More than 200,000 Postal Service mail carriers would receive 1.3 percent annual pay raises and semi-annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), under a tentative contract negotiated by their union.

The National Association of Letter Carriers reached a tentative agreement with the Postal Service last Friday, after nearly two years of stalled negotiations.

Under the tentative agreement, which runs from May 20, 2023 to November 7, 2026, letter carriers would get retroactive wage increases of 1.3% for November 2023 and November 2024, and receive another wage increase of 1.3% for November 2023 and November 2024. 3% in November 2025.

The tentative labor agreement also provides for cost-of-living adjustments twice a year, in March and September, for the duration of the contract.

Letter carriers would receive three of the seven COLAs retroactively, as a lump sum payment of more than $2,300. It will likely take a few months for USPS to calculate and process back pay for all employees covered by the tentative agreement.

The tentative agreement also maintains a provision prohibiting layoffs for mail carriers after six years as career employees.

NALC national president Brian Renfroe said the tentative agreement represents the union’s largest across-the-board wage increase since its 2006 labor agreement.

“After nearly 20 months of tireless negotiations, we are pleased to reach a fair agreement that rewards our members for their contributions to the Postal Service and their service to the American people,” Renfroe said in a statement.

The agreement in principle is now submitted to a vote by NALC members. A simple majority means the union will finalize the deal.

Renfroe said he expects NALC to receive its ballots by mid-November. The tentative agreement requires a simple majority of votes to be approved. If members do not approve the tentative contract, a third-party arbitrator would resolve the labor impasse.

Deputy Postmaster General Doug Tulino said in a memo that the tentative agreement “is in the best interest of the Postal Service, our employees and our customers.”

“Overall, this tentative agreement addresses important financial, operational and payroll issues related to supporting our goals under the Delivering for America plan,” Tulino wrote.

The agreement makes no change to the Postal Service’s share of health premium costs. Its contributions would remain at 72% for the duration of the contract and would be capped at 75% of the premium for a given plan.

The contract also outlines a new employee experience, retention and mentoring program that has been tested in post offices across the country.

The program aims to standardize the onboarding process for new employees and guarantees non-career employees one day off per week.

“We believe it is very important when we hire letter carriers to give them the best chance to learn and succeed in this job. And the thing is, this job is hard and you don’t get any experience doing this work elsewhere,” Renfroe said on the latest episode of the official NALC podcast.

The tentative agreement also contains a provision requiring the USPS to “make every effort” to purchase vehicles equipped with air conditioning.

“They actually don’t buy vehicles without air conditioning anymore, every vehicle they buy doesn’t know how long the air conditioning lasts,” Renfroe said.

If the USPS is considering acquiring vehicles without air conditioning due to the climate of a particular geographic area or other factors, the matter should be discussed with the NALC.

The postal service’s iconic long-term vehicle is not equipped with air conditioning. But its next-generation delivery vehicle and the commercially available vehicles the USPS has purchased are equipped with air conditioning.

Some NALC members, however, assert that the agreement in principle does not go far enough to meet the needs of mail carriers.

Mike Caref, national sales agent for NALC, which represents Illinois carriers, urged members to vote no on the tentative agreement and push for a better deal through arbitration.

“It’s the ground. It’s the least we can get,” Caref said on the “From A to Arbitration” podcast. “I don’t think we’re going to do any worse.”

The tentative agreement would eliminate the bottom tier of the NALC pay scale. Career transporters would earn between $25 and $40 an hour, depending on their level of seniority.

Caref, however, said non-professional transit assistants would still receive a starting wage closer to $20 an hour.

“It’s an absolute disgrace for a council postman. We talk about how hard we work. We talk about the level of responsibility, we talk about the risks and the dangers and the management of the pandemic and everything else. Let the starting wage be $20 an hour, how the hell is that going to solve our problems? » said Caref.

Caref said the starting pay for city carrier assistants contributes to USPS employee retention and staffing issues.

“People don’t want this job,” he said. “You don’t have enough carriers. None of this is resolved because you still have that $20 an hour job with no career.

As part of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-year reform plan, USPS has converted more than 190,000 pre-career employees to career status, with better pay and benefits.

The agency, after accounting for attrition, increased its career workforce by 28,000 positions.

The USPS said in a recent report that the growth and stabilization of its professional workforce has led to less overtime and less reliance on temporary hires during the busy holiday season.

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