10/29/2015

American Postal Workers Unions A Case Study

Shabnum Naz

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American Postal Workers Union

A Case Study

Submitted To: Dr. Muhammad Imran Hanif

Submitted By: Shabnum Naz

MBH-12-36

MBA (HRM)

7th Semester

Date: 29-10-15

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American Postal Workers Union

A Case Study

About APWU:

The APWU was founded on July 1, 1971, the result of a merger of five postal unions.

The two largest unions involved in the merger were the United Federation of Postal

Clerks, which represented those who "worked the windows" at post offices and those

who sorted and processed mail behind the scenes, and the National Postal Union,

which claimed members in each craft. Both traced their origins to the National

Federation of Postal Clerks, which was created in Chicago in 1906. Two smaller

unions involved in the merger were the National Association of Post Office and

General Service Maintenance Employees, which represented those who serviced and

repaired machines located in postal facilities, and who cleaned and maintained the

facilities; and the National Federation of Motor Vehicle Employees, which

represented workers who drove, repaired, and serviced postal vehicles. The smallest

union in the merger was the National Association of Special Delivery Messengers.

All these workers are now covered by a single contract negotiated by representatives

of all the crafts within the single labor organization, the American Postal Workers

Union.

Four months before the Postal Reorganization Act was signed into law, U.S. Post

Office Department management and postal unions announced a joint agreement on

a reorganization plan. When the PRA became law on Aug. 12, 1970, it created the

United States Postal Service, which on Jan. 20, 1971, participated in the first

collective bargaining session with seven postal unions, including five that were soon

to merge into the APWU. Exactly six months later, on July 20, 1971, a two-year

contract was signed by the new USPS and the APWU unions, along with the

National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), the National Rural Letter Carriers

Association (NRLCA), and the National Postal Mail-Handlers Union (NPMHU). In

1973, 1975, and 1978, the APWU, NALC, NPMHU, and NRLCA bargained jointly

as they had in 1971. In 1981, however, the APWU and NALC formed the Joint

Bargaining Committee (JBC) and negotiated together. The JBC negotiated three-

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year contracts with the USPS in 1981, 1984, and 1987, and a four-year agreement in

1990. Since 1994, the APWU has bargained on its own. Successive agreements ran

from 1994-1998, 1998-2000, and 2000-2003. In December 2002, the APWU

membership voted to extend the 2000 agreement by two years, until Nov. 20, 2005.

In August 2005, APWU members ratified a one-year contract extension. In late

2006, the union reached an agreement with the Postal Service for a four-year

contract, which was ratified overwhelmingly APWU members on Jan. 12, 2007. On

May 11, 2011 approved a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The contract will

expire May 20, 2015.

Background Study:

The American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO, represents more than 200,000

employees of the U.S. Postal Service who are clerks, maintenance employees, and

motor vehicle service workers. Postal unions, in 19th Century, have experienced a

number of transitions, paralleling the growth of the former Post Office Department,

which became the U.S. Postal Service in 1970. Upon the creation of the USPS, postal

unions were allowed to bargain collectively over wages and conditions for the first

time. The early unions had essentially no bargaining rights. They existed largely as

promoting organizations that otherwise would have had no say about their working

conditions. Wage increases depended on the impulse of Congress. As a result, postal

workers were chronically underpaid. In March 1970, full-time employees earned

about $6,200 to start, and workers with 21 years of service averaged only $8,440 —

barely enough to make ends meet at that time. In fact, many postal workers qualified

for food stamps. The periodic raises they did receive never seemed to amount to

much, particularly in high-cost urban areas. From 1967 to 1969, postal wages were

not increased at all, although Congress did raise its own pay 41 percent during that

time. In 1968, the Kappel Commission, a special panel that had been studying postal

reform during President Johnson's administration, concluded that postal workers

deserved the same collective bargaining rights afforded to private-sector workers

under the National Labor Relations Act. Congress failed to act on the commission's

recommendation.

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Unions:

Our union is a democratic organization comprised of dues-paying members

who belong to more than 900 state and local unions and retiree chapters in

every state and territory. APWU officers are directly elected by union

members.

The union's state and local affiliates are autonomous organizations that rely

on the national union to represent their interests in contract negotiations and

in national-level grievances.

The union negotiates a national Collective Bargaining Agreement and fights

for our members' interests on Capitol Hill.

