President Emeritus Burrus was elected as APWU President from 2001- 2010, following a role as Executive Vice President between 1980-2001. The first African-American president of a national union directly elected by members, his leadership and decades-long dedication to postal workers has left a lasting impact on the union.
In 1958, he began his postal career in Cleveland, OH where he began work as a mail clerk before transferring to the Maintenance Craft soon after. He rose through the ranks of his local union and participated in the Great Postal Strike of 1970. In 1974, he was elected president of the Cleveland Area Local, and later became the founder and first president of the APWU National Presidents’ Conference. He took pride in his role and protected the economic well-being of generations of postal workers by leading the successful fight to protect COLA increases in the 1978 Collective Bargaining Agreement.
