NPMHU 2025 Contract Update #10

  2025 Contract Update #10

2025 No. 10 – September 23, 2025 (pdf)

You are reading the tenth Contract Update produced and distributed by the NPMHU during the course of 2025 negotiations. These updates, along with the Union’s magazine and monthly bulletins, will keep Mail Handlers throughout the country informed and involved in the issues raised during this round of bargaining.

National President Paul Hogrogian and National Secretary-Treasurer Kevin Tabarus will hold a national teleconference with representatives of the Contract Administration Department and all NPMHU Local Union Presidents to discuss developments in ongoing contract negotiations between the NPMHU and the U.S. Postal Service over the terms of their 2025 National Agreement.

The nationwide telephone call with Local Presidents from all thirty-six Local Unions will be held at 2:00 p.m. (eastern standard time) on September 24, 2025. Details about the teleconference has been sent separately to all Local Presidents.

Should a settlement be reached in the coming days or weeks, it will be subject to a ratification vote by all members, conducted in accordance with procedures adopted by the National Executive Board.

Reference: NPMHU via NPMHU Local 317




 

2022 Mail Handler (NPMHU) Contract Update #7

  2022 Mail Handler (NPMHU) Contract Update #7

2022 No. 7 – September 1, 2022

You are reading the seventh Contract Update produced and distributed by the NPMHU during the course of 2022 negotiations. These updates, along with the Union’s magazine and monthly bulletins, will keep mail handlers throughout the country informed and involved in the issues raised during this round of bargaining.

With less than one month until the expiration of the 2019 contract between the NPMHU and USPS, bargaining between both of the parties continues in full force. As both sides prepare for their round-the-clock bargaining sessions in a few weeks, the NPMHU continues to submit proposals.

As of now, the NPMHU has submitted nearly 100 proposals for Main Table discussion. The Postal Service Negotiations team has still to submit any more proposals than its original few. With one more Main Table session before the September 6 deadline for noneconomic proposals, both sides are planning to submit their final proposals during the next few days.

Outside the Main Table sessions, members of the NPMHU Negotiations Team continue to assess and bargain issues in the critical subcommittee meetings. Most recently, the subcommittees focusing on 204B/Group Leaders and MHAs met to discuss the logistics of the NPMHU proposals. Postal Negotiators and CAD Representatives have used these meetings to discuss how proposed changes might be implemented and executed.

Supplementary to the usual bargaining activity, NPMHU and Postal officials heard presentations from Postal management about USPS finances and logistics. On August 23, NPMHU representatives traveled to Postal HQ to listen to a presentation given by VP of Network Operation Robert Cintron, and VP of Processing and

Maintenance Operations Mike L. Barber. The presentation discussed changes in USPS logistics and operations that have occurred over the last few years, and how they will be affected by Postmaster General DeJoy’s “Delivering for America” plan.

The Negotiations Team also was privy to another presentation on August 31 concerning the financial health of the Postal Service and its plans in the coming fiscal period. Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Joseph Corbett explained the changing dynamics of USPS finances over the last three years, especially regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and the Postmaster General’s “Delivering for America” plan.

During both meetings, National President Paul Hogrogian made sure to ask each presenter important questions about the impact of USPS logistical and financial decisions on Mail Handlers and other USPS employees.

On September 1, NPMHU and Postal Negotiations team met for their penultimate Main Table session before the last week of round-the-clock bargaining. During this meeting, the NPMHU Negotiations Team submitted what is likely to be its final set of non-economic proposals for Main Table consideration. Like with the other proposals, these proposals will be assigned to the appropriate subcommittee and discussed in-depth.

As the proposal deadline of September 6 draws closer, the NPMHU team expects to receive additional proposals from the Postal Service, as well as some counterproposals to the changes that the Union hopes to make to the National Agreement. On September 12, NPMHU and USPS negotiators will check into the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. For the next week, both parties will continue to negotiate, around-the-clock if necessary, with the sincere hope of reaching an agreement by the midnight deadline on September 20.

Despite being occupied by the 2020 National Convention and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the NPMHU remains optimistic that this round of negotiations will yield a contract that is good for the NPMHU, the Mail Handler Craft, the USPS, and the American mailing public. Please continue to check your bulletin boards for continuing updates on negotiations for the 2022 National Agreement.

