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Raises Add Up
Burrus Update #04-07, Jan. 31, 2007
As a matter of general interest, I recently requested that a member of my staff compute the dollar value of wage increases from the 2000-2006 Collective Bargaining Agreement on the APWU bargaining unit. In response to this request, Phil Tabbita, Manager of Negotiations Support, provided me with some startling figures. The question posed to him was, “If a typical APWU-represented employee had set aside all the additional income he or she received from Nov. 21, 2000, through Nov. 20, 2006, how much would the employee have accumulated?
The answer is an astonishing amount: $19,421.
We often fail to appreciate the long-term effect of the raises we earn over the life of a contract, but this figure makes it clear: The increases — although they often seem modest when viewed individually — add up over time, and help our members to make steady progress.
The raises in the 2000-2006 agreement, (most of which were less than 1.5 percent per year), when combined with cost-of-living adjustments, resulted in a substantial increase in postal workers’ earnings.
An employee who banked every dollar of additional income earned during the life of the 2000-2006 contract would have accumulated more than $19,000.
William Burrus
President
