Tentative National Agreement

As most should already know by now, the NALC and the USPS have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract. There has been quite a bit of dissension after the terms of the agreement came out. The full-time officers sat for 2 hours to discuss the contract and whether to endorse it or come out against it. Collectively, we decided to take no stance on it. The reason being that we believe that every member has different needs and concerns. There are issues, both good and bad, in the contract. We do not believe that it is enough money, and we could use more protection from unscrupulous managers. We also believe that the DRT program is circling the tank due to managements actions and that was not addressed. That directly affects the entire craft and must be fixed. There is also the backdrop of a company losing 7.1 Billion dollars this year, approximately 23 Billion since our last contract, and in the neighborhood of 88 billion in the past 13 years. These are the figures cited by the USPS every year to the GAO. Whether or not they actually reflect the real numbers is not for me to decide. They are accepted by the government as real so that’s that. No company in the world operates under these conditions.

So, we negotiated a contract with that knowledge and understanding in mind. The financial aspect of the contract is as follows:

All letter carriers All city letter carriers will receive the following general wage increases: • Effective Nov. 18, 2023—1.3 percent paid retroactively • Effective Nov. 23, 2024—1.3 percent paid retroactively • Effective Nov. 22, 2025—1.3 percent

Career carriers—cost-of-living adjustments Cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs)are an important protection against future inflation and remain an important component of the National Agreement. Career letter carriers will receive seven COLAs that will provide equal protection against inflation. Top step (Step P) wage rates will be increased by 1 cent per hour for each 0.4-point increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Wage rates for the other steps will be increased proportionally following the practice in effect since the 2011 National Agreement—resulting in the same percentage increase in pay as Step P. January 2023 has been set as the “base month.” The seven COLAs for Step P carriers (with proportional application for carriers in lower steps) are payable as follows: The first full COLA will be $978 annually effective Aug. 26, 2023, paid retroactively. • The second full COLA will be $353 annually effective March 9, 2024, paid retroactively. • The third COLA will $978 annually effective Sept. 7, 2024, paid retroactively. • The fourth COLA will be effective in March 2025. • The fifth COLA will be effective in September 2025. • The sixth COLA will be effective in March 2026. • The seventh COLA will be effective in September 2026. The future value of the remaining four COLAs will depend, of course, on the rate of inflation measured by the CPI-W between now and July 2026. Based on the inflation forecast of the Congressional Budget Office, expected inflation rates would generate annual Step P COLAs of $620, $604, $624 and $561, respectively, for the four remaining COLAs, applied proportionally to the letter carrier pay tables as described above. Please note that these are only projected COLAs—actual COLAs may be lower or higher, depending on the rate of future inflation.

Wage schedule changes MOU Re: Modification of City Carrier Pay Tables—Additionally, Steps AA, A, and B will be eliminated from Table 2. All city carriers in Steps AA, A and B will be advanced to Step C and begin a new 46-week waiting period to be completed before advancing to Step D. After implementation of this change, the total time to reach the top step will be reduced by 92 weeks. These changes will be effective and implemented within 180 days of ratification. Also, effective and implemented within 180 days of ratification, the annual wage in Step P in Tables 1 and 2 shall be increased by $1,000. This increase is in addition to general wage increases and COLAs. All carriers in Step P of Table 1 will be administratively slotted into Step P of Table 2 immediately. Table 1 carriers in Steps O and below will be, upon reaching Step P, administratively slotted into Step P of Table 2. This slotting is purely administrative and will not affect wages in any way.

City carrier assistants In lieu of COLAs, city carrier assistants (CCAs) will receive an additional 1 percent increase on the effective dates of the three general increases, for a total of 2.3 percent in November 2023 (paid retroactively), 2.3 percent in November 2024 (paid retroactively), and 2.3 percent in November 2025. City carrier assistant hourly rates in Table 3 will also be increased by an additional 50 cents per hour. This increase will be implemented within 180 days of ratification.

Retroactive (back-pay) provisions A full back-pay calculation for all letter carriers (career and non-career alike) covering all paid hours since the expiration of the 2019-2023 contract will be made as soon as practicable. These back-pay calculations will include the Nov. 18, 2023, and Nov. 23, 2024, general wage increases (plus the 1 percent additional increase for CCAs on those dates) and the first three COLAs (totaling $2,309 annually). It will take some time for the Postal Service to complete more than 200,000 back-pay calculations, so the exact pay period in which back pay will be issued has yet to be determined, but will be reported as soon as it is confirmed. Note: Letter carriers who have retired since the expiration of the 2019-2023 National Agreement will also receive back pay from USPS and will have their annuities retroactively adjusted by the Office of Personnel Management.

You may be curious about the size of the retro checks so here are the figures for those who worked 40 hours per week since June 21, 2023. This is only Step CCA the base amount minus any overtime worked. Every minute of overtime worked during the past 18 months will be added to the Backpay amount.

Step          Backpay                                Step            Backpay

CCA            $1,492                                     H                   $3,208

AA                $2,359                                      I                    $3,279

A                   $2,436                                      J                    $3,385

B                   $2,542                                      K                   $3,349

C                   $2,647                                      L                   $3,596

D                   $2,752                                      M                  $3,701

E                    $2,858                                      N                  $3,805

F                    $2,963                                      O                  $3,850

G                   $3,069                                      P                   $3,856

These are just a few of the financial issues. Read the NALC web site of see the Current NALC Bulletin for the entire contract.

The alternative for the membership is to vote against the tentative agreement. If the T/A is turned down, the parties go back to the table to negotiate. If no agreement is reached, we head to binding arbitration where one arbitrator will decide our fate. The T/A is thrown in the garbage and the parties start from scratch attempting to convince him or her to agree with their proposal. Based on the fact management, in all likelihood, is going to plead bankruptcy and has the books to back it up, I am not convinced we would do any better than the T/A. This T/A gives us 3 raises a year. The fact is that, once before an arbitrator, we could actually lose some of what we already have. That would include possible cuts to the COLA and a reduction or loss of the retroactive checks.

This is not any attempt to convince you one way or the other, but I would be remiss if I did not explain what may occur if we move towards arbitration. All you have to do is look at past history. In 2013 the arbitrator bought into the USPS argument that they needed financial relief and a lower wage work force. That is how we wound up with the non-career CCA’s. Along with that we lost almost the entire career PTF work force. We had a second pay table forced on us which significantly reduced the pay of all carriers hired after January 2013. We have been clawing back a little each ensuing contract. That contract basically split the workforce in half and continues to create issues.

If you are willing to roll the dice on Arbitration, then indeed, vote the contract down. If they do not want to risk what they negotiated, then vote for it. Either way, you know what works for you and your families. Think it over without all the noise being thrown at you and do what you think is right. Whatever you decide, just make sure you vote. We have that right in this country and unfortunately too many people do not use it. In the end, we are all still brothers and sisters and need to stand together.

Let me end this article by wishing all of you along with your families a very Merry Christmas and happy and healthy holiday season.