Negotiations Update Support Services (May 2025)

Greetings Support Services Division members, I hope that you are enjoying the early days of summer. The Support Services Division has been hard at work this year continuing contract negotiations on multiple collective bargaining agreements. For general information, the Support Services Division represents and negotiates for 13 current and prospective collective bargaining agreements. Below is an update on our current and recently completed negotiations.

We are proud to say that one of our newest units of 10 Roads Express drivers based in Richmond, VA ratified their first collective bargaining agreement on Feb. 24, 2025. The workers organized and fought a valiant fight against their company to achieve collective bargaining. The drivers were very proud to ratify their first contract that secures bank holidays, gives them job bidding and bumping rights by seniority, gives them the rights to the grievance arbitration process to settle disputes with their employer, and offers protection against subcontracting.

One of our newer units of 10 Roads Express drivers, based in Capitol Heights, MD, has also recently achieved a tentative agreement with the company. The Capitol Heights agreement is very similar to the Richmond agreements, but the Capitol Heights drivers did hold out a little longer to achieve a few additional contractual demands. We were not able to achieve those demands, but we were proud to stand with and represent them as we fought for them.

The drivers of the Great Lakes Area Mail Haulers recently came to a tentative agreement with B&B Trucking, Inc. based in Kalamazoo, MI. These negotiations were very difficult. The company resisted improvements that the employees deserved. A significant improvement we won was an increase in hourly wages for drivers who perform freight work. B&B Trucking historically has been a mail-haul company that did very little freight work. Although the collective bargaining agreement with B&B has a wage chart for freight work, increases in that wage chart had not been negotiated since 2017. The union had concentrated on other issues, since there was either no freight or very little freight work done. However, since 2024, there has been a notable increase in freight work. The tentative agreement is in the process of being sent out for ratification by the members.

We are still in negotiations for the APWU and USPS agreement. While negotiations have slowed on this agreement, negotiating for Article 40 Operating Services and Article 41 Material Support Crafts has ended. As usual, management has refused to agree to changes for these two craft articles of the agreement. The employees under these two articles will benefit from the broader economic improvements of the agreement. It is very disappointing that, in yet another round of negotiations, management has refused to agree to minor changes in these two articles that would give them the same protections that are offered to other craft articles in the agreement. We will strategize for the next round of negotiations to continue our efforts to bring the Support Services crafts up to the same standards as the Clerk, Motor Vehicle, and Maintenance crafts.

We continue to negotiate the first successor agreement for the Humans Resources Shared Services Center (HRSSC) bargaining unit. At the time this issue of The American Postal Worker went to press, we are very close to a tentative agreement. There were only a few changes the bargaining committee proposed for this round of negotiations. We have met with management numerous times to come to bargaining agreements and have been satisfied with our progress.

Finally, we had our opening day of negotiations for the Information Technology and Accounting Services (IT/ AS) sector on March 4, 2025. We passed several proposals to management on changes we want. Management was very receptive and asked more questions than they have asked in opening sessions for other agreements. That was a good sign. ■