Vaccination Mandates by President Biden

(This article originated from the APWU website: https://apwu.org/news/vaccination-mandates-president-biden)

On September 9, 2021, the White House released two Executive Orders on vaccinations for COVID-19.

The Executive Orders on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees and on Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors do not expressly apply to Postal Service Employees.

In addition, in President Joe Biden remarks, he stated, “…tonight, I’m announcing that the Department of Labor is developing an emergency rule to require all employers with 100 or more employees, that together employ over 80 million workers, to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated or show a negative test at least once a week.”

Until this emergency rule is developed, the APWU will not know if it applies to Postal Service employees. Once the emergency rule is released it will be reviewed and discussed with our attorneys and additional information on how it applies will be released.

As the APWU has continually stated, all employees are encouraged to wear face coverings at work and are encouraged to voluntarily receive one of the COVID-19 vaccines.

USPS Statement on COVID-19 Vaccines

(USPS releases this statement: https://about.usps.com/newsroom/statements/091621-usps-statement-on-covid19-vaccinations.htm)

Sept. 16, 2021

The health and safety of the Postal Service’s 650,000 employees who work every day to ensure that vital mail and packages are timely delivered to the American people, remains our highest priority. We will continue to take measures to protect the health and safety of our Postal workers that, given the critical role of vaccinations, includes encouraging all to get vaccinated.

We appreciate the urgency with which the administration is moving to implement new measures to stem the further spread of COVID-19 and its Delta variant.  Because the Postal Service is an independent federal agency that operates under a private sector collective bargaining model, modifications to working conditions are mandatory subjects of bargaining. In addition, our workplaces are subject to regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Therefore, we are working closely with our union leadership so that once OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) is issued we can move quickly to determine its applicability to our employees and how best to implement.

Additional information on the steps we have taken to keep our employees and customers safe is available here.

Latest Updates and Information

NALC Food Drive Postponement
Our Sisters and Brothers at the NALC have had to postpone the annual food drive.  It will be rescheduled and we encourage you all to support it when it is rescheduled.

Please Disseminate.

Vance Zimmerman
Industrial Relations Director
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Change.org: DON’T Sign the Petition
Change.org  has a petition to sign for hazard pay. Our recommendation is NOT to sign this petition. The language could be construed as an act of bargaining unit rights of the Union as it deals with wages. I’ve also attached the Stand Up Talk given on social media from February 25, 2020, which signing the petition could be seen as a violation of this policy and we again recommend NOT signing this due to possible ramifications.

Michael J Wright
Director of Associate Offices
APWU SJAL #0526
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Maintenance Update_4.1.2020
COVID-19 SUT 19_ALL EMPLOYEES_Employee Privacy_4.1.2020
COVID-19-Employee-RTW-Positive-Test-Updated_4.1.2020
COVID-19-Supervisor-and-Management-Guidance-Updated_4.1.2020
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Brothers and Sisters,

Please see the attached notification and the email below in which the Postal Service provided answers to my questions regarding the updates to CODES and the changes to the F-55 and F-85 Handbooks.

Sam Lisenbe
Assistant Director, Clerk Craft

Notification No#3 FY 2020 (3.11.2020)_4.5.2020

    1. <1.> Regarding the Computerized On-Site Data Entry System (CODES) – Is there any dispute that data entry is a clerk craft function?

Data Collection Technician positions are clerk craft positions and are trained data collectors who perform data entry into the CODES software. 

    1. <2.> The 3-6-20 notification letter identifies the procedures for these programs as “data collection”. Who (which craft) will perform the data collection duties involving CCCS, RCCS, and SIRVI?

See above – clerk craft.

    1. <3.> Regarding the In-Office Cost System (IOCS) – At what point, once mail and mail containers are received, is it anticipated/expected that barcode scanning should be performed for IOCS? Is this scanning considered the same as or similar to Arrival-at-Unit scanning? In addition, is the clerk craft assigned to perform the scanning for IOCS?

No, the scans for IOCS have nothing to do with Arrival-At-Unit scans, which are focused on tracking the flow of mail. Instead, IOCS takes a “snapshot in time” of what the sampled employee is doing. After randomly selecting an employee and randomly selecting a moment in time of that employee’s workday, the IOCS data collector (clerk craft) gets scans of the one mailpiece that the employee is handling at that moment. They’ll also scan any barcodes on mail-holding containers (e.g. trays, APCs, pallets) that the employee is handling at that moment.

    1. <4.> Are these changes to the CODES software and data collection policies and procedures expected to affect data collection staffing?

No.
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Going the distance

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COVID-19 MOU Work Exceptions
While I understand I am not signatory to the COVID-19 exceptions, I am making this suggestion/recommendation to the locals as the Clerk Division Director, in the best interest of our employees, while considering these are very trying times, requiring tough decisions.

The MOUs require the postal service to maximize the employees in many cases as part of the pecking  order.

If I were implementing these agreements at the local level, I would use my judgment on when and how I would be filing grievances.

Any employee that wants to maximize their work opportunities I would afford them those rights per the Agreements.

If an employee did not want to maximize the opportunities due to their own personal safety  reasons, I would secure it in writing from the employee and I would not file a grievance when the postal service failed to maximize the work opportunities per the MOUs pecking order as a result of the clerk employee choosing not to work.

These are very personal decisions. While we do not like opening the door for other crafts or Postmasters to perform bargaining unit work, it is a balancing act of not forcing our folks to work under safety conditions they choose not to work and providing service.

In a perfect world we would hope the overtime desired list and volunteers would suffice.

This pandemic only proves how imperfect our world is.

Be safe and work safe while considering your family and you,

This is not to take away a right already secured during the COVID-19.

We also don’t want this to turn into an open season with the Postal Service thinking they  can blatantly violate the national agreement after the pandemic.

Lamont Brooks
Director
Clerk Division

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Brothers and sisters, here is a valuable document the NALC and the USPS signed off on which stops CCAs from working in other offices and limits carriers to their home offices to prevent the spread of COVID.

NALC MOU_4.5.2020

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Brothers and Sisters,

See the attached notification regarding the change in Customs Declaration Forms. Effective March 13, the Postal Service began using PS Form 2976-R when transferring information from customers to SSAs for data entry.

Please forward to your local and state leaders.

In Solidarity,

Sam Lisenbe
Assistant Clerk Craft Director

Handwritten Customs Declearation Forms PS 2976_4.5.2020

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Other Stand-Up Talks, MOUs and Information
COVID-19 SUT 25_Guidelines for PVS drivers_4.5.2020
COVID-19 SUT 28_Interacting with VMF personnel_4.5.2020
COVID-19 SUT 29_COVID-19 Supplies_4.5.2020
COVID-19 FAQ-2020-04-01_4.5.2020
BME Tech & MRC Qualification Signed_4.5.2020
FFCRA Web Article_4.5.2020

Here’s how APWU has responded for YOU – the members –
APWU COVID-19 Response_4.5.2020

STAY INFORMED!!