Originally published in the Autumn 2024 edition of the Virginia Defender, issue 75, printed November 6. Reproduced here for accessibility and archival purposes. To find other stories in the Autumn 2024 issue or to download the full PDF, see this post. For other issues dating back to 2012, see the Full Issues page.

By Kat McNeal

Postal workers represent one of the largest blocs of unionized federal workers in the country. The U.S. Postal Service also has historically been a reliable source of good jobs for the Black community; in 2020, 23% of postal employees were Black, compared to 13% of the workforce in general. It pays to keep an eye on the service, both in terms of political efforts to privatize and sell it off and in how it relates to its employees.

On Oct. 18, the USPS and the largest union representing its employees, the National Association of Letter Carriers, came to a tentative agreement on a new contract. The NALC represents some 295,000 active and retired non-rural letter carriers. This was a long time coming. NALC members had been working without a contract since their last collective bargaining agreement expired in May 2023.

The new contract has yet to be ratified by NALC members, but some highlights include seven modest cost-of-living adjustments, three pay raises of 1.3% by 2025 – two paid retroactively – and a requirement that the postal service “make every effort” to ensure mail trucks have air conditioning.

Not everyone at USPS has their contract, though. At midnight on Sept. 20, the collective bargaining agreement between the USPS and the American Postal Workers Union expired.

The APWU represents approximately 200,000 workers, including maintenance and support personnel, motor vehicle pool workers and clerks. It is the second largest of the four major unions representing USPS personnel, smaller than NALC and larger than the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association and the National Postal Mail Handlers Union. The union and the USPS office mutually agreed to extend negotiations, but, as of the Defender presstime, these talks have not resulted in a new contract.

On Oct 1, the APWU held a National Day of Action, demanding that the postal service: reinstate quarterly public comment at Postal Board of Governors meetings, commit to better staffing for better service and listen to postal workers at the bargaining table. The Virginia Defender attended the Richmond Day of Action, where, despite heavy rain, more than 30 supporters gathered outside the Brook Road post office, holding signs and waving to passing motorists.

The Defender spoke with APWU Local 199 President Jerome Cosby, who said that the service issues of such great concern to the public – poor staffing of clerks at offices and mail delivery problems – are a direct result of both labor conditions within the postal service and top-down leadership issues.

“For every 10 people, they’re only keeping five,” Cosby said, describing the poor retention at the postal service.

The Virginia Defender will be following this story as it progresses.