2022 No. 7 – September 1, 2022 (pdf)

Reference: www.npmhu.org via NPMHU Local 317
 

2022 NPMHU Contract Update #6

  2022 NPMHU Contract Update #6

2022 No. 6 – August 23, 2022

You are reading the sixth Contract Update produced and distributed by the NPMHU during the course of 2022 negotiations. These updates, along with the Union’s magazine and monthly bulletins, will keep mail handlers throughout the country informed and involved in the issues raised during this round of bargaining.

As the NPMHU National Office returns to Washington, DC after a productive National Convention, our bargainers are eager to return to the negotiations table. Throughout the Convention, members of the Negotiations Team had been working behind the scenes to continue bargaining. The end of the Convention created an opportunity to resume bargaining at the Main Table.

On August 17, the NPMHU Negotiations Team returned to Postal Service HQ to resume Main Table Negotiations, where it delivered Article 32 proposals to USPS representatives. The next day, the NPMHU hosted USPS at its HQ in the AFL-CIO building, where both parties further discussed the NPMHU’s proposals and their finer details.

To date, the NPMHU has given representatives of USPS management over 75 proposals, totaling nearly 100 pages of written text. Conversely, USPS representatives have issued the NPMHU less than 10 proposals. In addition to their lack of genuine proposals, USPS representatives have displayed a much less cooperative atmosphere and stalled progress in genuine negotiations.

As the NPMHU Negotiations Team attempts to reach agreements on contract language governing work rules and operational matters in Main Table discussions, USPS representatives are calling for the referral of these proposals to the much lengthier and bureaucratic process for approving economic proposals. Trying to delay bargaining by pushing these proposals all the way up to highest ranking officials in the Postal Service has stalled negotiations at the Main Table.

When the Postal Service is not looking to delay issues to the final economic bargaining, it shows a poignant lack of urgency in coming to tentative agreements on simple issues. This delay occurs even when a proposed change in the contract is — by the admission of members of the USPS negotiating team — already a practice employed by management.

Subcommittees also seem to be stalled, as management shows a fundamental lack of understanding of NPMHU proposals, often belaboring the same point even after a contrary understanding has been reached. Combined with stagnation at the Main Table, it suggests that the USPS fundamentally misunderstands the NPMHU proposals and positions.

On numerous occasions, President Hogrogian has asked the USPS representatives to come to prompt tentative agreements on any issues that would not have an adverse impact on postal operations, or would save USPS money, or which have routinely been granted to other crafts. In these instances, USPS representatives to this point have displayed a noted resistance and lack of transparency as to why.

Perhaps even more problematic, when the NPMHU comes to the Main Table sessions or to numerous subcommittee meetings, it is unsure who has the authority to reach agreements on some of the issues being discussed. As the USPS tries to refer proposals to the economic table, its negotiation team seems less and less able — or willing — to reach any tentative agreements.

As the contract deadline approaches, with 30 days remaining until September 20, 2022, the NPMHU hopes that USPS will be open to discussing more options at the Main Table and agreed upon subcommittees, as well as being more forthcoming and transparent as the parties strive to reach agreements on subsidiary issues. As always, the NPMHU Negotiations Team will strive to do what is best for the NPMHU, the Postal Service, and the American mailing public.

2022 No. 6 – August 23, 2022 (pdf)

Reference: www.npmhu.org via NPMHU Local 317
 

2022 Contract Update #5

  2022 Contract Update #5

2022 No. 5 – August 5, 2022

You are reading the fifth Contract Update produced and distributed by the NPMHU during the course of 2022 negotiations. These updates, along with the Union’s magazine and monthly bulletins, will keep mail handlers throughout the country informed and involved in the issues raised during this round of bargaining.

After almost one month, bargaining between the NPMHU and the Postal Service continues in full force. As of now, the NPMHU and USPS have met for five main table bargaining sessions and numerous subcommittee meetings.

While the main table meetings represent the most important part of contract negotiations, the subcommittee meetings remain an invaluable medium for addressing individual issues and topics. At the commencement of contract negotiations, both parties agreed to subcommittees to handle MHA topics, Article 12, Group Leaders and 204Bs, MOUs, Article 32, and Article 11. Each subcommittee considers relevant proposals and creates a much more productive narrative at the main table.

To date, the NPMHU has presented the Postal Service with over 70 proposed changes to the National Agreement, ranging from Articles 1-17, 24, and 26. These proposals aim to address many of the issues that the NPMHU is determined to address in the new agreement. This includes the use of 204Bs, MHA issues, and subcontracting or outsourcing. The Negotiations Team is confident that these proposed changes address the prevailing issues that affect all Mail Handlers.

