The Postal Service and the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association (NRLCA) have reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year labor contract.
The contract covers approximately 119,000 employees represented by the union.
“This is a fair and responsible agreement that is in the best interest of our employees, our customers and the future of the Postal Service,” said Labor Relations VP Doug Tulino.
“The terms of the new Rural Carrier contract continue the trend of providing the Postal Service the tools necessary to meet customer needs and acknowledge our employees for their commitment and dedication.”
The tentative agreement is subject to a ratification vote by the union membership, a process that will take 6-8 weeks.
Upon ratification, the contract will run through May 20, 2018.
Information on salary increase and newly created position
Basic Annual Salary
The basic annual salary schedules (Tables One and Two) in effect on May 20, 2015, with proportional application to hourly rate employees, for those employees covered under the terms and conditions of this Agreement, shall be increased as follows:
1. Effective November 14, 2015
The basic annual salary for each step shall be increased by an amount equal to 1.2% of the appropriate March 21, 2015 salary schedule.
2. Effective November 26, 2016
The basic annual salary for each step shall be increased by an amount equal to 1.3% of the appropriate March 21, 2015 salary schedule.
3. Effective November 25, 2017
The basic annual salary for each step shall be increased by an amount equal to 1.3% of the appropriate March 21, 2015 salary schedule.
In light of the expansion of Sunday/holiday parcel delivery service, the parties have agreed to establish a new, non-career leave replacement employee classification: assistant rural carrier (ARC). ARCs may only perform Saturday, Sunday, and holiday duties and will be paid on an hourly basis using the same rate as RCAs hired on or after August 11, 2012.
ARCs will be bargaining unit employees with limited contractual benefits. Articles 15 and 16 will apply, but ARCs will not have access to noncareer employee health benefits, earned leave, or bidding rights. Article 9.2.M.1 (actual hours, first five pay periods) and Article 9.2.M.3 (actual hours, if not served route within past 12 months) will not apply to ARCs.
ARCs are not required to take a hiring exam, but all other hiring requirements will apply. Their probationary period will be the earlier of 90 days worked or one year. They must apply for any desired RCA positions and may not automatically convert to an RCA vacancy. ARCs may be required to provide a vehicle for delivery and
will receive EMA accordingly.
ARCs will be entitled to Sunday and Holiday parcel delivery prior to RCAs. They may also case and carry routes on Saturday only after all available RCAs have been assigned and prior to working a regular rural carrier on the relief day. The ARC will not be designated as the primary leave replacement on any regular routes and will not be included in any criteria for implementation or calculation of the formula.
**Equipment Maintenance Allowance (EMA) increased by 1.0¢ per mile – to a new EMA base rate of 48¢ per mile – over the life of the Agreement
Equipment Maintenance Allowance
Effective with the quarterly adjustment based on the November 2016 CPI-W, the equipment maintenance allowance base rate shall increase by one-half cent (0.5¢) to forty-seven and one-half cents (47.5¢) per mile or major fraction of a mile scheduled per day or $19.00, whichever is greater.
Effective with the quarterly adjustment based on the November 2017 CPI-W, the equipment maintenance allowance base rate shall increase by one-half cent (0.5¢) to forty-eight cents (48.0¢) per mile or major fraction of a mile scheduled per day or $19.20, whichever is greater.
Mail counts
In accordance with the 2010-2015 Agreement, the parties will conduct a twelve-day mail count beginning on March 12, 2016.
There is no mail count scheduled for 2017.
In 2018, the parties will conduct an opt-out mail count beginning on February 24, unless an alternate method for evaluating routes is implemented or the parties (at the national level) agree not to conduct the count.
If the mail count occurs, all routes will be counted except when the regular carrier or RCA (Des. 79) agrees with management not to count the route.
This represents the first time that RCAs (Designation 79) serving auxiliary routes have been given the opportunity to opt-in (or opt-out) of having their assigned route counted.
Seniority
The agreement requires the Postal Service to ensure that seniority is properly applied to rural carriers. Following the effective date of this agreement, the Postal Service, for the first time, will be required to post a current seniority list in every office and furnish a copy to the Union.
The Postal Service will then be required to update seniority lists as changes occur, post the updated list in every office, and provide copies to the Union.
