USPS Inks Tentative Deal With Mail Carrier Union
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has reached a new tentative agreement with 200,000 union employees that will run through Nov. 7, 2026, which will hike their pay and expand their fleet of air-conditioned vans.
Members of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) still must ratify the deal with a majority vote, which will take several weeks to complete, USPS said in a statement.
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The carriers had been working without a new contract since the expiration of their last deal on May 20, 2023. Since then, the drivers had worked under the terms of the old contract.
All city letter carriers will receive general wage increases of 1.3 percent per year, with the first being paid back retroactively through November 2023. The second increase will be effective this November, and will be paid retroactively if a deal isn’t ratified by then. The final wage jump will take place Nov. 22, 2025.
The tentative deal also retains a no-layoff provision for letter carriers after six years of working as career employees.
Rural mail carriers are not covered by the contract because they are represented by a different union, the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA)
“This is a fair and responsible agreement that serves the best interest of our employees, our customers and the future of the Postal Service,” said Deputy Postmaster General and chief human resources officer Doug Tulino. “The agreement supports the Delivering for America 10-year plan’s mission to modernize our operations, so we are better able to adapt to changing customer needs and deliver service excellence.”
The new deal will also include cost-of-living adjustments aimed at protecting workers against future inflation. In total, the carriers will receive seven cost-of-living adjustments, three of which would retroactively go into effect following ratification totaling a combined $2,300.
Under the deal, the Postal Service must “make every effort” to acquire air conditioning-equipped vehicles.
“If USPS plans to acquire vehicles without air conditioning due to the climate in a particular geographic location or other factors, the issue must be discussed with the NALC,” said a summary of the new tentative agreement. “Additionally, USPS must continue to follow repair and maintenance procedures to ensure that any necessary maintenance or repairs to air conditioning systems are completed in a timely manner.”
While all motor vehicles purchased by the USPS since 2003 have been equipped with air conditioning, the agency has been under pressure from lawmakers to adopt stricter heat precautions in recent years.
In August, 77 House Democrats called on the USPS to “immediately implement” new workplace heat standards proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in the month prior. The proposed standards would require an acclimatization process to build new employees’ resistance to heat, mandatory 15-minute breaks every two hours when the temperature is more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit and the provision of readily available drinking water.
The USPS, which already has a heat illness prevention plan in place, has been in a state of flux as it attempts its turnaround. Early in 2024, the agency admitted it was concerned about running out of cash over the next several years, committing to cut $5 billion in operating expenses through the end of 2025.
Embedded in the cost cuts were plans to aggregate volume in fewer facilities, cut underutilized trips and shift more air volume to ground. Additionally, more operations would be transferred out of local facilities into more distant hubs, which the agency identifies as regional processing and distribution centers and sorting and delivery centers.
But these moves appeared to have caused disruptions in some major U.S. markets like Atlanta, Houston and Kansas City, Mo., with consumers in the areas reporting delivery delays. The delays prompted a Senate hearing with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in April, and ultimately resulted in the halting of the network consolidation across nearly 60 locations until at least Jan. 1, 2025.
The agency also started a new air partnership with UPS as of Sept. 30, making the parcel delivery firm its primary air cargo provider. UPS replaced FedEx as the USPS partner. DeJoy said in August the USPS reduced volume moved by air by more than 90 percent over the two years prior.
This holiday, USPS is also making more light cuts by paring back holiday hiring. The agency plans to bring in 7,500 workers for the peak period, down from 10,000 in the year prior.
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