First 2018 COLA Increase Announced

February 23, 2018

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In accordance with the 2015-2018 Collective Bargaining Agreement, career employees represented by the APWU will receive a 25 cent per hour cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), effective March 3. 

The increase is the result of a rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W). It will appear in paychecks dated March 23, 2018 (Pay Period 06-2018), and will total $520.00 per year.

The COLAs are in addition to general wage increases. This is the sixth cost-of-living increase under the 2015-2018 contract. The COLAs received so far during the 2015-2018 CBA will total $1,144 per year.

Postal Support Employees (PSEs) do not receive cost-of-living increases, but have five general wage increases under the 2015-2018 contract. On Nov. 25, 2017, PSEs received a pay increase of 2.3 percent and will receive a 21-cent raise on May 26, 2018.

Click here for updated pay scales. 

White House Budget Targets Postal Workers

The White House introduced its proposed Fiscal Year 2019 budget to Congress on Feb. 12. This non-binding proposal begins an annual, months-long government funding process and also showcases the Administration’s funding priorities, setting the tone for budget negotiations.  

For postal and federal workers, the budget is largely a reintroduction of last year’s failed attacks on our pay and benefits, but takes them even further. It: 
  • Increases employee FERS contributions 1% a year for each of the next six years;
  • Eliminates FERS Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA), and reduces CSRS COLAs by 0.5%;
  • Eliminates the special retirement supplement;
  • Reduces retirement benefits by using a “high five” salary average formula, rather than the current “high three” average;
  • Lowers the G-fund interest rate to provide worse returns on Thrift Savings Plan investments;
  • Increases the share postal and federal workers pay for premiums under the FEHBP;
  • Slashes Postal Service personnel costs and reduces mail service to the American people to achieve $44 billion dollars in postal-specific savings;
  • Decreases workers compensation benefits for injured workers and institutes a new waiting period before they can receive benefits;
  • Cuts $237 billion from Medicare.
Each of these proposals would be severe cuts to dedicated postal employees, both active and retired.
“We’ve been down this road before, and once again we cannot allow the budget to be balanced on the backs of working people,” said President Dimondstein.
 
“Just as we feared when we fought against the disastrous tax proposal, the White House is coming after our hard-earned pay and benefits to ‘fix’ the deficit they are growing,” said Legislative & Political Director Judy Beard.
 
Many of the Administration’s disastrous proposals were incorporated into last year’s House budget, as part of a $32 billion dollar cut targeted at federal and postal worker pay and benefits. Postal workers, active and retired alike, rallied last year against the budget attacks and stood arm-in-arm with our sisters and brothers in the Federal-Postal Coalition to defend our livelihoods. 
 
We flooded Congress with tens of thousands of calls on our coordinated Day of Action against the budget, and thanks to our activism, we were victorious. Congress ultimately abandoned the House budget and instead adopted the Senate budget which excluded these terrible provisions.
 
As this year’s budget process begins anew, we will bring that same vigilance and action to succeed.

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