Category: Contract Negotiations

APWU President Mark Dimondstein has announced the winners of the union’s tentative agreement ratification participation contest. The challenge, intended to encourage participation in the ratification process, offered rewards to locals that were most successful in mobilizing APWU members to vote.  The contest provided that the top three locals in several categories would be rewarded, with the categories based on the size of the local. The program stipulated that any local that achieved 100 percent participation […]

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IF YOU VOTE YES ON CONTRACT RATIFICATION! On February 10, 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for the month of January 2022. January was the final month of the six-month measuring period used for determining the cost of living allowance (COLA) for those covered by the National Agreement. Every full-time career employee in every step and grade will receive an annual increase of $1,310 or 63 cents per […]

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Step 7 and Section B.2 of the MOU, Re: Residual Vacancies – Clerk Craft, for residual vacancies and PTF vacancies will now be available on eReassign, effective February 1, 2022. Once implemented, PTFs and PSEs will have access to the canvassing process in eReassign. The APWU and Postal Service jointly shared the news of this improvement on January 27, 2022 by sending out separate notifications to their respective representatives. The canvasses will open on the […]

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The collective bargaining agreement (union contract) between the American Postal Workers Union and the United States Postal Service covers the wages, hours and working conditions of 200,000 postal workers. Our current contract was due to expire at midnight, September 20, 2021. Over the last two weeks, the APWU and postal management have engaged in frequent negotiating sessions at both the “main table,” the “craft tables,” and in other committees. There has been modest progress on […]

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NNC Launches Contract Hotline for Instant Updates Beginning September 7, the National Negotiations Committee (NNC) will lock down with postal management for a week of intense contract negotiations as the September 20 expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement approaches. Both the APWU officers and postal management will be in the same hotel, meeting daily at main table negotiations, craft tables, and other subcommittees where they will hash out the various proposals. All meetings will […]

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With our current union contract expiring on September 20, 2021, the APWU and postal management have now been engaged in negotiations for more than five weeks. The APWU National Negotiating Committee consists of President Mark Dimondstein, Executive Vice President Debby Szeredy, Secretary/Treasurer Liz Powell, Industrial Relations Director Vance Zimmerman, Clerk Craft Director Lamont Brooks, Maintenance Craft Director Idowu Balogun, Motor Vehicle Services Director Michael Foster, and Support Services Craft Director Stephen Brooks. The Negotiations Committee is meeting weekly, at minimum, to plan, refine proposals and develop strategy.  In addition, the Craft Directors met individually with Lead Negotiator President Dimondstein and Chief Spokesperson Director Zimmerman to coordinate efforts. Many other officers and staff are also working […]

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On June 21, APWU members, allies, and postal supporters from around the country tuned in to a Virtual Kickoff Rally ahead of the Opening Day of negotiations for a new USPS/APWU collective bargaining agreement. The rally, emceed by Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth “Liz” Powell, built momentum and solidarity amongst the thousands of viewers heading into negotiations. After a rousing opening video on the Great Postal Strike of 1970, Secretary-Treasurer Liz Powell linked the 2021 contract negotiations to […]

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Postal Management and the American Postal Workers Union signed another Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to continue to address the significant understaffing at mail processing facilities and post offices throughout the country.  Under the terms of the new agreement, 874 Postal Support Employees will be converted to career status in 37 facilities to be identified by the Postal Service. These positions will be an increase to the current workforce.  In addition, the Postal Service will convert no […]

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With national contract negotiations set to begin in June, President Mark Dimondstein has announced the names of union members who will serve on the Rank and File Bargaining Advisory Committee. In accordance with the APWU Constitution, each member of the National Executive Board appoints one person to the committee; a 14th member, appointed by the president, is a member of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing Task Force. The APWU National Negotiations Committee (NNC) has full authority […]

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Postal Management and the American Postal Workers Union signed a major Memorandum of Understanding to help address the chronic understaffing at mail processing facilities throughout much of the country. Under the terms of the new agreement, over 5,500 new career positions will be created at 192 installations. The number of career positions will vary by installation based on management’s determination. 5,524 PSEs will be converted to career status as soon as possible, but no later than March 13, 2021. […]

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Reminder, in accordance with Article 8, sections 4 and 5, of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, penalty overtime rules are not applicable for a consecutive four-week period each year during December. This year, the December period begins November 28, 2020 (Pay Period 25-20-Week 2) and ends December 25, 2020 (Pay Period 01-21-Week 1).

