Flash Bulletins are paid for by members of the APWU. Information contained in these bulletins is intended for APWU members. Member questions and/or comments regarding any flash bulletin content are always encouraged. Reading of publications prepared for and financed by dues paying members by those who do not is yet one more example of non-members accepting benefits that have been paid for by others! 

We Have a Tentative Contract Agreement!

On December 7, 2006 the Rank and File Bargaining Advisory Committee convened in Washington DC and voted unanimously to approve the Union’s tentative 2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).  The proposed CBA will now be mailed out to the membership for a ratification vote.  You can expect your ballot and terms of the proposed CBA in your mail box during the week of December 18th!

We have reprinted the monetary portions of the tentative CBA below.  There are many significant changes in “workforce” issues as well.  If ratified, the average monetary gain over the life of this agreement will be between $2,400 and $3,000 per employee and that is without factoring in the Semi Annual Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA). 

Terms of the Proposed Contract

Wages, Upgrades, COLAs

· There will be a 1.3 percent raise, effective Nov. 25, 2006;

· All APWU-represented employees will receive an upgrade of one level, effective Feb. 16, 2008, implemented by the adoption of a new pay scale;

· Transitional Employees (TEs) will be upgraded as well;

· There will be a 1.2 percent raise, effective Nov. 21, 2009;

· Cost-of-Living-Adjustments will be made in March and September each year, with a base index of July 2006.

Healthcare Premiums

· The Postal Service will pay 95 percent of premiums for employees enrolled in the APWU Consumer Driven Health Plan, effective in 2008;

· To be eligible, employees must have been members of a Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) for a minimum of one year;

· Employees’ share of healthcare premium costs will increase 1 percent each year for employees enrolled in other plans, in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Workforce Issues –

On December 14, 2006, several of our Local Officers participated in a teleconference with our National President, William Burrus, Executive Vice President, Cliff Guffey, the National Craft Directors and others who were present.  President Burrus and his team negotiated this agreement with the USPS and thus know what the intent of their negotiations entailed.  The teleconference lasted several hours and enabled locals throughout the country to listen and then question our National Officers regarding the proposed CBA. 

Prior to the teleconference your local officers studied the proposed CBA and were able to question what the interpretation and intent was on key areas including some of the workforce issues in the proposed CBA. Together with internal discussion we are confident we have a solid understanding of how the new CBA is to be properly applied by management.  However, because there are many areas of the CBA that will be significantly different than they have in the past there is little doubt interpretation by all responsible for CBA enforcement may vary.

Provided the CBA is ratified, we have been told that both the USPS and APWU will be working to produce a joint Question and Answer document(s) to further define any language that may give cause for interpretive disputes.  Members who have questions or concerns related to any aspect of the proposed CBA are encouraged to discuss these with their Stewards and/or Officers of the local.

2006 COPA Club Yields More Winners!

As our 2006 COPA club year draws to a close we are pleased to announce we have went over the $14,000 level.  While it appears we will not reach our goal of $20,000 we have made significant strides each year since the local renewed COPA contribution efforts.  We have drawn more names and are pleased to announce we have six more winners of $100 each!

Congratulations to:  Tim Tessman (BMC) Steve Shanks (Family Member) Peggy Kuhn (BMC) Ann Hajduk (Minneapolis P&DC) Lori Elavsky (Minneapolis P&DC) and Denise Apland (Retired). Your checks are on their way!

COPA contributions are always an excellent way to help maintain our benefits!  In addition our COPA Club will be continued in 2007!  Postal Ease (PE) or Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) donations continued into 2007 will immediately qualify you for incentives the local provides in our 2007 COPA Club.  A 2007 leave chart will be mailed to all members soon along with all the details of our 2007 COPA Club!

Postal Reform Passes!

In what came as a great surprise, the current lame duck session of congress passed an 11th hour Postal Reform bill (HR 6407) last Saturday, December 7, 2006.  While this bill is better than initial versions that were being discussed it still contains provisions that the APWU feels will pose significant threats to ALL Postal Workers, small businesses and the individual mailer.  The bill will now be presented to President Bush and he is expected to sign it.

Specific provisions that are of concern are the inclusion of artificial price caps that will result in very little options (other than labor concessions and wage caps) to deal with unforeseen market conditions that drive up costs.  Insulting changes to the workers compensation rules for injured Postal Workers.  Perhaps the most ominous is the creation of a new “Postal Regulatory Commission” (PRC) that will be “appointed” along with “Inspector General” of the panel!  This new Inspector General and PRC will have broad and sweeping power in how the USPS operates!  Determining such things as what constitutes universal service etc.  The bill is 167 pages long and can be found on the web for those interested in finding it!  Corporate mailer representatives are delighted with this bill and trumpet savings of “billions of dollars” in their costs to use the nations mailing infrastructure....If they save billions...that cost has to be picked up by someone else or eliminated all together! .....More news on this to come! 

[back to top]