COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — By the time union letter carriers will receive a new union contract, it will have been nearly two years since their last one expired.

Members of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) finally received a new contract proposal in October, but local mail carriers said it did not address many of their needs and concerns. NALC members voted on the tentative union agreement, and last Friday the NALC confirmed: The contract proposal failed three-to-one, with 63,680 NALC members voting against ratification and just 26,304 voting in favor. 

It is uncommon for union tentative agreements to fail, but Erick Poston, president of NALC Branch 40 in Cleveland, said most of his branch members would rather wait for another option than agree to one they felt underserved them.

“In a historic vote, NALC members voted down the tentative agreement proposed by the Postal Service and the leadership at NALC headquarters,” Poston said. “The majority of our members are happy and excited that the contract failed ratification.”

Now, NALC and Postal Service leadership are back to the drawing board, with reopened negotiations beginning Feb. 3. Contractually, these negotiations are not allowed to exceed 15 calendar days, and NALC President Brian Renfroe confirmed NALC members will have an answer by Feb. 18.

Renfroe has been posting video updates online during the negotiation period and said NALC leadership presented an economic proposal the the U.S. Postal Service. The proposal addresses several major concerns for mail carriers, Renfroe said, but he cautioned that it did not include many workplace rule adjustments included in the initial tentative agreement. He said those noneconomic agreements may change, but they are looking through them all and considering all options. 

“The members as a whole are looking for a better pay package and increases in salary that reflect what they do every day,” Poston said. “This was the first contract that was settled out of the COVID years and carriers as essential workers were not compensated sufficiently for the increased workload or work hours.”

Poston said many primary concerns for mail carriers are economic. USPS hires letter carriers as City Carrier Assistants (CCAs), with opportunities to eventually become career workers. In 2013, NALC fought for the ability for CCAs to become career positions, resulting in multiple pay tables for employees. There are pay and benefit divides between workers because of this, and CCAs do not qualify for cost of living adjustments.

Poston provided NBC4 with the NALC pay table, which changed drastically in 2013. Career mail carriers who began before Jan. 12, 2013, were hired at a starting rate between $62,000 and $64,000. Those hired after that date only make a starting average rate of $46,500. He said this leads to turnover, with only 25% of union members having worked for USPS for more than 10 years.

“The difference is only getting larger from bottom to top,” Poston said. “When I started the difference was only 10 thousand dollars, and today it is closer to 30 thousand dollars.”

These economic divides are a priority for many letter carriers, and Renfroe said his new proposal addresses them. He said the agreement he presented this week would eliminate one of the two pay tables, get rid of CCAs so all workers would be career workers, and would give cost of living adjustment pay to all union members.

Renfroe said by Feb. 18, they will hopefully have a new tentative agreement. At the end of this negotiation period, a new contract will either be mailed out and voted on again for ratification, or the debate will go to arbitration.

Arbitration is a formal process for resolving disputes where a third party decides. The decision is legally binding, and Renfroe said NALC leaders and lawyers have been preparing for arbitration since negotiations first began.

The negotiations involve NALC’s 2023-2026 union contract, so however it is decided, USPS and NALC will have to enter negotiations for another agreement sometime next year.