Postal workers in Wilmington aren’t in love with their new labor agreement between the National Association of Letter Carriers and the U.S. Postal Service.
Some of them will gather at Rodney Square in Wilmington on Veterans Day and vote “no” on ratifying the contract. Those organizing the meeting said the proposed wage increase and reduction in “office time” and routes harms the entire workforce.
The contract gives city transit workers a 1.3% pay increase each year from November through 2025. Victor Poindexter, one of the letter carriers organizing Monday’s rally, says he is joining other NALC members in Wilmington to demand a larger contract wage increase.
Professional letter carriers will also receive cost-of-living adjustments during the term of the contract, should this be ratified. The adjustments are $978 in August 2023 and September 2024 and $353 in March 2024. These will be paid retroactively if ratified. Future payments should be determined by changes in the consumer price index.
“We are stepping up and speaking out about this contract; it is not right,” he said. “It will be difficult for us to feed our families at 1.3%.”
In a statement, NALC said it held information sessions before voting to ratify the contract.
“Ahead of the nationwide vote on contract ratification, NALC leaders will hold informational briefings with letter carriers across the country, who will then make their own decisions. We do not participate in debates through the media,” the NALC statement said.
The contract also includes the addition and expanded maintenance of air-conditioned letter carrier vehicles.
New contract ready for ratification vote
The contract was recently negotiated by the NALC leadership. According to a post on the union’s website, negotiating the contract took about 20 months.
“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,” NALC President Brian Renfroe said on the website.
The next step for the contract is ratification through a vote among union members. Poindexter, Stacey Gilbert and Tyrell Thomas all said they are voting against the contract.
“I don’t think I’ve talked to one person who is in favor of the contract,” Gilbert said.
She has been a postal worker for three years and the contract benefits her, she said, but will not benefit her later.
Ballots are now being sent to union members state by state.
Veterans Day rally seeks unity among local union branches
It is illegal for USPS employees to strike. So this upcoming meeting is being held on a federal holiday in hopes of seeing a more widespread and unified response to the contract.
“For a long time, the union didn’t really last,” Poindexter said. “So like at this point where we are now, the way it took, it took us the younger generation to step up and say, you know, we deserve it, we deserve more.”
They said there is a generational divide at play with the new contracts. Thomas has been a postal worker for more than a decade, and he doesn’t think the contract is good enough for people like Poindexter and Gilbert, who have worked for five and three years respectively.
Another problem they have with the contract is the reduced office time, which is time to sort mail and packages before heading out for delivery. They said that would give them 13 minutes less before hitting the road. They said they would have about half an hour to sort and deliver the mail.
“We have to do it quickly, so they’re trying to rush us into the street,” Gilbert said.
The purpose of Monday’s meeting is to get the attention of the national union and encourage similar steps by other local chapters of NALC around Delaware, Philadelphia, New Jersey and beyond. Poindexter said he has seen other unions demand higher wage increases than the 1.3% proposed in the contract.
He gave the example of SEPTA employees proposing a 10% pay increase, which SEPTA did not agree to. He said their jobs are just as dangerous, especially during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re outside, rain, sleeping, everything; we were dealing with customers during the pandemic, we were here,” Thomas said. “We had carriers dying asking, where is our stuff? We got nothing in this deal.”
Monday’s rally could include airlines not only from Wilmington, but also from Newark, as well as from Chichester, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, Thomas said. The meeting is the first step in uniting local NALC chapters to challenge the contract.
“This fuels the fire,” Poindexter said. “Hopefully it will spread. And then all the other mailers, Philly, Jersey, Delaware, New York, all the way up to the East Coast, all get on the same page, and we try to maneuver and put the right people in the right place. in a position so that we can be fed, fed and paid.”
This article originally appeared in Delaware News Journal: Wilmington letter carriers will rally for what they call a better deal
