HAVE YOU BEEN IMPACTED BY U.S. POSTAL SERVICE DELAYS? 

The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA or union contract) between the APWU and the USPS sets the wages, hours, rights, benefits, job security, and working conditions of APWU-represented postal workers. The current contract expires on Sept. 20, 2024, and preparations are already underway with the official negotiation period beginning this June.

The APWU national negotiating team is guided by formal resolutions that are passed by various local and state organizations, and are debated and voted on at our national conventions. We encourage you to work with your local or state union leadership regarding this formal resolution process. However, we also want to hear from each and every one of you.

APWU has opened our contract survey so that you can let us know what your priorities are for a new union contract. Please fill out the survey by visiting apwu.org/survey. Alternatively, you can text the word “SURVEY” to 91990 to receive a link to participate in the survey on a mobile device. Contract negotiations are challenging, as management always tries to chip away at our rights, wages, and benefits. Our union is always pushing forward to improve the well-being and job security of postal workers across the country. Please take five minutes to complete the survey and help the APWU negotiate the best contract that we can in 2024!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Q5YKS6H

March 2024 NPC Report Industrial Relations.pdf

In accordance with the 2021-2024 Collective Bar­gaining Agreement, career employees represented by the APWU will receive a $0.17 per hour cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), effective March 9, 2024.

The increase is the result of a rise in the Consum­er Price Index (CPI-W), and will appear in paychecks dated March 29, 2024 (Pay Period 07-2024). The COLA for full-time employees in each step and grade will amount to $354.00 annually, and the hourly rates for part-time employ­ees will be adjusted accordingly.

COLAs are separate and in addition to general wage increases. This is the fifth cost-of-living increase under the 2021 contract. The first increase, effective in February 2022, amounted to $0.63 per hour or $1,310.00 annually. The second, effective in August 2022 was $1.18 per hour or $2,455.00 annually. The third, effective in March 2023, was $0.10 per hour, or $208.00 annually. The fourth, effective August 26, 2023, was 0.48 per hour, or $998.00 annually. The total cumulative COLAs received so far during the 2021-2024 National Agreement is $2.56 per hour, or $5,325.00 annually.

Though Postal Support Employees (PSEs) do not receive cost-of-living increases, they have received several additional increases beyond the general wage increases for all employees in the APWU bargaining unit under the 2021 contract. However, when PSEs convert to career, the COLA increases are also included in their base wages going forward.

Rising inflation underscores the importance of our negotiated Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs) within our union contract, made possible by the strength of our membership. COLAs are our best protection against inflation. Postal Workers are some of the few U.S. workers who receive COLA increases. Even in the postal world, we are the only postal union that has maintained full COLA in our union contract.

“Once again, union-won COLAs prove how invaluable our contractual rights are to postal workers and our families,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “We will continue to fight to maintain full COLA provisions in our upcoming contract.”

We will update this article with pay chart information as it becomes available.