Category: APWU News

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Multiple questions have been submitted regarding the recently passed stimulus bill known as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). Under section Title IV Section 4001 of the bill, funding for Emergency Federal Employee Leave (EFEL) was appropriated. The APWU is monitoring all developments regarding EFEL and will continue to share information as it is received. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is responsible for administering the fund and issuing the guidelines on this […]

On Thursday March 11, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 into law, providing desperately needed relief to America’s working class and stabilizing communities across the country. Working families have been waiting on this bill, which will provide critical direct payments (up to $1,400 per eligible individual), fund vaccine production and distribution, and provide emergency state and local funding to jumpstart the economy. For postal workers, the American Rescue Plan has […]

(This article first appeared in the March/April 2021 issue of the American Postal Worker magazine) The mail system is in chaos. Postal workers are tired and frustrated. Customers are angry. Despite the courageous efforts, hard work and dedication of postal workers throughout this dangerous pandemic, service has deteriorated to levels never seen in modern times. On-time first class mail delivery has fallen below 50 percent in many areas. Medicines, greeting cards, holiday gifts and vital […]

In accordance with the 2018-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement, career employees represented by the APWU will receive a 20 cent per hour cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), effective February 27, 2021. The increase is the result of a rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W). It will appear in paychecks dated March 19, 2021 (Pay Period 06-2021).The value of the COLA for full-time employees in each step and grade will increase by $416.00 annually, and the hourly rates […]

On January 17, around 1,400 members of Teamsters Local 202 who work at Hunts Point Produce Market in The Bronx, NY went on strike after management refused to meet workers’ demands for desperately-needed pay raises and additional health care support. Following the six-day strike, workers voted over 97 percent in favor of a new three-year contract that includes a wage increase over the course of the contract that is above the workers’ initial demand and […]

CBS New York: Striking workers at the Hunts Point Market in the Bronx reached a settlement.

2020 was a tough year – on our health, our families and the economy. While the rich have ridden the pandemic to get even richer, unemployment, poverty and hunger have drastically increased. Our own federal government failed to properly protect us during this terrible pandemic. Completely unfounded claims of election fraud and the refusal to accept the election results are inciting violence and deeply threaten our democratic rights. But the year ended with two major […]

The Postal Service recently notified the APWU of its plan to separate Logistics from Mail Processing and Maintenance. As a result, all Expeditors and Ramp Clerks will report to a designated Logistics management official. In addition, a January 12 Stand Up Talk was to inform these employees that unique finance numbers were “created for each newly stablished Logistics operation”. The Postal Service also developed a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), among which included responses […]

APWU President Dimondstein as he reports back to members on the work and challenges we face as we move into 2021. Topics will include the campaign for a pro-postal majority on the USPS Board of Governors, the recent creation of 5,000 new union career jobs and the upcoming opening of bargaining on the APWU/USPS Contract.

On January 6th and 7th, members of Congress carried out their Constitutional responsibility and certified the state-by-state election results of the 2020 presidential election. The path has now been cleared for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to be inaugurated on January 20, 2021. Congress completed its duty despite the seditious and violent assaults on the U.S. Capitol, which sought to stop the certification, disenfranchise tens of millions of voters and overturn the […]

For APWU members planning on retiring at the end of the year, you may be affected by limitations to the annual leave carryover. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the APWU worked to negotiate various MOUs that would be beneficial to all of us during the pandemic. One of those MOUs was to increase the amount of leave that an employee could carry over into leave year 2021. This MOU allows for a maximum of 520 […]

Workers Continue March on Delhi   On November 26 and 27, an astonishing 250 million people took to the streets in India for a two-day general strike. The strike, by some estimates the largest in world history, was an extreme show of worker solidarity across all job types, as 10 national industrial trade unions joined with over 250 agricultural groups to advance their demands. Workers in nearly every major industry joined the strike – including […]

A salary increase that was negotiated as part of the 2018-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement will take effect on November 21, 2020 (pp-25). Career employees will receive a raise of 1 percent and Postal Support Employees (who are not eligible for cost-of-living allowance adjustments) will receive a raise of 2 percent. Coinciding with the raise will be a dues increase, in accordance with Article 16.2 (a) of the APWU Constitution and Bylaws. Union dues for career […]

On November 17, APWU members and community allies came together in virtual and in-person events across the country to reaffirm our demands for $25 billion in immediate COVID-19 financial relief from Congress and a permanent reversal of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s delays. During the election, postal workers processed a record number of mail-in ballots, moving “heaven and earth” to make sure all 65 million reached their location in time to be processed. This success would […]

WBUR: U.S. Postal Service workers are uniting for a national day of action Tuesday in cities throughout the country to call for more support from Congress. The service experienced one of its greatest challenges — shepherding of millions of presidential mail-in ballots — while under political, financial and operational challenges only amplified by the pandemic. From WBUR’s Here & Now.

To Our APWU Family: In a close election, former Vice President Joe Biden has prevailed in his campaign for U.S. President. He is now President-elect and Kamala Harris, is Vice President-elect. The APWU heartily congratulates both on their electoral victory. The APWU elected leadership applauds this outcome, as does an overwhelming majority of our members. Joe Biden was endorsed by the APWU National Executive Board based on a clear and stark choice. We will soon […]

Message from APWU National President Mark Dimondstein To All APWU Members: As we enter the final stage of the 2020 election, every postal worker should be proud of our role in securing the public’s most precious democratic right – the right to vote. This year, an unprecedented number of voters chose to “vote-by-mail.” Whatever craft we work in, we were an important part of the process, a process that will continue to receive priority treatment […]

*The following is a press release from the Social Security Administration: Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for approximately 70 million Americans will increase 1.3 percent in 2021, the Social Security Administration announced today. The 1.3 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to more than 64 million Social Security beneficiaries in January 2021. Increased payments to more than 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 31, 2020. (Note: some […]

October 9 is World Post Day, a moment to celebrate the unique and vital role postal workers play in the civic, economic and social life of people around the globe. The date commemorates the founding of the Universal Postal Union, which since 1874 has united postal services internationally to ensure a harmonious worldwide postal system. In this year when the world has faced down a deadly and disruptive pandemic, postal services and postal workers have […]

Two federal district courts have entered a third and fourth injunction against the Postal Service to undo the policy changes that it implemented over the summer and to protect voting by mail. Judge Emmett Sullivan in Washington, D.C., found for a group of litigants led by the New York State Attorney General. The plaintiffs alleged that the policy changes implemented by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over the summer were significant enough to be reviewed by […]

(This article first appeared in the September/October 2020 issue of the American Postal Worker magazine) Recently, management at retail post offices throughout the country unilaterally posted signage on the entrances of their facilities stating their offices would be closing for lunch periods and/or retail hours would be reduced. Weeks later a number of retail facilities posted signage stating their offices would be closed in their entirety. In response, the APWU Clerk Craft initiated National Dispute No. HQTC20200330. […]

(This article first appeared in the September/October 2020 issue of the American Postal Worker magazine) It is no joke when the U.S. President calls us “a joke.” It is most concerning for our jobs and future. We are outraged that those who want to privatize the public Postal Service shamefully use the pandemic to try to accomplish their aims. We are angry that there has been no COVID-19 fnancial relief for the USPS, while private corporations have […]