On September 30, 2025, Clerk Division Director Lamont Brooks reached agreement with the Postal Service regarding Time and Attendance Collection System (TACS) duties. “TACS entries and TACS allied duties are clerk craft bargaining unit work in all Postal facilities/installations Level 18 and above where clerks are employed,” the first line of the settlement agreement states. This historic settlement signals a finality to what has been a persistent issue for the Clerk Division and a financial headache for the Postal Service.
Over the past several years, despite Step 4 settlements, Question and Answer agreements, and a missive to field management from USPS headquarters officials, all of which assigned TACS duties to the clerk craft, local management continued to perform TACS work. These violations led to numerous grievances, resulting in millions of dollars paid to bargaining unit clerks.
The 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) set the stage for this crucial settlement agreement. In that contract, the parties created Lead Clerks and agreed that non-supervisory, non-managerial duties would be assigned to the appropriate bargaining unit. As a result, work such as TACS duties has been gradually reassigned to the clerk craft, but this did not occur without the APWU fighting for each and every duty.
Some highlights of the TACS settlement agreement include:
• TACS entries and TACS allied duties are clerk craft bargaining unit work;
• Exception: Postmasters in Stand-Alone Level 18 post offices perform TACS duties but that counts as one hour of their allotted 15 hours of bargaining unit work each week;
• Postal Service installation heads or their designeesmust ensure there are sufficient clerks trained in the Online Course – TACS Lead Clerk Training;
• The Postal Service has 120 days from the date of this agreement to provide the appropriate clerks with access to TACS and eRMS and furnish them with limited access to OT Admin and RMSS;
• A total of $4,241,000.00 will be distributed to Lead Clerks identified by the union. Grievances filed over a supervisor’s performance of TACS duties in facilities that did not qualify for a Lead Clerk will be closed, along with certain national-level disputes related to TACS bargaining unit work;
• The settlement does not apply to TACS cases the parties have arbitrated on the merits and await a decision, cases in which the parties have an arbitration award on the merits but the remedy has not been adjudicated (including non-compliance with a settlement or arbitration award), or cases in which the parties have reached a settlement agreement on the merits but the remedy has yet to be determined or is in dispute. However, the agreement resolves all other TACS/Lead Clerk related issues.
“I congratulate Clerk Craft Director Lamont Brooks for his tireless efforts in addressing the TACs disputes,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “This new national settlement is a big step forward in protecting Clerk work and securing jobs. Well done!”
“I am proud and excited that we have achieved one of the Clerk Division’s primary goals, which was to acquire all TACS bargaining unit work for the clerks we represent,” Director Brooks exclaimed. “This was a difficult and lengthy negotiation process, but the end result is additional work for our craft. I want to thank Assistant Directors Lynn Pallas-Barber, Bob Romanowski, and Sam Lisenbe for their assistance in reaching this settlement. Additionally, I thank our Clerk Division National Business Agents and the many Locals whose dedication and hard work facilitated theachievement of this agreement,” he concluded.
Locals are encouraged to communicate with the appropriate manager or supervisor to determine the number of Lead Clerks that will be required to perform the TACS entries and allied duties, in addition to the tour, crafts, sections, etc. that will be assigned to each Lead Clerk.
