The U.S. Postal Service and its largest union have made it official, tying the knot on a contract that will run until May 2015. “We worked together to negotiate a responsible agreement that is in the best interest of our customers, our employees and the future of the Postal Service,” Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a statement noting that the agreement with the American Postal Workers Union took effect Monday. The APWU’s membership overwhelmingly ratified the agreement in a vote announced May 11. “I am pleased that we were able to negotiate a contract that will strengthen the Postal…
Browsing: American Postal Workers Union
In case anyone’s forgotten, tomorrow will be a big day for the American Postal Workers Union and the U.S. Postal Service. That’s when they find out whether APWU members have approved a tentative contract that would run to May 2015. Ballots were due back this morning at designated post office boxes; once they’re counted tomorrow at a Washington, D.C.-area hotel, the results will be posted on the APWU’s web site, according to the union. The tentative deal, which would establish a two-tier wage system, has been strongly endorsed by the leaders of both the Postal Service and the APWU. But…
The news keeps coming on that newly unveiled American Postal Workers Union contract. But the latest installment will likely not be welcome to members of any of the Postal Service’s four unions. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has just scheduled an April 5 hearing on postal pay and benefits and it looks like the tentative APWU deal will be the start of a longer conversation on USPS workforce costs. With those costs comprising about 80 percent of USPS operating expenses, “the union contract renewals are the best chance to find new savings,” committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said…
Members of the American Postal Workers Union will get about a month to decide the fate of a new contract, with the union dangling prizes to encourage locals to get out the vote, according to a news release. Ballots will be mailed out starting April 8 and are due back by May 10, with the actual count taking place the following day, May 11, the union release says. Depending on size and turnout, individual locals will be eligible for up to $4,000 in prizes to be used on members’ behalf. The union has also scheduled nine briefings around the country.…
The current leadership of the American Postal Workers Union is rushing to crank up support for a tentative contract announced last week with the U.S. Postal Service. But one member of the nation’s largest postal union has already made up his mind. “I have been honored to have the opportunity to devote over 50 years of my professional life to improving conditions for postal employees and as a full dues-paying member and on behalf of future employees I would vote no,” former APWU President William Burrus wrote in an open letter posted on the web site, postalnewsblog.com Burrus’ opposition centers around…
The U.S. Postal Service has shelved a proposal that “would have expanded its ability to subcontract rural routes to contract delivery service,” according to an announcement this week by the National Rural Letters Carriers’ Association. The decision “came after extensive discussions” between the NRLCA and Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe, as well as other postal officials, according to the release on the union’s web site. “We have tabled the issue while we are in the process of resolving a labor contract,” Postal Service spokesman Mark Saunders said via email, when asked for confirmation of the union’s claim. Although Donahoe recently acknowledged…
Now here’s something you don’t hear every day from a leading organized labor figure: “We must shift the focus of the union away from acting as a grievance machine,” American Postal Workers Union President Cliff Guffey says today in a release on the organization’s web site. “Leaders at all levels of the organization must get more involved in legislative activities and other union efforts.” If labor-management relations at the U.S. Postal Service will likely never resemble a group hug, there’s an obvious reason for the APWU to re-prioritize: The world’s leading mail carrier is at risk of going broke and…
For anyone who’s wondering, the U.S. Postal Service and its largest union are still talking. “We are pursuing our goals,” American Postal Workers Union President Cliff Guffey said in a contract negotiations update posted Thursday on the union’s web. Besides seeking job security, Guffey said, “we want to lessen the disruption our members suffer as a result of excessing.” Also under discussion are wages, benefits and “work structure” issues. A Postal Service spokesman confirmed Friday that negotiations are still under way, but had no other comment. The APWU’s four-year contract with the Postal Service expired Nov. 20, but its terms…
A week-and-a-half after their old contract officially ended, the U.S. Postal Service and its largest union will keep talking a while longer in hopes of agreeing to a new one. “We will be working late tonight and early tomorrow,” American Postal Workers Union President Cliff Guffey said in a web release this afternoon. The two sides will continue negotiations until they either reach an agreement or decide that a deal is not possible, the release adds. In an e-mail, USPS spokesman Mark Saunders said only that “both parties have agreed to negotiate beyond today.” This is the third extension of…
The U.S. Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union have agreed to keep negotiating until Dec. 1, following the expiration of an earlier extension of contract talks at noon today, USPS spokesman Mark Saunders said this afternoon. In a release posted soon after on the union’s web site, APWU President Cliff Guffey confirmed the extension and said that bargaining would resume Monday. The union remains hopeful that a settlement can be reached, he reiterated. The union’s contract had originally been set to expire at midnight Saturday, but both sides had agreed to the initial Tuesday extension. An impasse has…