Mail carriers reach tentative contract with USPS for raises, air-conditioned trucks

Some 200,000 message carriers person reached a tentative declaration woody with the U.S. Postal Service that includes backdated wage raises and a committedness to supply workers with air-conditioned trucks.

The caller agreement, which inactive needs to beryllium ratified by national members, runs done November 2026. Letter deliverers person been moving without a declaration since May 2023.

Both the national and the Postal Service welcomed the agreement, which was announced Friday.

"Both sides didn't get everything they wanted. But by bargaining successful bully faith, we ended with an statement that meets our goals and rewards our members," Brian Renfroe, the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, told The Associated Press. "To marque that happen, the Postal Service had to admit the contributions of members to the Postal Service and the American people."

Among different improvements, the woody increases the apical wage and reduces the magnitude of clip it takes caller workers to scope that level, Renfroe said. He credited Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and his lawman for bargaining successful bully religion passim the arduous process.

The Postal Service said the statement supported its 10-year 'Delivering for America' ngo to modernize operations and accommodate to changing lawsuit needs.

"This is simply a just and liable statement that serves the champion involvement of our employees, our customers and the aboriginal of the Postal Service," said Doug Tulino, the lawman postmaster wide and main quality resources officer.

As portion of the agreement, each metropolis carriers volition get 3 yearly wage increases of 1.3% each by 2025, immoderate of which volition beryllium paid retroactively from November 2023. Workers volition besides person retroactive and aboriginal cost-of-living

There is besides a committedness from the Postal Service to "make each effort" to supply message trucks with air-conditioning.

The Postal Service successful summertime began rolling retired its caller electrical transportation vehicles, which travel equipped with air-conditioning. While the trucks won't triumph immoderate quality contests, they did get rave reviews from missive carriers accustomed to older vehicles that deficiency modern information features and are prone to breaking down — and adjacent catching fire.

Within a fewer years, the caller transportation fleet volition person expanded to 60,000, astir of them electrical models, serving arsenic the Postal Service's superior transportation motortruck from Maine to Hawaii.

Under the tentative declaration agreement, the Postal Service indispensable sermon with the national immoderate plans to bargain caller message trucks that don't person air-conditioning.

This is the 2nd declaration negotiated since DeJoy was appointed postmaster wide successful 2020. It is expected to instrumentality respective weeks for national members to ratify the contract. Rural message deliverers aren't covered by the declaration due to the fact that they are represented by a antithetic union.