APWU Leadership Institute FAQs

What is the APWU Leadership Institute?

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 will help strengthen and enhance the leadership skills of local and state leaders, and union activists across the country.

The Institute will be organized and overseen by the national president’s office, and will include the participation of many national officers. The national APWU will cover all the costs, including lost compensation, of the participants.

What Will the Institute’s Educational Program Include?

✱ Leadership skills, including: communication techniques, public speaking, strategic planning, working with the media, team building, organizing public events, membership education, and holding effective union meetings.

✱ How to boost member participation at all levels of the union to build a culture of collective action.

✱ How to empower members to demand safety, dignity, and respect on the job.

✱ How to strengthen the union’s committee structure.

✱ How to strengthen leaders’ relationships with our members and our communities.

✱ Organizing and mobilizing the public in support of postal worker issues, and issues of concern to all workers.

✱ Our union’s history and our successful campaigns, including: the 1970 Great Postal Strike, the Stop Staples! campaign, the passage of the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, as well as lessons from labor history.

✱ Various topics, such as: Who Controls our Economy and Who Benefits; the Importance of Labor Solidarity; and What is Privatization, and How to Fight it and Win.

✱ And much more!

Who is eligible to attend?

The Institute is open to all full dues-paying APWU members in good standing with demonstrated involvement in the union. Each three-week session will consist of a diverse group of APWU members from all five regions and all crafts. Participants will be chosen via an impartial selection process. Although the 2026 Institute is limited, there will be opportunities to participate in future Leadership Institutes. Our current plans are to hold Spring and Fall sessions.

How Can One Apply to Attend?

1. Visit www.apwu.org/apwu-leadership-institute to complete the application form. Submit the form online or mail it to the APWU headquarters address on the application.

2. All applications must include a recommendation from a local, state, or national officer. Recommendations from community leaders are also welcome. The Recommendation Form is available online.

Key Application Dates:

Applications open: May 15, 2026

Application and Recommendation deadline: June 26, 2026.

Notification of Applicants: September 18, 2026