Upgrades Reflected in March 7 Paycheck

The March 7 paycheck for all APWU-represented employees will reflect an upgrade negotiated in the 2006-2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

“On Feb. 16, every APWU member in the Clerk, Maintenance, and Motor Vehicle Crafts will receive an upgrade to the next highest pay level,” said APWU President William Burrus. “This upgrade will apply in all offices and to all employees, regardless of the size of the office or the duties assigned to the employees.”

The upgrades achieved in the new contract place all APWU-represented employees in the next highest pay level and are accompanied by credit for the waiting period toward the next step increase. The upgrades will be accomplished by the application of a new pay scale.

The new pay schedule is being renumbered, beginning at Grade 3 (Grade 1 has been eliminated and all Grade 2 employees are being upgraded). In order to keep the numbers running consecutively, Grades 11 and 12 will be renumbered as Grades 10 and 11, with the salaries for Grades 10 and 11 based on increases from the old Grades 11 and 12.

While employees currently in Grades 11 and 12 of the old schedule are not being advanced numerically in the new schedule, each will receive the monetary benefit of the upgrade, and they will continue to occupy the highest numerical positions in the pay scale.

Burrus noted that the across-the-board upgrades have been a major objective of the union for nearly a decade, beginning in 1998, when letter carriers were upgraded as a result of an arbitrator’s ruling on their Collective Bargaining Agreement.

“We achieved some progress towards this objective in our 2001 contract arbitration and in the 2003 and 2005 contract extensions,” Burrus said, pointing to the union’s success in upgrading mail processors, some skilled maintenance positions, Motor Vehicle Operators, and several other job descriptions.

“Now we can declare total success: Every employee — regardless of craft and assignment — is being upgraded.”

[Contract Wage Increase Affects Union Dues]