National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) members soundly rejected a proposed three-year contract, the union announced Jan. 31. With nearly 90,000 ballots cast, 70.8% voted against the tentative agreement NALC reached with the United States Postal Service (USPS). Letter carriers have been working under the terms of an expired contract for more than 600 days.
NALC announced the tentative agreement in October but ballots weren’t sent to members until mid-December. For career carriers, the proposed contract would have increased wages 1.3% each year of the contract, in addition to cost of living adjustments based on inflation. Raises would have been retroactive. Salaries for letter carriers with more than a couple of years on the job would have risen around 10%.
But the agreement lacked two key union priorities: It failed to eliminate a recently created non-career position that has lower wages and fewer protections. It also failed to get rid of a two-tier salary schedule that significantly cut wages for carriers hired after 2013.
Leaders of Branch 82, which represents around 2,000 letter carriers in and around Portland, recommended members vote no on the contract.
In a November newsletter, four Branch 82 leaders explained their own stances on the tentative agreement. Two planned to vote no and two planned to vote yes. But the two who planned to vote yes didn’t claim the contract would give big wins to workers. Instead, they pointed to the risks of going to arbitration. It was arbitrators who created the city carrier assistant position and two-tier wage scale in 2013.
With the contract rejected, NALC and USPS returned to bargaining on Feb. 4.
Under a 1912 federal law, USPS employees are barred from striking. And under the union constitution, when members reject a contract proposal, negotiations can reopen for 15 days before the union sends members another proposal. If that proposal is rejected, negotiations move to binding arbitration.
