A NEW DIRECTION

7/20/2012 9:40:16 AM

News – The CPI numbers have been released and will generate a whopping   $62 per year COLA pay increase for every employee in March 2013. The contract   was effective in May, 2011/ November 2010 [pick your date] and this is the   first wage increase that will be delayed until March 2013. Employee’s   contribution for health insurance increased from 19% on the date of the  contract to 21% in January 2012 and 22% in January 2013, which means that by   the time that the $62 COLA is received in March 2013, employees will be paying   3% more for health insurance. The result is that two and a half years from   the expiration of the previous contract, November 2010, in March of 2013   employees’ net pay will have been reduced by the differance between the $62 COLA payment and the increased health premium payment.

In the  41 years of postal collective bargaining (13 contracts plus 2 extensions)   this will be the first time that wages have been reduced over a 12 month   period. Someone appropriately titled this new contract a “new direction” – down.This compared to the first two years of the 2006 national   agreement when a Grade 5 Step O employee received salary increases of $2,600  over the first two years of the contract and health premiums were increased   by one percent.