Uniform allowances, letter carrier safety and wages are among the key issues for some union members in the ongoing contract negotiations between the U.S. Postal Service and the National Association of Letter Carriers union.

Discussions over a new contract were reopened until mid-February between the postal service and the NALC after union members voted to reject a proposed collective bargaining agreement by a margin of 63,680 to 26,304, the NALC said Jan. 31.

The proposed contract included protections against discrimination for pregnant workers, an annual general pay increase of 1.3%, and semiannual cost-of-living adjustments.

But some union members who spoke with USA TODAY said the proposal fell short on issues like uniform allowances, letter carrier safety and the amount of time it takes for employees to reach top pay. The postal service did not respond to a request for comment on employee concerns.

NALC push for more transparency during negotiations

Elizabeth Burns, a letter carrier based in Austin, Texas who has worked for the postal service for nearly 25 years, was among those pushing for more transparency on the bargaining process as talks resume in early February. She added that union president Brian Renfroe wasn’t forthcoming with members about what he asked the postal service during negotiations.

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“(The NALC president) gave no hard information on what was going on with negotiations,” said David Noble, a retired mail carrier who first joined the postal service in 1975, previously ran for president of the NALC and retired in 2012. He has an active lawsuit against the union because of how past elections were carried out.

When asked about members' transparency concerns, Renfroe said he provides updates to employees at annual training sessions in each of their 15 geographic regions.

"I am a little more cautious about what I put out on the website," he said. "That communication is for the whole world to see."

NALC members: It shouldn’t take so long for letter carriers to earn top pay

One of the changes some NALC members were looking for in the contract is how long it takes employees to reach top-level pay within the organization.

Noble said NALC members were expecting a general annual pay increase significantly higher than the 1.3% increase included in the recently-proposed contract.

“There were a couple of years in which the increases were 1.1% but they've been 1.3% for the last few years,” Noble said.

De’Shon Bradley, a Nebraska man who has worked for the post office since 2012, compared the postal service's annual pay increases with UPS, which reached an agreement with its union in 2023.

UPS said in October 2024 that new delivery drivers start at $23 per hour and can reach top pay after four years. In 2028, drivers at the top pay rate will make about $49 per hour or $170,000 annually in pay and benefits.

It takes 13 years to reach top pay, or about $38 per hour, according to the postal service's pay tables.

Renfroe said negotiators made some structural changes to the postal service's pay tables, including one proposed change to increase both starting and ending pay for some workers, he said.

"Once we calculated everything that was included in this tentative agreement for those at top step pay, the increase would be something around close to 12%," he said. "As you work back through our pay scale all the way to those that are more entry-level ... their total pay increase over the course of this agreement would be about 25%."

There is also a cost-of-living adjustment formula that Renfroe called "robust" and isn't as common among unions as it used to be. That cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is based on the Consumer Price Index and "provides about 55% protection from inflation," he said.

But COLAs are not guaranteed and are projected based on "congressional budget office inflation forecasts," said Bradley, from Nebraska.

"During our past contracts there were two times that colas equaled $0," Bradley said. "Just like the weather forecast, anything can change. (The) only thing guaranteed were 1.3% wage increases," which he says pales in comparison inflation in recent years.

Renfroe said the postal service's benefits are structured differently from UPS, but he said postal service pay has typically been over 80% of what UPS workers make.

Non-career positions need to be addressed, critics say

Also worth addressing are the postal service's positions for "full-time alternates" to regular letter carriers, according to Burns, based in Texas.

Burns said the postal service introduced the City Carrier Assistant or CCA position in 2013. CCAs are considered non-career positions but they can become regular employees within a two-year period, Burns said.

She said CCAs "essentially are getting cheated" because they work long hours, including Sundays delivering Amazon packages. And until CCAs reach that two-year mark, the time they've spent with the postal service doesn't count towards retirement, Burns said.

Noble said CCAs are paid less than career postal service workers and they get reduced sick leave and benefits. The starting salary for NALC-represented CCAs with no experience is $19.33, according to the union's website. Career postal service workers make between $22 and just over $38, per the union site.

Noble and Burns would like to see CCAs converted to career jobs. Renfroe said he wants to see the same thing.

Previous bargaining sessions have led to about 43,000 non-career employees being shifted to career positions, Renfroe said. There are now about 28,000 non-career employees, he said.

The non-career positions were created following a recession, but the concept has become outdated, the president said. Last week, he gave the postal service a proposal to eliminate the CCA workforce altogether, he said.

More on the rejected contract:USPS union members vote to reject contract agreement

Postal service uniform costs are soaring, workers say

Jack Chalensouk, who has worked for the postal service since 2014 and is based in Phoenix, said he’d like to see postal service workers get hazard pay due to their working conditions. He said has been t-boned by a driver while on the job and attacked by dogs. At one point he was out of work for three months, he said.

Chalensouk has also had to find ways to make sure he has work uniforms, which can be pricey and aren’t good quality, he said. Employees get an allowance card that is loaded annually with a set amount of money for uniforms. Workers can order through multiple approved websites, he said. 

His card was most recently loaded with about $485, but that’s not enough to get a week’s worth of uniforms when the allowance is so little. Last year, Chalensouk bought a few shirts and pairs of pants, leaving him “tapped out,” he said. He still wears uniforms from when he was carrying mail in California five years ago.

“I feel bad for the carriers in cold climates because they have to wear heavy jackets, rain pants,” he said, adding that those items can cost anywhere from $380 to just over $600.

According to the proposed contract members voted on, the uniform allowance would increase from $499 to $536, and then the following year it would increase from $536 to $549.

The NALC president said the numbers were decided upon using a formula the union has used for years. Since the 1970s, uniform allowances have increased by 2.5% per year. Renfroe acknowledged that prices have gone up significantly but said "the answer to the problem is not just to increase uniform allowances ... the answer is to reform the entire program, and that's what our energy and efforts are focused on."

Chalensouk said the downside of working for the federal government is that it's illegal for federal workers to strike against the government. He also feels the NALC has prioritized the needs of the postal service over union members.

"My father was a letter carrier three years before I was born and I grew up with letter carriers," Renfroe said. "I can assure anyone that asks the question, my goal, number one, always, is what's best for letter carriers."

He added that the NALC has its hands in initiatives on Capitol Hill and in 2021, a reform bill was passed that put the postal service on a good long-term track financially, ensuring job security for postal service workers.

What's next in the bargaining process?

Negotiations will continue until Feb. 18. If no agreement is reached by then, a neutral arbitrator will be selected, and the union and the postal service will present evidence. Some experts may even be called to testify, Renfroe said.

Chalensouk, from Phoenix, said he just wants to make sure the NALC is transparent and fights for its members during this process.

“We’re dying,” Chalensouk said. “People are getting shot and killed. People are getting robbed. Dog attacks. Heat. Hurricanes. Fires. I just want our pay to be the industry leader of delivery services.”

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at[email protected].