Category: APWU News

The United States Postal Service is implementing changes starting Friday October 1 that will slow down mail delivery for tens of millions of people and affect billions of pieces of mail. That date marks the first day of the new service standards for First Class Mail and Periodicals which USPS management is implementing as part of their 10-year plan. The changes lengthen the delivery target from the previous two and three-day standard to as many as five days for many pieces of mail, depending on distance of travel. This […]

» Read more

In accordance with Article 21 of the American Postal Workers Union Constitution & Bylaws, Jason Treier will serve as Maintenance Division Assistant Director, President Mark Dimondstein announced. The Assistant Director B position is located in Washington, D.C. Jason Treier was selected by Maintenance Division Director Idowu Balogun and received unanimous concurrence by the Maintenance Council. He started serving in the new position on Sept. 25, 2021. In 2005, Jason was hired by the USPS as […]

» Read more

The Research and Education Department is sponsoring Zoom Trainings for APWU Members in October 2021. SPECIAL NOTES: Participants must be an APWU member. No one should attend this training on the Postal Service time clock. Each participant must register individually and not as a group. The deadline to register for all workshops is Monday, October 18, 2021. Click on the link(s) below to complete the registration form. Participants will not be registered who use a […]

» Read more

Our thoughts and hearts go out to everyone who has been affected by Hurricane Ida, especially our fellow APWU members. Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 hurricane, touched down this past weekend, resulting in intense flooding & damage. On Aug. 30, President Biden approved a major disaster declaration for Louisiana. More than 5,000 members of the National Guard have been activated from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas to support search and rescue and recovery efforts, and […]

» Read more

September 2 is ‘National Gear Day!’ With our contract expiring Sept. 20, negotiations are in full swing! Let’s kick off Labor Day weekend by showing your support for APWU – Our Union, Our Contract, Our Future. Wear your union gear on the work room floor on Thursday, September 2. APWU officers will lock down with management the next week. Let’s send a powerful message! Make sure to take photos! Send us a selfie or group […]

» Read more

National Maintenance Assistant Director “A” Jimmie Waldon announced his retirement in August 2021 after over 14 years as a national officer. Prior to being elected to this position on July 18, 2018, he served as the Western Region Maintenance National Business Agent for eleven years. He also served as the Vice President of the Sacramento Area Local. Jimmie Waldon was a tenacious defender of the Maintenance craft, leading many craft trainings and conferences. He specialized in […]

» Read more

Today, the AFL-CIO Executive Council elected Sister Liz Shuler President of the federation to fill the vacancy left by the untimely death of Brother Richard Trumka on August 5. Sis. Shuler, a member of the IBEW, had previously served as the AFL-CIO’s Secretary-Treasurer and is the first woman to lead the AFL-CIO. Brother Fred Redmond of the Steelworkers was also elected as the next Secretary-Treasurer. Brother Tefere Gebre will continue serving as executive Vice President.  […]

» Read more

In accordance with the 2018-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement, career employees represented by the APWU will receive a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), effective August 28, 2021. The increase is the result of a rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W). It will appear in paychecks dated September 17, 2021 (Pay Period 19-2021). The value of the COLA for career employees in each step and grade will increase by $1,935.00 annually, and the hourly rates for part-time employees […]

» Read more

Brother Romero was elected as Organization Director in 1986 and served in that position until his retirement in 2011.  He first got involved in the union at the Dallas TX BMC and held a variety of local union positions including shop steward, clerk craft director and local BMC coordinator. Brother Romero trailblazed as the first Hispanic resident national officer and also served as the national APWU liaison to the Labor Council for Latin American advancement […]

» Read more

Today, the union movement, the APWU and postal workers are shocked and saddened to learn of the sudden death of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. On behalf of our 200,000 active and retired members, I extend our deep condolences to the Trumka family. From the coalfields of his native southwestern Pennsylvania, to the Halls of Congress, Brother Trumka was a steady and forceful voice for working people in this country for decades. Postal workers will remember […]

» Read more

Yesterday, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) released its Advisory Opinion on the Postal Service’s proposals to slow the First Class Mail service standard to as many as five days, and issued a serious warning to postal management about their proposal. The PRC found that management’s planned changes are untested, unlikely to improve the Postal Services finances, and risk further alienating the mailing public, who justifiably expect to receive their mail quickly and reliably.  The Postal […]

