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March 10, 2014
Staples to Close 225 Stores
The March 6 announcement by Staples CEO Ron Sargent that the office-supply chain will close 225 stores by the end of 2015, “Proves that it’s a bad idea to turn over public postal services to a private company that can cl...
March 10, 2014
USPS Withdraws Challenge, PSE Hours Count Toward Desirable Duty Assignments
The Postal Service has withdrawn a challenge to provisions in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that require management to post newly created duty assignments using all available work hours — including hours worked by...
March 8, 2014
IL Local Says ‘No’ to New CPU
Approximately 70 APWU members and supporters lined the streets in Belleville, IL on March 7 to ask passersby not to patronize a newly opened postal retail operation at Ben Franklin's Crafts & Floral store. The store bega...
March 7, 2014
House Budget Committee Chair Ryan Misrepresents Economists in Poverty Report
The House Budget Committee released a report, The War on Poverty: Fifty Years Later, on Monday, and the findings left several economists and social scientists bemused and angry, according to The Fiscal Times. Several exp...
March 6, 2014
Further Proof That It’s a Bad Idea To Move U.S Post Offices into Staples Stores
March 6, 2014
Sen. Sanders Says It All
In a March 5 guest column in the Wall Street Journal, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) makes an eloquent case for postal reform that protects our beloved national treasure.
March 6, 2014
White House Budget Misses the Mark on Postal Matters
The administration’s budget proposal for 2015 misses the mark on postal issues, APWU President Mark Dimondstein said. “The White House budget echoes the misguided policies ofPostmaster General Patrick Donahoe. It calls...
March 4, 2014
Atlanta APWU Members Brave Cold to ‘Stop Staples’
Seventy-five APWU members and supporters braved cold weather and high winds on March 4 to protest outside a Staples store in Atlanta and demand that the company staff “postal counters” in its stores with postal employees...
March 3, 2014
NLRB: USPS Must Give APWU Staples Info
In a complaint issued Feb. 25, Region 5 of the National Labor Relations Board found merit in APWU charges [PDF] that the Postal Service has improperly refused to provide the union with information about its agreement wit...
March 3, 2014
PRC Dismisses APWU Service Complaint
The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) has dismissed an APWU complaint which charges that the Postal Service is failing to meet its own service standards regarding the delivery of first-class mail. The union brought the...
March 1, 2014
A Safe Workplace: It’s Not a Matter of Luck
(This article appears in the May-June 2014 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.) Tony D. McKinnon Sr., Industrial Relations Director Our members want to be assured that we will leave work each day as healthy as...
March 1, 2014
Is Postal Banking an Idea Whose Time Has Come?
The USPS Office of Inspector General sparked quite a controversy when it published a white paper in late January that endorsed a concept postal unions have quietly supported for years: The Postal Service should provide b...
February 28, 2014
Arbitrator Rules on NTFT Excessing
Arbitrator Dennis R. Nolan has ruled that APWU members holding Non-Traditional Full-Time (NTFT) assignments may not be excessed into full-time positions in the Letter Carrier Craft if they don’t meet the definition of fu...
February 28, 2014
Black Women Raise Their Voices in the Tobacco Industry
By 1938, Louise "Mamma" Harris had worked at the I.N. Vaughan Export stemmery in Richmond VA for nearly six years. The women who worked at Export were among the poorest in Richmond; they had to wrap themselves in tobacco...
February 28, 2014
Bucky Walter
February 27, 2014
USPS Declares War On Custodial Staffing Again!
The USPS has declared war on custodial staffing — again — reports Maintenance Craft Director Steve Raymer. Management notified the APWU on Jan. 22 of an attempt to modify the MS-47 Handbook, which establishes guidelines...
February 24, 2014
Dimondstein Elected to AFL-CIO Executive Committee, Council
APWU President Mark Dimondstein was elected to the Executive Committee and Executive Council of the AFL-CIO at its annual meeting in Houston TX on Feb. 18 and 19.
February 21, 2014
APWU Opposes USPS Proposal to Slow Down Standard Mail
In a filing with the Postal Regulatory Commission on Feb. 20, the APWU strenuously opposed a USPS proposal to reduce service standards for Standard Mail.
February 21, 2014
President Obama Takes the Chained CPI out of his Fiscal 2015 Budget
In a great victory for the Alliance, White House staff has announced that President Obama’s Fiscal 2015 budget will not include a switch to the chained CPI formula that would limit cost-of-living increases in Social Secu...
February 20, 2014
Excessing, Job Withholding Due to Consolidations on ‘Indefinite Hold’
Union members are sure to breathe a sigh of relief following a recent notice from the Postal Service to the APWU.
February 20, 2014
Houston Retirees Get Organized
The Houston Area Local Retiree Chapter took on its first task immediately after being chartered.
February 19, 2014
Postal Workers Protest Rep. Issa at NH GOP Fundraiser
More than 150 union members braved sub-zero degree winds on Feb. 17 to deliver an icy greeting to U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, the author of legislation (H.R. 2748) that would lead to the demise of the Postal Service.
February 18, 2014
Finally! USPS Provides Documentation
Ten months after the APWU won an arbitration case protesting violations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the USPS has provided the APWU with documentation — thousands and thousands of pages of documentation — nece...
February 18, 2014
Unions Discuss Proposed FECA Changes
The APWU hosted a meeting of unions on Feb. 28 to discuss proposed changes to the Federal Employees Compensation Act. Analyzing the Federal Injured Employees Re-Employment Act (FIERA) were labor organizations that repres...
February 14, 2014
APWU Celebrates Women’s History Month
The APWU will honor the contributions of American women in shaping our nation in March, during Women’s History Month. APWU members are encouraged to participate in activities that celebrate the achievements of women.
February 14, 2014
What Are They Hiding?
February 10, 2014
Orlando Postal Workers Protest Staples
Members of the APWU Central Florida Area Local paid a visit to a Staples Store in Orlando on Feb. 8 to protest the privatization of postal retail operations at the office supply retail giant’s stores.
February 8, 2014
Now You See It, Now You Don’t
The Postal Service’s financial report for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2014 shows the agency enjoyed an operating surplus of $765 million. But the agency’s good news was buried in most media accounts, which said the...
February 7, 2014
‘Sharing’ the Staples Message
“This is how I do it,” she said about encouraging people to visit StopStaples.com with their smart phones. “I get them on the spot — not wait for them to promise that they will do it then forget or procrastinate.”
February 7, 2014
NALC Retirement Community Now Open to APWU Retirees
Our brothers and sisters in the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) have invited APWU retirees to lease apartments in their retirement community in central Florida.