Cost-of-Living Raises Set for March
February 21, 2013
Career APWU members will receive a $207 annual increase in pay beginning next month, APWU President Cliff Guffey has announced. “This raise is the result of the 2010-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement, which preserved cost-of-living adjustments for our members,” he said. “They are an important part of our pay package.”
The cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will be effective March 9 and will be reflected in paychecks issued March 29. The raise amounts to $7.96 per pay period and reflects increases in the cost-of-living from July 2011 to January 2012, and from July 2012 to January 2013.
[Printed copies of APWU News Bulletin #2 give the wrong amount of the COLA raise per pay period. The increase will be $7.96 per pay period.]
In September, APWU members will receive an additional COLA, reflecting increases in the cost-of-living from January to July 2012, and from January to July 2013. Cost-of-living adjustments also will be made in March 2014, September 2014 and March 2015.
APWU members received a 1 percent across-the-board pay increase on Nov. 17, 2012, and will receive additional increases of 1.5 percent effective Nov. 16, 2013, and 1 percent effective Nov. 15, 2014.
Postal Support Employees (PSEs), who are not eligible for COLAs, received an across-the-board increase of 2 percent on Nov. 17, 2012. PSEs will receive additional raises of 2.5 percent effective Nov. 16, 2013, and 2.5 percent effective Nov. 15, 2014.
Updated pay scales are available at www.apwu.org. Printed copies will be included in the May-June edition of The American Postal Worker magazine.
Tell Your U.S. Senators, Representative:
Support Postal Reform Bills
APWU President Cliff Guffey is calling on union members to ask their senators and representatives to co-sponsor a pair of postal reform bills that were introduced in the House and Senate on Feb. 13.
The Postal Service Protection Act would:
- Fix the Postal Service’s immediate financial crisis by ending the mandate that forces the USPS to pre-fund healthcare benefits for future retirees – a burden no other government agency or private company bears;
- Allow the Postal Service to recover overpayments the USPS made to federal pension plans;
- Re-establish overnight delivery standards for first-class mail, which would ensure the timely delivery of mail, help keep mail processing facilities open, and protect jobs;
- Protect six-day delivery;
- Allow the USPS to develop new services that would generate new sources of revenue, and
- Give the Postal Regulatory Commission authority to prevent post office closures, based on the effect on the community and employees.
The Senate bill (S. 316) was introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and has eight co-sponsors. The House bill (H.R. 630) was introduced by Rep. Pete DeFazio (D-OR).
“The bills get at the heart of the Postal Service’s financial difficulties,” said Legislative and Political Director Myke Reid. “The pre-funding requirement is responsible for approximately 80 percent of the Postal Service’s losses.
“The bills would also preserve service to the American people by protecting overnight mail delivery,” he added. Last year, the Postal Service eliminated approximately 23 percent of overnight mail delivery by lowering service standards and closing or reducing operations at 140 mail processing plants.
The USPS plans to close 20 more mail processing plants this year and 92 in 2014, Guffey pointed out. “These closures would delay the mail that is delivered Monday through Saturday in cities and towns across the country," he said.
“The closures must be stopped,” Guffey added. “The USPS cannot survive if mail delivery is delayed. Businesses will turn elsewhere.”
To send an e-mail message to your legislator, click here. To contact your senators or representative by phone, call the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121. To send a letter to your U.S. representative, write him or her at: The Honorable [Name], U.S. House of Representatives, Washington DC 20515. To send a letter to your U.S. senators, write them at: The Honorable [Name], U.S. Senate, Washington DC 20510.
Support S. 316 and H.R. 630
