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A Major Win in the Casual Battle

By: Steve Albanese, NBA
New England Region

   On August 31, 2001 National Arbitrator Shyam Das ruled that the Postal Service's employment practices regarding casuals violated the National Agreement.  In my opinion this will go down as one of the major arbitration wins of our generation.  The APWU filed the national case and both the NALC and Mailhandlers intervened.  It's amazing what can happen when all Unions coordinate their efforts in the same direction.

    The basic thrust of the award was a complete rejection of the Postal Service's claim that they can hire casuals at will for as long as they want provided they don't violate the national percentages outlined in Article 7.  For over twenty years the Unions have had repeated successes on the regional level that management could only use casuals on the short term and should not employ them year round.  Each win was followed by an arrogant management reaction that the regional arbitrators were wrong.  Even longstanding Step 4s and policy letters produced by all of the Unions were ignored.

    The Postal Service's biggest break came in 1985 when Nick Zumas, a national arbitrator, made a ruling on the use of casuals on overtime.  The Postal Service distorted and misrepresented this case for the next 15 years.  

    Well, this ruling by Mr. Das finally put that matter to rest and ruled that the Postal Service's position on Zumas was dead wrong.  The Postal Service has run out of options and now will face the consequences of their arrogance.  I am certain payment for pending violations will be a continuing battle.  We need to continue our coordinated efforts among all Unions to bring a proper resolution to those grievances.

    There will no doubt be a squabble as to who deserves the credit for this victory but in my opinion Union officials at every level played a role.   

    Every steward who challenged local management deserves credit. Every local and state officer who had to face angry members and arrogant managers deserves credit.  Every member who provided statements and supported their Union deserves credit.  This was, in every sense, a true Union victory.   

    Copies of the full text of the award are out and available on the APWU website.  Every member needs to read the award.

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