What is APWU?

The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) is an independent labor union representing largely postal workers and, in their words, just "2,000 private-sector employees." The APWU is affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

From the union's own website:
"The APWU can trace its history as far back as 1874, when the Railway Mail Mutual Benefit Association (RMMBA) was formed. While the railroad clerks were mainly interested in securing a low-rate life insurance plan, the "MBA" also tried to lobby for improved wages and working conditions.

In 1891, MBA representatives met in Cincinnati and formed the National Association of Railway Postal Clerks (NARPC). In 1904, NARPC changed its name to the Railway Mail Association (RMA).

In 1949, the RMA changed its name to the National Postal Transport Association (NPTA). At the time, 28,000 NPTA members were employed by the Post Office.

In 1961, the NPTA joined with two of the three largest postal clerk unions (NFPOC and UNAPOC) to form the 115,000-member United Federation of Postal Clerks (UFPC).

NFPOC, the National Federation of Post Office Clerks, was chartered in 1906. Because the organization's locals hailed from seven different cities that were as far apart as San Francisco and Nashville, this is considered the birth of the truly national postal workers union.

Some historical records indicate that UNAPOC, the United National Association of Post Office Clerks, existed in some form as early as 1881. It is known that an organizational meeting held in New York City in November 1899 resulted in the adoption of a constitution in early 1900. The rival NFPOC and UNAPOC periodically made attempts to join forces, with NFPOC, however, insisting that the other organization first needed to behave more like a union, which included not permitting supervisors among its ranks.

In 1957, UNAPOC made significant changes, including to its name. After nearly 60 years, the "C" officially stood not for "Clerks" but for "Craftsmen." This was key to its perception of itself as representing a craft; supervisors could do clerks' work, but they couldn't be part of the craft. In 1961, NFPOC and UNAPOC formed the UFPC, the United Federation of Postal Clerks.

One other group is central to the history of the APWU, the short-lived National Postal Union. At the NFPOC convention in 1958, a group calling itself the "Progressives" disaffiliated and formed the National Postal Clerks Union. At its second convention, the NPCU dropped "clerks" from its name and became the NPU.

The NPU did not join with NFPOC and UNAPOC when they formed the UFPC in 1961; it remained an independent postal union until the merger that created the APWU in 1971. Prior to the merger, the UFPC was one of seven unions, including three other future APWU units, to be part of the first negotiations with the newly created Postal Service. The NPO was not part of the seven-union coalition bargaining team.

The seven unions that bargained the first contract with the USPS included the UFPC (Clerk Craft); the NAPO&GSME (Maintenance Craft); the NFPOMVE (Motor Vehicle Service Craft); and the NASDM (Special Delivery Messenger Craft).

The earliest piece of today's APWU Maintenance Division was the National Association of Post Office Mechanics (NAPOM), formed in 1937. NAPOCE, the National Association of Post Office Custodial Employees was formed a year later. In 1945, NAPOM changed its name to the National Association of Post Office Mechanics and Maintenance Employees (NAPOM&ME) and in 1947, that organization and NAPOCE merged, creating the National Association of Post Office and General Service Maintenance Employees (NAPO&GSME), which in 1971 became the APWU Maintenance Division.

The National Association of Post Office Chauffeurs and Mechanics Union (NAPOC&MU) was formed in 1923. By 1939, it had changed its name to the National Federation of Post Office Motor Vehicle Employees (NFPOMVE).

The National Association of Special Delivery Messengers (NASDM) was created in 1932. Originally the messengers were contract employees with local postmasters. They were brought into the Civil Service system in 1942. There were 2,500 postal employees in the NASDM at the time of the merger in 1971. In 1998, delegates to the APWU National Convention approved the merger of the SDM Craft into the Clerk Craft."

The APWU was founded on July 1, 1971, due to the merging of five existing postal unions. The largest of those five, the United Federation of Postal Clerks and the National Postal Union, represented those who sorted and processed mail at the windows.

There were also two smaller unions involved in the merger: the National Association of Post Office and General Service Maintenance Employees (representing those who serviced and repaired all manner of machines located in postal facilities, and who also cleaned and serviced the facilities), and the National Federation of Motor Vehicle Employees (representing workers who drove, repaired, and serviced all the vehicles operated by the Postal Service - except for those used by door-to-door letter carriers). The National Association of Special Delivery Messengers was the smallest union of the five.

Today, these workers are covered by one master contract under the American Postal Workers Union.

The Postal Reorganization Act of August, 1970, created the United States Postal Service (USPS). In January of the following year, the USPS participated in the first collective bargaining session with seven postal unions, including four that were soon to merge into the APWU.

Six months later, a two-year contract was signed by the new USPS and the APWU unions, along with the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), the National Rural Letter Carriers Association (NRLCA), and the National Postal Mail-Handlers Union (NPMHU).

For the next 8 years, the APWU, NALC, NPMHU, and NRLCA continued to bargain as one unit. In 1981, however, the NALC and APWU created the Joint Bargaining Committee (JBC) and negotiated together. The JBC negotiated three-year contracts with the USPS in 1981, 1984, and 1987, and a four-year agreement in 1990.

Since 1994, the APWU has bargained on its own. Successive agreements ran from 1994-1998, 1998-2000, and 2000-2003. In Dec. 2002, the APWU membership voted to extend the 2000 agreement by two years. The current agreement expires Nov. 20, 2005.