Negotiations is Our Path to Winning an All-Career Workforce

On June 25, 2024, we opened negotiations for the “APWU Main Agreement” that covers most APWU-represented employees, except for those who work in Information Technology/Accounting Services (IT/AS), the Human Resources Shared Services Center (HRSSC), Postal Nurses, or private sector employees.

This contract covers nearly 200,000 employees, the largest contract being negotiated in the U.S. in 2024. Our contract affects the lives of all those employees and their families. Based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, this contract could have a direct effect on over 609,000 people.

The APWU has been transparent about our main objectives in this round of negotiations. The APWU submitted a proposal to eliminate the divisive two-tier wage structure on Opening Day.

Nearly 120,000 employees are on what we commonly call the “new pay scale” implemented in the 2010-2015 contract. There are close to 70,000 employees in Grade 6 Steps GG through A alone! Those on this scale will not reach the same top step as employees hired as career employees prior to May of 2011.

We also proposed the elimination of Postal Support Employees (PSEs). We want an all-career workforce. Currently there are over 20,000 of these non-career employees. We made strides towards this all-career workforce in the 2021-2024 contract when the parties agreed to the automatic conversion of PSEs after two years of PSE service within an installation, except for PSEs assigned to four-hour Remotely Managed Post Offices (RMPOs). Over the life of the 2021-2024 agreement, we have seen career numbers slightly increase as PSEs have been converted to career.

We believe that we have good arguments to make for our objectives. The two-tier structure is not unique to the Postal Service. It was implemented throughout labor after the 2006 Great Recession impacted bargaining and the economy like no other time in recent memory. But it has not been a success. It has been divisive in the workforce and has created animosity amongst workers. But we have begun to see the two-tier structure collapse in other industries. This is an issue that our union family members in other unions are willing to go out on strike over. It is not conducive to employee retention or job stability. Our data shows that since the Postal Service implemented this structure in 2011, APWU-represented employee retention has plummeted. Previously, a low percentage of postal employees left their jobs voluntarily before retirement. Today, that rate of attrition is several times higher than it was before 2011. Retention, general rejection, and failure of the two-tier wage system are two of the strong arguments we will use to demand elimination of this wage structure.

What about the elimination of the PSEs as a classification of employee? We are not asking that any PSEs be “let go” from the Postal Service. We are arguing that they should all be made career employees and all new hires thereafter be career employees. I know what is like to be non-career. I was a non-career employee (Transition Employee) from early 1994 to late 1997. It was life changing when I became a career employee. The non-career model is a failure. The pay is not as competitive as it should be. Management abuses these employees and treats them as disposable. Over 30 percent of PSEs quit early in their career because of poor treatment by management. Management knows the non-career model is a failure. We believe we have the data to support our position.

The law requires the Postal Service to provide good jobs and be a “model employer.” They can choose to do that and prove to current employees and future employees they are committed to that by bargaining in good faith and agreeing to a contract that recognizes the worth the APWU-represented employees bring to the American people’s Postal Service. Solidarity! ■