THE BULLETIN BOARD
June 2005
[June 29th]APWU, Postal Service Announce Tentative Agreement on Contract Extension
APWU News Bulletin #08-05
APWU President William Burrus announced June 28 that the union and the USPS have reached a tentative agreement on a one-year extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which is due to expire November 20, 2005.
The extension agreement provides for a 1.6 percent across-the-board wage increase, to take effect March 18, 2006, and two cost-of-living adjustments, one in March 2006, and one in September 2006. It also calls for upgrades of 14 duty assignments in the clerk, maintenance, and motor vehicle crafts. The agreement extends no-layoff protection and leaves the employee share of contributions to health benefit costs unchanged.
"I believe this is an outstanding agreement that will serve the members of the American Postal Workers Union and the American public," Burrus said.
The extension proposal will be presented to the Rank and File Bargaining Advisory Committee when it meets in Washington on July 6. After studying details of the tentative extension agreement, the committee will decide whether to send it to the full APWU membership for a ratification vote.
The proposed agreement would extend the Collective Bargaining Agreement to Nov. 20, 2006. If an extension is not ratified, full-scale negotiations will begin August 29, 2005.
[June 14th]APWU, USPS Sign Memo On Grievance Reviews, Scheduling
The APWU and USPS signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on June 13, updating procedures for reviewing grievances and scheduling arbitration hearings. The MOU requires management and the union to review all pending Step 3 grievances and appeals to arbitration, including cases that have been appealed directly from Step 2 to arbitration. The goal of the memo is to "improve the grievance/arbitration process" and reduce the backlog of grievances.
The MOU extends and supersedes an agreement signed two years ago, but the earlier agreement did not provide for a review of cases that were appealed to arbitration from Step 2. The memo, signed by APWU President William Burrus and the USPS Vice President for Labor Relations, takes effect immediately.
When the original agreement was signed Feb. 21, 2003, more than 98,000 grievances were awaiting hearings in arbitration or at Step 3 of the grievance procedure. There are now approximately 36,000— a reduction of 62,000 over the past two-and-a-half years.
"We are making significant progress," Burrus said, "but I will not be satisfied until the procedure provides a final response to employee grievances in a timely fashion."
[June 1st]**REMINDER** Elimination of the TSP Open Seasons: July 1, 2005
Public Law 108-469, which was signed into law on December 21, 2004, eliminates the Thrift Savings Plan open seasons and the restrictions on contribution elections which are tied to open seasons. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board will implement this law on July 1, 2005.
After the close of the current TSP open season (December 31, 2004), there will be one more open season, April 15 through June 30, 2005. This means that participants may file contribution elections with their agencies or uniformed services at any time beginning April 15. Through June 30, these elections will be processed under the current rules. Beginning July 1, contribution elections will be processed under the new rules— that is, the elections must be made effective no later than the first full pay period after they are filed.
Participants must continue to file contribution elections with their agencies or services, and the agencies and services must continue to implement the elections by deducting contributions from participants' pay and reporting these amounts to the Thrift Savings Plan each pay period.
The law does not affect the waiting period new employees covered by the Federal Employees' Retirement System must serve before they become eligible for agency contributions to their accounts. In addition, the law does not affect contribution allocations or interfund transfers, which can be made at any time by using this Web site or the ThriftLine or by submitting an Investment Allocation form to the TSP.
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