Thousands of Opportunities Still Available

On the eve of the Sept. 25 deadline for those who wish to retire or separate in order to receive the $15,000 incentive negotiated by the APWU, approximately 22,000 postal workers have opted in or expressed interest. The Aug. 24 agreement limited the number of employees who could accept the offer to 30,000.

The offer was made to employees in APWU- and Mail Handler-represented crafts. As of early morning Sept. 24, approximately 22,000 requests had been made: about 19,000 by APWU-represented employees, and almost 3,000 by Mail Handlers.

Employees who are eligible for Optional (Regular) Retirement and those who wish to separate must indicate their interest by the Sept. 25 deadline, but may decide against terminating their appointment, so the final tally could be significantly lower. (Voluntary Early Retirement applications must be submitted by Sept. 25.)

“It seems clear that the number of applicants will not reach the maximum number of recipients allowed,” APWU President William Burrus said, “so all eligible employees who have applied or expressed interest and who end their employment should receive the incentive.”

“Employees who are worried that they will not get the incentive because of the 30,000-employee limit have no cause for concern,” the union president said. “Nearly 12,000 employees applied for the incentive or expressed interest in the first 10 days [through Sept. 4] and less than 10,000 came forward in the 20 days that followed.”

The Memorandum of Understanding states that if the number of applicants reaches 25,000, the union and management will meet at the national level to determine the distribution among the remaining applicants and any outstanding issues.