The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) is the largest union in the United States Postal Service, representing more than 200,000 letter carriers nationwide.
After three months of negotiations the NALC and USPS have not reached an agreement in terms of a new collective-bargaining agreement. Their contract expired on May 22nd, 2026. The parties are now in a mandatory 60-day mediation period. If an agreement is not reached at that time all unresolved disputes will move through an arbitration process.
These negotiations are critical to the health of the USPS.
The Union is asking for:
- The Union’s Target: NALC is pushing heavily for an all-career workforce, effectively trying to eliminate the CCA classification so new hires have job security and benefits from day one.
- The Starting Wage Gap: Starting pay is widely seen as non-competitive compared to companies like UPS or Amazon.
- NALC is demanding a significant bump in starting wages and a major reduction in the time it takes to reach the top pay scale (which currently takes over 12 years)
- Some of the rank and file have begun a campaign for a reduction in supervisory positions, the chant reflecting this is 30/30. $30 p/hour start pay, and 1:30 supervisor to carrier position. (the union cannot legally or contractually dictate the head count of USPS management)
Because postal workers are legally barred from striking, the frustration usually manifests in other ways if a contract is not acceptable to the staff. If the new contract fails to fix wages and working conditions, the retention crisis will deepen.
The USPS is already facing an unsustainable turnover problem. Currently, about 55% of City Carrier Assistants (CCAs)—the lower-tier, non-career starting position—leave within their first year.
