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One-Year Contract Extension Ratified

(This article was first published in the Sept./Oct. 2005 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

Union members ratified a one-year extension to the APWU-USPS Collective Bargaining Agreement by a vote of 69,736 to 9,238. The 2000 National Agreement now expires Nov. 20, 2006.

“The members have spoken,” said APWU President William Burrus. “I believe they considered the possibility of achieving specific goals in full-scale negotiations, and made comparisons with the certainty of gaining specific objectives through a one-year extension.

The contract-extension referendum process began July 18-20 when more than 220,000 ballots were mailed to union members covered by the National Agreement. The vote count took place Aug. 5, immediately after the final pick-up of envelopes by an independent balloting association. Burrus said that postal management had initiated the extension talks in March. “At first I rejected the idea,” he said. “However, further discussion led to a serious exploration of what contract improvements the union would require in order to agree to postpone full-scale contract negotiations.”

Burrus held discussions with top APWU officers in late June, and the union leadership was unanimous in the view that the overriding obligation was to improve conditions for the members of the APWU.

“Our internal discussions led to the give-and-take of specific proposals with the Postal Service, with the union identifying the parameters of a possible agreement and postal management responding.”

Establishing the Criteria

The amount of the wage increase and the positions to be upgraded were the most contentious issues, Burrus said. Arbitrators in the past, he noted, granted annual increases based on the wage increases scheduled for the other major postal unions — all three of them are set to receive raises of 1.3 percent this November.

“We also considered the long, slow nature of negotiation and arbitration,” Burrus said, “and how it often delays and undermines progress: As negotiations and arbitration creep along, cost-of-living raises are lost and raises are postponed.”

• With the ratification, a 1.6 percent wage increase will take effect March 18, 2006, and will be based on the wages in effect following the September 2005 Cost-Of-Living Adjustment, which was the highest in 25 years.
  
  
• Members will also receive COLA raises in March and September 2006. These most likely would have been lost if negotiations had gone on as scheduled.

“Our overriding concern was whether we could win acceptable wage increases for all our members,” Burrus said, “while obtaining contractual improvements, including upgrades.”

• Pay levels for the following positions will be upgraded one level on March 18, 2006: Air Records Processor, PS-5; TACS Time and Attendance Clerk, PS-5; Bulk Mail Clerk, PS-5; Ramp Clerk AMF, PS-6; Maintenance Mechanic, PS-5; Welder, PS-6; Carpenter, PS-6; Letter Box Mechanic, PS-6; Maintenance Electrician, PS-6; Painter, PS-6; Plumber, PS-6; Automotive Painter, PS-6; Vehicle Operations Assistant, Bulk Mails, PS-6; and Body and Fender Repairman, PS-7.
  
  
• The Memorandum of Understanding that provides career opportunities to Transitional Employees is extended under the new agreement. This protection applies to TE’s working in REC sites for the life of the extension; for non-REC TE’s, it applies until Dec. 31, 2005, when they will be phased out, as stipulated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Improved Standards

“All of the past 11 contract negotiations, along with the previous contract extension and this tentative agreement, are part of the union’s efforts to enhance the living standards and rights of employees, with each building upon previous achievements,” Burrus said.

The following are among other contract extension achievements:

• In the 60-day period from Oct. 3 through Dec. 1, 2005, parties at the local level will have the opportunity to engage in local negotiations on such matters as the application of seniority, holiday, vacation, and overtime scheduling, parking spaces, and wash-up time.
  
  
• A minimum of 18 “Modified Work Week” pilot programs will be established during the term of the extension.
  
  
• No-layoff protection will be extended an additional year to all career employees who were on the rolls as of Nov. 20, 2000.
  
  
• Employees who work in offices where there is excessing from the craft or installation will be permitted to transfer to any office that is filling vacancies through the hiring process.
  
  
• The USPS will provide information to the APWU at the national level regarding consolidation of installations.
  
  
• Eligible employees who were denied VERA opportunities during 2004-2005 will be granted early-outs.
  
  
• The USPS will increase the maximum number of voluntary payroll allotments (from two to three).
  
  
• The union and management will each be granted the opportunity to advance two cases to the top of the national arbitration docket during the period of the extension. This will provide timely resolution of important national-level disputes between the union and management.
  
  
• The union will be provided all current handbooks, manuals, and published regulations that are on the USPS Intranet in an electronic format on a semi-annual basis; reports that are currently provided to the union in hard copy will be transmitted electronically when possible.

“None of the earlier agreements, standing alone, represented the end of the process, and this proposed extension is just one additional step on a long journey,” Burrus said. “We have more work to do, but this extension represents solid progress.”

Timeline of the “2000 National Agreement”

Dec. 18, 2001 : Arbitrator Stephen B. Goldberg rules on the 2000-2003 contract. The agreement is retroactive to Nov. 21, 2000 , and is set to expire Nov. 20, 2003 . Dec. 19, 2002 : Members approve extending 2000- 2003 agreement by two years. The expiration date moves to Nov. 20, 2005 ). March 2005: USPS management initiates discussions about a possible contract extension. April 11, 2005 : President Burrus discusses a possible contract extension with local and state presidents meeting in Virginia Beach . June 20, 2005 : Speaking at the APWU National Presidents’ Conference in New Orleans , President Burrus announces that the union and management have reached “an agreement on a framework” for a one-year extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. June 22, 2005 : Appointed months earlier in anticipation of contract talks set to begin in August, the Rank and File Bargaining Advisory Committee meets for the first time and is briefed about the framework of a possible contract extension. June 28, 2005 : Burrus announces that the union and the USPS have reached a tentative agreement on a one-year extension. The APWU National Executive Board votes unanimously to endorse the tentative agreement. July 7, 2005 : The Rank and File committee votes to approve the tentative agreement, clearing the way for a ratification vote by union members. July 18-20, 2005 : Ballots, due back Aug. 5, are mailed to APWU members. Aug. 5, 2005 : Votes are counted and the results are announced: 69,736 in favor; 9,238 against.

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