Monday is the deadline to apply for new letter carrier jobs — “assistant city carrier” positions — with the U.S. Postal Service.
The positions entail all duties normally performed by a city letter carrier, pay $15 an hour and have paid vacation days but no retirement benefits.
The new workers would be eligible for health-care benefits after the first year, or as required by the new federal health-care law.
David Van Allen, a USPS regional spokesman, has said there are roughly 950 openings across the agency’s Northern Ohio District in the new job category.
Applicants must create an online profile at http://usps.com/employment, fill out the online application and follow the instructions to take Postal Examination 473.
Applicants need an email address and should check email for instructions, the postal service said.
To qualify for one of the new jobs, an applicant must pass a test, hold a valid state driver’s license, pass a pre-employment drug screening and “demonstrate and maintain” a safe driving record.
The job openings come after an arbitration panel earlier this month resolved a deadlock between the USPS and the National Association of Letter Carriers. The resolution established the new job category.
Van Allen said the post office is abolishing the category of “transitional employees” and that as many as half — roughly 425 — of the approximately 950 openings could be filled by those existing workers in the Northern Ohio District being reassigned.
The district is roughly the top third of the state, and covers the geographic region between the Pennsylvania and Indiana borders.
It is unclear how many “transitional” workers will seek to move to the new category, he said.
That’s because the $15 hourly wage for the new job category is less than what they are earning. Additionally, “transitional employees” must pass a test to move into the new classification.
The arbitration decision resulted in the new job category of city carrier assistants and made them “non-career” jobs. This means they are not eligible for retirement benefits.
The workers will enjoy greater rights for advancement than employees had in the old “transitional” category, however.
The new jobs carry with them “a path to possible future employment as a letter carrier,” a prepared statement from the Northern Ohio District said.