Letters Carriers (NALC) Begin Negotiations for New Contract

The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) have been holding rallies across the country to call on the USPS to negotiate a fair contract with fair wages and expansion of full benefits to all members. Bargaining on a new contract began on Wednesday. Letter Carriers say that they deserve to be compensated for taking on larger workloads than ever and increasing incidents of on-the-job violence. 
 

The union is fighting for higher pay, especially higher starting wages as well as less time to reach the top of the pay scale, and an all-career workforce where every member gets full benefits from the start and other provisions that will ensure the future of the Postal Service.Currently, it takes more than twelve years to get to the top step in the pay scale, which is about $40 per hour.

NALC 92 President John Graham said the low starting wages and length of time it takes to get to the top wage step has made it hard to recruit and retain qualified employees. He said letter carriers have been held up at knife point and gun point in Lewiston and Portland. He also pointed out that they are handling more packages than ever.

“Back when I started, might have had four, five, maybe six packages a day,” said Graham. “Some routes have well over 200 packages a day. To put that in comparison, most UPS drivers are delivering about 160 to 170 packages a day. And that's all they deliver. We're delivering mail and packages.”