Certain contract provisions and compensation arrangements limit the Postal Service’s ability to manage HR effectively and efficiently, the USPS inspector general has concluded in a recent audit.
After looking at the impact of labor union contract provisions on the Postal Service’s ability to manage HR, as well as analyzing certain contract provisions that impact carriers, retail clerks, plant clerks, and mail handlers, the IG found that limitations on the use of part-time employees reduce workforce flexibility and increase work hours.
It also concluded that certain contract provisions contribute to grievances filed by Postal Service unions.
Faced with contractual and legal obligations, declining mail volume and other challenges exacerbated by a down economy, USPS is seeking greater flexibility, even to the point of seeking the authority from Congress to eliminate layoff provisions in its collective bargaining agreements to allow it to terminate about 120,000 employees in order to reach a 220,000 workforce reduction target.
Through the collective bargaining process USPS has negotiated some workforce flexibilities, however. Its recent contract with the American Postal Workers Union, for example, provides for increased flexibility by permitting non-traditional full-time assignments of between 30 and 48 hours per week, and for up to 20 percent of the workforce in most functional areas of the clerk craft to be comprised of support employees.
However, management remains limited in its ability to make workforce and operational adjustments – for example, when temporarily assigning employees across crafts, according to HR-AR-11-002.
