American Postal Workers Union

APWU

Full name	American Postal Workers Union
Founded	July 1, 1971
Members	330,000
Country	United States
Affiliation	AFL-CIO, UNI
Key people	Cliff Guffey, President
Office location	Washington, D.C.
Website	www.apwu.org

The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) is a labor union in the United States. It represents employees of the United States Postal Service who are clerks, maintenance employees, and motor vehicle service workers. It also represents approximately 2,000 private-sector mail workers.

The APWU is affiliated to the AFL-CIO, and Union Network International.

Current operations

The American Postal Workers Union is currently working to stop the closing of Post Offices. Due to current economic factors the USPS is looking to close several local branches around the nation.

History

The APWU headquarters at 1300 L Street NW in Washington, D.C.

Postal workers in the United States first won collective bargaining rights after the U.S. Postal Service strike of 1970.

The APWU was founded on July 1, 1971, by a merger of five postal unions. The United Federation of Postal Clerks and the National Postal Union, the two largest unions, and the National Association of Post Office and General Service Maintenance Employees, the National Federation of Motor Vehicle Employees, and the National Association of Special Delivery Messengers.

On August 20, 2007, the previously independent NPPN (National Postal Professional Nurses) merged with the APWU. As a result of this merger, the members of the NPPN were granted membership in the Support Services Division of the APWU. The NPPN-APWU represents over 90 Occupational Health Nurses who are employeed by the Postal Service. This 2007 merger was the first merger of any postal unions in the United States since the U.S. Postal Service strike of 1970.

S. 1507

On Thursday, July 30, 2009, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 12-1 in favor of S. 1507 (Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Funding Reform Act of 2009), which would provide financial relief to the Postal Service. An amendment, offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), requiring the arbitrator to take into consideration the financial health of the Postal Service when deciding Postal Union contracts, was added prior to its passage. Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, and Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), chairman of the subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government information, Federal Services and International Security, supported the amendment, and voted with committee Republicans for its adoption. The American Postal Workers Union, National Postal Mail Handlers Union, the NALC and the NRLCA have all voiced opposition to S. 1507 with the inclusion of the arbitrator amendment.

See also

• United States Postal Service
• National Association of Letter Carriers
• National Postal Mail Handlers Union
• National Rural Letter Carriers' Association

External links

• APWU official site.