Rank-and-File Committee Approves Tentative Contract

The APWU Rank-and-File Bargaining Advisory Committee voted unanimously on March 16 to approve a Tentative Agreement with the USPS for a new contract.

The Tentative Agreement will be sent to eligible union members for a ratification vote. Details about the vote, which the committee will supervise, will be announced once plans are finalized.

The contract provides for a three-and-a-half percent wage increase over the life of the contract, with the first raise taking effect in November 2012. It retains cost-of-living allowances and maintains protections against layoffs.

The agreement includes innovative approaches to safeguarding jobs, returns outsourced work to members, and limits excessing. It also increases workforce flexibility, and changes wages for new employees.

Highlights of the agreement can be found in the March 14 APWU News Bulletin.

“I am hopeful and remain confident that the members will endorse this agreement,” APWU President Cliff Guffey said.

Statement of the Rank-and-File Committee

Editor’s Note: Below is the report of the 2010 APWU Rank-and-File Bargaining Advisory Committee.

The Rank-and-File Bargaining Advisory Committee voted unanimously on Wednesday, March 16, 2011, to approve the tentative agreement for the ratification vote by the members of the American Postal Workers Union.

Members of the negotiating team will brief union members in the locations below:

From November 20, 2010, to the present, the committee received numerous briefings and conversations with President Cliff “C.J.” Guffey, Vice President Greg Bell, Industrial Relations Director Mike Morris, all National Craft Directors, other national officers, and staff. The Committee acknowledges that the tentative agreement was the cumulative effort of national resident officers, field officers, and members from around the country under the direction of the National President. We believe this effort has resulted in a tentative agreement that can best be described as a ‘new’ direction for the American Postal Workers Union. As our first agreement in 1971 was improved upon over the past 40 years, it is our belief that this agreement will be a solid foundation to build on for the next 40 years!

The negotiated changes to the agreement are extensive and too numerous to describe in detail. We encourage you to take time to read the tentative agreement and make your own decision.