More than 200,000 Postal Service letter carriers will receive 1.3% annual pay raises and semiannual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), if they approve a tentative contract negotiated by their union.

The National Association of Letter Carriers reached a tentative agreement with the Postal Service last Friday, after nearly two years of stalled negotiations.

Under the tentative agreement,  which runs from May 20, 2023, through Nov. 7, 2026, letter carriers would get retroactive 1.3% pay raises for November 2023 and November 2024, and would receive another 1.3% pay raise in November 2025.

The tentative labor deal also offers career employees cost-of-living adjustments twice a year, each March and September for the duration of the contract.

Letter carriers would receive three of the seven COLAs retroactively, as a lump sum payment of more than $2,300. The back pay will likely take USPS a few months to calculate and process for all employees covered by the tentative agreement.

The tentative deal also retains a no-layoff provision for letter carriers after six years of working as career employees.

NALC National President Brian Renfroe said the tentative agreement represents the union’s largest general wage increase, on average, since its 2006 labor contract.

“After almost 20 months of tireless negotiations, we are pleased to reach a fair agreement that rewards our members for their contributions to the Postal Service and their service to the American people,” Renfroe said in a statement.

The tentative agreement now heads to NALC members for a vote. A simple majority means the union will finalize the deal.

Renfroe said he expects NALC members to receive their ballots by mid-November. The tentative agreement needs a simple majority of votes for approval. A third-party arbitrator would resolve the labor impasse if members don’t approve the tentative contract.

Deputy Postmaster General Doug Tulino, who is also the agency’s chief human resources officer, said in an internal memo that the tentative deal “is in the best interests of the Postal Service, our employees, and our customers,” and supports the agency’s 10-year Delivering for America plan.

“Overall, this tentative agreement addresses important financial, operational, and employee issues relative to supporting our objectives in the Delivering for America plan,” Tulino wrote.

The deal does not change the Postal Service’s cost share of health benefit premiums. Its contributions would remain at 72% for the duration of the contract, and would be capped at 75% of any given plan’s premium.

The contract also outlines a new employee experience, retention and mentoring program that’s been piloted at several post offices across the country.

The program aims to standardize the onboarding process for new employees, and guarantees noncareer employees receive one day off each week.

“We think it’s very important that when we hire letter carriers, that we give them the best opportunity to learn and succeed in doing this job. And the fact of the matter is, this job is hard, and you don’t get experience doing this job anywhere else,” Renfroe said on the latest episode of NALC’s official podcast.

The tentative agreement also contains a provision requiring USPS to “make every effort” to buy vehicles with air conditioning.

“In reality, they don’t buy vehicles anymore without air-conditioning, every vehicle they’ve bought in I I don’t know how long has air conditioning,” Renfroe said.

If USPS plans to acquire vehicles without air conditioning due to the climate in a particular location, the provision requires the agency to discuss its plans with NALC.

The Postal Service’s iconic Grumman Long-Life Vehicle doesn’t have air conditioning. But the Next-Generation Delivery Vehicles and commercially available vehicles that are replacing the LLVs do have air conditioning.

Some NALC members, however, say the tentative deal doesn’t go far enough to meet their demands.

Mike Caref, NALC’s national business agent representing letter carriers in Illinois, urged members to vote no on the tentative deal, and instead push for a better deal through arbitration.

“This is the floor. This is the least that we’ll be able to get,” Caref said on the From A to Arbitration podcast. “I don’t think we’re going to do any worse.”

In addition to serving on NALC’s executive council, Caref is running to replace Renfroe as union president. 

The union’s tentative agreement would eliminate the bottom tier of NALC’s pay scale. Career carriers would make about $25 to $40 an hour, depending on their level of seniority.

Caref, however, said noncareer city carrier assistants would still receive starting pay closer to $20 an hour.

“That is an absolute disgrace for a city letter carrier. We’re talking about how hard we work. We’re talking about the level of responsibility, we’re talking about the risk and the hazards and working through the pandemic and everything. For starting pay to be $20 an hour — how the hell is that going to solve our problems?” Caref said.

Caref said starting pay for city carrier assistants is contributing to USPS employee retention and staffing problems.

“People don’t want the job,” he said. “You don’t have enough carriers. None of that is being solved, because you still have this $20 an hour, non-career job,” he said.

Under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-year reform plan, USPS has converted more than 190,000 pre-career employees to career status, with better pay and benefits.

The agency, after accounting for attrition, has grown its career workforce by 28,000 positions.

USPS said in a recent report that growing and stabilizing its career workforce has led to fewer overtime hours and less reliance on temporary hires during its busy year-end holiday season.

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.