RE:   One Time Retirement Incentive (pdf)

The NPMHU and the USPS have reached an agreement on the terms of a One Time Retirement Incentive. The parties have agreed that the Postal Service will make lump sum incentive payments totaling $15,000 (less applicable taxes and deductions) to eligible full-time career employees who choose optimal retirement or retire pursuant to a Voluntary Early Retirement (VER). Part-time career employees shall be eligible for a prorated amount based on their paid hours. Attached is the January 13, 2025, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which sets forth the terms of this agreement.

To be eligible to retire under a Voluntary Early Retirement (VER), there are minimum age and service requirements. The requirements are:

• At least age 50 with at least 20 years of creditable Federal service OR
• Any age with at least 25 years creditable Federal service.
• An employee must have at least 5 years of creditable civilian service to be eligible for an early voluntary retirement.

More detailed information will be widely circulated to all eligible mail handlers, directly from the Postal Service, during the coming weeks.

Although we are pleased to provide this opportunity to the membership, please be advised that Local 301 and the NPMHU neither encourages nor discourages anyone from taking this opportunity. Retirement is a very important and personal decision, and mail handlers should proceed very cautiously to evaluate what this offer means to them personally.

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

According to the Postal Service, a National Day of Observance has been declared to honor the death of former President, Jimmy Carter. The Postal Service will suspend regular mail deliveries, retail services and administrative office activity on Thursday, January 9, 2025. There will be limited package delivery on January 9^th to ensure the organization does not experience any impacts to its package delivery operations that may negatively affect customers or business partners.

All Postal Service facilities-including Headquarters in Washington, DC, and area and district administrative offices-are included in the National Day of Observance. Local managers will advise employees on staffing levels to maintain operations and prepare for the resumption of regular activities Friday, January 10.

Pay and leave administration for the National Day of Observance is governed by section 519.4 of the Employee and Labor Relations Manual (ELM) as well as, the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding between the USPS and the NPMHU (enclosed). Mail Handler Assistant (MHAs) will receive pay for actual work hours performed on the National Day of Observance and will not receive Administrative Leave.

USPS facilities are required to fly the flag at half-staff through sunset Wednesday, January 29, to honor President Carter, who died on December 29 at age 100.

Please see attached documents for additional information (pdf).

Should you have any questions, contact the Contract Administrative Department.

The National Postal Mail Handlers Union has been fighting the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)  and advocating for all postal retirees with repeal of both of these bad policies with the Social Security Fairness Act for the past twenty years. 

GPO and WEP were developed in the 1970s to compensate for public sector retirement programs that do not utilize Social Security benefits – including postal employees within the Civil Service Retirement System – in order to ensure retirees were not taking advantage of the system. However, provisions of the policy have created a funding gap for those who also worked in the private sector where they earned Social Security, or if their spouse earned Social Security benefits.  

This created an undue burden for many spouses and widows. A Social Security widow's benefit is reduced by $2 for every $3 earned if the widow is eligible for a pension based on a public sector job that was not covered by Social Security. 

Additionally, inequity created by WEP reduced the Social Security benefits postal retirees receive based on the number of years they served in the United States Postal Service that did not require their payment of Social Security taxes, affecting nearly one million Social Security beneficiaries.  

Over 2 million beneficiaries are affected by the WEP while over 723,000 people are affected by the GPO, including myself. 

The NPMHU is grateful for the work of Representatives Garret Graves of Louisiana and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, and Senators Sherrod Brown and Susan Collins of Maine for sponsoring this legislation, and their relentless work on the issue. It is because of their dedication, NPMHU retirees can enjoy their retirement knowing their spouses and dependents will have the full benefits they earned during their long careers.

Over the past two national election cycles, the United States Postal Service, Mail Handlers and all postal employees have shown dedication to American democracy.

In the 2018 midterm elections, 30.4 million votes out of 120.3 million total votes cast were mail-in or absentee ballots. However, during the 2020 election season, the Postal Service saw an increased use of vote-by-mail in all states due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, USPS processed and delivered 135 million ballots to and from voters. Despite this drastic increase, Mail Handlers and our fellow postal brothers and sisters delivered 97.9% of ballots within 3 days and 99.7% of ballots within 5 days. These numbers improved during the 2022 elections: 98.96% of ballots were delivered within 3 days and 99.82% were delivered within 5 days.

I have the utmost confidence in the Postal Service for providing a secure and reliable election process. Make no mistake, any allegations that the Postal Service is not capable of delivering mail-in ballots are unfounded and only work to undermine the democratic process. 

Project 2025 is a blueprint—written by Trump’s allies—for an extremist takeover of our government. The plan would gut checks and balances and threaten our personal freedoms.  For construction workers, lowering wages, benefits, and overtime is laid out in great detail.  For public and federal workers, benefits and union rights are on the line.  It’s up to Laborers to get involved and stop Project 2025.