The APWU also has many Retiree and Auxiliary chapters so that former

postal workers and postal families can remain active in union affairs.

Departments & Divisions:

There are three main Executive Officers in APWU:

1. President

2. Vice President

3. Secretary Treasure

Departments are:

Industrial Relations

Legislative & Political

Organization

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Research & Education

Human Relations

Health Plan

Retirees

There are four major Divisions:

1. Clerk Division

2. Maintenance Division

3. MVS Division

4. Support Services Division

Issues and Union strikes & Negotiations:

1. The Great Postal Strike of 1970:

This is the first strike that is held in 1970. The workers have low wage rate, no fringe

benefits and they have also health & safety issues. On March 18, 1970, thousands of

New York City postal workers walked off the job in protest. The strike was

continued for 7 days. The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, which allowed unions

the right to negotiate with management over their wages, benefits and working

conditions.

The strike was soon settled, with Congress approving a 6 percent wage increase,

backdated to the previous December. In lieu of the right to strike, a mandatory

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negotiation process was established for resolving contract disputes. The law granted

postal workers an additional 8 percent raise and enabled them to advance more

quickly to higher-paying positions. In the first contract, a starting postal worker's

salary was raised to $8,488. Since that first contract more than four decades ago,

APWU has fought for dignity and respect on the job for the workers we represent,

as well as for decent pay and benefits and safe working conditions. And as part of

the AFL-CIO, the APWU fights for social and economic justice for all working

families.

2. A Safe Workplace Must Be the Right of Every Worker!

Last year, more than 36,000 postal workers were injured or sickened at work.

At least 10 suffered loss of life.

Here’s the simple truth: If we want a safe workplace, we have to work together

to make it happen.

Please join this important effort. A safe workplace must be the right of every

worker!

Workers at the Bronx GPO and their union officers got their first feeling that there

was a problem after the facility’s air conditioning unit tested positive for the bacteria

that causes Legionnaires’ disease. Management didn’t bother to notify them until

Aug. 9, the day after the information was reported in the New York Daily News. The

test had been performed on Aug. 6, without any notice to workers or the APWU.

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Fortunately, no postal workers died as a result of the Legionnaires’ outbreak, which

caused 12 deaths in New York City over the summer. The outbreak was linked to

five infected cooling systems in the South Bronx. Legionnaires’ bacteria was also

found at the London, KY, post office, said Industrial Relations Director Tony D.

McKinnon Sr. This indicates that safety is a problem in all offices, large and small.

“This is a risk that management did not have the right to take with the employees’

safety and health,” said New York Metro Area Local President Jonathan Smith.

“Management’s unacceptable handling of the Legionnaires’ incident highlights the

importance of our Safety and Health campaign,” said President Mark Dimondstein.

Declaring that “there are far too many serious safety problems at post offices and

facilities,” APWU President Mark Dimondstein and Industrial Relations Director

Tony D. McKinnon Sr. are calling on union members across the country to launch a

Safety Awareness and Enforcement Campaign in mid-October. The performance of

the workers was decreased due to the issues regarding health & safety.

The Aug. 28 letter called on local unions, state organizations and Contract Action

Teams (CATs) to enhance safety education among union members and take the

necessary steps to ensure that unhealthy and unsafe conditions are corrected.

Highlights of the campaign will include:

Reinforcing an understanding of contractual safety rights

Mobilizing union members to correct safety issues

Using PS Form 1767 to report and document safety hazards

Calling for OSHA investigations to curtail unsafe conditions

Building safety committees

Winning results from Labor-Management safety meetings.

“The Industrial Relations Department is leading this work but it is work that can

only succeed if all of our local and state organizations are fully engaged and we

empower the members to take up the fight for safety,” Dimondstein and McKinnon

wrote. “A safe workplace must be the right of every worker!”

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3. Stop Staples!

U.S. Postal Service sale to the Staples. U.S. Postal service is government based and

Staples is private company. The American Postal Workers Union, whose members

have average pay of just under $25 an hour. The union represents 200,000 postal

workers, or roughly half the total. The postal service is seeking a way out of a

deepening financial crisis as more people use email and pay bills online. The agency

had an operating loss of $5 billion for the year ended Sept. 30, with $61 billion in

liabilities, including for retiree health benefits, compared with about $20 billion in

assets. Between 2007 and 2013, total mail volume in the U.S. fell 25%. Still, online

shopping has advanced its package business, which rose 8% last year.

