Local USPS letter carriers rally for better wages

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — United States Postal Service letter carriers rallied together Wednesday, demanding better wages following recent contract negotiations.

The union claims the tentative contract agreement fails to address current economic conditions and work rules, and they say it fails to reward them for the work they do every day.

“They need to put the value back into being a letter carrier,” said David Grosskopf Jr., President of the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 3. “The postal service has retention problems, the postal service has attendance problems, the postal service has moral problems, and all of that in my opinion swirls around the inadequate wage and benefit package that it’s offering it’s employees.”

They say their last contract had a 4.8 percent wage increase, but this time, they’re only offered 3.9 percent.

“That’s just unacceptable in today’s economic environment, as most of us know, inflation in the last three to four years has been anywhere between four and eight percent,” said Grosskopf. “So 3.9 percent over 42 months, is not going to allow letter carriers to not only keep pace with inflation, but they’re going to lose money.”

In a statement, the USPS said they respect their employees’ rights to a protest “while off the clock.”

The union says they’ve been without a contract for around 600 days, and they’re expecting ratification ballots to be sent out at the end of November or early December. Many members of the union say they are planning on voting against it.

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Hope Winter is a reporter and multimedia journalist who has been part of the News 4 team since 2021. See more of her work here.

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