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Re: Annual Leave Exchange for Leave Year 2021 The parties agree that APWU career employees will be allowed to sell back a maximum of eighty (80) hours of annual leave prior to the beginning of leave year 2021 provided the following two (2) criteria are met: The employee must be at the maximum leave carryover ceiling at the start of the leave year, and The employee must have used fewer than 75 sick leave hours […]

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Re: Annual Leave Carryover for Leave Year 2021 The parties agree that for leave year 2021, regular work force career employees covered by the USPS-APWU Agreement may carry over 520 hours of accumulated annual leave from leave year 2020 to leave year 2021. In all other respects, the ELM provisions for payment of accumulated leave are not changed because of this Memorandum. This MOU will expire December 31, 2021.  

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The retroactive pay (also called back-pay) due under the terms of the 2018-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement is scheduled to be in paychecks dated September 4, 2020. The Industrial Relations Department has had a lot of questions regarding this pay. There are multiple variables that will determine how much any one employee will receive. In attempt to help everyone understand the pay please see below:   The retroactive pay period is September 20, 2018 through April […]

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The APWU and the USPS have agreed to the work year list for the term of the 2018-2021 National Agreement.  Work years (formally known as man-years) is a term the utilized by the APWU and the Postal Service to define the size of postal installations throughout the country. The work year categories are broken down into three sizes: 200 work year installations 125 work year installations 100 work year installations The determination is made by […]

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EMPLOYEES COVERED BY THE NATIONAL AGREEMENT Retroactive payments for the pay increases under the 2018-2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement, have been scheduled for pay period 18-2020, paycheck dated September 4, 2020 – barring any issues or unexpected systems changes. Employees began receiving pay at the current rates in pay period 09-2020, effective April 11, 2020. Retro payments for the National Agreement will cover the period from November 24, 2018 through April 10, 2020. Under the terms […]

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Under the new 2018 – 2021 National Agreement, employees will receive four retroactive pay raises. The current rates went into effect on February 29, 2020 and will be reflected for the first time in earnings for Pay Period 09-2020. Pay Period 09 begins Saturday, April 11. Pay checks will be dated for May 1, 2020. Retro pay covering the period from September 24, 2018 through April 10, 2020 will follow. The Postal Service has yet to confirm […]

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APWU Members can now access the recording from Tuesday’s March 17, 2020 “Contract Town Hall Call”. On the call, APWU President, Mark Dimondstein and Industrial Relations Director, Vance Zimmerman, spoke about the interest arbitration award and the union’s response to the COVID-19 Pandemic Log in to the APWU.ORG Members Section to hear the recording.

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March 20, 2020 As your union elected officers, we are fighting to stand up for APWU members and make sure management protects our health and safety in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Today, we secured a memorandum of understanding extending the deadline for Step 3 grievances and Arbitration Appeals by 30 days beyond the limits specified in the national agreement. DOWNLOAD THE MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING MoU extending deadline for Step 3 and Arbitration Appeals

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March 20, 2020 Due to the impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic, APWU’s elected national officers have agreed to extend the timeline for Local Implementation for a period of 30 days beyond those specified in the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO Re: Timeline for Local Implementation. Negotiations can now commence June 9, 2020 with written notice of Intent to Negotiate be provided no later than […]

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In the wake of the arbitration award on the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the APWU and USPS have agreed to a timeline for local negotiations, Director of Industrial Vance Zimmerman announced. Local unions or management can open bargaining over changes to local agreements, in accordance with the schedule outlined in the March 11 Memorandum of Understanding [PDF]: Written notice of intent to negotiate by must be provided not later than May 24, 2020. Negotiations occur for 30 consecutive days […]

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Today at Interest Arbitration, APWU presented evidence from the Clerk and Maintenance Craft Divisions. In the morning session, Clerk Craft Director Lamont Brooks addressed USPS management’s attacks on union postal clerks’ work and our demand for better staffing in the Clerk Craft. He raised our objections to Postmasters doing bargaining unit work in Level 18 offices. He outlined how management is has continuously skirted the 2010 global settlement, which limited Level 18 office postmasters to […]

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Today at Interest Arbitration, the APWU rebutted some of management’s economic arguments, including their controversial claim that postal workers are overpaid for the skills they employ. We also responded to management’s regressive proposals for Motor Vehicle Service. Dr. Robert Pollin APWU’s witness in the morning was Dr. Robert Pollin, Department of Economics and Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Dr. Pollin presented his paper on Wage Rates, Employment Conditions and Living Standards for […]

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