The NPMHU Negotiations team has also received a few proposals on behalf of USPS management. While these changes are few in comparison with what the NPMHU Negotiations Team has submitted, they embody the changes that management hopes to implement. The Postal Service’s proposed changes aim to cut the cost of USPS operations at the facility level.

As both parties move deeper into the negotiation process, formal stipulations are being discussed at the main table and in subcommittees. While the Negotiations Team plans to submit more proposals, its attention has turned to fighting hard to ensure that its present proposals are accepted by USPS. The details of each proposal are now taking center stage and proposals are being discussed at length and negotiated by both sides.

Of utmost importance to the Negotiations Team are issues addressing 204Bs. A preponderance of the proposals submitted by the NPMHU hope to curb the use of 204Bs and to prevent inexperienced and newly hired MHAs from attaining 204B status in their first year. Similarly, the Negotiations Team has suggested that the use of Group Leaders within the Mail Handler craft be increased in order to reduce the use of 204Bs

Similarly, the Negotiations Team has prioritized proposals affecting MHAs and recently converted full-time career employees, including better pay and the repair of the wage scales that have adversely affected MHAs and those on the lower end of the wage scale.

As the NPMHU gathers in Denver for its delayed—but not denied—National Convention, main table bargaining has temporarily been suspended. However, even as key National Officers gather in Denver, subcommittee meetings and off-the-record negotiations continue. The Negotiations Team plans on continuing these fruitful discussions while the NPMHU hosts its National Convention.

Although President Hogrogian is simultaneously serving as Chairman of the National Convention and the NPMHUs chief spokesperson in bargaining, he remains intimately involved in the details of contract negotiations. Similarly, the entire Negotiations Team is committed to continuing bargaining at full force.

As the NPMHU and USPS continue negotiations, please watch your bulletin boards for the latest information!

2022 No. 5 – August 5, 2022 (pdf)

..."

Reference: NPMHU.org via NPMHU Local 317
 

2022 NPMHU Contract Update #3

  2022 Contract Update #3

2022 No. 3 – July 6, 2022 You are reading the third Contract Update produced and distributed by the NPMHU during the course of 2022 negotiations. These updates, along with the Union’s magazine and monthly bulletins, will keep mail handlers throughout the country informed and involved in the issues raised during this round of bargaining. On June 29, 2022, representatives from the NPMHU Negotiations Team and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) met for the second session of main table bargaining at NPMHU Headquarters in the AFL-CIO building (Washington, DC). Both groups returned to the bargaining table hoping to continue the spirit of positive cooperation that had been established in the first session. During this second substantive meeting, the NPMHU Negotiations Team presented their first set of proposed changes to the current contractual language in the 2019 National Agreement. Representatives of the USPS were given the opportunity to ask questions and to clarify any points of the NPMHU proposals that they might not have understood. President Hogrogian, acting as chief spokesperson and with the occasional assistance of CAD Representatives and NPMHU Counsel, provided USPS with details about the nature of each proposal. The proposals presented by the NPMHU were extensive and aimed to improve the quality of work for every Mail Handler. Submitted amendments included: A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Dignity and Respect Updating the non-discrimination policy Updating the MOU regarding deaf and hard of hearing Mail Handlers Greater protections and privileges for Mail Handler Assistants (MHAs) A more efficient and effective overtime policy Better regulation of management’s use of 204Bs During the coming weeks, both the NPMHU Negotiations Team and USPS representatives, acting through various subcommittees, will address these issues and further discuss these new proposals. Who’s at the Table? Members of the NPMHU Negotiations Team include President Hogrogian; National Secretary-Treasurer Michael Hora; National CAD Manager Teresa Harmon; National CAD Representatives Neil Ryan, Thomas Ruther, and Eugene Horton; and our legal team from the NPMHU General Counsel’s office. USPS management is represented by chief spokesperson Patrick M. Devine, as well as a dozen other representatives and legal counsel. What’s Next? Main table negotiations will continue this coming week, with other full sessions scheduled through July 29, when representatives of the USPS and the NPMHU will return to USPS Headquarters to receive the Postal Service’s proposals. At that time, members of the NPMHU Negotiations team will ask their own clarifying questions. Both on-the-record bargaining sessions and off-the-record subcommittee meetings will be routinely scheduled throughout the summer. Behind the scenes, the NPMHU Negotiations Team will be caucusing constantly to ensure that all the issues and proposals being prioritized in this round are carefully considered. As talks continue, the NPMHU’s bargaining team will strive to ensure that the next National Agreement is good for the membership, consistent with the continued health and prosperity of the Postal Service, and beneficial to the American mailing public. Future editions of this Contract Update will outline some of what is being discussed this year, highlighting developments in negotiations as they occur. Please check your bulletin boards for more bargaining information throughout the coming weeks and months. 2022 No. 3 – July 6, 2022 (pdf)