Video Link

Official Call for Bargaining Proposals (pdf)

NPMHU 2025 Bargaining Proposal Form (pdf)

With preparations underway for negotiations over the terms of the 2025 National Agreement between the NPMHU and the Postal Service, the National Office is issuing its official call for bargaining proposals from all members and Local Unions.

To be fully considered prior to the onset of negotiations, proposals must be submitted by January 31, 2025. Although formal bargaining is not scheduled to begin until June, the Union’s Field Negotiating Committee will be meeting for a full week in February 2025 to review all submitted proposals and outline the changes in the National Agreement that should be proposed by the NPMHU.

To be sure, planning for collective bargaining is a continuous process at the National Office, as the National Officers and representatives working in the Contract Administration Department routinely identify and collect proposals for improving the language currently found in the 2022 National Agreement. But an equally important aspect of preparing for bargaining is the collection and review of proposals generated by mail handlers across the country.

Thus, National President Paul Hogrogian has issued this official call for bargaining proposals from the membership, the Local Unions, and other subordinate bodies of the NPMHU. If you have any proposals that you would like to have considered for the upcoming round of bargaining, now is the time to submit them to the National Office. Every proposal submitted will be fully analyzed by the NPMHU’s Field Negotiating Committee and the National Negotiations Team while the Union develops its opening bargaining proposals. All proposals should set forth the Article, Section, Paragraph, and/or Page of the National Agreement that you are suggesting should be changed; the specific language you would like to see added to, or deleted from, the current National Agreement; and your specific reasons for suggesting the change. If you have supporting evidence or documentation that you believe would support the change that you propose, please submit those materials to the National Office along with your proposals. The National Office is asking that all proposals be submitted as soon as possible, but no later than January 31, 2025. The National Office also has issued a form that can be used to submit proposals.

Once again, proposals from any member (or group of members) and any Local Unions or other subordinate body should be submitted to the National Office by January 31, 2025, by faxing to 202-833-0008 or by using the following address:

National Postal Mail Handlers Union
ATTN: 2025 Negotiations
815 16th Street, NW, Suite 5100
Washington, DC 20006

Two new Memoranda of Understanding that expands annual leave benefits for the 2024 leave year.

The first MOU allows for additional Annual Leave Carryover for the 2025 Leave Year. In the 2022 National Agreement, the MOU on Annual Leave Carryover allows regular workforce employees to carry over 440 hours of accumulated annual leave. The new MOU on Annual Leave Carryover for Leave Year 2025 expands that limit and allows regular work force employees to carry over 520 hours of accumulated leave from leave year 2024 to leave year 2025.

The second MOU deals with the Annual Leave Exchange Option for the 2025 Leave Year.  The Annual Leave Exchange Option MOU for Leave Year 2024 will allow career employees to sell back a maximum of 80 hours of annual leave prior to the beginning of the leave year provided the following criteria is met: 1) The employee must be at the maximum leave carryover ceiling (440 hours) at the start of the leave year and 2) the employee must have used fewer than 75 sick leave hours in the 2024 leave year. Normally, the maximum amount of hours that may be sold back under the 2022 National Agreement MOU on Annual Leave Exchange Option is limited to 40 hours.

New Memoranda of Understanding - Annual Leave Carryover for Leave Year 2024 and Annual Leave Exchange Option for Leave Year 2025 (pdf)

As provided for in Article 8.7 of the NPMHU 2022 National Agreement, effective May 18, 2024 (PP12-24); the flat dollar amount at Steps A through P at each pay grade for night shift differential in Tables Three and Four shall be increased by 1.5%, the flat dollar amount at Steps A of Table 3 and Steps BB and AA for Table Four through P at each pay grade for night shift differential in Tables Three and Four shall be increased by 2.0%. All increases will be applied to the most recent night shift differential table preceding the increase. The increase is applicable for time worked between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. This is the second of three Night Shift Differential increases negotiated in the 2022 National Agreement.

Night Shift Differential Hourly Rates (PDF)

Effective March 13, 2024 the following provision of Article 26, Section 26.3 of the 2022 National Agreement will be implemented:

Unused portions of an eligible employee’s annual allowance for uniform and work clothing will be carried over and available for use beginning twelve (12) months after the end of each anniversary year. An eligible employee’s uniform and work clothing allowance balance may not exceed the sum of two (2) years of the employee’s annual allowance entitlement. This uniform and work clothing program adjustment will be implemented no later than twelve (12) months from the ratification date of the 2022 Agreement. 

Any unused portion of an eligible employee’s annual allowance starting 3/13/2024 will be accumulated and will be reflected in the employee’s uniform allowance accounts starting 03/13/2025 at the end of each of their anniversary year.