News

The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) reports the following in its News Bulletin 01-2011, March 14, 201:



"The American Postal Workers Union and the U.S. Postal Service have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, union President Cliff Guffey announced today.

“Despite the fact that the Postal Service is on the edge of insolvency, the union and management have reached an agreement that is a ‘win-win,’ proposition,” he said.

“Throughout the bargaining process, the union has sought to negotiate a contract that would be fair to our members and that would enable the USPS to succeed in the future,” he said. “The tentative agreement accomplishes those goals.

“The new contract will safeguard jobs, protect retirement and healthcare benefits, and provide a 3.5 percent wage increase over the life of the contract. The first raise will be in November 2012,” Guffey said.

No Layoffs, Limits on Excessing

The new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which will expire on May 20, 2015, retains protection against layoffs for all career employees who were on the rolls as of Nov. 20, 2010, when the current contract was scheduled to expire.

“Avoiding layoffs was a top priority,” Guffey said, noting that more than 100,000 postal jobs have been eliminated in the last three years.

The contract also includes provisions that will return to postal employees a significant amount of work that had been outsourced or assigned to managerial personnel. “This will strengthen job security for our members while it saves the Postal Service money,” the union president said.

The agreement limits excessing outside of an installation or craft to no more than 40 miles from the installation in most cases and to no more than 50 miles in any case. If management cannot place employees within 50 miles, the parties will jointly determine what steps may be taken.

“These restrictions will ease the hardship of excessing, which in recent years has forced thousands of APWU members to sell their homes, uproot their families, and move hundreds of miles away from their communities,” Guffey said.

There will be no changes to the healthcare benefits of APWU members in 2012. Each year from 2013 through 2016 there will be a slight shift in employees’ share of contributions toward healthcare coverage. This will amount to an increase of several dollars per pay period each year. (Similar changes were made in the last contract.)

New Scales, New Category

A new, entry-level salary will be added to the pay scale for future employees in Levels 3 through 8.

Casuals and Transitional Employees will be eliminated as a workforce category. To provide the USPS with flexibility, the parties agreed to create a new position for Non-Career Assistants, who will comprise up to 20 percent of workforce in most functional areas in the Clerk Craft and up to 10 percent in both the Maintenance and Motor Vehicle Crafts.

These employees will be paid lower wages than career employees, but higher wages than Transitional Employees and Casuals. They will be part of the APWU bargaining unit and will receive raises, health benefits, and leave. Non-Career Assistants will have access to the grievance procedure, and they will have the opportunity to join the ranks of the permanent, career workforce by seniority.

“The Postal Service’s desperate financial situation made these negotiations especially hard,” Guffey said. “But we have reached a tentative agreement that will enable the USPS and its employees to get past these difficult days.

"The USPS economic crisis is caused by an unreasonable requirement that the agency pre-fund the healthcare benefits of future retirees — a burden no other private company or government agency bears,” he continued. “Correcting that inequity is essential to restoring long-term stability to the Postal Service.

“I call on union members to join together to meet with their legislators and urge them to correct this inequity so that we are not forced to bargain under these circumstances again,” Guffey said.

“I want to thank the members of the union’s negotiating team for their outstanding work,” Guffey said, “and, most importantly, I want to thank the members of the APWU for their ongoing support.”

Member Ratification

In accordance with the union’s constitution, a majority of the members of the Rank and File Bargaining Advisory Committee must approve the agreement before it can be sent to union members for a ratification vote. The committee will supervise balloting."