Reference: NPMHU.org via NPMHU Local 317
 

2019 Contract Update #6

2019 No. 6 – September 6, 2019 (pdf)

  2019 Contract Update #6

Contract Expiration Approaches

You are reading the sixth Contract Update produced and distributed by the NPMHU during the course of 2019 negotiations. These updates, along with the Union’s magazine and monthly bulletins, will keep mail handlers throughout the country informed about the issues raised during this round of bargaining.

With two weeks remaining before the current National Agreement expires at midnight on September 20, 2019, your bargaining team has been hard at work. In spite of management’s sluggish pace—the Postal Service announced their first proposals only last week—we have continued to hash out the history and evidence behind each of our proposals in Main Table and Subcommittee meetings. Those proposals that were submitted to us from the field by our membership have been especially helpful in making our needs known.

During the most recent Main Table meetings, management reviewed all of the proposals submitted so far, one by one. As our proposals were submitted in segments, this was the NPMHU’s first time to get an overall look at what management is thinking. Some topics were officially designated ‘economic’ issues in this meeting, so we will know more about their considerations and potential offers soon. As several of our highest negotiation priorities, like Night Shift Differential and Overtime, fall into this deferred economic discussion category, we are working to learn more.

Meanwhile, the USPS canceled its formal presentation on the current state of Postal Service finances, which originally was scheduled for August 30, 2019. Instead, the Union were presented with a written presentation and we are awaiting additional relevant documents that, management claims, will give the Union a better understanding of the current financial outlook.

Both the Union and USPS proposals that have been discussed at length during Main Table bargaining will be further reviewed within the various subcommittees. The proposals that are talked about most extensively are typically the ones that are more likely to be adopted in some form, as these are continuously considered and refined throughout the bargaining process. On the other hand, those proposals which have not sparked lengthy discussions, but rather feelings of fear or even ridicule, are less likely to find their way into any agreement. But that doesn’t mean these less-discussed proposals are over and done with, unless and until they are withdrawn by the party that initially proposed them. Finally, even relatively minor or cosmetic changes to the National Agreement, including the updating of dates and alterations to Article and Section headings, will take some time to process, even if they eventually will be written fairly quickly.

The Tentative Agreement Process

On the topic of tentative agreements—the first hints toward possible “TAs,” as they are known—a limited number of references to TAs have begun to appear in ongoing conversations at the bargaining table. Tentative agreements follow the presentation and discussion of proposals, but also must be initialed by both parties and are dependent upon agreement on all terms in the new National Agreement.

In previous Contract Updates, we have taken a closer look at the general workings of the bargaining process. Tentative Agreements are the semi-final phase of that process. As the name suggests, however, these tentative agreements are only final and binding when they are inserted into and become part of an overall settlement on all terms of the next National Agreement. The final collection of TAs, signed by both parties, will then be dependent on ratification by the NPMHU membership. If the eligible membership does not vote to ratify the negotiated settlement agreement, these agreed-upon TAs will become null and void.

Looking Forward: The remainder of this month leading up to contract expiration will include more frequent meetings, with the final submission of documents obtained from the NPMHU’s records and archives, the Regional Offices, and the Local Unions aimed at strengthening our case for each proposal. During the current contract’s final week, the negotiating teams will be available to meet around the clock at a hotel in downtown Washington, DC. Team members’ schedules will be cleared to focus entirely on bargaining; it is hoped that such concentration of effort will create an abundance of TAs during that time.

The next Contract Update will focus on the state of USPS finances, and what it means for this year’s round of negotiations—and beyond.

Continue to watch your bulletin boards and the National website for the latest information.

Reference: www.npmhu.org

 

2019 Contract Update #3

 

2019 No. 3 - July 19, 2019 PDF

2019 Contract Update #3

You are reading the third Contract Update produced and distributed by the NPMHU during the course of 2019 negotiations. These updates, along with the Union’s magazine and monthly bulletins, will keep mail handlers throughout the country informed about the issues raised during this round of bargaining.

