APWU, USPS Reach Tentative Agreement On New Contract

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

The American Postal Workers Union and the U.S. Postal Service have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, reports local APWU President and Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO Executive Board member Dena Briscoe. “Our negotiators really pulled a rabbit out of the hat, given the current economic and political climate, especially for public employees,” Briscoe – who heads the 1,700-member Nation’s Capital and Southern Maryland APWU local -- told Union City. The four-and-a-half year agreement, announced on Monday, includes innovative approaches to safeguarding jobs, returning outsourced work to APWU members, and limiting long-distance reassignments. The reassignments issue alone “is probably enough to win member support,” Briscoe said, noting that the threat of having to move “was causing a huge amount of stress for our members,” including over 200 area postal workers. The contract provides for a three-and-a-half percent wage increase over the life of the contract, with the first raise taking effect in November 2012. It retains cost-of-living allowances and maintains protection against layoffs. The agreement runs through May 20, 2015. After review and approval by the union’s Rank-and-File Bargaining Committee, the agreement will be voted on by APWU members, “probably sometime in late April,” Briscoe said. “Now we have to help our fellow workers and unions win their rights and contracts,” Briscoe added.