Letter carriers have been working under the terms of an expired contract for more than 500 days, as contract negotiations between the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) and United States Postal Service (USPS) drag on.
The last national contract expired in May 2023.
The union and USPS have continued negotiations and have not yet gone to arbitration, though an arbitrator was selected back in March.
“I understand that to try and get what our members deserve takes time,” said Branch 82 President David Norton. “But once you pass the year mark, it definitely seems like, okay, what’s going on now?”
A spokesperson for NALC said the union does not discuss ongoing negotiations.
That long-standing policy has drawn criticism from some of the union’s 207,000 letter carriers.
Branch 82 was one of dozens of locals to propose an open bargaining resolution at the NALC national convention in August. Branch 82 represents just over 1,400 active letter carriers in Portland and more than a dozen nearby cities.
Some small changes were approved, but not the transparency overhaul that advocates had hoped for.
“Both sides keep everything close to the chest, and I understand why,” Norton said of NALC and USPS management. But, Norton added, it’s hard for rank-and-file workers who want to know what’s going on with their jobs and aren’t getting regular updates.
During the current contract negotiations, workers have been more vocal about their frustration over the lack of information than in the past, Norton said.
Letter carriers start in non-career positions at $19.33 per hour. In Portland and some other cities, letter carriers are hired straight to career positions at $22.13 per hour.
While working under an expired contract, letter carriers are still getting annual raises for step increases, but they aren’t getting their typical cost of living raises.
Once USPS and NALC agree on a contract, it has to be ratified by members. Then branches have to negotiate local agreements for each city, which address a limited range of issues.
Postal management and the two other largest unions representing postal workers, the American Postal Workers Union and the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, both failed to reach agreements before their contracts expired this year and are still in negotiations.
[CORRECTION 10/23/24: An earlier version of this story said letter carriers have been working without a contract more than 500 days, but that’s not quite accurate. Under federal law, USPS employees continue working under the terms of the previous union contract until a new contract replaces it.]
Thank you for posting this! It helps to get the word out. The dockworker is go on strike for a couple of days and wind up with a 62.5% raise over their contract. And there wasn’t a roll of toilet paper or paper towels to be found due to public panic… I would yes, if you took a pole 95% of the public would not even know The carriers delivering their mail have been working without a contract for over 500 days. I would guess over 90% would not know that it is Against the law for us To go on strike! Could you imagine what would happen if The letter carries one on strike. It would be 10 times worse then when they went on strike in 1970! We are struggling just as much as the rest of the country every time we go to the store or buy a car or pay any bill! It is truly hurting every single carrier that works for the post office. Working conditions are marginal at best and to add in managing your bills on the same money you were making over a year and a half ago can get very stressful!