Bargaining is underway—at the time of this writing, the NPMHU has presented about half of its proposals, covering more than 40 pages of new or revised contract language, during Main Table meetings with the Postal Service. The Postal Service has stated they do not expect to introduce proposals of their own until later.

During July and August, the Union will continue meeting with postal management representatives several days per week. Some of these meetings are on-the-record, called “main Table” meetings, while others take place off the record in the form of smaller, informal subcommittees where focused discussions can be held at length. Subcommittees which have formed thus far focus on expanding coverage under Article 2, making adjustments to Article 8 on overtime, dealing with various issues concerning Mail Handler Assistants, and subcontracting as authorized under Article 32. Articles 12 and 15 also have warranted early-formed subcommittees, especially as Article 12 outlines the complexities of seniority, bidding, and reassignments, and Article 15 forms the foundation of our grievance and arbitration rights. Our intention in forming these subcommittees is to allow for open and frank discussions while upholding those aspects of the National Agreement that the NPMHU believes are most critical. There will certainly be other subcommittees formed as we progress through the remainder of both parties’ proposed changes.

Throughout this round’s on-the-record meetings, President Hogrogian has outlined the non-economic demands of the unit clearly and repeatedly. The NPMHU proposals this year relate to most of the Articles and Memoranda contained throughout the National Agreement. Piece-by-piece, the Union aims to improve protection for all our current members and the fruits of their labor. In the last round of bargaining in 2016, the Union presented over 100 proposals. This round, the National Office is honing its efforts on a smaller number of total proposals so that we can perfect those which are most urgent. Many things have changed in three years, and we are both reflecting and looking ahead in our decision making to protect and enhance the benefits that the Mail Handler workforce needs.

Ultimately, the NPMHU cannot know with precise certainty what will happen before the next round of contract renewal that is years away. The amendments we seek would increase the Union’s flexibility to weather any change.

Bargaining: What Happens in a Week?

The bargaining schedule is made up of formal, on-the-record meetings and less formal, off-the-record meetings. Main Table sessions are where all proposals are officially introduced by each party—under the ground rules for negotiations, no proposal can be considered until it has been presented to both sides in this formal setting. Meanwhile, subcommittees have been created—by mutual agreement—to address specific concerns more extensively.

In every round of bargaining, the smallest subcommittee group is focused on editing any cosmetic issues in the contract, such as amending typographical errors and ensuring that dates are updated to reflect the new contract cycle. The goal is to ensure that our National Agreement is as clear as possible for years to come. We will update you on subcommittee developments as bargaining progresses.

Altogether, even when meetings are scheduled two-to-four days a week, the negotiations schedule becomes a full-time endeavor. In addition to Main Tables and subcommittees, members of the NPMHU’s Contract Administration Department and legal team are collaborating and meeting continuously to draft and revise proposals, to research facts and arguments, and to ensure an efficient and productive bargaining process.

Reference: National Postal Mail Handlers Union  

Negotiations Kick-off with First Main Table Bargaining Session

  Negotaiations Kick-off with First Main Table Bargaining Session
March 01, 2016 - The National Postal Mail Handlers Union and United States Postal Service bargaining teams met for the first of many main-table negotiations. President Hogrogian presented the Union's first packet of non-economic proposals to the Service.
Reference: www.npmhu.org

Mail Handler Contract Arbitration Award

NPMHU/USPS Interest Arbitration Award is Released -- Sets Terms for 2011 National Agreement

Reference: National Postal Mail Handlers Union

(February 19, 2013) Earlier today, the three-member arbitration panel established to determine the terms of the 2011 National Agreement between the National Postal Mail Handlers Union and the U.S. Postal Service released its Award. The Award is dated February 15, 2013, and is effective on that day, but was not released until today, Tuesday, February 19, 2013. The panel awarded a contract which runs for four and one-half years, from November 21, 2011 through May 20, 2016. A copy of the full Award, covering seventy-two pages, is available, below, as a PDF attachment.

