Another postal union approves its collective bargaining agreement

The U.S. Postal Service has officially notched another labor contract, this time with the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association.

On Monday, the union announced that members had ratified a collective bargaining agreement that will last through May 20, 2027. 

In total, 67% of NRLCA postal workers voted to approve the contract with a final tally of 9,730 to 4,880. 

Acting Postmaster General Doug Tulino praised the ratification, highlighting annual general wage increases, semi-annual cost-of-living adjustments and new efforts to retain rural carrier associates. 

“This agreement is economically responsible, fair to our employees and serves the best interest of our customers,” he said in a statement. “The agreement aligns with the Postal Service mission to provide reliable, value-driven mail and package delivery service to all Americans in fulfillment of our universal service obligation.”

Also Monday, the American Postal Workers Union began mailing ballots for members to vote on its own three-year tentative agreement with USPS. Ballots are due by July 10. APWU President Mark Dimondstein urged members to support the deal.

“We have been negotiating when government workers and our unions are under severe assault and with the specter of postal privatization looming. Yet even in this environment, the tentative national agreement contains annual wage increases, six full cost-of-living adjustments for career employees, no-layoff protections including for tens of thousands of members with less than six years’ service, 50-mile limits on excessing, elimination of some entry level steps, restoration of one more top step in pay grades 4-7 on the lower tier pay scale, increase in uniform allowances and much more,” he said in a statement. “All these gains were accomplished with no givebacks or concessions.” 

In contrast, the membership of the National Association of Letter Carriers in January rejected, 63,680 to 26,304, a four-year tentative agreement that its union leadership reached with USPS following grassroots complaints that the proposed pay raises and adjustments were inadequate. A third-party arbitrator in March negotiated a deal between the parties that includes three general wage increases and six COLAs. 

In May, the bipartisan USPS board of governors, with the backing of President Donald Trump, named David Steiner as the next postmaster general. The longtime CEO of Waste Management and FedEx board member is expected to assume the position in July. Steiner has pledged to maintain the postal agency’s independence, even as Trump has floated removing it from federal control.

His predecessor, Louis DeJoy, resigned in March amid pressure and after the bumpy rollout of his 10-year plan to overhaul USPS received bipartisan pushback.