Goldberg Selected as ‘Neutral Arbitrator’
01/12/2016 – Arbitration hearings for a new APWU Collective Bargaining Agreement with the U.S. Postal Service will begin on Feb. 17, President Mark Dimondstein has announced.
The case will be presented to a three-member panel comprised of a union-appointed advocate, a management-appointed advocate, and a neutral arbitrator, who determines the outcome. Under federal law, the APWU and USPS must mutually agree on the neutral arbitrator.
To show solidarity, union members will wear stickers on the opening day of arbitration. Stickers are being mailed to members’ homes.
Stephen B. Goldberg has been selected as the neutral arbitrator and will preside over the case. Goldberg served as the neutral arbitrator for the 2000-2003 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the last time an APWU contract was decided in arbitration. Since then he has amassed extensive experience as a national-level postal arbitrator. Goldberg will convene a preliminary meeting on Jan. 20 to discuss “ground rules” for the hearing.
Arbitration hearings on the Collective Bargaining Agreement, known as “interest arbitration,” are similar to court cases, with opening and closing statements, witness testimony, cross-examination, presentation of supporting documents, and legal briefs.
Complex Material
Because of the complex nature of the material, the hearings are expected to stretch over numerous sessions, which will be scheduled based on Goldberg’s availability.
The APWU seeks to win fair wage increases; protect cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs); defend the no-layoff clause; win improvements for Postal Support Employees (PSEs) and Part-Time Flexibles; secure more career jobs; redefine “full-time” so that it again guarantees a 40-hour work week; limit subcontracting, and win better service for our customers.
Management wants to gut the COLA for current workers and is seeking a new tier in the career workforce that would earn no COLAs; have virtually no protection against layoffs, and face a reduction in annual leave and sick leave. (The APWU currently has a three-tier workforce, consisting of pre-2010 career employees; post-2010 career employees – who earn lower pay than their pre-2010 counterparts – and post-2010 PSEs, who earn even lower pay and fewer benefits.)
APWU’s attorneys will present the union’s case, with testimony from officers, economists, workers and other experts.
Phil Tabbita, APWU manager of Negotiations Support, will serve as the union-appointed advocate on the panel.
Negotiations began almost a year ago, on Feb. 19, 2015. The 90-day negotiation period ended on May 26, following a one-week extension. The parties engaged in mediation throughout the summer and began identifying possible neutral arbitrators in the fall. Informal talks continued.
‘We’re Ready’
“We began preparing for the possibility of arbitration even before negotiations began,” Dimondstein said. “Our negotiating team, attorneys, and other advocates are ready.”
“We’re fighting for justice – for a strong Postal Service for generations to come and economic justice for postal workers and retirees, today and in the future,” he said.
To show solidarity as APWU members embark on the final step of our contract battle, union members will wear stickers on the opening day of the hearing with the message, “Fighting for Justice.”
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because of those scum Cliff Guffy and Mike Morris you will be lucky to get a 1% raise. they sold everyone down the river with the 40% pse and a 30 hour work week. it only gets worse from there.forget the COLA it is dead because govt is using phony numbers.(like saying unemployment is 5.5% when there are 95 million out of the work force) our base wage needs to go up as it feeds your TSP and your final 3 retirement. overtime is a false sense of security and is stupid short term thinking. at our plant OT was cut to the bone by loading up mailhandlers and clerks with pse’s and temps……..coming soon to you.(people are walking around like zombies looking at paychecks without OT) wake the fcuk up sheeple.
Pay attention to what the clerks get carriers because we will get the same thing. = not much. But wear your stickers
With the price of gas down saving a lot of money….then the heaviest Dec. I could remember…The pre funding is still killing us
The Postmaster General loves to tell employee’s how well their doing.
This is the classic “wolf” in sheep’s clothing tactic. The claws come out
when a contract is on the line though. The private sector pay raises are
much better, thankfully their not controlled by those idiots in Washington.
Just have to keep working overtime in automation here in Boston. They
can’t figure out how to stop it. Great management here!! ..lol! So much
for this Lean Sigma Six bull crap! They haven’t stopped the bleeding here
for mail handlers or clerks for years and nobody is smart enough to
figure it out….. You want more money TRANSFER HERE!!
Then after arbitration the mailhandlers and carriers will get the same useless decision jammed down their throats just as the other times !
Could have saved a lot of time just going to arbitration, every one knew the contract was going to an arbitrator. Every employer in America believes that their employees are just sources of cheap labor, nothing better than a slave! And the employee should not be treated with respect, or feel as though they are an asset. The employee is but a burden, a drag on operating income. The cost of labor could be better spent on management bonuses And, as we have observed, if an employee makes it to retirement management reaches back and steals their benefits! Management should remember that if they are man enough to make a living wage, they should be man enough to pay a living wage! Time has come to rise up and demand to be treated with respect! The meek will inherit nothing.
They want to save money to waste more money on crap machinery and lavish themselves with huge “pay for performance” raises.
yes pre funding killing us
The pre-funding is a non issue in these upcoming contract arbitrations, USPS stopped paying into the congressional money grab fleecing fund 4 years ago and the law expires next year anyway.
The prefunding and worse standards are driving the bus.
They want to save money everywhere except for Management salaries, and bonuses. Have a bad feeling about how this arbitration will turn out, my last contract, and I might not even stick around for all of it, but hate to see the future employees not only get more work piled on them, but less pay and benefits to go with it, while all the bosses sit around and laugh and joke, and make Tim Hortons runs. Sad.
If the Postal Service gets its way, burger flippers will be making more money than us.
They want to save money, no matter how much it costs.