The Award fully protects the jobs and careers and living standards of all 42,000 career mail handlers now employed by the Postal Service. After a two-year wage freeze, it restores, starting in November 2013 and continuing through May 2016, the historic pattern of annual general wage increases and semi-annual cost-of-living adjustments for all current mail handlers. In particular, the Award contains three general wage increases for all career employees – 1.0% in November 2013, 1.5% in November 2014, and 1.0% in November 2015 – as well as seven COLAs to be paid from March 2014 through March 2016. These wage and COLA increases follow the pattern previously established by the negotiated contract governing the American Postal Workers Union, and by the arbitrated contracts governing the National Rural Letter Carriers Association and the National Association of Letter Carriers.

The Award also continues the pattern, starting next year, of increasing employee contributions toward health insurance by 1% per year; and it includes, effective immediately, a small upward adjustment in night shift differential (of 7 cents per hour) and of clothing allowance. The Award also provides full no-layoff protection, consistent with prior practice, for any and all career mail handlers hired on or before November 20, 2011.

At the same time, the Award substantially changes the workforce that will be allowed to perform mail handler work in the future. In the larger facilities, all part-time flexible employees will be converted to full-time regular, the number of casuals will be reduced to 5.0%, and a new category of bargaining unit employee will be created. More specifically, these changes include the following:

Within 180 days of the Award (by August 14, 2013), all current part-time flexible employees working in the larger postal installations (those with 200 or more workyears of employment) will be converted into full-time regular employees. Those few part-time flexible mail handlers still working in smaller facilities then should be able to transfer to a larger installation and be converted automatically to full-time regular status, if they so desire, although the part-time flexible status will remain for mail handlers in the smaller installations.

Rather than the current 12.5% casual employees who are outside the NPMHU bargaining unit, the Award establishes a workforce that is no more than 5.0% casual employees, measured and counted by installation. This reduced number of casuals will now be authorized to work without being restricted by the “in lieu of” clause under Article 7.1B of the National Agreement, with each individual casual allowed to work up to 360 days per year.

The Award creates a new category of noncareer mail handler employee called the Mail Handler Assistant, or MHA. The MHA category will serve as the entry point for all future career mail handlers to be hired by the Postal Service. A maximum of 15% of mail handlers in any district may be MHAs, with a cap of 20% in any particular installation. Unlike casuals, MHAs will be members of the NPMHU bargaining unit, will be hired based on the postal exam and other routine hiring criteria, and will be eligible for conversion to career status based on their relative standing. Although MHAs will work flexible hours and may be separated for lack of work, many other provisions of the National Agreement will apply to their employment, and the Union will be able to represent them in the grievance and arbitration process. Starting pay for new MHAs has been set at $13.75 per hour at Level 4 and $14.50 per hour at Level 5, but those amounts will be increased by a total of 7% during the remaining years of this Agreement. MHAs also will have limited access to subsidized health insurance in accordance with the Affordable Care Act.

Significantly, future career employees (those hired after February 15, 2013) will be placed on a revised pay scale that reduces entry pay, but contains seventeen step increases of more than $1,300, providing guaranteed increases in pay every 52 weeks, with top pay at Step P being precisely the same of current career mail handlers. The wage scale governing future career employees will continue to be adjusted upward by general wage increases and COLA increases, although the COLA before top Step P will be proportional to Step P. The USPS demand for a permanent two-tier pay scale was rejected.

Also rejected by the arbitration panel were a series of draconian proposals from the Postal Service, including absolutely no general wage increases for career employees, no cost-of-living adjustments, and a drastic increase in employee contributions for health insurance to the current rate paid by federal employees. Another proposal from the Postal Service sought to modify, and effectively eliminate, the current no lay-off clause. In addition, the Postal Service sought the authority to hire and to utilize, without any contractual restrictions whatsoever, a total of 25% casual employees. Finally, for new career mail handlers hired in the future, the Postal Service proposed that their pay rates be 20% lower at the entry level and 20% lower at the maximum level.

The arbitration panel was chaired by Herbert Fishgold, a longstanding arbitrator and mediator with decades of experience. The NPMHU-appointed member of the arbitration panel was Robert Weinberg, from the law firm of Bredhoff & Kaiser, PLLC, which also is the home of NPMHU General Counsel Bruce Lerner. USPS counsel Robert Dufek was the Postal Service’s appointed arbitrator.

The Award follows fifteen months of work by the NPMHU, including its National Officers, the National CAD, its legal staff, and a series of expert witnesses and consultants who diligently prepared the union’s case for the interest arbitration proceeding.

