August 5-9, 2024 Boston Convention and Exhibition Center
plan. We knew the DFA plan could not be successful without our craft and its buy-in. Key portions of the plan, like the implementation of sorting and delivery centers, could only be successful if we used these negotiations to build a stronger city letter carrier craft. As I stated during my speech at the opening of negotiations, I be- lieve both parties had a unique opportunity to build something transformative for the nation’s let- ter carrier workforce and the entire Postal Service. By increasing wag- es, appropriately staffing our craft, addressing safety concerns and en- forcing managerial contract compli- ance, letter carriers, in turn, will en- sure that the Postal Service remains strong and competitive. In the winter of 2022 as we be- gan preparations for negotiating the new national agreement, we formed subcommittees to develop the formal proposals we would present to the Postal Service. The subcommittees—comprised of NALC Executive Council members and Headquarters letter carrier staff—focused on several impor- tant subjects, from workplace is- sues, city delivery matters and safety and health, to route struc- ture, uniforms and strategies to fix turnover and understaffing. The subcommittees worked for months, going over convention resolutions and discussing prac- tical ways to solve problems fac- ing letter carriers. Using their own experiences as well as ideas and concerns heard from the NALC membership, the subcommittees worked vigorously to craft bar- gaining proposals designed to improve working conditions. Once these initial proposals were craft- ed, many were officially submitted to USPS for consideration at the bargaining table. Many of our goals are common to every round of collective bargain- ing—pay increases to reward letter carriers for our contributions to the Postal Service and to recognize the increasing difficulty of our work,
the preservation of cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), and the main- tenance of protections against sub- contracting and layoffs. But others are unique to this round of talks or had been generated by our subcom- mittees. Throughout the process, we have remained committed to achieving a negotiated agree- ment. But we have repeatedly com- municated to USPS that we would not hesitate to present our de- mands in interest arbitration if necessary to gain a contract that properly rewards city letter carri- ers for what they do day in and day out in service of America’s public. On May 21, 2023, when the 2019 National Agreement formally ex- pired, NALC and the Postal Service agreed to continue negotiations and that the expired agreement would remain in full force until a new negotiated or arbitrated agreement was reached. The for- mal expiration triggered a statu- torily required 60-day mediation period. NALC continued to work productively toward reaching a ne- gotiated agreement with the Postal Service during this period, reach- ing tentative agreement on several key issues. While discussions on pay, bene- fits and working conditions contin- ued to be constructive, we had yet to reach tentative agreement with the Postal Service when the media- tion period expired on July 19, 2023. As we have in recent rounds of col- lective bargaining, we agreed to re- main at the table with postal man- agement as long as the prospects remained for reaching a tentative agreement that meets our goals. Because talks continued to be pro- ductive, and because of the eco- nomic issues outlined above, we concluded this to be the best and least risky way to achieve a contract that meets our goals. At the NALC rap session in New Orleans in November, I shared that while we had made progress, even reaching tentative agreement on several key issues related to work
22 The Postal Record August 2024
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