US Male /m4136 - enjoy your vacation.

Simply type a nice letter of request to your local PM asking to be moved from your current station to whatever station you desire (if it is closer to where you reside then add that in your letter)(must be same city of course).

Ask your NALC steward if he/she would sign your letter and state that they have read your request and have no objection.

/m4136 The key is understanding if the different offices you are referring to are actually different installations, under different PMs, or just satellite stations of the SAME installation under ONE PM. That's the difference between transferring and assigning.
We have one office here with four stations and PTFs work at the various stations based on Mgt's decisions for the day and the workload. A PTF can put an opt (holddown) on a route to guarantee he will be at a specific station for a period of time, but other than that, he had no say.

USMale /m4134 -- there is no way, none, that the station manager "ultimately gave the go-ahead 4 my transfer". That was done by the installation head (postmaster). The station manager may have had input and made recommendations, but that's it.

Question: does your station have its own seniority list or is it one big list for all the stations? When a route gets posted for bid, can the carriers in all the stations bid on it? Can you, as a PTF, take a holddown in any station?

JC /m4135 -- there is no such thing as a "transfer" between stations. You can request, but they have no obligation to do anything, unlike a real transfer, which is between installations, and is covered by the contract.

I begin 80 hours of annual 2morrow & my 1st order of business is cooking myself a sweeeeeeeeeeet-arse breakfast w/all the fixins'! Ham, eggs, hash browns, BLACK coffee. Mmmmmmmmm!!! My 2nd order of biz is sauntering on down the block 2 the local NALC city headquarters 2 see if I can get 2 the bottom of all this "transfer/re-assignment" stuff! I'll be sure 2 post on this board what I find out! Good or bad news, it aint gonna effect my vacay. Independence Day will find me in the bleachers at Wrigley Field 2 take in the Crew's DESTRUCTION of the Cubs! GO BREWERS GO!

US Male,

I am a PTF like you in a large city. Also like you, I have a "home" station within that city. My understanding of things is you may put in a transfer request like any other carrier, but as PTF's, we can be assigned to any station in that city as the need arises. I have been sent to other stations for a day or two, but I was also detailed to another station for a few months.

egark, "Missing the point?!?!?" Excuse me?!?! I'm not going 2 disagree w/U b/c I'm not saying U R wrong...technically speaking. But I transferred 2 this city from a different state very far away & part of that whole transfer procedure was me being ASSIGNED SPECIFICALLY 2 a station. Allllllll of my transfer application materials were sent SPECIFICALLY to 1 station. That SPECIFIC manager of that ONE station is the 1 who ultimately gave the go-ahead 4 my transfer 2 go thru. Thus, yes, I stand by my point that I am pretty much ASSIGNED to a SPECIFIC station. I was transferred to a specific station as far as I am concerned, no matter how you want to term it technically. Thus, that is why I work at that station 90% of the time. Yes, I understand that I am not SET IN STONE at that station, as evidenced by my being sent 2 other stations on relatively RARE occasions. But I stand by the RELEVANCE of my question : HOW DO I GET RE-ASSIGNED TO A DIFFERENT STATION WHERE I WORK 90% OF THE TIME????

USMale /m4132 -- I think you are missing the point. There is nothing that says you are "officially" assigned to a specific station, other than management choosing to have you work there 90% of the time. Your "home station" has no official status, it is just what you call it. Therefore there is nothing you can "officially" do to transfer or whatever you want to call it, no form, no procedure. It is all management's discretion.

Thanks for the responses...though I don't seem 2 be any the wiser on the possibility/reality of me being allowed 2 "transfer" 2 another station within my city! (No fault of those of you looking 2 assist me, I realize.) Here are the details of my situation : I work in a large metro area. 90% of the time I work at 1 specific station (the 1 I am assigned 2 obviously). A real dragon-lady, witch, b*tch-master is the manager. On occasion, since I am a PTF I get sent 2 other stations in the city on a day-2-day basis. I realize that being sent to unfamiliar stations is probably generally a 'bad' thing. NOT 4 ME!!!! I sing 'Hallelujah' 2 the heavens above when I get that early morning call telling me to report to a different station. Tears of joy well up in my humble eye sockets when the phone rings & the caller ID lets me know that B*TCH is calling 2 send me 2 another station. Stations where I am at least treated with a *bit* more respect. (Hey, it's still the PO, I'm not gonna try 2 sugar-d*ck U in2 thinking that these other stations are GLORIOUS.) Anyway, B-A-C-K 2 my original question, "HOW THE HECK DO I GET RE-ASSIGNED/TRANSFERRED 2 ONE OF THESE OTHER STATIONS IN THE CITY AS MY 'HOME' STATION"??????!!!!! Please, someone, tell me what form # such-and-such I have 2 fill out & it is an EASY procedure, a very COMMON thing 2 do, & that I should just chill out b/c my transfer request is all but done already...

