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March 29, 2014
Maintenance Memo Outlines Steps For PSE Conversion to Career
A March 28 agreement with the USPS outlines the procedure for the conversion of Maintenance Craft Postal Support Employees to career, Maintenance Craft Director Steve Raymer has announced.
March 28, 2014
Burrus Stops By
Former APWU President William Burrus stopped by the union office on March 27 and visited with resident officers and senior staff.
March 25, 2014
A Closer Look at The March 4 Atlanta Staples Protest
March 24, 2014
APWU, USPS Reach Agreement On Filling Residual Vacancies
An important March 20 agreement between the APWU and USPS outlines a procedure for filling residual vacancies in the Clerk, Maintenance and Motor Vehicle Crafts, and will result in the conversion of Postal Support Employ...
March 21, 2014
Preparations Underway for April 24 National Day of Action to ‘Stop Staples’
APWU locals are gearing up for the National Day of Action to Stop Staples on Thursday, April 24, at locations across the country.
March 20, 2014
Four Postal Unions Form Historic Alliance
Declaring that “the U.S. Postal Service is under unprecedented attack,” the presidents of the four postal unions have formed a historic alliance to fight back.
March 19, 2014
National Association of Letter Carriers Stands with APWU to ‘Stop Staples’
The National Association of Letter Carriers is taking a stand in support of the APWU’s fight against the sweetheart deal between the USPS and Staples that puts postal retail operations in Staples stores — and staffs them...
March 11, 2014
National Day of Action To Stop Staples Set for April 24
The APWU has announced a National Day of Action on April 24 to protest the sweetheart deal between the USPS and Staples that puts postal retail operations in Staples stores — and staffs them with low-wage, high-turnover...
March 11, 2014
Postal Unions Form Alliance
Declaring that “the U.S. Postal Service is under unprecedented attack,” the presidents of the four postal unions have formed a historic alliance to fight back.
March 10, 2014
Lynn Pallas-Barber Appointed Assistant Clerk Craft Director
The APWU Clerk Division Council approved the appointment of Lynn Pallas-Barber to the position of Assistant Clerk Craft Director “B” at a meeting on March 7. Pallas-Barber fills the vacancy created by the retirement of L...
March 10, 2014
Mail Handlers Union Joins ‘Stop Staples’ Campaign
The National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU) is offering “wholehearted support” for the ‘Stop Staples’ campaign, the union has announced.
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...