Letter Carriers Reach Tentative Contract Agreement, Protest Outsourcing

The National Association of Letter Carriers reached tentative agreement with the U.S. Postal Service on a new five-year agreement covering the nation's 222,000 city delivery carriers.

The tentative contract will be submitted to the active membership for ratification.

The settlement calls for general wage increases and several cost-of-living adjustments.

NALC President William H. Young President Young said. “It’s a win-win deal for the Postal Service and the nation’s city letter carriers. It offers improved job security and fair wages for letter carriers and provides an intelligent and responsible way forward on the issues of flats automation and outsourcing.”

The agreement comes as NALC members continue to protest privatization of letter carrier routes by the US postal service.

In a letter to the US Senate in June, the NALC rejected the post office's claim that privatization is more efficient or that private contractors are "small businesses."

Privatization assures that some people will get mail from less well-trained contractors who earn far less in wages and benefits.

The NALC letter compared privatization of the post office to the kind of corrupt and profit-grubbing privatization practices that fueled the disaster at Walter Reed Army Hospital.

Listeners should urge their Senators to co-sponsor S. 1457, the Mail Delivery Protection Act, which would limit the privatization efforts of the Postal Service and ensure that your mail is delivered by well-trained, fairly treated union postal workers. Go to Senate.gov and speak up.

--Joel Wendland