Promotions and Transfers The parties contemplate that employees employed within the Utility Clerk, General Clerk, Meat Clerk, Service Clerk or any other classification may desire to seek promotions or transfers into other areas within the store. In the event an employee is promoted into a new classification, said employee will be treated as a probationary employee within that new classification pursuant to Paragraph 3.2 of this Agreement. An employee who is so promoted, but who is unable to perform the work of that classification to the satisfaction of the Employer as a probationary employee may return to his prior classification and wage rate without any loss of seniority in said classification. However, if an employee is terminated for conduct unrelated to a simple inability to perform work, said employee shall have no right to return to his prior classification and shall be considered terminated for all purposes. In the event an employee passes the probationary period within the new classification, his seniority date for purposes of layoff and recall shall be the date of assignment within the new classification. Employees transferred to a new store shall retain their seniority rights. Employees shall state their preference for transfer to a new location upon request by the Employer. Employees shall be selected for transfer by seniority in classification. 3.8.1 All permanent job vacancies in the Warehouse Clerk classification shall be handled on a store-by-store basis. General Clerks, Meat Clerks or Service Clerks in each store who have worked in their respective classification for at least five hundred twenty (520) hours and are desirous of promotion and are otherwise reasonably qualified for promotional opportunity in accordance with this provision must file a semi-annual written request for promotion with their Store Manager during the first (1st) two (2) working weeks in February and August. A Utility Clerk that works in a higher classification for more than sixty (60) calendar days shall be deemed to have been promoted. A General Clerk, Meat Clerk or Service Clerk who has made application shall be granted an available Warehouse Clerk position by seniority, provided they have the qualifications and availability to perform the required work. The employee selected for promotion to Warehouse Clerk under this provision shall be subject to the provisions of Paragraph 3.8 above. All permanent job vacancies in the Warehouse Clerk, General Clerk, Service Clerk and Meat Clerk classifications shall be handled on a store-to-store basis. Utility Clerks who have actually worked at least five hundred twenty (520) hours, and who are desirous of promotion, and who are otherwise reasonably qualified for promotional opportunity in accordance with this provision must file a semi-annual written request for promotion (“Declaration of Interest”) with the Store Director during the first (1st) two (2) weeks of February and August. 3.8.2 All permanent job vacancies in the Apprentice Meat Cutter classification shall be handled on a store-by-store basis. Meat Clerks in each store who have worked in the Meat Clerk classification for at least one thousand five hundred (1500) hours and are desirous of promotion and are otherwise reasonably qualified for promotional opportunity in accordance with the provision must file a semi-annual written request for promotion with their Store Manager during the first (1st) two (2) working weeks in February and August. A Meat Clerk who has made application shall be granted an available Apprentice Meat Cutter position by seniority, provided they have the qualifications and availability to perform the required work. The employee selected for promotion to Apprentice Meat Cutter under this provision shall be subject to the provisions of Paragraph 3.8 above. It is not intended that Paragraphs 3.8.1 and 3.8.2 have any effect on the Employer’s right to transfer employees in any classification between stores. 3.8.3 All employees who are promoted to a higher rated classification of employment shall be subject to the wage progression schedule set forth in Appendix A and receive the next immediate higher rate of pay for that classification as set forth in Appendix A until such time as the employee has accumulated sufficient total credited hours of experience equal to two times (2x) the hours required for that step of the new classification rate before proceeding to the next progression schedule.