USPS Press release: 

The Postal Service and the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA) have reached a tentative four-year contract agreement. Upon ratification by union members, the agreement will run through Nov. 20, 2010, and affect approximately 66,000 career employees and 52,000 non-career employees who deliver mail to residences and businesses on rural delivery routes.

“This tentative agreement serves not only the interests of the Postal Service and NRLCA members, but also our customers,” said Labor Relations Vice President Doug Tulino. “Working together, we will continue to meet our universal service obligation by providing affordable, high-quality mail service to everyone in America.”

The Postal Service and NRLCA formally opened national contract negotiations on Aug. 25, 2006. This year was the first time new contracts were negotiated separately at the same time with all four of the Postal Service’s largest unions.

Earlier this week, the Postal Service and the American Postal Workers Union also agreed to a tentative four-year contract. Negotiations continue with the National Postal Mail Handlers Union. Negotiations with the National Association of Letter Carriers were not successful and the two parties will now enter the dispute resolution process, which may include binding interest arbitration

WAGES, COLA

• General Wage Increases:
• 1.2% wage increase effective November 25, 2006
• 1.2% wage increase effective November 24, 2007
• 1.2% wage increase effective November 22, 2008
• 1.2% wage increase effective November 21. 2009
• Cost-of-Living Adjustments:
• The second full pay period after the release of the January 2007 index
• The second full pay period after the release of the July 2007 index
• The second full pay period after the release of the January 2008 index
• The second full pay period after the release of the July 2008 index
• The second full pay period after the release of the January 2009 index
• The second full pay period after the release of the July 2009 index
• The second full pay period after the release of the January 2010 index
• The second full pay period after the release of the July 2010 index

Special Leave Replacement Provisions:

• Newly-hired RCA’s will be paid actual or evaluated time for the route, whichever is greater, for the first five pay periods.
• An RCA/RCR assigned to a route without having been trained on that route will be paid actual or evaluated time for the route, whichever is greater.
• An RCA/RCR assigned to a route that he/she has not served in the past 12 months will be paid actual or evaluated time for the route, whichever is greater.

HEALTH INSURANCE: Employees’ share of health insurance premiums will increase by 1% each year during the term of the contract.

EMA, VEHICLES

Equipment Maintenance Allowance:

• The EMA base rate during the term of the contract will increase by 5 ½ cents.
• The EMA base rate will be increased by 3 cents effective with the January 2007 adjustment.
• The EMA base rate will be increased by ½ cent in October of 2007 t
• be effective with the January 2008 adjustment.
• The EMA base rate will be increased by 1 cent in October of 2008 t
• be effective with the January 2009 adjustment.
• The EMA base rate will be increased by 1 cent in October of 2009 t
• be effective with the January 2010 adjustment.

Postal-provided right-hand drive vehicles:

The Postal Service will provide 15,000 right-hand drive postal-owned or postal-leased vehicles on rural routes over a five-year period beginning January 1, 2009 and ending December 31, 2013.

Right-hand drive incentives:

The following incentives apply to ALL bargaining unit employees. 

• $1,000 incentive to purchase a new right-hand drive vehicle.
• $500 incentive to purchase a used right-hand drive vehicle.
• $500 incentive to purchase an approved right-hand drive conversion kit.

MAIL COUNT

• 4 week count in February/March 2007
• 2 week count in February/March 2008
• 4 week count in February/March 2009
• 2 week count in February/March 2010
• All counts include opt-in language
• 4 week counts include a holiday

Miscellaneous Work Rule Changes

• All regular carriers provided two opportunities each year to sign the Relief Day Work List
• Time to appeal to Step 3 changed from 10 to 15 days
• PTF’s eligible for court leave
• Retained “No Layoff” clause and added protection for PTF’s

Other Provisions

• The parties reached other understandings on contract language changes in various articles and MOU’s.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 8th, 2006 at 4:26 pm and is filed under contract negotiations, postal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.