The Battle for Retroactive Pay is On!

This is an important update on our retroactive pay from the 2021-24 contract and a call to action on securing your hard-earned pay at the earliest possible date.

The terms of the new 2021-2024 Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union were ratified by the APWU members on February 28, 2022.

The new contract included a number of important changes to our wages and pay structure. The payroll changes are a two-fold process.

First Stage: All the new wage and pay changes need to be programmed, calculated.

These included, but were not limited to, the:

• November 20, 2021 wage increases of 1.3 percent
• Sixty-three cents/hour COLA, effective Feb 26, 2022
• Additional 1 percent pay raise for PSEs (who do not receive COLA) effective Nov. 20, 2021
• Fifty cents/hour increase for the PSEs effective April 9 2022
• New pay scale for Grade 11 effective September 25, 2021

Second Stage: Calculate the retroactive pay back due to eligible employees and properly distribute to the employees.

• The large-scale payroll system changes must be made and placed into effect before the retroactive payments can be properly calculated and distributed.
• The above payroll changes were made effective June 4, 2022 with the exception of the extra fifty cents/hour due the PSEs. That management error has now been corrected.

The implementation of these changes was approximately 90 days after the new contract was ratified. This is in line with the time it has taken in the past following effective dates of new Collective Bargaining Agreements.

What is not acceptable is that management has not yet produced a firm date on when the retroactive pay will be distributed in our pay checks.

“We have made it crystal clear to management that this is money that has been earned by and belongs to the workers,” shared APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “We will not accept any management excuses and delays.”

“With no firm and reasonable date provided by management, every APWU member, from the national President to the newest hire, is prepared to secure what is owed to the workers,” said Industrial Relations Director Charlie Cash. “We have been in almost daily contact with management and, if this issue is not quickly resolved, the APWU is prepared to file all necessary grievances, demand interest, cash advances, explore legal remedies and invoke collective actions.”

Be assured that the lack of a firm date for when you will receive your retroactive pay lies squarely on the managers and executives of the US Postal Service.

It is the APWU’s position that the programming and payment of retroactive pay should be the number one programming priority -- And it must be all hands on deck until completed!

The APWU will continue to update everyone on the next steps we are taking and if a date for the retroactive pay has been established.