Category: From National

Seventh and Final COLA under the 2015 Contract Agreement Announced

(This article was first reported on the National Website on August 10, 2018)

In accordance with the 2015-2018 APWU/USPS Collective Bargaining Agreement (union contract), career employees represented by the APWU will receive a 31 cent per hour cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), effective September 1, 2018. It will appear in paychecks dated September 21, 2018 (Pay Period 19-2018), and will total $645.00 per year.

The COLAs are in addition to general wage increases.

This is the seventh and final cost-of-living adjustment under the 2015-2018 contract:

  • $0.00 The first COLA would have been effective Sept. 5, 2015
  • $0.00 The second COLA would have been effective March 5, 2016.
  • $21.00 The third COLA was effective Sept. 3, 2016.
  • $333.00 The fourth COLA was effective March 18, 2017.
  • $270.00 The fifth COLA increase effective Sept. 2, 2017.
  • $520.00 The sixth COLA effective March 3, 2018.
  • $645.00 The seventh COLA effective Sept. 1, 2018.

The COLAs received during the 2015-2018 CBA will total $1,789 per year.

Postal Support Employees (PSEs) do not receive cost-of-living increases, but had five general wage increases under the 2015-2018 contract. PSEs received a pay increase of 21 cents on May 26, 2018.

Updated pay scales are available.

Gear Up this Thursday

Tomorrow is Thursday, and we’re still fighting for a new contract and economic justice. So don’t forget to wear your APWU gear to show that we are united as we work toward a contract that gives every member a fair shot and a voice on the job.

When we asked you last week to wear your gear and send us photos, you delivered! Here’s one of our favorite photos sent in last week from our brothers and sisters in Danville, Va

 

 

You can help show management that we’re standing together, and build support in the communities we serve, by taking a photo with your colleagues in your union gear and posting it on social media with the hashtag #APWUnited—and send it to us at nccc@apwu.org so we can share it from our official accounts!

We must send a clear signal to management that we are #APWUnited, and we’ll do it every Thursday by wearing our gear and posting our photos online to rally our communities behind us.

Join us tomorrow by wearing your APWU gear, and don’t forget to post your photos on your social media with the hashtag #APWUnited and send them to us at nccc@apwu.org.

In unity,
The National Contract Campaign Committee

P.S., If you don’t have gear, ask your shop steward if there is a sticker or a button you can wear, or order some at apwustore.org, so you can join in!

Fired Up and Ready to Go! Contract Negotiations Begin Between the APWU and USPS

(This article was first reported on the National Website on June 30, 2018)

The American Postal Workers Union began negotiations for a new union contract with the U.S. Postal Service with an opening session on June 26th. In a display of postal union unity, NALC Executive Vice-President Brian Renfroe and NPMHU president Paul Hogrogian sat shoulder to shoulder with the APWU leadership.  A host of notable labor and community allies, including AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and NAACP national leader Hilary Shelton, were present in support, underscoring the national importance of this round of bargaining. The APWU delegation of 80 national officers, the Rank and File Bargaining Committee, friends and supporters and local representatives marched to the meeting room chanting “Fired Up and Ready to Go!” while in a national day of APWU solidarity and unity thousands of members wore their stickers: “Fighting Today for a Better Tomorrow.”

APWU President and lead negotiator Mark Dimondstein presented the union’s opening remarks pointing out that “Since the advent of true collective bargaining gained as a result of the postal strike of 1970 – postal workers’ lives are vastly improved. And representatives of our union sit across the bargaining table from management as equals – not because we have important titles, but because we have a union sustained and supported by our members.”

With the recent White House proposal to privatize the Postal Service, Dimondstein didn’t mince words. “As we enter these negotiations, powerful forces on Wall Street and the likes of UPS continue to push for the breaking up of the postal service and selling pieces off to the highest bidders,” he said, adding that “management should not be afraid of bold and creative thinking and approach these negotiations as an opportunity to discuss various ways to protect and expand the public postal service.”

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