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Big COLA Increase Shows How Union Efforts Pay Off
APWU News Bulletin 16-2004, Sept. 22 , 2004 | PDF
APWU members received a Cost-Of-Living Adjustment in their Sept. 24 paychecks that increases annual salaries by $624. This is the largest single COLA increase for postal workers since May 1981.
In late November, members also will receive a 1.3 percent wage increase, resulting in raises that total $1,184 to $1,292 in a two-month period.
“These increases are the result of the APWU Collective Bargaining Agreement,” said APWU President William Burrus. “It provides for both the November raise and two cost-of-living adjustments each year, protecting your income from the adverse effects of inflation.”
In a September letter to APWU members, Burrus asked for help in preserving the collective bargaining rights that lead to wage increases and other contractual provisions such as the no-layoff clause. “I am writing to request that you contribute $1 per pay period of the $24 per pay increase to the APWU COPA campaign to help protect your job.”
“We cannot win this fight unless we are able to support candidates who support working families,” Burrus wrote. “APWU COPA, the union’s Committee on Political Action, donates the contributions it receives to the campaigns of legislators who stand up for postal workers.Without a voice in government, our benefits are at risk.”
A summary of APWU COPA efforts for 2004 will appear in the January/February issue of The American Postal Worker. This will be a state and local listing showing all monies received by Nov. 15, 2004. Contributions must be received before that if they are to be included in the wrap-up.
The $624 raise was a result of a rise in the Consumer Price Index during the six-month measuring period that ended July 31. (For the first month of the six-month measuring period that ends in February 2005, the CPI was virtually unchanged.) The four most recent COLA increases took effect March 6, 2004 ($208), Sept. 6, 2003 ($291), March 8, 2003 ($250), and Sept. 7, 2002 ($312).
Updated pay scales can be seen at www.apwu.org and in the September/October American Postal Worker magazine.
Delegates to the APWU National Convention in August endorsed the “Million Worker March on Washington,” which takes place Oct. 17.
The march will unite organized labor, unorganized workers, and anti-war and community organizations in an “independent mobilization of working people across America.”
Citing the decline in health care, good wages, job and pension security, education, and the difficulties in getting labor’s voice heard, the formal resolution passed at the APWU convention referred to the march as “a union movement to communicate our resolution to empower working people, and end the promotion of continual war which now dominates U.S. foreign policy.”
If you are interested in taking part or learning more about the event, visit www.millionworkermarch.org.
Be Sure to Vote in the APWU Election
Ballots Due by Oct. 5
Ballots for the APWU 2004 National Officers Election were mailed to members Sept. 13-15, and must returned to and received in the designated post office box by 2 p.m. (Eastern Time), Oct. 5.
If you have not received a ballot, notify your local, or the national office at 202-842-8505 (voice) or 202-216-2650 (fax). To receive a ballot, members must provide their name, Social Security number, address, division (craft), and local.
The 2004 APWU Election Committee will take custody of the ballots at 2 p.m. on Oct. 5. The count will begin shortly thereafter.
