the banding of scores, giving seniority more weight;
• Employees wishing to update their ratings will not need to address individual KSAs (Knowledge, Skills & Abilities); they will only need to wait 120 days from their last testing;
• Individual KSAs will be graded as part of the new job compentencies;
• There will be a single written exam, Test 955, which will be taken online in two parts — one with a proctor and the other without. After passing Test 955, employees will be scheduled for a review panel. The review panel rating will be made on a pass/fail basis;
• Employees who are ranked ineligible will be able to identify whether Test 955 or the review panel was the reason for the rating, and
• Article 38 language has been changed to implement the changes.

Things that did not change:

• KSAs will be retained as listed in the qualification standards. A minor change in wording was made to implement the new rating method;
• Standard position descriptions;
• Job task and/or occupational group work assignments, and
• Make-up of the review panel. (No 204Bs or immediate supervisors will serve.)

The parties are developing a set of Questions and Answers regarding the RMSS, which will be disseminated as soon as it is complete.

MSS applications that were started prior to May 27, 2009, will be processed under the old system. Applications submitted in March for the 2009 Open Season will be processed under the revamped procedure.

Maintenance Craft jobs that are not filled by the MSS process will be unaffected by the agreement.