» Read more

(This article first appeared in the July/August 2021 issue of the American Postal Worker magazine) As the APWU moves into contract negotiations, the APWU Organization Department launched an updated Join Online tool, available on apwu.org. The changes to the tool make it even easier for prospective members sign up at orientation or after a craft change. When a new member goes to apwu.org/join, they will be redirected to a “pre-application find me,” to determine what […]

» Read more

On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law the S. 475 Juneteenth National Independence Day Act. This law establishes June 19th of each year as a Federal holiday. President Biden then declared it would be observed beginning June 18, 2021, as the 19th falls on a Saturday. On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger announced in Galveston, TX the end of slavery in accordance with President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. This […]

» Read more

Today, May 28, Anton Hajjar was confirmed by the Senate to serve on the Postal Board of Governors. He joins two other recent nominees, Amber McReynolds and Ron Stroman, who were confirmed by the Senate on May 12. The Postal Board of Governors now has a full complement of governors for the first time in more than a decade. “Our campaign to get new members on the Postal Board of Governors was about making sure […]

» Read more

In the May-June 2021 issue of the American Postal Worker, we reported on the Warrior Met Coal Miners’ strike in Alabama, which began on April 1 following the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) filing unfair labor practices charges with the NLRB. During negotiations both before and during the strike, Warrior Met refused to offer good wages and benefits, instead demanding drastic concessions from the workers. The miners vowed to stay on the picket line […]

» Read more

On Saturday, May 22, 2021, Postal Support Employees (PSEs) will receive a pay increase of 20 cents per hour. The additional pay will be reflected in pay checks dated June 11, 2021. The new hourly rates for PSEs can be found here. This is will be the fifth and final pay increase PSEs will receive under the 2018-2021 National Agreement. The five pay increases the PSEs receive included three general increases of 2.3%, 2.1%, 2.0%, and […]

» Read more

On June 22, we officially open negotiations with the United States Postal Service for a new union contract. Our current national agreement covering some 200,000 postal employees expires on September 20, 2021. This is the third round of collective bargaining during which I have the privilege to represent you as the union’s lead negotiator. I want to share my perspective on the challenges of negotiations followed by what we hope to achieve in bargaining. First, […]

» Read more

(This article first appeared in the May/June 2021 issue of the American Postal Worker magazine) There still are misconceptions with the eReassign process in the field. The Clerk Craft MOU on filling residuals misleads employees to believe that they are bidding on a residual assignment. An application in eReassign is a request to transfer from one installation to another installation. The current contract requires to post the Clerk Craft residuals in eReassign based on the […]

» Read more

On Tuesday April 27, 2021 postal management informed the APWU of management’s intent to pursue consolidations and operational mail moves in 18 facilities nationwide. These proposed changes are taking place in the context of the Postal Service’s 10-year plan and proposed network and operational changes. The 18 facilities listed are among the 62 Mail Processing facilities whose consolidation was halted in 2015. Management has stated that the proposed mail moves are to be completed by […]

» Read more

In August of 2018, Arbitrator Stephen Goldberg struck down the Postal Service’s unilateral implementation of changes to ELM Section 510 and to PS-Form 3971 regarding union leave for political activity such as in relation to voter registration and get out the votes efforts. The changes required employees taking Leave Without Pay (LWOP) for union business to certify that they would not be participating in any partisan political activities. (Click here for web news article on […]

» Read more

While we all cannot wait to gather together again, the leadership of APWU takes the health and safety of our members seriously.   As a result, in an effort to keep our members safe, the National Executive Board voted unanimously to cancel the 2020 National Convention.  However, the All Craft Conference will be held virtually. Additional information will be published in the near future.   In the meantime, if you should have any questions or […]

» Read more

Today, Postal Service management issued a 10-year plan they are calling Delivering for America. The plan lays out a number of steps management hopes to take to bridge the projected $160 billion financial shortfall projected over the next ten years. There are elements of this plan the APWU will support and there elements of the plan we will oppose. For generations, postal workers and the United States Postal Service have fulfilled the postal mission of […]

» Read more

President Dimondstein signed extensions on the COVID MOUs today (March 19), through June 4, 2021. The liberal leave policy has also been extended (see letter below). He also signed extensions on the annual leave carryover, which will allow 520 hours to be carried into leave year 2022 and career employees can also sell up to 80 hours of leave for leave year 2022. One MOU that was not extended–but was suspended–was the additional leave for […]

» Read more