Contract Ratified with 95% ‘Yes’ Vote!

(This article appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine)

Congratulations! 200,000 Postal Workers have a solid new union contract, overwhelmingly ratified with 95% of voters saying “Yes” to accept the Tentative Agreement.

Our right to full collective bargaining rights over wages and benefits was gained from the victorious 1970 Great Postal Strike and the courageous actions of postal workers who came before us. However, negotiations are never easy, never have been, and never will be. We don’t bargain with ourselves. Management has their goals, which often conflict with ours as the union battles for the best possible wages and benefits, rights on the job, a workplace free of harassment and discrimination, dignified retirement, and respect for your dedicated work serving the people of the country. Even when management comes to the negotiating table in good faith (as I believe they did in the final stages of negotiations), it is a difficult struggle.

Significantly, we have secured this new Collective Bargaining Agreement in a period where there are looming and dangerous threats of postal privatization, federal workers and unions are under extreme assault, basic union rights are being decimated, the Department of Government Efficiency is rampaging through government services, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is in the hands of anti-union functionaries, and the USPS is still financially challenged. In addition, upper management is in transition as former Postmaster General (PMG) DeJoy was clearly forced out of office by a White House bent on postal privatization, and the Postal Board of Governors shamelessly has selected a new PMG right out of FedEx.

With absolutely no givebacks, we achieved a contract that protects the great gains achieved over many years of struggle with the tremendous job security of no-layoff protections, full cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) as a true buffer against inflation, regular step increases, the 50-mile limit on excessing, and the two-year automatic conversion from non-career to career. We secured modest but real general wage increases, significant advances in bridging the divisive two-tier wage structure, the first increase in night differential in 30 years, and many positive work-rule changes.

Once again, I am honored to have represented all of you as the lead negotiator in national bargaining. While I appreciate the many “thanks” for this new contract and its achievements during such challenging times, let’s be clear — the success of negotiations is not the result of one “superman or woman.” It is based on the power and leverage of our union foundation, built by the vast majority of postal workers like you who voluntarily join the union and pay union dues. Our unity is what compels management to come to the bargaining table. In nonunion workplaces, it is the boss’s way or the highway.

Local and state organizations send many resolutions to APWU national conventions that help guide the national negotiators. The kickoff day of action, union gear days, and our “Union Proud, Say it Loud!” contract campaign built the message of unity and solidarity of workroom floor activism.

In that sense, every single member was sitting with us at the bargaining table bringing our strength of 200,000 active and retired members.

In addition, successful negotiations take the collective effort of many. Your National Negotiations Committee, national officers, local and state presidents, activists, and hardworking and talented union staff worked in unity, with diligence and determination.

Negotiations are now behind us. As we march forward, we must be ever vigilant to ensure that what we gain at the bargaining table is not crushed by the Wall Street privatizers and far too many bought-and-paid-for politicians. From our workplaces, to the halls of Congress, and to the streets, the “struggle continues!” against the billionaires and greedy corporations who are bent on destroying unions, the common good that is embodied in public postal services, fundamental democratic rights like the right to free speech and to protest, and the rights of working people. Onward! ■