A complete copy of the Fishgold Award is attached, including new wage and night differential schedules, new and updated contract language, and new and amended Memoranda of Understanding and Letters of Intent. A fuller description of the Award will be provided in publications to be circulated by the National Office, and during the Semi-Annual Meeting of the Local Unions already scheduled for the first week of April 2013.

We thank our NPMHU membership for its continuous patience and support during this lengthy and sometimes frustrating 2011 round of negotiations.

Read the PDF of NPMHU/USPS Interest Arbitration Award

Mail Handler Arbitration Completed

  Mail Handler Contract Update #15

Hearings in the ongoing interest arbitration proceedings to determine the terms of the 2011 National Agreement between the NPMHU and the Postal Service are now complete, with the final hearing held on Friday, February 1, 2013. Although the record officially remains open for additional submissions that might be needed by the three-member arbitration panel, the formal hearing process is over, and a final award should be issued soon. On the last day of testimony, National President John Hegarty concluded the Union’s case, emphasizing issues that have been front and center during this arbitration. First, he argued that the actual evidence of the Postal Service’s financial condition was contrary to USPS claims: “Its prehearing brief in this proceeding claimed that the loss was $36 billion during the past six years. Most recently, the agency has been telling the public that it is losing $25 million per day, which is more than $9 billion per year. And for Fiscal Year 2012, which ended a few months ago, the claim is a deficit of $15.9 billion. These assertions are essentially political statements, aimed at emphasizing the need for legislative action. . . . [F]or the Postal Service to constantly repeat these statements in this forum is disrespectful to the intelligence of this panel. USPS operations for the four years ending with Fiscal Year 2010 showed a net income of $700 million, including a $3.3 billion surplus in 2007 and a $2.8 billion surplus in 2008. Even in the years since then, the operational deficit was only $2.7 billion in 2011; it then went down to $2.4 billion in 2012; and it has been projected to be significantly lower in the current fiscal year (projected at $2 billion, but running ahead of plan). So when the Postal Service claims that it lost $15.9 billion last year, that so-called loss was comprised of $11.9 billion in retiree health payments that were not made; another $2.5 billion in non-cash expenses related to fluctuations in interest rates and their temporary effect on the long-term portion of workers compensation; and an actual operational net loss of $2.4 billion.” After describing the ways in which mail handlers already have contributed to savings for the Postal Service – noting, for example, a decline of 27% in the mail handler bargaining unit during the past six years and reductions in the number of mail processing facilities – Hegarty turned to the issue of workforce flexibility, which has been the mantra of USPS management throughout these proceedings: “[T]he USPS has consistently failed to take advantage of the flexibility it has been provided,” not utilizing its complement of 10% PTFs and 6% PTRs. “Of particular importance to these proceedings, the Postal Service has failed to utilize its entire complement of authorized casual employees. . . . Frankly, it is only because the Postal Service has been unable to manage its own contractual commitments that it has made such a ruckus about elimination of the in lieu of clause under Article 7.” Hegarty noted that the use of casuals is always limited because Congress has mandated that employees of the Postal Service “shall be in the postal career service,” and that the USPS shall, as an employer, “place particular emphasis upon . . . the achievement of worthwhile and satisfying careers in the service of the United States.” Moreover, the parties have recognized, for more than forty years, that casual employees may only be hired for limited durations and may not be hired in lieu of, instead of, or in place of career employees. The Postal Service’s demand to eliminate this “in lieu of” clause, if granted, would be a fundamental shift in the parties’ long contract history. Such a change should not be made lightly, without full consideration of the impact that such a deviation from the norm means to the career mandate adopted by Congress or to future employees of the Postal Service. Finally, Hegarty noted that if the “in lieu of” clause that traditionally has governed the hiring of casuals were eliminated, then the panel also should adopt the Union’s key proposals for preserving and protecting mail handler work for the career bargaining unit: full protection against layoffs for all career employees and the establishment of a Task Force that will return previously subcontracted mail handler work. “It would be intolerable,” Hegarty concluded, “for the Postal Service to insist on the creation of a full-time non-career workforce, while continuing to claim the right to lay off career mail handlers or subcontract out mail handler work to the private sector.” When a final decision from the arbitration panel is issued, it will be distributed.

Reference: National Postal Mail Handlers Union  

Mail Handler Contract Negotiations

 Mail Handler Contract Negotiations

"...the parties have agreed to extend that deadline through Wednesday, December 7, 2011, and perhaps longer..."

Reference: mailhandlercontract.blogspot.com