APWU and Postal Management Agree to Extend Negotiations Deadline until October 20, 2018

APWU President Mark Dimondstein has announced that the union and the Postal Service have agreed to extend negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement for 30 days.

Our current union contract between the American Postal Workers Union and the United States Postal Service covers the wages, hours and working conditions of 200,000 postal workers. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement expired Thursday, September 20, 2018.

The APWU and postal management have engaged in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) since June 26, 2018. Three months of frequent negotiation sessions and a last 10-day stretch of intense “round-the-clock” discussions identified important issues that the union believes deserve more time to discuss and explore before declaring an impasse and ending negotiations for a voluntary agreement.

“Our goal is to reach a negotiated settlement that can be voted on by the members” declared President and lead negotiator Mark Dimondstein. “National Negotiations are always challenging. At this point in time it is in the best interest of the members to stay at the bargaining table rather than declare a hard and fast impasse.”

Once an impasse is declared, the parties enter the phase of mediation and binding interest arbitration. In an interest arbitration, after both the union and management sides make their presentations and arguments, the final decisions regarding our future conditions of employment is determined by an arbitrator.

The goals of the APWU remain consistent as the union is “fighting today for a better tomorrow” and include:  Fair wage increases, COLA, job security including maintaining no lay-off protections, bridging the gaps of the divisive three-tier wage structure, addressing concerns of hostile work environments, seeking better career and full-time opportunities for both PSEs and PTFs, and expanded postal services.

“Postal workers deserve the respect and dignity, recognition for their dedication and hard work, that comes with a decent union contract,” said Dimondstein. “We will continue this just fight over the next 30 days.”

“Negotiations are fluid, changes can happen quickly and we remain optimistic that together we have the power as unionized workers to win a decent union contract,” shared chief spokesperson and Industrial Relations Director Vance Zimmerman. “Keep the contract campaign going strong and continue to send management the message that we are united in our demand for a good union contract.”

All the rights, benefits and provisions of our existing union contract remain in place, and are fully enforceable during the 30-day extension of negotiations.