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OSHA Vaccination Rule Applies to Postal
Workers
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11/04/21
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In September, President Biden issued a
directive to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) requiring
all employers with 100+ employees to ensure their workers are
vaccinated or tested weekly for COVID-19.
Today, OSHA released the highly
anticipated ETS. This ETS does apply to the Postal Service. In
1998, when the Postal Employees Safety Enhancement Act was
passed, the Postal Service became subject to Public Law Number
91-596; which in turn made the Postal Service and its employees
subject to all Safety Standards—whether temporary or
permanent—implemented and enforced by OSHA.
At this time the American Postal
Workers Union, AFL-CIO, (APWU) is reviewing the ETS to determine
how to proceed as the ETS is applied by the Postal Service.
After our review and determination of the next steps to take,
more information will be released.
The APWU encourages all postal
employees to practice the things that have been shown to slow
the spread of COVID-19. These include social distancing, wearing
face coverings, frequent hand washing, and staying home from
work when sick. The APWU also encourages all postal employees
who are able to get vaccinated do so with one of the vaccines
currently authorized for use today.
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Cost-of-Living Increase Announced
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08/12/21
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In accordance with the 2018-2021
Contract, career APWU employees represented by the APWU will
receive a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), effective August 28,
2021. It will appear in paychecks dated September 17, 2021.
The COLA for full-time employees will
be an increase of: $1,935 per year
($74.40 per pay period / $0.93 per hour).
The
hourly rates for part-time employees will be adjusted
accordingly.
The APWU is the only postal union with
full COLA where all career employees receive the same amount.
Other unions have accepted stepped COLAs (or “Diet” COLA) where
the amount each employee receives is based upon their years of
service. COLAs are in addition to general wage increases.
Postal Support Employees (PSEs) do not receive cost-of-living
increases, but have several general wage increases under the
2018 contract.
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APWU Health Plan Virtual Health
Fair for New Employees
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07/09/21
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The APWU Health Plan will conduct
Virtual Health Fairs, exclusively for upcoming round of PSE
conversions. The Member Education department will brief
employees on the benefit highlights for both the High Option and
Consumer Driven Option plans. Most importantly, there will be a
Q&A period to ask the Health Plan staff questions concerning
benefits.
Below is the schedule for the New
Career Employee Virtual Health Fairs. Please circulate this
information to the PSE’s that are being converted. Click the
link to register and attend.
Once registered, you will get an email
confirmation with a GoToWebinar link and dial-in information. On
the day before the virtual health fair date you selected, we
will email you a reminder and include the dial-in information
with instructions.
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July 19, 2021: 1pm - 3pm |
August 04, 2021: 3pm - 5pm |
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August 13, 2021: 12pm - 2pm |
August 23, 2021: 3pm - 5pm |
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September 09, 2021: 230pm - 430pm |
September 17, 2021: 10am - 12pm |
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