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i was hoping they would get the slugs to work a 8 hour day !!!! almost every day except thanksgiving to x-mas there off at 1 oclock. there r alot of paperboys would love this gravy job
Union sold out its workers yet again…… clerks and city carriers to follow. Then all the union heads will say what a win it was for all of us again. Nothing will change until we speak up. Vote NO! Contact your union rep and call bs on this crap again!
if they Ratify, what a huge mistake. No mention of cola’s, they will be needed in the future. After taxes on the raises, all based on 2015 salaries, ha ha ha the increased cost of the hbp’s going up 6 or 7 % a year compounded will wipe out the raises and leave you with less takehome. No one ever said ee’s are smart, but with this contract they will need a payday loan 2 days after payday. What a joke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why not say we will take a .5% raise every year and the usps will pick up the excess of the hbp costs over what the employee share was in 2015. Crickets crickets yeah no takers on that huh.
COLA’s are covered in the new contract. HBP employee contributions shift 1% each year of the contract, putting you more inline with the rest of the Federal Workforce who’s share is and has been 28%. At the end of the contract you will still only be contributing 27% towards the HBP costs.
I agree, the contract has some issues and only the membership can and will decide if it is ratified.
Read the details! this amounts to a pay cut! with the employee contribution to health care premiums going up in this proposal,certainly no raise in this contract, Jeanette Dwyer,NRLCA President is another Goofy Guffey! just vote NO on this crap! rural carriers!
ARCs will be entitled to Sunday and Holiday parcel delivery prior to RCAs
Sounds like they are blocking off hours and duties for ARCs to the detriment of RCAs. Not good. If there is work available it should go to the RCAs, then to the ACRs.
The NLRCA has sold out for a long time. I can’t believe they would allow ARC’s, like any sane person would even want to do that kind of work. I’m a city carrier, and I hope Rolando and the NALC show more balls than the rurals did, but so far he’s been a weak president, showing none of the gumption and spirit his predecessors did. Most city carriers are furious with the CCA program, and want it discontinued and revert back to PTF hiring. The CCA’s are pushed way too hard, and as a result of the pressure, they are terrible carriers. I have to clean my boxes out every day off because I don’t have a T-6, that person being a more or less permanent 204-B.
CCA’s throw mail on vacant cards, ignore names, orders and make atrocious misdeliveries. It’s not their fault – management runs them ragged, couldn’t give a shit less about mistakes and thinks only of DOIS and numbers.
This needs to be addressed, but I’ll bet the subject isn’t even on the agenda to discuss.
ARC’s??? We can’t even hire enough RCA’s!!
whats makes you think I am for Rethuglians……..last time I voted it was for Ross The Boss Perot. stopped voting for Demonrats after the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act where Jimmy Carter screwed over 600,000 blue collar airline workers(former Pan Am worker)…….doing the same thing to postal workers. a 1 % yearly raise when yearly inflation is 7% is being on the road to poverty. your COLA was canned under Obumma because they took out food and energy and call it core inflation………you jim jones kool-aid drinkers are as dumb as dirt. in Nassau County New York, with the govt having financial problems, the county union workers got a 3 year contract @ 3.75, 3.75, 3.75………find it strange with postal unions having hundreds of thousands of workers the best they can do is 1.2%……..if you can not strike you are not a real union…..just a dues collection agency. Hitlery Rotton Clit’n kid got a 600K a year job at NBC…….I would call that more overpaid than a postal worker……keep voting DEMONKKKAT! They are for the little guy. factoid-who was during the VA Hospital Mess the Senator in charge of the Senate Veterans Hospital Committee of Veteran Hospital Affairs-none other than Sen. Bernie Sanders. feel the burn of sanders commie syphilis vets.
Well Mr. Bed Time for Bonzo what do you think will happen if the Ratpublicans take the WhiteHouse? When President Esenheimer was in office he vetoed six pay bills! My father made .86 cents per hour from 1951 to 1960. Be careful of what you wish for! You seem to think everyone will become rich under the Ratpublicans.
more 1% crap as far as the eye can see……feel the burn of sanders syphilis……….all under the obummer administration of the democrats who say they are out to help the little guy lol. 1% while true inflation is 5-6%= still going backwards. this is an ongoing insult!
Bed time maybe could do better flipping burgers. There’s the door if you don’t like it!! These pultry raises have been around one percent for twenty years, it’s nothing new. Just the ongoing effects of Reaganomics!!
Doesn’t look good to me 1.3 raises? P.O. making billion dollar profits and this is what the union accepts? Horrible.
Nothing less than 2.5% raises is acceptable, the NRLC leaders went APWU under Guffey on their members and sold out.Thumbs down! now,will Tulino offer the same deal to the other unions or continue on to arbitration with the ridiculous demands for no raises,COLA’s and pay cuts and more temps?
Wrong!!!!! There should not be ARCs, but why am I not surprised!