Negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement between the U.S. Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union began Sept. 1. The current contract expires Nov. 20, 2010.

“Every contract negotiation brings special challenges, and this will be no different,” APWU President William Burrus said at the opening session. “Mail volume is depressed and revenue is down, but we have faced similar circumstances before.

“The history of the Postal Service is replete with forecasts of doom and gloom, but such dire predictions have not prevented us from exploring every opportunity to achieve agreement.”

“Once again naysayers warn of the imminent demise of the Postal Service,” he said. “They demand wholesale changes to the foundation we have built over our 40-year history, ignoring the fact that each provision in the expiring contract has a history of give-and-take, the basic element of contract negotiations.”

“The road will be difficult and the outcome uncertain, but there are components of an agreement awaiting our discovery. I pledge the best efforts of the American Postal Workers Union to find a way to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.”