USPS Has Created Resources to Be Sent to Employees for 2022 Open Season
To all APWU family,
Please find attached the notification received from the Postal Service providing the dates and information for this year’s 2022 Open Season for Health Benefits. Open Season is from 11/14/22 through 12/12/22. Open Season is a critical time for employees to review their current health benefits and ensure that the benefits they have selected best fit their needs and the needs of their family. Unless an employee has a Qualifying Life Event (OLE) during the remainder of the year, this is their once-a-year opportunity to make any changes to many of their benefits. Please read all of the attached carefully.
The Open Season Benefits Fair will be conducted virtually.
The fair will be held virtually on the following dates:
November 14th 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. EST
November 22nd 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. EST
November 30th 1:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. EST
December 6th 3:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. EST
There will be live and on-demand presentations, live chats, and Q&A sessions with experts.
Visit https://2022uspsopenseasonbenefits.vfairs.com to register. Participation is voluntary.
Non-exempt employees may only participate off the clock or during authorized breaks.
APWU NEWS Bulletin
RETROACTIVE PAY DATE: OCTOBER 28, 2022
Retroactive payments will be made to postal workers in APWU-represented crafts in paychecks dated Oct.28.
The payments are a part of the wage increases that APWU members campaigned and mobilized to win in our
2021-2024 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA or union contract).
The retroactive payments are calculated on the adjustments to hours worked in the period between the effective dates listed below and June 4, 2022 when the new pay rates were implemented and began to be earned by APWU members.
Effective November 20, 2021: General wage increases of 1.3 percent
Effective Nov. 20, 2021: Additional 1 percent pay raise for PSEs (PSES do not receive COLA)
Effective September 25, 2021: New pay scale for Grade 11
Effective Feb 26, 2022: Sixty-three cents/hour COLA, for career employees
Effective April 9, 2022: Fifty cents/hour increase for the PSES
For full News Bulletin click here.
After Pressure, Management Sets Retroactive Pay Date!
Last week we announced the APWU was preparing collective actions in response to the unacceptable delay in retroactive payments won in the 2021-2024 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Today, after concerted struggles with postal management, management has finally provided the union with firm dates the payments will be received by postal workers in APWU-represented crafts.
The retroactive payments will be processed on October 11, 2022. They will appear as a pay adjustment on paychecks received October 28, 2022.
“Those in management responsible for overseeing these payroll changes had so little respect for postal workers that they apparently thought a May 2023 date for the retroactive payments would somehow be acceptable. This was outrageous,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “Postal workers earned this pay, we deserve it, and we’re not in the business of giving management interest-free loans on the back of our labor. While we’re still unsatisfied with the delay, we sent a message and have gotten firm dates months in advance of management’s plan.”
For full News Bulletin click here.
October 7, 2022 Clerk Craft Vacancy Notice
The October 7, 2022 Clerk Craft Vacancy Notice has been posted on the Bid Postings page of this website.
October 5, 2022 Clerk Craft Award Notice – Revised
Clerk Craft Award Notice for October 5, 2022 have been posted on the Bid Results page of this website.
Please note that the listed bid assignments will become effective Saturday, October 8, 2022.
APWU NEWS Bulletin
Vote in Election of National Union Officers
Ballots for the 2022 Election of APWU National Officers will be mailed to members’ homes, along with the election magazine, on Wednesday, Sept. 14. All members in good standing as of June 17, 2022, will receive a ballot.
To be counted, ballots must be returned to and received in the designated post office box in Washington, DC, by 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 5.
Union members are encouraged to follow the balloting instructions carefully. To protect the privacy of your vote, place your ballot in the secret ballot envelope, and insert it into the mailing envelope. Information on the mailing envelope must be completed to identify legitimate voters, but mailing envelopes will be separated from secret ballot envelopes before votes are counted.
Members in good standing who have not received their ballots by Monday, Sept. 19, should notify their local or contact the American Arbitration As sociation between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. (Eastern Time) at 800-529-5218 to request a duplicate. Ballots may also be requested by visiting: www.electionsaaa.org/ballotrequest/apwu
All requests for duplicate ballots must include the member’s name, address, email address, employee ID number (or retiree ID number), the last four digits of the Social Security number, division (craft), local, and the reasons for the request.
For full News Bulletin click here.
September 12, 2022 Clerk Craft Vacancy Notice – Revised
The September 12, 2022 Clerk Craft Vacancy Notice has been posted on the Bid Postings page of this website.
September 1, 2022 Clerk Craft Award Notice
Clerk Craft Award Notice for September 1, 2022 have been posted on the Bid Results page of this website.
Please note that the listed bid assignments will become effective Saturday, September 10, 2022.
Second COLA Increase Announced
In accordance with the 2021-2024 Collective Bargaining Agreement, career employees represented by the APWU will receive a $1.18 per hour cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), effective August 27, 2022.
The increase is the result of a rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI-W). It will appear in paychecks dated September 16, 2022 (Pay Period 19-2022). The value of the COLA for full-time employees in each step and grade will increase by $2,455.00 annually, and the hourly rates for part-time employees will be adjusted accordingly.
The COLAs are in addition to general wage increases. This is the second cost-of-living increase under the 2021 contract. The first, effective in February, amounted to $0.63 per hour or $1,310 annually. The COLAs received so far during the 2021-2024 National Agreement total $3,765.00 this year.
In light of the fact that 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.
Rising inflation underscores just how important the continuation of our negotiated Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) is in our outstanding new union contract. The COLA is 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.
“At times of high inflation, our union-won COLA is invaluable to ourselves and our families,” said APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “It pays to be union! It’s always a struggle to keep these COLA provisions and every postal worker should be proud we fought hard and prevailed to keep full COLA in our latest contract.”
Go to apwu.org/pay-information to view pay scales.
To view the original article please, click here.
August 9, 2022 Clerk Craft Vacancy Notice
The August 9, 2022 Clerk Craft Vacancy Notice has been posted on the Bid Postings page of this website.