Not that it means anything, but I dug out one of my Form 50 copies, and my particular station is listed as my "Employ Office" and my "Duty Station" (in the "Position Information" section). But I am guessing that management could send me to whatever station they wanted to, whenever they wanted to.

egark /m4129 - Yes, I see what you are saying. They haven't loaned/assigned/moved any of the PTFs or TEs at my station to another station for more than one day at a time since I was hired (and it has happened very rarely), but I guess they could move us from station to station. I was assuming that US Male was in an environment similar to my own, where there are multiple stations, but as a PTF, you are, or at least treated as if you are, assigned to one particular station.

chicagocarrier /m4128 -- so, you are "assigned" to a station because management chooses to do it that way. Therefore you have no say in where you go (unless you take a holddown, I guess) and if they decide to "assign" you to station x next week, you go, station y the next week, you go, etc.

egark /m4126 - When I went through orientation, there were about 30 of us going through orientation at the same time (PTF carriers). We were each given a list of the Chicago stations (name of the stations and addresses), and then were each told which station we were assigned to, along with the 3-digit pay location # for that station. That's where I'm getting the term "assigned to one station", it's what we were told in orientation by the human resources people. I have been told by the regulars at my station (including the union steward) and by the supervisors at my station (and was told the same thing by the instructors at carrier academy) that when ("if" is probably a better word, the way things are going) we turn over, we get assigned to a different station; we can't stay at the station we were assigned to as a PTF. However, once we are regular, I am told, we can try to bid back to our old station if we want to go back (as a regular). The few times I've been sent to other stations, the supervisor said I was being "loaned". Am I officially tied to my station - I thought I was, but I don't have anything in writing (other than the pay location # on my pay stubs)... Anyway, I am aware of regulars moving (if "transfer" isn't the right word)from one Chicago station to another Chicago station, but I am not aware of any PTF doing this.

US Male /m4122 - I am retired now but our city, and all cities within our district, assigned PTF's to a particular station as the local area manager determined. In our city we had 7 stations and a new PTF may get assigned permanently at either of these stations until service deemed otherwise. So, this tells me that assigning a home station to a new PTF or an old PTF for that matter) is done differently as different districts determine.

Now, with that said...a PTF (in our city at the time I was working...2007) could seek a transfer to a new home station if that carrier needed the transfer to get closer to home (less of a drive to work) - for hardship reasons (whatever that may be and with approval) - or other reasons (whatever that may be and the PM must approve).

It was entirely up to the area manager or PM as to whether not such a move would, or COULD, be approved. There was nothing in our LMU regarding this issue. Each case was decided individually on its own merits.

Could someone (another carrier or PTF) stop this move or file on it with the union? No - but they could seek their own transfer if so desired and their request would receive the same review by local management. I do not know whether or not this practice has changed since I retired.

By the way - an unassigned (floater) regular could also submit a request for change to another station under these same conditions.

chicagocarrier /m4125 -- what do you mean by "assigned to one station"? Is that because of your LMU or because management chooses to do it that way? If you can be "loaned" then I suspect it is the latter. When you make regular, it is only to a route in that station or can it be to another station? My point is, is there anything official that ties you to a station other than management policy? "Transfer" in the contract refers to going to another installation, not another station.

egark /m4124 I don't know the answer to US Male's question, but as a ptf at a Chicago district station, there are around 50 stations in Chicago. PTFs are assigned to one station, although we can get "loaned" to other Chicago stations for a day here and there (it's only happened to me a few times). I don't know how it would work to transfer to another station within the same city as a PTF, I don't know anyone who has done it.