APWU, Mail Hauler Agree to One-Month Contract Extension

The APWU and the private-sector mail-haul firm Pat Salmon & Sons have agreed to a one-month extension of a contract covering more than 500 drivers. The collective bargaining agreement in effect since Aug. 30, 2006, had been set to expire May 15.

“The parties have several tentative agreements on work-rule issues,” APWU Support Services Director Bill Manley said in a notification to union-represented Salmon employees. Although there are still differences on the economic issues, he said, the union and the company came to agreement to extend the existing contract until June 16, 2009.

Nearly all of Pat Salmon & Sons business involves long-distance hauling of U.S. Mail. The APWU drivers won their first labor contract in September 2003, following three years of negotiations, the filing of unfair labor practice charges, and a short but successful strike.

The extended agreement covers Salmon employees working out of terminals in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee. The affected APWU locals are in Dallas, Little Rock, Shreveport, and Memphis.

Negotiations are to resume in June, Manley said.