Early last fall, the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) filed a labor grievance against the Postal Service concerning who separates and sorts the mail brought back to the post office by rural carriers. Now the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA) has filed a lawsuit against the Postal Service and the APWU over the issue.
The case involves work assignments in Jacksonville, Florida, which has over 200 rural routes and 250 rural carriers. It’s the second largest post office in the country for rural delivery.
When rural carriers in Jacksonville return from their routes, they separate and sort the mail they’ve collected. It’s been that way for several years. But the APWU claims that members of its bargaining unit should be doing this work and getting paid for it, so the union filed a grievance against the USPS.
The APWU and the USPS scheduled an arbitration hearing on October 29, 2014, before arbitrator Harry Gudenberg. When the NRLCA received notice about the upcoming hearing, it sought “full-party status” in the dispute, including the right to participate in the selection of the arbitrator.
via NRLCA, APWU, and USPS go to court over who sorts the mail | Save the Post Office.