USPS reaches agreement with a mail carrier union; new vehicles must have AC

Corrections and clarifications: This story has been updated to clarify the terms of letter carriers’ previous contract.
The United States Postal Service and the union representing nearly 200,000 mail carriers came to a tentative agreement on a new contract Friday.
The agreement, which covers work from 2023 until 2026, provides cost of living adjustments throughout the length of the contract. Carriers also receive three 1.3% raises, with two of them applied retroactively.
“After almost 20 months of tireless negotiations, 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,” National Association of Letter Carriers President Brian L. Renfroe said in a press release.
The contract, which covers city mail carriers, must be ratified by union members, though a deadline for the vote-by-mail process was not announced.
The agreement requires the Postal Service to acquire vehicles with air conditioning for its carriers. If the Postal Service wants to purchase vehicles without air conditioning, it must be negotiated with the union.
The Postal Service began replacing its current fleet with Next Generation Delivery Vehicles in September, according to the Associated Press. The new delivery vehicles include air conditioning.
The contract increased overtime protections and formalized a pay rate of 2.5 times the base salary for more than 12 hours of overtime. The union also won a raise in the top pay rate and a reduction in time it takes for a carrier to reach the top tier.
After the previous contract expired in May of 2023, the letter carriers had been working under the terms of that contract while a new one was being negotiated.