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A Very Brief History Of The Postal Strike Of 1970

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One of the most memorable events in postal history was the postal strike of 1970. The Postal Strike of 1970 was the first national postal stoppage in the United States and also the largest walkout against the U.S. federal government. Once it happened, it crippled the functions of different industries and entities including the U.S. government, Wall Street, garment industry, department stores, and many individuals. The strike was very short, it only lasted two weeks. The workers were peaceful but confident in their demands that were needed to be met before they were willing to return to work. In the end, they were successful. The night before the strike, postal workers in New York had voted 1,555 to 1,055 to go out on a strike in protest of a House committee vote that was put in place to limit their wage increase in that current year to 5.4 percent. Also a 41% increase in Congress’s own personal …show more content…

Under the new reorganized procedures for the Postal Service, postal workers were now entitled to rights they never had before. They could bargain as a whole for wages, benefits and also working conditions. While they were still prohibited from striking, they managed to get a binding arbitration process for resolving contract disputes. The next year, five of the eight postal unions had joined together in the American Postal Workers Union (APWU). The APWU became part of one of the most successful public sector for union movements in American history. After the first contract, pay for the newest worker had surpassed what a 21 year veteran had made 3 years earlier. Even though the agreement directed the large increase towards high-cost areas like New York (where the strike actually began), it was very effective across the nation, even in low-cost areas where compensation had been low. At this present day in age, the practice of uniform wages continues at the Postal Service; even though the federal pay system was introduced to locality pay in

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