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APWU Health Plan Makes Good $ense

(This article first appeared in the November/December 2005 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

In what industry analysts are calling a bold move, the APWU Executive Board transferred some of the surplus from the APWU Health Plan reserve fund to make sure that members’ insurance costs would not go up next year. In fact, while almost all other health plans will be charging more in 2006, the cost of the APWU High Option is going down. Active employees on this plan will be paying $300 less for their healthcare insurance next year.

With healthcare costs skyrocketing, we would like to continue to hold the line: Help spread the word about the APWU Health Plan’s low rates.

Meanwhile, the APWU Consumer Driven Health Plan rates are holding steady for individuals and dipping slightly for families.

Retirees, too, benefit from the rate-cutting. For the past few years, retirees in the APWU Health Plan have had their Cost-Of-Living Adjustment raises virtually wiped out by health plan rate increases. In 2006, retirees covered by either APWU Health Plan option will receive COLA increases that won’t have to provide as much as a nickel toward their health insurance premiums.

In an era when healthcare costs have been skyrocketing, your Executive Board would like to continue to hold the line on costs. Help us by spreading the word about APWU’s low rates.

I like to think that union members will see the 2006 APWU Health Plan offerings as just another example of how the APWU is working for you! (See pages 20-23 for more details. )

EAS Update

Thank you for your efforts in pursuing the EAS (Executive and Administrative Schedule) work for our members.

We depend on our locals to alert us to positions that the USPS is treating as non-bargaining unit jobs when we know full well they belong to our crafts. Don’t stop doing so: We will follow up by filing grievances and unit clarification (UC) petitions with the National Labor Relations Board.

It’s been more than two years since a key arbitration ruling in which the Postal Service was told it could not “pick and choose which [National Agreement] provisions it wishes to invoke and which it prefers to avoid.”

This arbitration upheld our view that is improper to create non-bargaining unit positions outside the explicit exclusions of Article 1.2 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. New positions that do not meet the test of Article 1.2 exclusions must be assigned to a craft, in accordance with Article 1.5.

On Sept. 6, the APWU filed suit in U.S. District Court seeking “an order enforcing and directing Defendants’ compliance with the April 29, 2003 , arbitration award issued by Carlton J. Snow.” Hopefully this will jumpstart a mutual effort to resolve the EAS issues.

The Grievance Backlog

By the time you receive this issue of The American Postal Worker, the number of grievances at Step 3 and arbitration will be at its lowest level in more than 20 years. In February 2003 more than 86,000 cases were awaiting regular arbitration and more than 11,000 were awaiting Step 3 hearings. As of September 2005, those numbers are down to less than 23,000 and 6,000, respectively.

Congratulations should be given to your national business agents for their efforts in getting your cases heard in a timely fashion. This administration is committed to further reducing the grievance backlog at all levels.

TSP, Flexible Spending Accounts

In September, APWU-covered postal workers received a large Cost-Of-Living Adjustment raise and in just a few months you will receive both an annual raise (1.6 percent) and another COLA raise.

If you are not using some of your wages to participate in the Thrift Savings Program or Flexible Spending Accounts, please give them some consideration. Both programs offer tremendous benefits and are paid for with pre-tax dollars, which stretches your take-home pay: Every little bit helps, both every other week (in your paycheck), in times of need (Flexible Spending), and down the road (TSP).

The Year Ahead

The next calendar year brings three major events for the APWU.

In August, the delegates at the National Convention in Philadelphia will celebrate 100 years of postal unionism and will take the first steps in building the foundation for the next 100 years.

Shortly thereafter, we will begin negotiations over the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Undoubtedly, management will cry that you are overpaid and the union will be working to show that your productivity merits not just the salary you are getting now, but regular increases. The Struggle Will Continue !

And late in the year we will have the Congressional elections. You will be able to vote to make changes to help the union protect your job. Let’s hope that memories of the recent fiascos both domestically and internationally are long ones and make a difference at the polls.

Our prayers are with everyone in the areas devastated by the hurricanes and by the poor federal response led by unprepared, unskilled, political hacks and appointees. Fortunately, the American public, including postal workers, stepped up and picked up where the government let people down.As the season of giving approaches, please remember those who have lost everything.

Enjoy the holidays with family and friends and get ready for 2006. All years are important, of course, but 2006 will be especially important to you as a postal worker.

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