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December 21, 2025
Award on Inspection of Vehicles in Non-Public Areas of Postal Property
Arbitrator Linda Byars denied the APWU's grievance challenging the Postal Service's regulations and implementing instructions for the administrative inspection of vehicles entering non-public areas of postal property.
December 21, 2025
Frequently Asked Questions
In the March-April edition, I addressed a number of questions asked by APWU retirees. Here are several more.
December 21, 2025
OSHA Releases Ergonomic Strategic Partnership Report for Denver P&DC
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Strategic Partnership Program has released their Ergonomic Verification Report for the Denver P&DC's Ergonomic Risk Reduction Process.
December 21, 2025
e-Team Report, March 23, 2012
Postal Reform Bill on Senate Floor Next Week Sen. Mikulski Puts Hold on Postal Reform Bill Sen. Collins Criticizes USPS Proposed Cuts USPS Market Research on Consolidations: Revenue Losses Could Wipe Out Savings
December 21, 2025
Building a Successful Coalition
A coalition is an alliance of individuals or groups that join forces for a common purpose. Forming a coalition allows participants to combine their resources and become more powerful than if the individuals or groups act...
December 21, 2025
USPS Must Maintain All Factory Equipment, Including Air Conditioning
An e-mail from USPS headquarters dated Oct. 3, 2001, instructs managers in the field that former Emery vehicles incorporated into the postal fleet are now considered postal vehicles and must be maintained in a manner con...
December 21, 2025
Legislative Matters
In recent months, two congressional subcommittees held hearings on an issue of utmost concern to retirees — legislation that would repeal provisions of the Social Security laws that deny earned benefits to Civil Service...
December 21, 2025
Preference-Eligible Employees Should Look to the CBA
Federal law grants preference-eligible employees specific protection from Reductions in Force (RIFs), and gives them the right to appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) if they believe their rights under Cha...
December 21, 2025
e-Team Report, Sept. 9, 2011
Sept. 27 Day of Action President Guffey Testifies Before Senate Committee Proposed Postal Service Layoffs Would Significantly Impact Minorities, Veterans Governor Lynch’s Veto Sustained in New Hampshire / Ohio to Mail A...
December 21, 2025
The Long and Winding Road to Real Reform
Are you ready for a busy summer? I hope so, because it looks like APWU members will need to spend much of the season persuading members of Congress that enacting customer-friendly, worker-friendly postal reform legislati...
December 21, 2025
Sexual Harassment (Part 2)
Employees who are victims of sexual harassment often fail to report it because they are embarrassed and think nothing will be done to stop it. They fear reprisals, being labeled a troublemaker or prude, or being ridicule...
December 21, 2025
For FECA Employees:
The percentage increase in the December CPI-W index from year to year determines the FECA COLA increase. The 2014 FECA COLA will be 1.5% effective March 2014.
December 21, 2025
e-Team Report, May 3, 2013
APWU encourages continued support for S. 316/ H.R. 630 Sign the ‘We The People’ petition for a White House response on saving the Postal Service Federal retirees targeted by high interest pension-‘advance’ lenders USPS B...
December 21, 2025
Can Level 4 Post Office Clerks Work in Your Office?
The position description for the Level 4 Post Office Clerk [PDF] limits its use to Post Offices with fewer than 190 revenue units annually. The Level 4 Post Office Clerk qualification standard [PDF] repeats that same lim...
December 21, 2025
Fighting to Protect Our Future
I would like to thank the members of the APWU for electing me the Executive Vice President of the American Postal Workers Union. It is truly an honor. Thank you to every member who cast a ballot.
December 21, 2025
Maximization Dispute Appealed to Arbitration
The APWU has appealed to national-level arbitration a dispute over whether the Postal Service is obligated under Article 7.3.B to maximize the number of full-time regular duty assignments by combining all regularly sched...
December 21, 2025
e-Team Report, Sept. 13, 2013
Senate Committee to Address Postal Reform Federal Unions Protest Proposal to Pull Postal Workers From Federal Employee Health Benefit Program AFL-CIO Says Postal Service Needs ‘Innovation And Growth, Not Downsizing and D...
December 21, 2025
Consolidation: Fighting Back
Following the consolidation of the Middlesex-Essex (MA) Processing & Distribution Center with the Boston plant in 2013, the national APWU and the Boston Area Local met with the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) to f...
December 21, 2025
Personal Messages
You can download and print the APWU Supports Our Troops postcard to accompany your care package. For security reasons, personal messages cannot be enclosed in an envelope or sealed in any way. Messages that contain negat...
December 21, 2025
Postal Reform – At the 11th Hour
With the expiration of a moratorium on the consolidation and closure of mail processing plants and post offices approaching, there has been a tremendous amount of activity about postal legislation on Capitol Hill — and a...
December 21, 2025
Proposed Revisions to F-1, Section 473.12, Rescinded
This settlement (case #Q94C4QC96092498) rescinds a proposed revision to Handbook F-1 (Accounting Procedures) Section 473.12 which would have provided that "Employees cannot grieve or request a hearing for salary or trave...
December 21, 2025
Questions Often Asked About Retirement Checks
It's not unusual for the Retirees Department to get phone calls concerning what to do about late, lost or stolen annuity checks. The following summarizes our typical answers to a few of the frequently asked questions the...
December 21, 2025
Paul Ryan’s April Fools’ Day Budget Would Cut Medicare Dramatically
On Tuesday, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) released another Republican budget proposal - this one for the 2015 fiscal year - that would slash programs that benefit seniors in order to cut taxes for corp...
December 21, 2025
Fewer Union Members Means Lower Pay for All
In the decades after World War II, the labor movement greatly improved pay, benefits and working conditions not just for unionized workplaces, but for the nation’s entire workforce. The better pay and benefits that union...
December 21, 2025
Arbitrator Orders USPS to Revise Certain FMLA Form Letters
In a recent national-level arbitration award, arbitrator Dennis Nolan ruled that certain form letters that the Postal Service planned to use when employees seek family and medical leave violate the Family and Medical Lea...
December 21, 2025
A Preventable Cancer
September is “Gynecological Cancer Awareness Month,” and women are strongly urged to get screened for the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is the cause of virtually all cervical cancer, and which can be prevented.
December 21, 2025
Safety ‘Happy Talk’ Just Isn’t Enough
Postal officials frequently brag about their commitment to workers’ safety, but their actions don’t always line up with the “happy talk.”
December 21, 2025
e-Team Report, March 16, 2012
APWU Airs New Round of Television Ads Transportation in the House AFL-CIO Denounces State Voter ID Laws
December 21, 2025
For Employees Covered by the National Agreement:
December 21, 2025
Q&A on PVS Drivers Program MOU
The APWU and USPS agreed on Feb. 4, 2010, to a series of Questions and Answers [PDF] regarding the Jan. 15, 2009, Memorandum of Understanding establishing a pilot program that experiments with alternative scheduling for...