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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 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 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 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
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...
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...
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
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 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 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
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...
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 5, 2007
Raises Take Effect March 3; Contract Changes Feb. 3
New pay rates established in the 2006-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement will be implemented on March 3, 2007, and will appear in paychecks dated March 23, APWU President William Burrus has announced. Increases in wage...
February 5, 2007
Revised: Raises Take Effect March 3; Other Changes Feb. 3
APWU News Bulletin #03-2007 omitted the full application of the recently negotiated limitations on the use of casuals. Clarifications are marked in bold. The USPS will be authorized to hire casuals for 360-day terms; Th...
February 5, 2007
Dues Increase
The 1.3 percent raise established in the 2006-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement will be implemented on March 3, 2007, and will result in a corresponding dues increase, in accordance with Article 16, Section 2(a) of th...
January 29, 2007
Postal Service Cancels Another AMP Study
The APWU won another battle in the fight against misguided “network realignment” plans when the USPS announced the end of a study aimed at consolidating mail processing operations in Yakima (WA) with those in Pasco, 85 m...
January 22, 2007
Shirley Jasper Named Maintenance Division NBA
Shirley Jasper has been appointed Maintenance Division National Business Agent “B” in the Western Region, Craft Director Steve Raymer has announced. Jasper is the first woman in the craft to serve as an NBA. She will beg...
January 19, 2007
And the Winners Are…
Drum roll, please! APWU President William Burrus has announced the winners of the union’s Ratification Voter Participation Contest. The challenge, intended to encourage union members to get involved in the ratification p...
January 18, 2007
Official Local-by-Local Ratification Vote Totals
The official results of the APWU contract ratification vote are now available, including a local-by-local tally. The results are shown alphabetically by state, with locals in each state listed alphabetically as well. Re...
January 18, 2007
Two Consolidation Studies Scrapped
The U.S. Postal Service announced in early January that it was calling off the only Area Mail Processing studies in the states of Montana and North Carolina. In a written statement on Jan. 5, the Postal Service said tha...
January 12, 2007
Membership Ratifies Four-Year Contract
Rank-and-File Advisory Bargaining Committee members Thomasine Derricks, Princella Vogel, and Jack Dougherty observe the vote count in Washington on Jan. 12. Vogel chairs the committee. APWU members ratified a four-year C...
January 5, 2007
Contract Ratification Balloting Extended to Jan. 12
Balloting in the ratification of the tentative agreement will be extended until Jan. 12, the Rank-and-File Bargaining Committee has announced. “We want to ensure that every interested APWU member has an opportunity to pa...
January 5, 2007
APWU Files Suit on Jurisdictional Disputes
The APWU has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, charging that the National Postal Mail Handlers Union and U.S. Postal Service have violated a national-level three-party agreement that establishes procedures for reso...
December 31, 2006
Frederick Douglass: Activist, Orator, Publisher, Statesman
Unquestionably, the single greatest leap forward in the quest for social and economic justice is the abolition of slavery. In the United States, after decades of struggle and a bloody civil war, slavery was formally abol...
December 29, 2006
Day of Mourning to Be Observed Jan. 2
The Postal Service has notified the APWU that postal workers will observe a Day of Mourning on Jan. 2, in honor of former President Gerald R. Ford, who passed away on Dec. 26. Two national-level agreements between the A...
December 28, 2006
If You Didn’t Get a Ballot…
Ballots for the contract ratification vote must be received in the New York office of the American Arbitration Association by 9 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 12, 2007. If you have not received a ballot, contact the American Arbit...