The APWU is fighting a private deal between the U.S. Postal Service and Staples

that risks mail service and local post offices along with thousands of living-wage

jobs. The Postal Service and Staples launched a no-bid, trial program in the fall of

2013 that established postal counters in 82 of the office-supply stores, which they

planned to expand to locations across the country. The knock-off post offices were

staffed with low-wage, poorly-trained Staples employees rather than USPS

employees.

The APWU objected to the program, asserting that the American people have a right

to post offices staffed by highly-trained, uniformed Postal Service employees, who

are confirmed to safeguard the mail and who are accountable to the people. The

union offered to participate in the trial program if the postal counters in Staples stores

were staffed with USPS employees, but postal managers and Staples rejected the

idea. They also refused to provide the union with information about the deal.

After months of avoiding by the USPS and Staples, in April 2014, the APWU

launched a ‘Don’t Buy Staples’ campaign, which was endorsed by the AFL-CIO,

the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association,

AFSCME, SEIU, and many other labor organizations.

In an effort to spoil the ‘Don’t Buy Staples’ movement, in July 2014 the USPS and

Staples announced they were ending the trial program, but replacing it with another

program that was essentially the same. Soon after, they announced the “new”

program would be expanded to all of Staples’ 1,500 U.S. stores.

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The Staples program is bad for postal customers, who receive less-than top-notch

service, and whose letters and packages are unprotected while they sit in Staples

stores awaiting pick-up by USPS employees. It threatens the Postal Service as we

know it, as postal management closes neighborhood post offices and shortens

operating hours. The deal also replaces living-wage jobs that our communities

depend on with low-wage jobs that hurt our economy.

The APWU is continuing to fight the shady Staples deal with ongoing protests at

Staples stores in numerous cities and by telling supporters: 'Don't Buy Staples.'

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Contract Campaign / Negotiations 2015:

'Stop Staples!'

Sign a Postcard: 'I Stand with Postal Workers'

The American Postal Workers Union has launched a postcard campaign to mobilize

support for postal workers during the final stretch of contract negotiations. To show

support for postal workers and a vibrant, public Postal Service, please complete the

postcard

APWU members are working to secure signatures on postcards that bear the

message, “I Stand with Postal Workers,” which will be mailed to Postmaster General

Megan Brennan. I Stand with Postal Workers in the fight to keep post offices open

and expand hours, for shorter wait time in line, rapid mail delivery, and enhanced

services, such as postal banking. Good service is crucial to maintaining a energetic,

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public Postal Service that connects residents and businesses in all areas and provides

living-wage jobs that strengthen our communities!

"I urge every APWU member to sign a postcard, ask your family, friends and

neighbors to sign a postcard as well, and mail them or return them to your local union

officers," said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “Let’s turn up the heat and show

the Postmaster General that the people stand with us!” On Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015.

Young people representing over 20 locals assembled during the All-Craft

Conference decide in Meeting by President Mark.

Stop Staple:

The Boycott is Still On!

When the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) voted to join the ‘Don’t Buy

Staples’ movement on July 12, it struck fear into the hearts of Staples bosses and

USPS management. So much so that just two days later Staples and the USPS

resorted to dishonesty to try to spoil the boycott. They announced they are

terminating the no-bid deal and replacing it with an “approved shipper” program.

The problem is that “Staples and the USPS are changing the name of the program,

without addressing the fundamental concerns of postal workers and postal

customers.

Even the Postal Service has publicly acknowledged that the “new” program they are

substituting it with is the same as the old Staples program. The chain will still offer

the same postal service products and services, but will be free to charge higher rates

and offer the services of competing shippers, such as FedEx or UPS.” In These

Times: Also, In fact, USPS spokesperson Darleen Reid confirms to In These

Times that “the Staples program, as it moves to the Approved Shipper program, will

be offering the same exact suite of services that it offered before.”

This attempt at trickery shows that the ‘Don’t Buy Staples’ movement is having an

effect. We intend to keep up the pressure until Staples gets out of the mail business.

The U.S. Mail Is Not for Sale.

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The need for future leaders to learn about labor history especially the roots of the

postal labor movement was emphasized, so young workers can prepare themselves

to face today’s struggles and avoid the trap of satisfaction. Participants were urged

to educate, shake and organize in the fight to save good jobs and preserve a vibrant

public Postal Service in the Age of Technology.