Shop Stewards NY Metro APWU
NY Metro APWU AFL-CIO Save The NJI BMC
www.apwu.org/dept/ind-rel/sc/010100irstep1form.pdf
Step One Form APWU
www.apwu.org/dept/ind-rel/sc/010100irstep2form.pdf
Step Two Form APWU
www.apwu.org/dept/ind-rel/sc/010100irinforeq.pdf
Request For Information Form APWU
www.apwu.org/dept/ind-rel/sc/APWU%20Contract%202006-2010.pdf
Collective Bargaining Agreement November 21, 2006 thru November 20, 2010
www.apwu.org/dept/ind-rel/iruspshbks.asp
USPS Handbooks & Manuals
www.apwu.org/dept/ind-rel/irjcim
JCIM
www.usps.com/cpim/manuals/elm/elm.htm
ELM
The Great Postal Strike of 1970
Workers grew increasingly frustrated with Congress's inaction, and on March 18, 1970, thousands of New York City postal workers walked off the job in protest. Within days, they were joined by 200,000 others in 30 major cities. Mail service ground to a halt and the plight of postal workers was brought to the public's attention. [Time Magazine article, March 30, 1970 - PDF] The strike was soon settled, with Congress approving a 6 percent wage increase, retroactive to the previous December.
The strike served as an impetus for the enactment of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, which granted unions the right to negotiate with management over their wages, benefits and working conditions. In lieu of the right to strike, a binding arbitration 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: slightly more than a 21-year veteran of the Post Office Department had been getting just three years earlier.
Since that first contract more than three 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.
The Merger
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-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. The union's Collective Bargaining Agreement is now set to expire Nov. 20, 2010.
The seven unions that bargained the first contract with the USPS included the UFPC (Clerk Craft); the NAPO&GSME (Maintenance Craft); the NFPOMVE (Motor Vehicle Service Craft); and the NASDM (Special Delivery Messenger Craft).
The earliest piece of today's APWU Maintenance Division was the National Association of Post Office Mechanics (NAPOM), formed in 1937. NAPOCE, the National Association of Post Office Custodial Employees was formed a year later. In 1945, NAPOM changed its name to the National Association of Post Office Mechanics and Maintenance Employees (NAPOM&ME) and in 1947, that organization and NAPOCE merged, creating the National Association of Post Office and General Service Maintenance Employees (NAPO&GSME), which in 1971 became the APWU Maintenance Division.
The National Association of Post Office Chauffeurs and Mechanics Union (NAPOC&MU) was formed in 1923. By 1939, it had changed its name to the National Federation of Post Office Motor Vehicle Employees (NFPOMVE)
The National Association of Special Delivery Messengers (NASDM) was created in 1932. Originally the messengers were contract employees with local postmasters. They were brought into the Civil Service system in 1942. There were 2,500 postal employees in the NASDM at the time of the merger in 1971. In 1998, delegates to the APWU National Convention approved the merger of the SDM Craft into the Clerk Craft.