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May 10, 2007
House Bill Would Set Timetable for Consolidation Studies
A bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would establish firm deadlines for Area Mail Processing surveys and would prohibit the USPS from removing equipment or reducing the workforce in affected facilities...
May 7, 2007
Mail Processing Staying Put in Western MD
The Cumberland Area Local’s anti-consolidation T-shirt made its debut last summer. The APWU was notified May 4 that the proposed consolidation of some mail-processing operations involving two sites 90 miles apart in west...
May 7, 2007
Women’s Organizing Campaign Grows
Support for the Women’s Organizing Campaign is growing, with 89 locals and 17 state organizations participating, said Liz Powell, chairperson of the APWU subcommittee that is coordinating the drive. Because of new intere...
May 3, 2007
St. Petersburg Consolidation to Proceed
The Postal Service has notified the APWU that it will implement plans to shift some mail-processing operations from the St. Petersburg (FL) Processing and Distribution Center to the Tampa P&DC. Citing declining mail volu...
May 2, 2007
APWU Web Site ‘De-Links’ Locals During Union Election Period
The APWU national election period has begun, and in approximately five months, on Oct. 5, the counting of ballots will commence. The rules for the election of APWU national officers, as prepared by the 2007 APWU Nationa...
April 30, 2007
Pete Seeger: Activist, Master Songsmith
Even if you’ve never been to a labor rally, a civil rights demonstration, or a folk music concert, chances are you’ve been touched by the music of Pete Seeger. For more than six decades, this gifted performer has travele...
April 25, 2007
Twin Falls, Cape Cod Consolidations Stopped
The APWU has been notified that the consolidation of some mail-processing operations at the Twin Falls (ID) Customer Service Mail Processing Center into the Boise P&DC has been cancelled. On April 20, 2007, the USPS wrot...
April 18, 2007
Workers Memorial Day
On April 28 each year, the labor movement observes Workers Memorial Day to commemorate workers who have been killed or injured on the job, and to renew the fight for safety-and-health protections. This year’s theme is Go...
April 13, 2007
Bloomington, Two Upstate New York AMPs Halted; Bronx Study in Limbo
The APWU received notice recently that consolidations of mail-processing operations in Watertown and Binghamton, NY, and Bloomington, IN, no longer are being considered, and that the Area Mail Processing study in the Bro...
April 9, 2007
IT/ASC Workers Ratify 4-Year Contract
APWU members have ratified a four-year contract covering more than 1,200 employees at Postal Service IT/ASC facilities.
April 4, 2007
Equal Pay Day Arrives April 24
On Tuesday, April 24, 2007, working women across the country will mark Equal Pay Day — the day when women’s wages will finally catch up to what men earned in 2006. “Women have come a long way, but are still waiting for e...
March 30, 2007
Employee Free Choice Act Introduced in Senate
One of the most important labor law reform measures in decades was introduced in the U.S. Senate March 29 — legislation that would give American workers greater freedom to make their own choices about joining unions and...
March 29, 2007
It’s Official: APWU Contract Signed
In a ceremony March 29, APWU President William Burrus and Postmaster General John E. Potter signed the 2006-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement. Their signatures formalized the agreement, which was ratified by union mem...
March 26, 2007
National Election Committee Amends Rules
The APWU National Election Committee has amended a rule governing the 2007 election of officers that was published in the March/April issue of The American Postal Worker. The rule, which originally prohibited automatic n...
March 26, 2007
APWU, USPS Reach Tentative Agreement on IT/ASC Contract
The APWU and the USPS have reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract that covers more than 1,200 employees at the IT/ASC (Information Technology/Accounting Service Centers) facilities in Eagan (MN), San M...
March 23, 2007
Senate to Hold Hearing on Employee Free Choice Act
A Senate Committee will hear testimony March 27 from workers and labor law experts on the need to restore workers’ freedom to form unions to bargain for better wages and benefits. “It’s no secret that a union contract is...
March 23, 2007
Postal Service Continues Plans to Close AMCs
As part of an ongoing effort to outsource postal work, the USPS recently outlined management’s continuing plans to eliminate Air Mail Centers across the country. Two letters to the APWU provide additional details about p...
March 20, 2007
Unions Press FBI to Brief Congress on Anthrax Investigation
The APWU, along with the other postal unions and management associations, has asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to grant congressional requests for a briefing by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on its inquiry i...
March 14, 2007
Women’s Organizing Campaign Takes Shape
T-shirts, balloons, buttons, stickers, and brochures are included in the organizing kits. The APWU Women’s Organizing Campaign is taking shape, with organizing kits mailed to 58 locals across the country. The packets inc...
March 9, 2007
Union Encourages USPS Board of Governors To Approve Postal Regulatory Commission Ruling
The APWU is encouraging the USPS Board of Governors to approve the Feb. 26 “recommended decision” of the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). In a March 8 letter, union President William Burrus said the PRC’s decision, wh...
March 6, 2007
Retroactive Pay to Be Issued May 18
The USPS has notified the APWU that it expects to disburse back pay for the period from Nov. 25, 2006, through Feb. 2, 2007, in paychecks dated May 18 (Pay Period 10-2007). The retroactive pay will reflect a 1.3 percent...
March 2, 2007
Union, Management Sign Off On Contract Questions & Answers
The APWU and USPS signed off on a set of Questions and Answers regarding the 2006-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement, which outline the specific application of provisions involving the conversion of part-time flexibles...
March 2, 2007
House Approves Employee Free Choice Bill
The House of Representatives voted 241-185 in favor of legislation that would strengthen workers’ ability to bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions by safeguarding their rights when they choose to for...
February 28, 2007
Evelyn Dubrow: Labor’s Legendary Lobbyist
For two centuries, the lobbies adjacent to the U.S. House and Senate have attracted all sorts of “interest peddlers,” from the cigar-chomping agents of the mine, railroad, and steel industries to the well-heeled represen...
February 26, 2007
‘A Woman’s Place is in Her Union’
The APWU has unveiled an ambitious union organizing campaign directed at women, scheduled to begin in March, Women’s History Month. The campaign will urge women officers and activists to reach out to female non-members a...
February 26, 2007
PRC Decision a Big Win For Postal Customers, APWU
Source: PRC press briefing packet The APWU — along with individual customers and small businesses — achieved a significant victory Feb. 26, when the Postal Regulatory Commission announced its recommended decision on a US...
February 21, 2007
Union to Hold ‘Round Robin’ Contract Conferences
The national APWU will host a series of discussions about the 2006-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement with local and state officers in locations around the country, union President William Burrus has announced. “These...
February 20, 2007
Raises Implemented Feb. 3
The union has been informed that new pay rates for APWU-represented employees were implemented in Pay Period 04-2007 and will appear in checks dated Feb. 23. The new implementation date was two pay periods ahead of the d...
February 12, 2007
USPS Abandons Nine More AMP Studies
The Postal Service has notified the APWU that it has cancelled nine more Area Mail Processing studies. In a statement on Feb. 9, the Postal Service told the APWU that “it has been determined that there are currently no s...
February 12, 2007
Labor Board Files Complaint Against DHL
A DHL director of labor relations, the NLRB complaint says, “implied that it would be futile for employees to select the union as their bargaining representative by telling employees there is only so much money for labor...