Mail carriers and USPS reach tentative agreement that includes rise and air-conditioned trucks

About 200,000 mail carriers have reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. Postal Service that includes backdated pay raises and promises to provide workers with air-conditioned trucks.

The new contract, which still needs to be ratified by union members, runs until November 2026 The letter carriers have been operating without a new contract since their old contract expired in May 2023. Since then they have continued to operate under the terms of the old agreement .

Both unions and the Postal Service welcomed the deal, which was announced Friday.

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“Both sides did not get what they wanted. But through good-faith bargaining, we ended up with an agreement that meets our goals and rewards our members,” Brian Renfro, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, told The Associated Press. “To make this happen, the Postal Service needs to work with the Postal Service and the American The contribution of members of the public had to be recognised.”

Among other improvements, the deal increases the top salary and shortens the time it takes new workers to reach that level, Renfro said. He credited Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and his deputy for negotiating in good faith throughout the difficult process.

The Postal Service said the deal supports its 10-year “Delivering for America” ​​mission to modernize operations and adapt to changing customers.

“This is a fair and responsible contract that serves the best interests of our employees, our customers and the future of the Postal Service,” said Doug Tullino, deputy postmaster general and chief human resources officer.

As part of the deal, all city carriers will receive three annual pay increases of 1.3 percent each through 2025, some of which will be paid retroactively to November 2023. Employees will also receive past and future living expense adjustments

There is also a commitment from the Postal Service to “make every effort” to provide air conditioning to mail trucks.

Over the summer the Postal Service began rolling out its new electric delivery vehicles, which are equipped with air conditioning. While the trucks won't win any beauty contests, they've gotten rave reviews from letter carriers used to older vehicles that lack modern safety features and are prone to breaking down — even catching fire.

Within a few years, the new fleet will expand to 60,000, mostly electric models, serving as the primary delivery trucks for the Postal Service from Maine to Hawaii.

Under the tentative contract agreement, the Postal Service must discuss with the union any plans to purchase new mail trucks that do not have air conditioning.

This is the second contract after the appointment of Dejoy in 2020. Union members are expected to take weeks to approve it.

Rural mail carriers are not covered by the contract because they are represented by a different union.