Postal Service Begins Labor Contract Negotiations
First of Four Unions Begin Negotiations
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Postal Service begins contract negotiations today with the largest of its four unions, the American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO (APWU).
The APWU represents employees who work as clerks, mechanics, vehicle drivers, custodians and some administrative positions. The current contract expires midnight, Nov. 20.
“We have worked successfully with our unions in the past to help transform the Postal Service and we hope to maintain this momentum during these negotiations,” said Anthony Vegliante, Chief Human Resources Officer and executive vice president. “Our goal is to negotiate a contract that’s fair to our customers, fair to our employees and meets our financial and operational needs.”
Three other unions represent most other postal employees. Employees represented by the National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO (NALC) deliver in metropolitan areas; National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA) employees deliver primarily in rural and suburban areas; and, employees represented by the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, AFL-CIO (NPMHU) work in mail processing plants and Post Offices.
Union Employees Contract Expiration
APWU 211,000 midnight, Nov. 20, 2010
NALC 207,000 midnight, Nov. 20, 2011
NRLCA 67,000 career midnight, Nov. 20, 2010
48,000 non-career
NPMHU 49,000 midnight, Nov. 20, 2011
Contract negotiations for the NRLCA begin September 13. The NALC and NPMHU begin negotiations next year approximately 90-days prior to the contract expiration date.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
For additional background information on labor negotiations and the Postal Service’s workforce, please click on these links: Labor Negotiations and Workforce.
So if the Postal Service has it way we make $2.35/hr no health care and well the business prospers.
The Republican Way
The Post Office really should offer one more VER, and a lot of us will go ahead and leave. So many of us have given our best, and this how we are treated.
Only concessions via arbitration. Fed employees bagged a 2% increase plus no concessions PLUS the feds are more broke than USPS. Burass should be able to use that plus USPS mismanagement to SCORE a decent contract
lets see how this is gonna go. i foresee concessions by the union left and right and outright give aways. the post office has been ignoring the contract for years they just do whatever they want to do and worry about the grievance later. this mailer coalition wants the post office to reduce pay to employees and make changes to medical and benefits for the post office to stay solvent not charge them more money. lets see how this is gonna go.
Wanna hire new clerks for less money? Negotiate one last VER. Say “Goodnight Gracie”