News

US Rural letter carriers break of negotiations APWU still bargaining

The US Postal Service has failed to reach agreement with two unions, the American Postal Workers Union, (APWU) and the National Rural Letter Carriers Association (NRLCA).

With the APWU, however, USPS agreed to extend the contract negotiation deadline until, 23 November, while the talks with the NRLCA have failed.

Under the terms of the Postal Reorganisation Act of 1970, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) appoints a mediator if the union and management fail to reach agreement on a successor contract and do not agree on an alternate procedure. If agreement is not reached within 60 days of the expiration of the contract, both parties submit all outstanding issues to binding arbitration, the APWU said in a statement. The terms of the 2006-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement remain in full force and effect until a new agreement is reached, either through negotiation or binding arbitration, the union added.

The APWU President Cliff Guffey said, “We do not have a new contract but we believe there is still potential to negotiate an agreement. The union and management will continue to discuss the topics that remain in dispute. Throughout the collective bargaining process, the APWU has sought to protect our members’ jobs. Restoring work that has been outsourced or assigned to managerial personnel will bring stability to APWU members who have suffered extensive excessing and reassignments.”

“Every proposal we have made to preserve jobs for our members will also benefit the Postal Service, because APWU members can perform the work more efficiently and less expensively than subcontractors.”

The NRLCA already confirmed that talks with USPS have failed. “On Saturday, November 20, after more than two months of contract talks, the NRLCA and USPS reached impasse for a new collective bargaining agreement. Early this morning, it appeared as if the parties were making significant progress toward a negotiated settlement. However, contract talks stalled and impasse was declared just after 5:00 p.m,” the union said.

According to the NRLCA, the final proposals by USPS included wage freezes and significant benefit cuts for current career employees such as the abolishment of cost-of-living adjustments and a new salary schedule with a lower wage scale for new hires.

NRLCA’s own proposals to USPS were: “The NRLCA’s final proposals provided for appropriate and reasonable wage increases, continued cost-of-living adjustments, and the maintenance of core benefits. The NRLCA advanced its own proposals to adjust certain time allowances in the evaluated compensation system and to increase the reimbursement that many rural letter carriers receive for providing a delivery vehicle on rural routes. Importantly, the union made several proposals that would have resulted in substantial savings for the Postal Service.”

The APWU, a UNI affiliate, represents 209,000 postal employees who work as postal clerks, mechanics, vehicle drivers, custodians and in some administrative positions. The NRLCA represents 67,000 career employees and 48,000 non-career employees who substitute for career employees on their days off. Employees represented by the NRLCA primarily deliver mail in rural and suburban areas.

Two other UNI Post & Logistics US affiliates, the National Association of Letter Carriers, (NALC) and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, (NPMHU) are due to begin negotiations next year, approximately 90 days prior to the Nov. 20, 2011 contract expiry date.