Collective Bargaining
It's About Power and Leverage!
Negotiated union contracts are agreements between unionized workers and management over wages, benefits, and conditions of employment.
Jean-Claude Parrot, former President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, said at the APWU 1984 National Convention, “Collective Bargaining is negotiating a period of class peace – the contract agreement – in the middle of class war.”
Success in negotiations is based on workers’ power, unity, and leverage in relation to the boss.
Generally, negotiations have resulted in major improvements for postal workers including increased wages, job security, health and safety provisions, grievance procedures, protections against unjust discipline, penalty overtime, guaranteed hours, and seniority and bidding.
Even so, there have been setbacks – sometimes imposed by an arbitration panel, at other times agreed to by the union.
Since 1971, 19 national Collective Bargaining Agreements have been negotiated. There have also been Collective Bargaining Agreements reached for the Information Technology/Account Services, Nurses, Material Handlers, the Human Resource Shared Service Center, and private-sector companies.
Militant rallies for a good contract, like this one, have become a hallmark of APWU contract campaigns.
Great strides were made following the Postal Strike when all four postal unions bargained jointly. The first contract resulted in tremendous gains, including: reaching top pay in 8 years instead of 21, no-layoff protections, strong annual pay increases, seniority bidding rights, and COLAS.
In this photo, the APWU and the other postal unions engage with management in the first bargaining session following the strike and the APWU merger.
Local Memorandum of Understanding
While most APWU members belong to established local unions, some members in small post offices are directly affiliated with their APWU state organizations. This LMOU spells out their rights pertaining to leave, seniority, and other issues.
Collective Bargaining Agreements
These collective bargaining agreements are the fruit of generations of struggle, including the first collectively-bargained contracts following the Great Postal Strike and the most recent APWU contract.
