APWU Leadership Institute

Applications for the APWU Leadership Institute – Class Four – are now open through June 26, 2026.

All applications must include a recommendation from a local, state, or national APWU officer. Recommendations from community leaders are also welcome.

The Leadership Institute is an intensive three-week educational program, held one week at a time over a three-month period.  The Institute’s focus is on developing leaders’ skills to build power — both for contract enforcement and to achieve those goals that cannot be won at the bargaining table. It helps strengthen and enhance the leadership skills of local and state leaders, and union activists across the country. The Institute is organized and overseen by the national president’s office and includes the participation of many national officers. The national APWU covers all the costs, including lost compensation, of the participants.

The Institute is open to all full dues-paying APWU members in good standing with demonstrated involvement in the union. Each three-week session consists of a diverse group of 36 APWU members from all five regions and all crafts. Participants are chosen via an impartial selection process. Although enrollment in the Institute’s Class Four is limited to 36 participants, there will be opportunities to participate in future Leadership Institutes.

The APWU Leadership Institute is designed to develop thoughtful, capable, and well-rounded leaders in our union who understand that in our unity lies our strength.

The Institute prepares leaders who are committed to advancing the union’s constitutional commitment to promoting the “common cause of all” and uplifting the working class as a whole. While many members’ first involvement in the union is through the grievance procedure, the Institute’s focus is on developing leaders’ skills to build power – for contract enforcement, yes, but also to achieve those goals that cannot be won at the bargaining table.

The Institute embraces a broad definition of leadership. Leaders are defined not only by holding union office and the Institute’s main concentration is cultivating participants’ ability to inspire, empower, and motivate their co-workers to join in collective action to advance the union’s cause.

The Institute’s mission is to build the ranks of leadership of the APWU – at every level of the union – with leaders who are prepared to protect and build on the achievements of those who came before and to lead the struggle to improve postal workers’ lives and to fight for a strong, public Postal Service for generations to come.